An Eerie Discovery

Land of Grass, Great Fushimi Grassland.

A breeze rolled waves of green across the plains, carrying the faint fragrance of wildflowers. Red, orange, cyan, blue, and purple bloomed amid vast stretches of white chive flowers.

According to the Uchiha Clan's historical records, during the Age of the Nations before the Warring States period, the Land of Grass had once been a mighty nation. Warriors of the Land of Grass rode tall horses and wielded curved blades, sweeping through the surrounding countries, breaking armies and breaching cities, looking down upon the world. Their martial prowess had once flourished. But after the rise of ninja, warriors as a combat profession were swept into history's garbage heap. The Land of Grass declined amid the constant campaigns of the great nations and was no longer brave or warlike. Especially after the establishment of the Five Great Nations system, the Land of Grass became even more known for song, dance, and warm hospitality.

"Did you find them?"

Uchiha Tokimitsu asked the Sensor Ninja beside him.

"I've detected traces of Chakra. I'm confirming the exact location!" The sweating Sensor Ninja felt enormous pressure.

"Lord Tokimitsu, with you here, those thieves won't get away..." The Kusagakure Chunin beside him bowed and scraped, showering him with flattery. But his crude manner of speaking only made him more repulsive.

"Found them!" The Sensor Ninja let out a breath. "Three hundred and ten meters to the northwest, there's a hill. They're hiding in a cave on its far side."

"Good!"

Uchiha Tokimitsu gave a curt reply and was the first to flash forward. The three accompanying squads hurried after him.

Handling routine affairs was boring and tedious, so Uchiha Tokimitsu occasionally led his men out on a "hunt," spending a day or two having fun as though he were on vacation.

The target of this pursuit had been reported by Kusagakure. Several powerful ninja of unknown identity had reportedly been active on the Great Fushimi Grassland in the Land of Grass recently. The Grass Ninja fled at the sight of the enemy, but sold the intelligence to Konoha's Northwest Border Defense Force for money.

For ninja, three hundred and ten meters was a distance crossed in the span of a breath. Uchiha Tokimitsu led his subordinates to the cave beneath the hill mentioned by the Sensor Ninja. He closed his eyes and sensed carefully for a moment. There were indeed three Chakra signatures inside. Without hesitation, he nodded to the Uchiha clan members around him and began forming hand seals.

"Barrier: Steel World Locking Ground!" Three Uchiha ninja joined forces to use a Sealing Jutsu. Its effect was simple: harden the ground like steel, preventing ninja within the sealed area from escaping through techniques such as Earth Submergence.

"Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique!"

A fire dragon surged from Uchiha Tokimitsu's mouth. Its massive head crashed into the cave, flooding through the tunnels under his Chakra manipulation.

"Boom!"

Only when the fire dragon came into contact with living organisms did it explode.

"Sense them!"

"Yes!" The Sensor Ninja hurriedly formed more hand seals and investigated.

"Lord Tokimitsu, none of them show signs of life."

Uchiha Tokimitsu raised his chin slightly. Six Uchiha ninja understood and entered the cave to search it.

In a short while, they carried out three charred corpses and some miscellaneous objects. It seemed these unidentified ninja had set up the cave as a temporary shelter.

The Uchiha clan members skillfully searched the charcoal-like bodies for belongings, taking out one unrecognizable burned item after another from their tattered combat uniforms.

Next time, I should use a less powerful ninjutsu. Looting corpses is too troublesome otherwise...

An Uchiha clan member muttered inwardly.

"Lord Tokimitsu, judging preliminarily from their clothing and belongings, they should be from Iwagakure. They may even have been an Iwagakure Anbu squad."

"Anbu? Iwagakure's Anbu are this weak? One Dragon Fire Technique wiped out the entire squad?"

Uchiha Tokimitsu raised his brows, somewhat surprised.

The other Uchiha clan members said nothing, but inwardly grumbled without end. The Uchiha Clan was indeed arrogant, but they had never seen anyone whose arrogance came as naturally as Lord Tokimitsu's.

"Yes! Although their clothes were mostly burned away, the style and material are unmistakably unique to Iwagakure. The specially made Kunai they carried were also forged from steel unique to the Land of Earth. They're heavier, longer, and sharper than standard Kunai..."

"Examine them more 'carefully'!"

"Yes!" Several Uchiha glanced at each other, then carried the corpses off to the side and began dissecting them, searching "carefully" for clues to their identities.

Turning around, Uchiha Tokimitsu once again looked over the Grass Ninja beside him, who was still wearing a servile expression.

"Lord Uchiha..."

The trembling Grass Ninja could not fathom Uchiha Tokimitsu's intentions and feared he might be cremated on the spot.

"You... did well!"

"Thank you, my lord! It is our honor to serve Lord Uchiha!"

Hearing that, the Grass Ninja felt as if he had been pardoned. He repeatedly bowed in thanks.

I kept my life! The Grass Ninja let out a huge sigh of relief.

"For this intelligence, I'll count it as the reward for a B-rank Mission. Go back to the main camp and collect it!" After speaking, Uchiha Tokimitsu summoned the accompanying clerk, took a scroll, wrote down the mission and reward details, then tossed the scroll to the Grass Ninja.

"Thank you, my lord! Thank you, my lord! Lord Uchiha's great kindness and virtue..." Overjoyed, the Grass Ninja repeatedly thanked him and bowed deeply.

"Do your job properly, and there'll be plenty in it for you!"

Uchiha Tokimitsu impatiently waved him away.

"Yes, yes, yes..." The beaming Grass Ninja bowed as he backed away and left.

After the Grass Ninja departed, an Uchiha asked in confusion, "Lord Tokimitsu, that despicable Grass Ninja is worthless trash, no better than a pig or dog... Why give him the reward of a B-rank Mission?"

"Even trash has its uses." Uchiha Tokimitsu spoke leisurely. "No matter how worthless the Grass Ninja are, they're still locals who know the terrain. They can serve as unofficial scouts, saving us from wasting valuable manpower on patrols and intelligence gathering. Besides, Kusagakure has over three thousand registered ninja. Even if they're weak, their Jonin can still be used as Chunin."

"But the Grass Ninja have always been as unreliable as grass on a wall, and they often sell intelligence to both sides..." The Uchiha clan member was still worried.

"It's fine... This time, we've done them a favor. Once that trash goes back and flaunts his reward, the others in Kusagakure will get jealous. That'll spur them to gather intelligence for us. Then we can find some excuse about leaking Konoha's secrets and kill a batch of them..." Uchiha Tokimitsu said indifferently.

"Then... should we control some of the Grass Ninja first, so we can accuse them later?"

"No need to make it so troublesome! When the time comes, just pick one-tenth of the Grass Ninja at random and kill them." Uchiha Tokimitsu spoke of bloody slaughter as lightly as a passing cloud. "Evidence or no evidence, they won't admit to selling intelligence to others anyway, will they~?"

The Uchiha clan members looked at each other.

Good grief. Even the Radical Faction had never heard of such methods of framing and slaughtering others. The Uchiha were indeed bloodthirsty and warlike, but someone as vicious as Uchiha Tokimitsu was rare.

Uchiha Tokimitsu himself had little interest in any of this. To him, these background characters who had nothing to do with him were all NPCs. Punishment, praise, life, death, reward—he did as he pleased with all of it. Since leading the ninja army out from the village, without the buffer of familial affection in this life, Uchiha Tokimitsu's temperament had grown colder and less human. Yet in the eyes of the other Uchiha clan members, especially the Radical Faction, Lord Tokimitsu had become increasingly "Uchiha"—practically the Ninja World's Asura reborn. Their awe and fear of him only deepened.

"Lord Tokimitsu... we found something new!"

An Uchiha who had gone aside to dissect the corpses ran over. "My lord, please look!"

Uchiha Tokimitsu accepted a slimy piece of paper and a small bottle from his hand.

"What is this?"

"This paper should be a coded message. It was cut out of a corpse's abdomen. We only managed to decipher one character: 'Taki'..."

Uchiha Tokimitsu glared at him. So this slimy thing had been soaked in filth from the stomach.

"Inspect it more thoroughly, then make a copy and send it back to the village!"

"Yes!"

"And this?" Uchiha Tokimitsu shook the small stone-carved bottle. It rattled inside, so it likely contained some kind of powder.

"This bottle was found in a palm. One corpse had a finger modified into a hollow mechanism, and the bottle was hidden inside. We just conducted a preliminary composition test. It should be poison from Sunagakure..."

"Human modification... poison..." Uchiha Tokimitsu was somewhat dumbfounded. "Isn't this Sunagakure's Puppet Force?"

"Lord Tokimitsu is perceptive, but we found no mechanical puppets on the bodies, nor any scrolls sealing puppets."

"Sunagakure's ace puppet masters seem to be wearing Iwagakure Anbu uniforms... and carrying a secret letter with the character 'Taki' in it." Uchiha Tokimitsu clicked his tongue in wonder.

Isn't this supposed to be the brainless, hot-blooded Naruto World? Why has it started playing this kind of mind-bending spy-versus-spy game too?

"Asuka-kun, compile the report." Uchiha Tokimitsu instructed the accompanying Uchiha ninja. "Report everything exactly as it happened to the village. Let those monkeys rack their brains over it!"

"Yes!" An Uchiha ninja wearing glasses answered solemnly.

"Clean up the battlefield! Withdraw to camp!"

"Yes!"

After returning to the Border Defense Force camp, Uchiha Tokimitsu found Uchiha Kamon, who had remained behind to guard the main camp, then summoned Staff Officer Nara Kohei and told them about the discovery.

There were too few clues, and there were no Yamanaka Clan members at the camp to conduct mental intelligence extraction. Even Nara Kohei, known for his quick mind, had No Choice but to fail to sort out any leads from the limited known conditions.

"Forget it. I already had Asuka-kun compile a mission report, so Entrust to you the village's Cipher Team with the headache." Uchiha Tokimitsu was preparing to head back and rest.

"...Lord Tokimitsu, the poison you mentioned could be partially sent to Lady Tsunade for examination..." Nara Kohei hesitated. "Lady Tsunade is the village's best Medical Ninja. If she tests it, she should be able to identify the poison's exact materials and determine which faction the corpses belonged to..."

"Princess Tsunade!" Uchiha Tokimitsu thought for a moment. "Fine, I'll Entrust to you this matter! I'm not familiar with Tsunade!"

He took out a scroll from his pocket and tossed it to Nara Kohei. "The poison is in here. Take part of it and send it to Jonin Tsunade!"

"Respectfully following orders!" Nara Kohei replied with his head lowered.