The Inheritance of Art

"Exploding Tag!"

No one needed to remind the ninja. The moment they heard that distinctive sound in the relative quiet indoors, they knew exactly what was about to happen.

To an ordinary ninja, an Exploding Tag was an extremely dangerous explosive tool, highly effective at killing... A bit like a land mine on a modern battlefield. Set one off, and you were dead.

Yuzuru reacted quickly, but just as he was about to use the Body Flicker Technique to get away, he saw Torifu Akimichi pull Kairi Omori back and step in front of everyone.

In the next instant, his right arm swelled rapidly. His hand grew enormous, and he slammed it against the "wall" with the Exploding Tag stuck to it. Under the force of the blow, the whole tree shook violently, and half its trunk broke away and fell.

Boom!

A burst of flames rose in the rain. Fortunately, it hadn't exploded at point-blank range. Torifu Akimichi's palm took some of the impact, and his arm quickly returned to its normal size... He'd been injured, but this was still the best possible outcome.

The Exploding Tag itself wasn't much of a threat. The deafening noise it made was the bigger problem.

Torifu Akimichi clenched his fist. Ignoring the injury to his palm, he told the three behind him, "Get out of here. The trap's been triggered, and that explosion will probably attract the enemy's attention."

Once the enemy realized that a trap they'd set had been triggered, they would certainly come back to investigate... Everyone liked catching mice.

By now, Yuzuru had started to appreciate the Land of Rain's weather and surroundings. They made it far too easy to hide a ninja's tracks.

The Konoha squad hurried away from their base. Once they judged that they'd likely left the danger zone, Torifu Akimichi immediately made several copies of the intelligence they'd just obtained. He gave one to each squad member to keep safe... The intelligence was written in code, so Yuzuru could carry it, but couldn't understand its contents.

The decision to have them keep the copies separately carried a somewhat ominous implication: whoever made it back to the Konoha camp would have to bring the intelligence with them.

Everyone calmly accepted their leader's arrangements. Yuzuru tucked the intelligence scroll close to his body, hoping nothing would go wrong... In enemy territory this deep, the squad could only escape safely if it stayed together. Otherwise, their chances of making it out alive were slim.

To put it simply, the Chunin and Genin present needed their Jonin leader's combat strength.

Torifu Akimichi reached behind himself again and somehow pulled out another bird... a goshawk.

He slipped the intelligence into the message tube on the goshawk's leg and sent it flying. Even after passing the information back through various channels, he still didn't feel it was safe enough.

"Captain, now that we have the intelligence, are we withdrawing?" Kairi Omori asked.

"No. Our mission isn't over. We still need to check the other two bases." Torifu Akimichi shook his head.

This...

Wasn't that a little irrational? Judging by the situation at this forward scouting base, they could easily infer what things were like at the other two. But that was the Konoha squad's mission, and even Torifu Akimichi didn't have the authority to change it. They had no choice but to press on, despite the risk.

So, after taking a roundabout route, the squad continued deeper into the Land of Rain to investigate.

But they hadn't escaped the danger. The trap had been triggered, and it had made such a racket. Of course the Iwagakure or Amegakure forces would pursue them relentlessly.

After they'd gone farther into the Land of Rain, Kairi Omori suddenly stopped. "Captain, something feels wrong... It's like something's watching us."

She sensed something amiss, but unfortunately, she was a visual scout, not a sensory ninja.

Torifu Akimichi nodded. He, too, felt that something was off.

For a while now, strange bird calls had been coming from the forest now and then, instinctively setting them on edge.

The squad stopped moving blindly. The four Konoha ninja heightened their senses and carefully studied their surroundings.

The next moment, without warning, Yuzuru felt a disturbance, as if something were lurking right beside him.

Yuzuru darted a step to the right and instinctively shoved Kairi Omori beside him!

Right after that, a sudden whoosh rang out from where they'd both just been standing.

"Enemy attack!"

An invisible enemy was hiding right beside them.

Hazuki Uchiha's Sharingan opened in an instant. In her scarlet eyes, a semi-transparent figure appeared.

"Stop hiding. I can see him!"

Invisibility? Could it be Transparent Release? No, could the Sharingan really see through Transparent Release that easily? Right, Iwagakure seemed to have an invisibility technique. That jutsu had played an important role in the Battle of Kannabi Bridge, costing Kakashi an eye.

Hazuki Uchiha spun around and slashed at the invisible enemy. Kairi Omori and Yuzuru were about to rush over and help, but their captain stopped them with an outstretched arm.

"Leave this enemy to Hazuki."

Torifu Akimichi ignored the enemy who could conceal his presence and looked toward a spot in the forest. Yuzuru and Kairi followed his gaze and saw two Iwagakure ninja emerge from that direction.

"Konoha's not much to speak of. You're far too slow to react. How long ago was your base destroyed? You're only investigating now. I was starting to get impatient waiting for you."

"And besides..."

"One Jonin, two Chunin, and one Genin. You dare come this deep with a squad like that? I can't tell whether you're confident or just reckless."

Only two enemies had appeared, but they acted as if victory were already theirs. They strolled out, speaking with open contempt.

One had spiky hair, the other a broad face. The spiky-haired one was lean and wiry, while the broad-faced one was built much like Torifu Akimichi—big and muscular.

Yuzuru thought the spiky-haired one looked familiar, but couldn't remember who he was.

"Careful. These two are from Iwagakure's Explosive Unit."

Torifu Akimichi clearly knew them. He even thought that if Iwagakure had sent this pair out earlier, they might well have been able to cut off Konoha's intelligence routes.

The enemy was powerful. There was no escaping them.

"Kairi, Yuzuru, take on the big one and buy me some time. I'll handle the smaller one. Be careful—they're both Jonin." With that, Torifu Akimichi charged straight at the spiky-haired ninja without waiting for Yuzuru and Kairi to react.

It was a bit of a shame. If this had been an Ino-Shika-Cho squad, they probably could have handled the pair without much trouble.

Buy time? Yuzuru thought, I'm a Genin. How am I supposed to hold off a Jonin?

The two Iwagakure ninja had no intention of letting the Konoha squad have its way. They decided to take out Torifu Akimichi first. He was the Konoha squad's main fighter. Once he was gone, the rest might as well be dead.

So the big enemy charged toward Torifu Akimichi, intending to attack him alongside his partner.

But in the next instant, Yuzuru, who'd been more than ten meters away, appeared in front of the big enemy almost at once... He didn't want to take on a Jonin head-on, but the situation was crystal clear. If their captain fell behind, the Konoha squad stood no chance.

So Yuzuru had to grit his teeth and step in.

The big enemy clearly hesitated. He hadn't expected such an inconspicuous Konoha ninja to move so fast.

Meanwhile, facing the spiky-haired ninja, Torifu Akimichi drew the long iron staff from behind his back and brought it down on the enemy's head with a powerful swing!

But the Iwagakure ninja with spiky hair didn't dodge. He even swung a fist straight at the iron staff.

Boom!

Instead of blood spraying everywhere, an explosion erupted from the spiky-haired ninja's punch.

In an instant, smoke engulfed Torifu Akimichi. Though he'd attacked first, he was forced back half a step.

Fortunately, the move hadn't injured him. He spun the long staff in his hands, sweeping away the smoke and the rain around him.

That was when Yuzuru finally remembered who the man was.

"So it really is you, Hunt—the Explosion Release ninja from Iwagakure."

Torifu Akimichi called out the other man's name at once.