Hokage's Office's desk was piled with documents, like a white mountain peak that could have an avalanche at any time. Naruto was lying on the desk, his cheeks squeezed and deformed by a scroll about the "Leaf sewer reconstruction budget proposal".
"I'm quitting." Seventh Hokage wailed, "I'm going to Amegakure. Whoever wants to take this crap Hokage will take it."
Shikamaru held the seal in his hand and stamped it on another document without raising his head. "Rejected. The Five Great Nations summit will be held next week. If you run away now, I can only declare to the outside world that Hokage was kidnapped by Ichiraku Ramen."
"But Kiyomi's situation is very dangerous!" Naruto suddenly raised his head, his short golden hair messy, "And that's Amegakure, Akatsuki's lair and Shell's stronghold. No matter how you look at it, you need a high-end combat power like me to appear, right?"
"It's precisely because of the danger that we can't let you go." Shikamaru threw a new personnel list in front of Naruto, "You are a nuclear deterrent, not a special force. Moreover, this mission requires infiltration, not turning Amegakure into a basin."
Naruto picked up the list, glanced at it, and frowned. "Sasuke is leading the team?"
"Hmm." Sasuke, who was leaning against the window, turned around. His one arm still made him look a little unbalanced, but his aura of keeping strangers away from him had not diminished at all. "It's best for me to go. I have some unpleasant memories of that place, but it's still familiar."
"Where are the team members?"
"Boruto, Kawaki, Mitsuki, Sarada." Sasuke reported the name, "The new Team 7 plus Kawaki. This is currently the highest-equipped tactical team."
"Let the children go?" Naruto hesitated.
"They are no longer children." Sasuke said coldly, "Facing enemies of Code's level, ordinary Jonin would die. Boruto and Kawaki have "Wedge" is resistant to Chakra of Otsutsuki. Sharingan of Sarada can detect, and Mitsuki's stealth ability is suitable for Amegakure's environment."
"And that girl."
In the corner, Amado was fiddling with a complicated metal suitcase. Hearing the conversation, he pushed up his glasses. "Kiyomi must go. She is a living compass. Without her, you can't find the host machine even if you go to the next century in the maze of Amegakure."
"Can her body hold up?" Naruto asked.
"I injected her with high-concentration inhibitors. As long as there is no fierce battle, she can last for three days." Amado closed the box, "In addition, I made the key to cancel the program into this Physical Plugin. Find the host, plug it in, and it's done. Fool-style operation."
"You'd better pray that it's really stupid." Kawaki leaned against the door frame with a look of displeasure on his face, "If you still have to enter the password then, I will come back and take out your lungs that are full of cigarette smoke."
Amado shrugged and did not answer.
Departure is scheduled for two hours later.
Konoha gate.
Boruto is checking the ninja bag, holding a few compressed biscuits in his hand and worrying. "It's this kind of dry food that looks like rocks again... I want to eat hamburgers."
"It would be nice to have some to eat." Sarada was wiping her glasses, her ninja bag full of Medical Scroll, "This is S-rank's infiltration mission. Did you think it was a spring outing?"
"In a sense, it's like going back to my hometown to visit relatives." Mitsuki said with a smile, his snake-like eyes curved into crescents, "After all, that was the base of Akatsuki."
"Don't tell such cold jokes." Kawaki was carrying a huge black backpack, which contained Kiyomi's life-support equipment. The gray-haired girl stood quietly next to him, wearing Leaf civilian clothes that were obviously one size too big, clutching the corners of Kawaki's clothes tightly in her hands.
Kiyomi looked at the busy crowd around her, her eyes a little dull. This was the first time she walked out of Laboratory and the ward. The outside world was too noisy for her.
"Hey." Kawaki shook his clothes, "Don't hold on so tightly, your clothes will be torn."
Kiyomi flinched, but immediately grabbed it again, this time it was the backpack strap.
"... As you wish." Kawaki clicked his tongue and turned his head.
"Is everyone here?"
Sasuke's figure appeared out of thin air. He changed into a dark gray cloak, and Kusanagi Sword was pinned to his waist. Without any unnecessary nonsense, he glanced around the crowd.
"The core of this mission is "secretness". Amegakure is now in a state of anarchy, but because of this, the forces there are complicated. In addition to the remnants of Kara Organization, there are also various wandering ninjas and rebel ninjas. Our goal is only one: to find the host, remove Self-Destruct Program from Kiyomi, and then retreat."
Sasuke's eyes stayed on Boruto: "Especially you, don't mess around."
"I understand, Master..." Boruto protracted his voice, "I've been very steady lately, okay."
"Let's go."
The group of people turned into afterimages and disappeared deep into the woods.
Not long after they left, Hinata hurried over carrying a huge package.
"Ah... have you left already?" Hinata looked at the empty door, a little disappointed, "I specially made spicy rice balls and wanted Boruto to give Sasuke-kun a try..."
The ninja guarding the gate wiped his cold sweat. It tasted very spicy...Uchiha. If you eat it, you will probably open Susanoo on the spot.
The journey is not easy. The closer to Land of Rain, the greater the humidity in the air. The originally lush woods gradually become sparse, replaced by dead tree trunks and muddy swamps.
The sky seemed to be covered by a huge gray rag, and sunlight became a luxury here.
"How long do we have to walk?" Boruto pulled his feet out of the mud, and his boots were covered with rotten leaves.
"We're here." Sasuke stopped and stood on the edge of a cliff.
Ahead, a huge steel jungle loomed in the rain. It was no ordinary city, but a monster made of countless pipes, Tower and scrap metal. Huge drainage pipes were wrapped around the building exterior walls like blood vessels, and black industrial wastewater rumbled down.
It rains all the time.
The rain here is not clear, but greasy and black, and it feels tingling when it falls on the skin.
"This is Amegakure..." Sarada turned on Sharingan, trying to penetrate the thick layer of rain curtain, "Chakra flows very chaotically. The whole city is like a huge Chakra jammer."
"Because after Pain died, Rain Tiger At Will Technique here lost control." Sasuke pulled up the hood of his cloak, "Now Amegakure is a dead city and a maze."
Kiyomi suddenly reacted. She walked to the edge of the cliff, and the steel forest was reflected in her empty eyes. The rain wet her hair, but she was unconscious.
"Go home..." she murmured.
She raised her hand and pointed to the tallest tower in the center of the city - that was where Pain once lived, Tower of God.