His Fist Hardened

"Haah..."

Uchiha Ao let out a light breath, slowly closing the meridians opened by the Eight Inner Gates before turning his head to look at Lord Danzo and his group, grinning as he said:

"Long time no see!"

After parting ways with those two Cloud Village ninjas back there, he had been racing straight toward the border of the Land of Fire.

But what he hadn't expected was that those two would adjust their route midway, coincidentally landing on the path he was taking to the border. Left with no choice, Ao could only trail far behind them.

Who would have thought he'd suddenly run into Danzo making a move, leading to that fierce strike just now.

"..."

Danzo gripped his ninja sword tightly, staring darkly at Uchiha Ao. It had only been a week since they last met—how could this waste's strength have changed so drastically!

And that green energy—what kind of ninjutsu was it?

This series of unknown changes stirred a strong sense of crisis in Danzo's heart.

Should he eliminate him here?

"Lord Danzo, do you know this ninja?"

At that moment, a nearby ninja looked at the two of them with a strange expression. From Uchiha Ao's tone, it was clear they were old acquaintances.

And judging by the explosive strength he'd just shown, he was at least on par with a Special Jonin!

With that kind of power and no reputation—could he be from the Hokage's Anbu?!

"Of course!"

Before Danzo could answer, Uchiha cut in directly: "More than just acquaintances—we even met at the Hokage's place, and he gave us a joint mission."

With that, he winked at Danzo. "Am I right, Danzo?"

"Met at the Hokage's place?"

"And a joint mission—so this lord is..."

The other ninjas murmured in surprise, exchanging bewildered glances. After all, any ninja who could interact with Lord Danzo at the Hokage's place had to be at least a Special Jonin, if not an Elite Jonin.

"..."

Hearing the word "Hokage," Danzo slowly regained his composure. A waste was still a waste—no matter how much stronger he got, how could he compare to me?

With that thought, he silently exhaled, gradually loosening his grip on the ninja sword. Without sparing Uchiha Ao another glance, he turned and said coldly:

"Hirazo, you stay here and handle the remains of these two Cloud ninjas—collect intel. The rest of you, come back with me to resume duty!"

Swoosh!

With that, his figure flickered and vanished from the spot.

Aside from the named Hirazo, the other ninjas exchanged looks. Seeing their superior so cold, they didn't dare act overly familiar, merely nodding to Uchiha Ao before leaving with Danzo.

As for Hirazo, he silently bowed to Ao and then busied himself cleaning up the battlefield.

"..."

Watching Danzo's retreating figure, Uchiha Ao quietly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. That bastard had flashed killing intent at least seven or eight times in just one minute!

If he hadn't used Tobirama Senju to intimidate Danzo, he'd probably be mistaken for a Cloud ninja right now and blasted to pieces by a torrent of ninjutsu!

He'd seen Danzo's strength during the assault on the two Cloud ninjas—whether in command ability or ninjutsu skill, he was a standout among the younger generation.

As he was now, he couldn't even last ten moves against Danzo before being cut down on the spot!

"I'm still too weak..."

With that thought, the pride Ao had felt from killing the Cloud ninjas vanished without a trace.

"For now, I need to finish the mission as fast as possible and return to the clan to learn stronger ninjutsu!

Luckily, Danzo left one ninja here—before I head deep into the Land of Lightning to gather intel, I can ask about the border situation."

With a flicker, he appeared before the man named Hirazo, extending his right hand and saying:

"Hello, my name is Uchiha Ao."

Hirazo blankly extended his left hand, shook it, and opened his mouth:

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

As he spoke, he pointed at his own mouth.

The meaning was obvious: I'm mute.

"..."

Uchiha Ao froze for a moment, then forced a polite smile and said, "I see. My apologies. Please, carry on, carry on."

With that, he fled the scene, though his face had turned as black as the bottom of a pot.

By now, he understood perfectly why Danzo had left this man here.

That bastard was deliberately trying to disgust him!

It was clearly telling him: Want information? Dream on!

His fist clenched—his fist was hard!

Damn it, Danzo, just you wait!

After that, Utatane Koharu made her way alone through the mountains and forests. Although she hadn't obtained enough intelligence, before receiving the mission to scout the border, she had already memorized Konoha's alert lines along the frontier. So no further incidents occurred along the way, and she easily reached the border of the Land of Fire.

However, one thing struck her as strange: even though she had chosen a direction completely opposite to Danzo's to reach the Land of Fire's border, she hadn't encountered any other Konoha ninja.

"Could it be that this time, the elite ninja guarding the border is just him and no one else?"

No, impossible!

With the Cloud Village bearing down so fiercely this time, Tobirama Senju wouldn't send only a single Jonin unless his mind had gone faulty.

Thinking this, she glanced at the sky. The setting sun was like blood.

She guessed the patrol teams had pulled back their range as night fell, and they just happened not to cross paths.

"Maybe I should wait until tomorrow..."

No.

Utatane Koharu immediately dismissed that thought. From everything she had seen and heard on her journey today, the Cloud Village's offensive had clearly slackened a lot recently.

Otherwise, Danzo and his group wouldn't have set their watch post over ten li from the border line. If that was the case, then asking about the border situation wasn't really necessary anymore.

Given Konoha's traditionally conservative stance, as long as the Cloud Village didn't launch a full-scale invasion, most of them wouldn't take the initiative to fight, and they hadn't even gathered much intelligence on the Land of Lightning.

"Thinking about it this way... joining up with them doesn't really mean much."

The correct move now was to prioritize speed—swiftly infiltrate the Land of Lightning's border, gather the needed intel, and then use this period of calm to escape the Land of Lightning.

With her thoughts clear, Utatane Koharu hesitated no longer. She used Transformation Jutsu: Modified to take on the appearance of a refugee from the Land of Lightning and headed straight deeper into the Land of Lightning's border.

At that moment, in a village on the border of the Land of Lightning.

Swoosh!

A ninja with a hedgehog hairstyle and a stick strapped to his back appeared with several others beside the blazing campfire in the village, greeting warmly.

"Kagami, you finished patrol early today."

Kagami Uchiha stood up with a smile and replied, "The Cloud Village's attacks have clearly slowed down these past two days. I happened to run into a Reconnaissance Ninja sent from the village on the road, so I decided to come back early and brief him on the recent Cloud Village situation."

At that, a ninja stood up and nodded with a smile at Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"I see. I thought even you, the workhorse, might be slacking off for once?"

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

Swoosh! Swoosh!

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

After a round of greetings, they got to the real purpose of this gathering.

Once everyone was seated, Hiruzen Sarutobi pulled a scroll from his robes with a serious expression, glanced around, and said:

"This afternoon, I received word from the Hokage. The Stone Village and the Mist Village have also broken into conflict. The situation is extremely tense now—one misstep could easily reignite the Shinobi World War."

At these words, the atmosphere in the room instantly froze.

War—that was a meat grinder where even a Kage Level ninja could fall on the battlefield with one wrong move!

Seeing the expressions on everyone's faces, Hiruzen Sarutobi knew his point had hit home and said no more on the matter, instead beginning to read out the plan for the days ahead.

"From today onward, all ninja, myself included, must keep a constant watch on every movement along the border and ensure coordinated responses..."

Half an hour later, the meeting ended. After it broke up, Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others didn't rush off but instead shared the day's actions and findings.

"Huh? According to the village's intel, there should be five Reconnaissance Ninja, right? Why are only four here?"

The topic shifted to the newly arrived Reconnaissance Ninja, and Utatane Koharu raised the question at just the right moment.

"I know about that."

Danzo, who had spoken little during the meeting, suddenly sneered and looked at Kagami Uchiha, saying:

"While on patrol today, I spotted a ninja who looked like Uchiha Ao. If my guess is right, he's probably the Reconnaissance Ninja who didn't show up."

At these words, Kagami Uchiha's Sharingan abruptly surfaced, its Three Tomoe spinning unceasingly around his crimson pupils.