Did You Guess It

"You're safe now."

After cutting the ropes binding the battered and bruised Konoha Ninja, Uchiha Kei dispelled their Genjutsu and offered them a few words of comfort.

The Iwa Ninja Jonin had ultimately fallen to the combined assault of Uchiha Kei's trio. No matter how outstanding his skills were, facing three Ninja who all held at least the rank of Chunin had put him at a disadvantage.

And none of the three was a pushover. After a fierce struggle, the Iwa Ninja had finally died at their hands.

"Thank you. Damn Iwa Ninja." After thanking Uchiha Kei and the others, the rescued Konoha Ninja didn't forget to curse their captors.

"How are you feeling?" Uchiha Kei didn't care about the thanks. What mattered more was whether the Ninja could still move. "This place isn't safe. We need to leave at once, and we still have a mission to complete."

"A mission?" The Ninja stared at him. "Wasn't your mission to rescue us?"

"Rescuing you was just something we did along the way. We have our own mission. The two don't conflict, and you can help us quite a bit."

Uchiha Kei bluntly shattered the Ninja's hopes.

Rescue them?

What a joke. To say nothing of how Konoha was stretched thin by the war and couldn't spare that many people—

Even Uchiha Kei himself might not have come if he hadn't thought they were valuable enough.

That was how cruel wartime was. Things that seemed simple in peacetime, and even feelings, became unbearably precious.

Uchiha Kei didn't like it either, but there was nothing he could do about the era he lived in.

The Konoha Ninja was taken aback, but soon accepted what Uchiha Kei had said. It was clear he'd spent plenty of time fighting on the battlefield himself, and understood Kei's reasoning.

After the White Fang incident, no one wanted to risk making the same mistake. As a Ninja, you had value only as long as you could still be put to use.

The Konoha Ninja tested his arms and legs. Though weak, he quickly assessed his condition.

"I'm all right. A little weak, but my comrades should be fine too."

He glanced back at the others before answering Uchiha Kei properly. He wasn't about to look down on Kei just because he was a kid of twelve or thirteen.

"Good. Aya, please scout ahead for us. We're leaving right away." Uchiha Kei nodded, then turned to the Konoha Ninja. "I'm Uchiha Kei, the leader of this squad. These two are Hyuga Aya and Imai Kenta. Tell me about your situation."

"Uchiha? Hyuga?" The Konoha Ninja paused, then sighed. "My name is Yamanaka Masato. Our unit was scattered, and that's how we ended up captured. Fortunately, we haven't been prisoners for long. Aside from being hungry, we're all right."

"I understand." Uchiha Kei nodded. That was good news.

Newly captured Ninja usually only underwent Genjutsu interrogation, but that sort of interrogation rarely revealed anything useful.

So the Iwa Ninja would bind them and take them to the rear, where they'd face much harsher interrogation to extract information.

Uchiha Kei tilted his head and studied the man. His name had clearly caught Kei's attention. He was familiar with the surname Yamanaka.

And the Yamanaka were usually accompanied by other people, such as the Nara and the Akimichi.

But after looking around, Uchiha Kei didn't spot anyone with pineapple-shaped hair or a plump build. So they were either dead or had escaped back alive.

Of course, that had nothing to do with Uchiha Kei. The flames from his earlier Fire Style had spread and were slowly burning through the area, so he turned and led Yamanaka Masato and the others away.

Not long after they left, several Iwa Ninja squads arrived at the spot where they'd been.

Fortunately, neither Uchiha Kei nor Yamanaka Masato's group were battlefield novices.

If they were going to run, why would they leave behind a trail for others to follow? They weren't like those people from more than a decade later.

The Chunin Ninja Exams alone showed how unpopular the Third Hokage was. They also showed how poor the Konoha Genin's abilities had been back then.

With Hyuga Aya's help, the nine of them evaded several pursuit squads and eventually found a cave where they could hide.

Uchiha Kei and the others were fine, but the newly rescued Konoha Ninja clearly couldn't go on.

They'd made it this far through sheer will to survive. They needed to rest before they could move again.

"Kei-kun, can you tell me what your mission is?" Yamanaka Masato sat on the ground, chewing jerky that had probably been sitting around for days. To them, it was already a delicacy.

"Sure." Uchiha Kei nodded. "We need your help, which is why we rescued you. I'll explain our mission now. We're supposed to tie up and draw the attention of the Iwa Ninja garrison, so that Namikaze Squad can complete their mission without a hitch."

"A decoy mission?" Yamanaka Masato paused, then continued chewing without expression. "So that's what it is. We understand. We'll cooperate."

"Good." Uchiha Kei nodded and surveyed the mood in the cave. After he explained the mission, the atmosphere had clearly grown oppressive.

There was no helping it. Uchiha Kei and the others had been given a mission that was, in a way, practically suicidal. But if a mission like this existed, then it must have been necessary.

They knew Namikaze Minato. They probably thought his mission would be perilous and difficult too.

Still, one thing was reassuring: these Konoha Ninja were relatively simple-minded.

The fact that none of them had objected after hearing about the mission put Uchiha Kei in a good mood.

Yamanaka Masato was no exception. Considering his surname and his clan's relationship with the successive Hokage, it wasn't hard to understand.

In the Original work, it was no mystery why the Third Hokage had placed the new generation of Ino-Shika-Cho in Sarutobi Asuma's hands.

Anyone would make some preparations for the next generation, to one degree or another. Not everyone was the Second, after all.

Uchiha Kei chatted with them briefly, then stepped outside. They still needed to keep watch, in case some careless person had left a trace that could give them away.

What Uchiha Kei didn't expect was for Imai Kenta and Hyuga Aya to follow him out. Aya, in particular, asked him outright:

"Did you already guess what Namikaze Squad's mission is?"