Ras

Inside a stronghold of the Gato Group in the Land of Waves, the diminutive Gato was furious.

"What kind of elite Kusagakure are they? They're all a bunch of incompetent good-for-nothings. They can't even handle a team of one adult and three children. I absolutely refuse to pay them this remaining balance!"

With his hands behind his back, Gato paced back and forth in the room.

After venting his emotions, Gato turned around and looked up at his subordinates. "I don't think we can count on the rogue ninjas from Kusagakure. What other exceptionally strong individuals in the Shinobi World can we hire?"

When asked this question by Gato, the subordinate pondered for a moment and actually found two options in his memory.

"If we want to maintain our strength, the only two forces we can contact right now are the Integration Movement and the Dawn Organization."

Because the Bloody Mist Village was altered by Yagura, Kirigakure of rogue ninja, stopped supplying the Shinobi World with excellent rogue ninjas, causing the Gato Group to be unable to hire any strong, independent rogue ninjas for a time.

"The Integration Movement? That insane organization that dares to attack a Daimyo?"

Gato, who has deep ties with the Daimyo's Mansion, has heard of the Integration Movement and knows it is a fighting group that demands high prices.

Whether it's to appease his bosses or to protect his own finances, he cannot hire this organization.

Therefore, he was left with only one choice: the Dawn Organization.

"Then let's contact them."

After hesitating for a moment, Gato waved his hand, signaling the other party to take care of the matter.

"Um, boss..."

After receiving the order, his subordinate did not act immediately; he stood there, his face showing a look of unspoken words.

"Speak quickly!"

"Yes, boss, that organization is not easy to double-cross..."

The subordinates knew their boss's character and were familiar with his usual tactics.

"I see."

Gato waved his right hand impatiently. He wasn't stupid; he knew who to mess with and who not to.

"By the way, send someone to contact the nobles of the Land of Fire and see if you can find a way to stop Konoha from continuing this commission."

Just before his subordinate was about to leave the room, Gato, still feeling uneasy, gave him a new task.

After doing all that, Gato finally breathed a sigh of relief and sat down on the soft sofa, sinking his whole body into it.

"Teacher Anko, where are we going on our mission this time?"

The Anko Squad, who set off two days later than Asuma, were currently on their way to the Land of Land of Waves.

Karin looked around curiously, while asking Anko about the destination of the mission.

"Destination will be kept secret for now."

Holding four or five strings of Anko in her hand, her attention was entirely focused on her favorite food, so she didn't have much time to pay attention to Karin.

"Is our captain really alright?"

Seeing Anko treating the mission like a leisurely Anko, Sasuke approached Naruto and whispered something in his ear.

"Don't worry, Anko- sensei is Special Jonin, she must have her own reasons."

Naruto knew that the Jonin each had their own temperament, so he didn't have much objection to Anko's actions. Faced with Sasuke's complaints, he could only quietly comfort him.

"Tch, but her appearance does remind me of that one..."

Sasuke pursed his lips and didn't comment on Anko's cooking.

But the other person's expression reminded him of an acquaintance he hadn't seen in a long time.

"You mean Brother Kazashiro Bai? I also feel that the two of them have very similar styles."

Karin, unable to extract any useful information from Anko, joined their conversation.

"Yeah, I think so too."

Sasuke's expression finally softened when he saw that someone agreed with him.

Hearing the whispers of the three behind her, Anko's lips curled into Special Jonin, even though they were speaking in hushed tones, it didn't escape Anko's ears.

However, she didn't care about the people talking about her behind her back. Instead, she was planning how to give Asuma a good beating when they got to the Land of Waves.

The reason they were so relaxed was that Asuma's team had already cleared most of the mines along the way. Their main task this time was to support Asuma, and the main fighting was all on the enemy.

"I wonder if the Land of Waves has my favorite dango..."

Anko would never have imagined that Asuma, whom she had assumed would be a force to be reckoned with, was currently facing a serious threat.

The second wave of attacks came extremely quickly.

Looking at the pale-skinned, closed-eyed young man in front of him, dressed in a white robe, Asuma drew his Chakra Blade.

The opponent exuded an extremely strong sense of oppression, and even as a Jonin, I felt a stinging pain on my exposed skin when facing him.

"Who are you?"

Asuma moved slowly, occasionally glancing at Shikamaru and the others behind him out of the corner of his eye.

Damn it, this is no ordinary enemy.

Having confirmed that Shikamaru and the others had formed a defensive formation, Asuma decided to first test the enemy's strength using his most proficient Taijutsu.

Asuma activated the Body Flicker Technique, appearing before his opponent with incredible speed, and slashed his Chakra Blade toward the opponent's chest.

A powerful resistance came, but the man simply raised his hand and, with his eyes closed, used his arm to block Asuma's forearm, stopping the attack.

"Ras."

"What?"

Just as Asuma was preparing for his next move, the man suddenly spoke.

"My name is Ras."