The Third Teammate

Beneath the shadow of a tree, space seemed to ripple as a slender figure slowly emerged.

He wore the standard Konoha jonin uniform, with the usual green flak jacket over it. His long black hair cascaded like a waterfall, and his skin was pale as if deprived of sunlight for ages.

His snake-like vertical pupils flickered with a cold, playful, and dangerously sharp light.

He stood there casually, a faint smile tugging at his lips, as if the scene before him was not a brutal battlefield but some intriguing experiment.

It was none other than the "Cold Lord" Orochimaru, one of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha.

"Withdraw."

Ōnoki spoke flatly from midair, his voice betraying no emotion. "This time, you Konoha win." Orochimaru watched the Iwagakure shinobi retreat in an orderly fashion without intervening. After all, in the shinobi world, being able to fly meant near-invincibility, let alone Ōnoki's Dust Release, which was overpowered in damage.

There was also an unwritten rule on the battlefield: unless it was the main front, Kage-level shinobi like them were not supposed to engage lower-ranked ninjas freely.

Without such an unwritten agreement, Kage-level fighters could simply "rampage" behind enemy lines, turning any number of chunin and genin into mere cannon fodder.

Ōnoki's intervention here was already overstepping, but rules were always written by the strong. As the strongest on this battlefield, no one dared to say a word about it.

If not for Ōnoki repeatedly saving the day without regard for face, Iwagakure would have been pushed back to the border long ago.

"Heh! Back to camp."

Orochimaru gave the order to the support shinobi. As the supreme commander of this battlefield, he had been closely monitoring Ōnoki's movements, allowing him to appear in time.

Leading everyone back to camp, Orochimaru immediately summoned Nawaki's team.

"Sensei!"

As soon as he entered the central camp tent, Nawaki eagerly bowed and called out respectfully.

"Hmm."

Namikaze Yoru noticed a rare hint of a smile on Orochimaru's face, clearly showing approval for Nawaki. Setting aside his connection to Tsunade, Nawaki's open and unpretentious personality was perhaps his most valuable trait.

It could be said that Orochimaru's later obsession with immortality might have been linked to Nawaki's early death, but on his path to pursuing eternal life, he gradually lost sight of his original purpose.

He eventually transformed into the cold-blooded scientist who would say, "Mourning the dead is meaningless. If death has meaning, it only exists when he can use it."

But at this moment, Orochimaru, though cold in demeanor, still retained the personal charm that earned him the title "Cold Lord."

"Have you completed the assignments I gave you?" Orochimaru's hoarse voice carried a tone of examination.

"Those techniques? I've mastered them long ago," Nawaki said with full confidence.

"But I heard you lost in a spar to this young man from the Namikaze clan."

With one light remark, Nawaki's newly built confidence crumbled instantly, and his words got stuck in his throat.

"Namikaze Yoru. You're impressive—graduating top of the academy as a civilian. Your subsequent record is even more remarkable. It seems you have your share of secrets." Shifting the topic, Orochimaru suddenly called out to Namikaze Yoru, who had been blending into the background.

Caught off guard, Yoru responded calmly: "I just experienced too much in the Land of Whirlpools and broke through."

Knowing he couldn't fool this perceptive Sannin, he simply offered a reasonable explanation. After all, who said civilians couldn't produce geniuses? Orochimaru himself and Jiraiya, another of the Sannin, were prime examples.

If not for their extraordinary talent, even if Hiruzen Sarutobi wanted to promote civilian shinobi, they wouldn't have become the Hokage's disciples.

Sure enough, hearing Yoru's explanation, Orochimaru gave a barely perceptible nod, accepting it.

"Get acclimated to the camp first. The battlefield situation changes rapidly, and missions will come at any time."

As if remembering something, he added, "Your other teammate is waiting outside the tent. Don't keep him waiting too long."

"Yes!" they replied in unison.

Stepping out of the tent, they saw a figure standing silently in the night, wearing sunglasses even in the dark.

"Ah! Shibi, it's you!" Nawaki greeted exaggeratedly, looking quite surprised.

The newcomer was Aburame Shibi, a fellow graduate of Yoru and Nawaki's class, and the academy's second-ranked student. Thus, the top three of their graduating class had reunited on the front lines.

Seeing Aburame Shibi appear, Yoru understood inwardly. No matter how bold Tsunade's words had been, she still couldn't let go of her concern for Nawaki.

After all, if you really thought about it, Aburame Shibi was a truly promising genius shinobi, as later events would prove.

Not to mention his son, one of the Rookie 12, the events he experienced were extraordinary enough.

From the Rōran incident, teaming up with Namikaze Minato to fight Mukade, to facing Konan head-on during Pain's Invasion of Konoha, and guarding Naruto's Turtle Island training during the Fourth Shinobi World War.

He was an exceptionally strong supporting character who spanned the entire story, capable of both support and carrying, earning the title of the most versatile shinobi.

"Long time no see."

Shibi's personality was identical to Shino's—speaking in a flat, calm tone, with the clan's characteristic reticence.

"It has been a while, Shibi. Looks like I'll need your guidance again." Yoru replied with a smile, considering his relationship with Shibi to be decent.

Seeing Yoru respond to him, Shibi stiffened slightly, as memories of the graduation exam began to replay in his mind.

He still remembered the practical combat assessment. The three of them had far surpassed their peers, and in terms of raw strength, Yoru couldn't have beaten him.

But in the actual fight, Yoru had thrown him off with the question, "Where do your Kikaichū drop their waste?" Seizing the opening, he had won the match.

Shaking off the memory, he said coolly, "I'll take you to the tent."

The two followed closely behind and soon arrived at their lodgings, where their jonin instructor Hyuga Teruki was already resting in a tent.

Several days later.

"Team 17, assemble." Hyuga Teruki ordered the group, signaling that the adjustment period was over and a mission had been assigned.

"Reliable intelligence indicates an Iwagakure logistics outpost in the valley to the northeast. Our task is to confirm the intel and, if accurate, destroy it."

Namikaze Yoru and the others nodded after listening. Their team boasted the Hyuga clan's "Byakugan," the Aburame clan's "Kikaichū," and Namikaze Yoru's hidden "Mind's Eye of the Kagura."

Calling them the strongest reconnaissance squad wouldn't be an exaggeration—this lineup was like using an anti-aircraft cannon to swat a mosquito, overkill for the job.

Yet, in the depths of his heart, a thread of unease quietly crept into Namikaze Yoru's mind.