"You think about it. The Main Family's young masters go to the battlefield with Branch Family bodyguards, and what about you? You're being sent to the Iwagakure front to plug the line. Who knows if you'll make it back alive?"
"If you die, and the money you saved gets reclaimed by some Main Family young master you hate most... Tsk, tsk!"
"Then he'll spend the money you risked your life earning without a care in the world."
"Sorry for the trouble—this book was first published on the Taiwan novel site, . It offers a smooth reading experience with no missing or out-of-order chapters."
"If he has a conscience, he might bring a bouquet to your grave."
"But even that seems pretty unlikely. He'd have to control his expression, after all. It wouldn't do to laugh out loud right at your grave."
Hyuga Himon was sweating profusely, his breathing quickening. "Stop, stop!"
This was a total nightmare!
Just imagining the scene made him feel like if someone plucked out his Byakugan right now and replaced it with a pair of Sharingan, he could probably awaken them in minutes and shoot straight to three tomoe!
"I'll do what you say."
He'd better wait until after the war to start saving money.
Qingye nodded in satisfaction, then turned to Yūhi Kurenai. "As for you, Kurenai..."
"Stop, stop! I get it too, Qingye. You don't have to say any more!"
Yūhi Kurenai hurriedly cut him off.
Qingye's mouth was terrifying.
She felt like Himon was already sweating bullets.
She'd turn all her mission pay into Explosive Tags and do whatever she could to stay alive. That way, her dad wouldn't have to bury his own child.
Maybe she could even ask her dad for a little more money!
On the other side of the Land of Fire, at the border with the Land of Grass.
Three Iwagakure Ninjas raced along until they reached a valley.
"Captain Tsuchikawa, the entrance to Windless Valley is just ahead," said the middle-aged Iwagakure Ninja on the left to the young man in the middle.
"Mm."
Tsuchikawa, the young Jonin known as their captain, nodded slowly. "Once we sneak through here and cross the dozen or so miles of the Golden Wheel Mountain Range, we'll be deep inside the Land of Fire."
That was the mission of their three-man team.
He would lead two Chunin through this vital pass and into the Land of Fire!
Once there, the three of them would harass Konoha's supply lines and transport teams while coordinating with the Iwagakure forces behind them in the Land of Grass to seize control of the valley entrance!
That would open a gap in the defensive line Konoha had built.
The Iwagakure army and its supply corps could then pass through the valley and push straight into the Land of Fire. Soon, vast stretches of the Land of Fire's interior would belong to the Land of Earth!
The young Iwagakure Ninja on the other side looked grave. "Konoha must have sent capable shinobi to guard a place this important. I'll keep using Sensory Ninjutsu to search for enemies as much as I can."
Sensory Ninjutsu was his specialty.
That was why he'd been assigned to this mission.
"But Captain Tsuchikawa, you became a Jonin at just twenty. Why volunteer for such a dangerous mission?" the young Iwagakure Ninja asked, his expression troubled.
One Jonin, two Chunin, and a Sensory Ninja.
They'd count as an elite team in any hidden village.
Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.
This mission was far too dangerous!
Tsuchikawa was a young Jonin with a bright future ahead of him.
If the village had assigned him the mission, that would've been one thing. But he'd volunteered for it!
Even a young Chunin like him knew all too well how dangerous it was to infiltrate enemy territory.
"Shut up!"
Tsuchikawa scolded him sharply. "What kind of thing is that to say? If you're afraid to risk your life because a mission is difficult, are you even fit to be an Iwagakure Ninja?!"
The mission was certainly difficult, but the harder it was, the greater the reward for completing it.
Besides, with his talent and strength, even if a Konoha Jonin was guarding the place, he was confident he could take them out and get through.
And even if the worst came to pass, he was sure he could retreat safely.
The young and middle-aged Iwagakure Ninjas exchanged a glance, then fell silent.
Neither of them felt confident about this at all.
The three carefully entered the valley.
Not long after they left,
two strange, entirely white creatures rose slowly from beneath the ground behind a boulder in the distance.
"That last time it was a Tokubetsu Jonin. This time it's a real Jonin. Uchiha Aoya's got trouble coming," White Zetsu A said, watching the three disappear into the distance.
White Zetsu B grinned. "I wonder if that kid can get as lucky as before and stay alive again."
"How long have we been following Uchiha Aoya?"
"Can't remember. A year? Two? Anyway, Lord Madara sent me to follow that kid as soon as I was split off."
"It's been that long, huh?" White Zetsu A said with a sigh.
Uchiha Aoya was probably the most active person he'd ever seen on a battlefield in his short life—and also the luckiest.
White Zetsu B thought for a moment. "Come to think of it, that kid's team has been wiped out three times already, right? I wonder how long this one will last."
The first was the team he'd been assigned after graduating from the Ninja Academy.
They'd only been on the battlefield for a few months when they ran into a Kirigakure Tokubetsu Jonin squad. In the end, they'd managed to drive the Kirigakure Ninjas back, badly wounded, by hurling Explosive Tags at them in a relentless barrage.
"That time, he was still pretty lucky."
White Zetsu A shook his head as he recalled it. "Uchiha Aoya's second team ran into an elite Jonin from the Kaguya Clan!"
That team had worked together seamlessly and spent over a year on the Kirigakure front without anyone getting hurt.
But their luck didn't last.
Three Chunin had run into an elite Jonin... They'd been absolutely demolished!
"Oh, right! I remember that Kaguya Jonin's bone spikes pierced Uchiha Aoya's stomach, and his guts were nearly spilling out!"
White Zetsu B still couldn't believe the sight.
Even after all that, the kid had somehow survived.
"That was only because the Kaguya Jonin didn't finish him off. That left Uchiha Aoya barely breathing, so he played dead, seized his chance, and threw at least several hundred Explosive Tags all at once!"
He still remembered the scene vividly.
A sea of Explosive Tags had swallowed the Kaguya Jonin whole!
Even with the Kaguya Clan's Shikotsumyaku defense, he'd been blasted until blood poured from every orifice and his organs were shattered. He was dead as dead could be!
"And the kid even held on until Konoha's reinforcements arrived. Then the Medical Ninjas saved him... What luck."
"Let's follow them and see what happens this time."
"By the way, are the others on our side as interesting as Uchiha Aoya? Uchiha Obito, Uchiha Tekka... Uh, who else was there?"
"There's Uchiha Shisui. He graduated and went to the battlefield this year, too. Lord Madara sent two of us to secretly follow and monitor him."
"Hey, think we could ask Lord Madara to switch places with the others stationed elsewhere? This place is pretty interesting, but following the same person all the time gets boring."
"Shut up, idiot. Lord Madara would probably just destroy you and replace you with someone else!"
"Ah, what a shame."
Before you continue