He Hardened-His Fists, That Is

"Phew..."

Uchiha Ao let out a soft breath, slowly shutting down the pathways opened by the Eight Inner Gates. Only then did he turn to Danzo and the others, grinning.

"Long time no see!"

After parting ways with the two Cloud Village ninjas, he had raced toward the Land of Fire's border.

But to his surprise, the two had changed course along the way and ended up on the same route he was taking to the border. With no other choice, Ao had kept his distance and followed them.

He hadn't expected to run into Danzo attacking them. That was what had led to the bold intervention just now.

"..."

Danzo gripped his Ninja Sword tightly and gazed at Uchiha Ao with a cold stare. They'd only been apart for a week. How had this useless brat's strength changed so much?

And what was that Green Energy? What kind of Ninjutsu was it?

The string of unknowns stirred a powerful sense of danger in Danzo.

Should I eliminate him here?

"Lord Danzo, do you know this ninja?"

The ninja beside him looked at them with a puzzled expression. From Uchiha Ao's tone, the two were clearly old acquaintances.

And judging by the strength he'd just displayed, he was no weaker than a Special Jonin!

With that level of strength, yet no reputation to speak of, could he be one of the Hokage's Anbu?!

"Of course!"

Before Danzo could answer, Uchiha Ao cut in. "We're more than just acquaintances. We've met at the Hokage's, and he gave us a mission together."

As he spoke, he winked at Danzo. "Am I right, Danzo?"

"You met at the Hokage's?"

"And you were given a mission together? Then this lord must be..."

The other ninjas erupted into a flurry of whispers, exchanging astonished looks. After all, any ninja who interacted with Lord Danzo at the Hokage's had to be at least a Special Jonin, if not an Elite Jonin.

"..."

At the mention of the Hokage, Danzo gradually regained his composure. So what if the useless brat had gotten stronger? How could he possibly compare to Danzo?

Thinking this, he silently breathed out and gradually loosened his grip on his Ninja Sword. Without sparing Ao another glance, he turned away and said coldly, "Hirazo, deal with the remains of these two Cloud Village ninjas here and gather intelligence. The rest of you, come back with me and resume your posts!"

Whoosh!

With that, he flashed out of sight.

Aside from Hirazo, the ninja he'd singled out, the others exchanged glances. Seeing their superior's coldness, they didn't dare act too friendly. They simply nodded to Uchiha Ao before following Danzo away from the battlefield.

Hirazo silently bowed to him, then set about cleaning up the battlefield on his own.

"..."

Watching Danzo's retreating figure, Uchiha Ao silently wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. In the space of a single minute, that bastard had nearly let his killing intent show seven or eight times.

If Ao hadn't used Tobirama Senju to scare Danzo, he might have been mistaken for a Cloud Village ninja and blasted to pieces by a barrage of Ninjutsu!

He'd seen Danzo's abilities when he attacked the two Cloud Village ninjas just now. Both his command skills and Ninjutsu were outstanding, even among the younger generation.

As he was now, Ao probably wouldn't last ten moves against him before being cut down on the spot!

"I'm still too weak..."

The pride he'd felt after killing the Cloud Village ninjas had vanished without a trace.

"The best thing to do now is finish the mission as soon as possible, then return to the clan and learn stronger Ninjutsu!

"Fortunately, Danzo left a ninja here. Before I head deep into the Land of Lightning to gather intelligence, I can ask him about the situation at the border."

With a flash, he appeared in front of Hirazo and held out his right hand.

"Hello. My name is Uchiha Ao."

Hirazo blankly extended his left hand and shook it. Then he opened his mouth.

"Ah-ba, ah-ba-ba..."

As he spoke, he pointed at his mouth.

The meaning was obvious: I'm mute.

"..."

Uchiha Ao froze for a moment, then forced himself to smile politely. "I see. Sorry about that. You carry on, carry on."

With that, he practically fled. His face had gone as dark as the bottom of a pot.

Now he understood why Danzo had left Hirazo here.

That bastard had deliberately left him to get under Ao's skin!

It was as if he were saying, Want to know what's going on? Dream on!

He was hard. His fists were hard.

Damn it, Danzo! Just you wait!

After that, Uchiha Ao traveled alone through the mountains and forests. He hadn't obtained enough intelligence, but before receiving his mission to scout the border, he'd familiarized himself with the warning lines Konoha had set up there.

So nothing else went wrong along the way, and he reached the border of the Land of Fire with ease.

What puzzled him, though, was that even after choosing a route to the border that was completely different from Danzo's, he hadn't run into any other Konoha ninjas.

Could it be that he's the only Elite Jonin guarding the border this time?

No, impossible!

The Cloud Village's forces were bearing down on them. Unless Tobirama Senju had lost his mind, he wouldn't send just one Jonin.

Thinking this over, Ao looked up at the sky. The setting sun was red as blood.

The patrols had probably narrowed their range as night fell, and he'd simply missed them.

Should I wait until tomorrow...

No.

Uchiha Ao immediately dismissed the idea. From everything he'd seen on the way here, the Cloud Village's attacks had clearly slackened recently.

Otherwise, Danzo and the others wouldn't have been guarding a position more than ten miles from the border. If that was the case, there wasn't much point in asking them about the border situation.

Given Konoha's usual cautious approach, they wouldn't launch an attack unless the Cloud Village invaded in force. They probably hadn't gathered much intelligence about the Land of Lightning, either.

Now that I think about it... there's not much point in joining up with them.

The best move now was to act fast: head straight for the Land of Lightning's border, gather the intelligence he needed, then escape the country while things were still calm.

Once he'd sorted things out, Uchiha Ao didn't hesitate. He used Transformation Jutsu: Modified to disguise himself as a refugee from the Land of Lightning, then headed straight for its border.

At that moment, in a village near the border of the Land of Fire.

Whoosh!

A spiky-haired ninja with a stick strapped to his back suddenly appeared beside a blazing bonfire in the village, accompanied by several other ninjas. He greeted the group warmly.

"Kagami, your patrol ended early today."

Uchiha Kagami rose with a smile and replied, "The Cloud Village's attacks have clearly slowed over the past two days. We happened to run into a scout sent by the village on the way, so we came back early to fill him in on the Cloud Village's recent movements."

Just then, a ninja stood and nodded to Hiruzen Sarutobi with a smile.

"So that's why. I thought even you, the hard worker, had decided to slack off for once."

Hiruzen Sarutobi laughed a few times, then exchanged a few more pleasantries with Kagami.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Just then, the two patrol groups led by Danzo and Utatane Koharu, along with the other Jonin teams, returned to the temporary base one after another.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, everyone got down to the real purpose of the gathering.

Once they had taken their seats, Hiruzen Sarutobi pulled a scroll from his robes and looked around the room, his expression grave.

"This afternoon, I received word from the Hokage. Iwagakure and the Mist Village have clashed as well. The situation is extremely serious. One wrong move could trigger another Shinobi World War."

The atmosphere in the room instantly grew tense.

War was a meat grinder where even Kage Level fighters could die on the battlefield if they made the slightest mistake!

Seeing the looks on everyone's faces and knowing he'd achieved the desired effect, Hiruzen Sarutobi said no more about it. He began outlining the plan.

"From today onward, every ninja, myself included, must keep a close eye on every change along the border and ensure we coordinate..."

The meeting ended half an hour later. Afterward, Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others didn't leave right away. Instead, they shared accounts of the day's operations and what they'd learned.

"Odd. According to the village's intelligence, there were five scouts. Why are there only four here?"

The conversation had turned to the newly arrived scouts, and Utatane Koharu raised the question at an opportune moment.

"I know."

Danzo, who'd said very little during the meeting, suddenly looked at Uchiha Kagami with a sneer.

"While on patrol today, I saw a ninja who looked like Uchiha Ao. If I'm not mistaken, he may be the scout who hasn't shown up."

At those words, Uchiha Kagami's Sharingan appeared at once. Three Tomoe began to spin around his scarlet eyes.