The nine-man squad moved like ghosts through the dense jungle. Chakra muffled the squelch of mud and water beneath their feet, leaving not a sound.
Uchiha Fugaku led the way, with Namikaze Minato and Nishikawa Tetsu close behind. Hyuga Hiroshi covered the center, while the five Chunin who had just joined the squad guarded the rear and flanks.
Though they moved quietly, the atmosphere in the squad was tense.
"Hey, listen..."
At the back of the squad, Kaito, a Chunin with a scar across his face, lowered his voice and whispered to the comrade beside him. "I can put up with an Uchiha being squad leader. They're a powerful clan, and their strength speaks for itself. But why is that Genin kid carrying all our important tactical supplies?"
His eyes were fixed on the huge pack on Nishikawa Tetsu's back. It held nearly all the squad's Explosive Tags and specially made ninja tools.
"Shh! Keep your voice down." His comrade glanced nervously toward Uchiha Fugaku at the head of the squad. "It was Lord Jiraiya's order."
"Lord Jiraiya must want to give the rookies some experience, but this is an S-rank mission!" Kaito grumbled. "If that kid gets so scared his legs give out, or gets the Explosive Tags wet, we'll all die."
"And that Namikaze Minato, too. Two Genin fresh out of the Academy. I don't know what the commander was thinking, calling them the brain and the fangs."
The Chunin exchanged glances. They said nothing outright, but their displeasure and contempt were plain to see.
As far as they were concerned, the battlefield was where strength mattered. Putting two barely grown kids in key positions was like making a joke of their lives.
If they hadn't been wary of Uchiha Fugaku's cold Sharingan and the Uchiha Clan's fearsome reputation in the Police Force, they would have protested on the spot.
Uchiha Fugaku heard every whisper behind him.
He didn't break stride. Only the corner of his mouth curled in a cold smile.
Doubting them? That was only natural.
In the world of shinobi, only strength could make people shut up.
He didn't turn around to scold them. He knew the two boys would teach them a lesson through their actions.
"Stop."
Just then, Hyuga Hiroshi, in the middle of the squad, suddenly spoke in a low voice.
Uchiha Fugaku raised a hand at once. The squad stopped as abruptly as a finely tuned machine, and everyone quickly took cover behind trees and rocks.
"Something up?" Uchiha Fugaku asked, looking at Hyuga Hiroshi.
Hyuga Hiroshi formed Hand Seals. The veins around his temples bulged—a sign that he was using his Byakugan at full power.
His gaze pierced the layers of rain and trees, fixing on a distant point.
"Two o'clock. About one and a half kilometers away."
Hyuga Hiroshi's voice was calm and mechanical. "I've detected chakra signatures. Twelve people. Four Sensory Ninja in front, escorting what looks like... several disguised carts? No, they're puppets. They're the vanguard of Sunagakure's Puppet Force, clearing the route."
"There's more." Hyuga Hiroshi furrowed his brow slightly.
"Chakra is moving underground, too. There should be Earth Style Ninja scouting ahead."
"Puppet masters and Earth Style scouts? They're cautious."
A cold glint flashed in Uchiha Fugaku's eyes. He turned to Nishikawa Tetsu. "You heard that, Nishikawa Tetsu. If it were up to you, how would you handle it?"
The Chunin behind him immediately turned their skeptical gazes on Nishikawa Tetsu.
Kaito couldn't help but speak up. "Captain, the enemy has Sensory Ninja, and underground scouts that even the Byakugan might not detect. We should attack head-on while they still haven't found us!"
Uchiha Fugaku shot him a cold look. "Did I tell you to speak?"
Kaito froze. Under the stare of those Three-Tomoe Sharingan, it felt as if his heart had been gripped in a fist. Cold sweat ran down his face, and he immediately shut his mouth.
Nishikawa Tetsu seemed unfazed by the pressure around him. He took out a simple notebook and quickly ran some calculations.
"A direct assault isn't wise. Sunagakure's puppet masters specialize in poison gas. A head-on fight would slow us down, and if that Earth Style Ninja gets away, Hanzō's main force will be on alert."
Nishikawa Tetsu pointed toward a low-lying marsh ahead. "Hyuga-senpai, is there a lot of water flowing underground in that direction?"
Hyuga Hiroshi glanced that way and nodded, a little surprised. "That's right. It's where several underground streams meet, and the ground is very soft."
"Then this will be easy."
Nishikawa Tetsu took several specially made metal rods from his pack and handed them to Namikaze Minato. "Minato, I'm going to need you to help out again."
"What are these?" Namikaze Minato asked, taking the rods.
"High-Frequency Vibrators. They're decoys," Nishikawa Tetsu explained.
"Earth Style scouts sense vibrations in the ground to locate their targets. Minato, circle around quickly to their rear flank and stick these along the edge of the marsh. They'll create vibrations like those of a large force on the march."
Then Nishikawa Tetsu turned to Uchiha Fugaku.
"When the enemy senses the vibrations, they'll think our main force is on their flank. The Earth Style Ninja will have to come up from underground to investigate or launch a sneak attack. And that marsh..."
Nishikawa Tetsu took several bottles of purple liquid from his pack. It was a neurotoxin he had extracted earlier from poisonous plants in the Land of Rain.
"We just pour this into the marsh and use Lightning Style to conduct the current."
Nishikawa Tetsu looked at the Chunin staring at him in confusion, then pointed to one carrying a sword charged with Lightning Nature Chakra. "Senpai, taking out a few drowning rats shouldn't be too hard, right?"
After hearing him out, Uchiha Fugaku finally let a cruel smile show.
"Create a diversion, draw the enemy out, then wipe them all out."
He looked at the Chunin still standing there dumbfounded, his voice icy.
"Is that clear? Follow his plan. Anyone who's even a step too slow will face military punishment."
"Yes, yes!"
The Chunin still wondered whether the kid's tactics would work, but under Uchiha Fugaku's orders, they could only grit their teeth and get moving.
Ten minutes later.
Sunagakure's advance squad was moving cautiously through the rainforest.
"Stop!" The lead puppet master from Sunagakure suddenly raised a hand. "We've received a report from underground. There are heavy vibrations near the marsh, two hundred meters to our right. It could be Konoha's main force!"
"Two hundred meters? That close?"
"Quick! Get the Earth Style Squad to check. We'll be in trouble if it's an ambush!"
At the command, the ground rippled. Four mounds of earth quickly moved toward the marsh.
But just as the four Earth Style Ninja poked their heads halfway out of the marsh to survey the area—
"Now!"
Nishikawa Tetsu, hidden in the treetops, suddenly waved his hand.
The Lightning Style Chunin, already in position, was still full of doubts, but instinctively blasted the marsh with Lightning Style Ninjutsu.
"Lightning Style: Earth Flow!"
"Bzzzzzt—!!!"
Blue current exploded through the marsh, now mixed with poison and filthy water.
Normally, a Lightning Style attack of that strength wouldn't have killed the Earth Style Ninja. But now they were standing in highly conductive, poisoned water, and the current paralyzed them the moment they poked their heads above the surface.
"Arghhh!"
Their screams cut off almost as soon as they began.
The neurotoxin Nishikawa Tetsu had extracted flooded in through the wounds torn open by the current. The four Earth Style Ninja couldn't even form Hand Seals. Their eyes rolled back, and they floated up like dead fish, their bodies turning purple.
"What?!"
The Sunagakure puppet master in the distance was stunned. "The scouts were wiped out in an instant? It's an ambush! Retreat! Release poison smoke!"
"Trying to run?"
A cold voice rang out above him.
Uchiha Fugaku had appeared atop the canopy without anyone noticing. His Three-Tomoe Sharingan glowed like a demon's eyes in the darkness.
"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Claw Red!"
Flames wrapped around countless Shuriken and rained down from above, instantly sealing off every escape route.
"Attack!"
At the commander's order, the Konoha shinobi, who had been itching for a fight, surged forward.
Watching the one-sided slaughter ahead, Kaito swallowed hard. The skeptical Chunin glanced at Nishikawa Tetsu, who was calmly recording data beside him, and felt a chill crawl up his spine.
Without losing a single soldier, they had neutralized the enemy's most troublesome underground scouts using nothing but a few metal rods and bottles of poisoned water.
Was this Genin really on his first battlefield mission?
Before you continue