Bald Head

The geography of the Land of Rivers was somewhat similar to that of the Land of Fire. It might not have been quite as good, but it wasn't far off.

At the very least, the Land of Rivers had abundant resources compared to the Land of Wind.

The Land of Wind looked vast, but what could the desert produce? Basically, nothing but sand and hot air.

More importantly, the Land of Rivers didn't even have a hidden village... With all these factors combined, the Land of Wind's ambitions toward the Land of Rivers were obvious.

Unfortunately, the borders between the nations had been set during the First's time. Though the First had long since passed away, the boundaries of each nation had become an unspoken agreement.

If the Land of Wind rashly tried to "expand its territory," then regardless of how the Land of Rivers reacted, the other four Great Nations would immediately take notice.

Being the target of everyone's hostility wasn't a pleasant prospect, and the Land of Wind wasn't prepared to take on all four at once.

If the Land of Wind wanted to seize a piece of fertile land, it couldn't blame everyone else for joining forces against it.

The "international situation" in the Shinobi World was rather bizarre. During the Third Shinobi World War, for instance, Kumogakure had launched a surprise attack on Sunagakure first... Kumogakure had invaded the Land of Wind, but looking at the map, it was hard to understand why they'd done it.

War and hatred could be astonishingly blind.

At that moment, an reconnaissance squad was concealed in a forest in the Land of Rivers.

The good news was that the Land of Rivers was usually downwind of the Land of Wind, so Ninja Dogs' noses could be put to good use. The scent of enemy ninja couldn't escape their sense of smell... as long as they weren't too far away.

The squad stayed alert, keeping their eyes fixed on the endless desert ahead.

After hiding in the forest for a while, Yuzuru finally understood a little of what Jugo must have felt.

Perhaps because his body contained so much Natural Energy, Yuzuru had, in a sense, become "one with nature." As a result, all kinds of birds had settled on him and around him, creating a scene of harmony between humans and nature.

Unfortunately, Yuzuru couldn't "talk" to the birds. Otherwise, he could have gained some reconnaissance ability from them. Even more unfortunately, he couldn't master Sage Mode; if he could, he'd gain not just reconnaissance ability, but sensory ability.

About an hour later, the squad leader, Kiba Inuzuka, signaled to the others that it was time to change positions.

Konoha had too much territory to monitor and too few ninja, so they had to use mobile reconnaissance.

The squad's first mission was scheduled to last forty-eight hours. Of course, they weren't expected to stare at the desert the entire time; even ninja couldn't keep that up. In fact, the squad members took turns resting.

When the mission ended, they would return to camp and rest before another squad took over.

By the time they set out for the Land of Rivers for the second time, Yuzuru's dungeon had finished cooling down. But given the special nature of the mission and the squad's overall situation, he obviously couldn't enter it while on duty.

More importantly, after entering the dungeon several times and receiving generous help from the Fourth Hokage and his wife, as well as Orochimaru and Ryūchi Cave, Yuzuru had gained a basic ability to protect himself on the battlefield. He no longer felt such an urgent need to enter the dungeon.

If the main reason he'd entered the dungeon before had been "the pressure to survive," now it was "the desire to explore." Yuzuru had begun to wonder whether he could use the dungeon to become a truly "well-rounded" ninja.

He meant well-rounded in the usual sense. So far, the dungeon had only given him conventional skills and abilities. He couldn't tell whether he could obtain special powers like Kekkei Genkai... after all, he hadn't gotten Adamantine Sealing Chains from Kushina Uzumaki.

Was that because Yuzuru had been unlucky, or because Adamantine Sealing Chains were exclusive to the Uzumaki Clan? He couldn't say yet.

If Kekkei Genkai could be obtained too, would that mean Yuzuru could get both the Sharingan and the Byakugan? That would be a bit too outrageous.

There was another important point: after entering the dungeon several times, there weren't many high-level targets left that would be easy to defeat.

Was Yuzuru supposed to take on the Third Hokage now? Impossible. The Third Hokage could beat the Nine-Tails with a huge black staff, and Yuzuru's body was clearly no match for the Nine-Tails.

The only target worth trying seemed to be the infant Naruto Uzumaki. Yuzuru could only hope that killing Naruto counted as killing the Nine-Tails inside him. If so, he'd have completed the dungeon mission.

Back at Konoha's front line, Yuzuru had confirmed during his second trip to the Land of Rivers that this reconnaissance mission was a rare stroke of luck.

On the way back to Konoha's camp, he'd heard that during their first mission, Konoha had clashed with Iwagakure several more times, with casualties on both sides exceeding a hundred.

Compared to the calm Land of Rivers, the Land of Rain was a meat grinder.

That was why a squad of two Chunin and two Genin was better off serving in the Land of Rivers. If they'd been in the Land of Wind, they would have died very quickly.

If he reincarnated quickly enough, he might even make it to the upcoming Fourth Shinobi World War.

In short, based on the information Yuzuru had, Konoha was locked in a fierce battle with Iwagakure, while Sunagakure was fighting Amegakure. So the mission in the Land of Rivers shouldn't run into any trouble.

However...

Just as the second rotation was about to end, a sharp whistle reached their ears.

Without worrying about exposing himself, Kiba Inuzuka quickly climbed to the top of a tree. From there, he saw two red signal flares shooting into the sky in the distance.

"Something's happened. That's the retreat signal!" Kiba Inuzuka immediately recognized the flares. Without hesitation, he led the squad toward the Land of Fire.

"An emergency? Nothing seems to have happened on our end."

"Could there be an infiltration outside our surveillance area?"

"Either way, let's get out of the Land of Rivers first."

Everyone seemed to be quite skilled at running away. They immediately set off.

But they'd barely begun to carry out the retreat order when another signal flare shot into the sky and burst. This time, it was red and blue.

"Stop! The retreat signal has changed to a distress signal. All Konoha Ninja who see the flare must head to the target location and provide support."

How had the order changed so suddenly? The retreat signal had turned into a call for help, and Yuzuru suddenly had a bad feeling.

There was no choice. The squad changed direction.

As the saying went, the bad guesses always came true. Sunagakure ninja had indeed infiltrated the Land of Rivers.

The enemy wasn't numerous, but they were extremely troublesome.

When the four of them reached the target location, they immediately saw a Sunagakure ninja surrounded by Konoha Ninja. Yet he looked completely relaxed, as though he were out for a stroll.

Though he was alone, the scene made it seem as if he were the one surrounding the Konoha Ninja.

The enemy was hunched over and quite old. His most distinctive feature was that he was bald.

A dragon was tattooed on his bald head.

Well, he was a strong fighter who'd reached the "tattooed version" stage.