Surprise Attack

"F-Father, what are you doing here?"

In the woods outside the nameless town, Guy stared at Might Duy in disbelief. Shiranui Genma, standing beside him, looked just as astonished.

Today was their patrol day. They wanted to join the battlefield and help the resistance groups put the Mist Ninja through the wringer.

But the original eight-man squad had been left behind, so even though they wanted to help, they couldn't act on it for now. They still listened closely to Uchiha Sou.

While they were on patrol, they suddenly received word from the villagers nearby. These villagers, who were also keeping watch, told them that someone who appeared to be a Konoha Ninja was heading their way.

Naturally, this piqued their curiosity, so the two of them hurried over. They never expected to find Guy's father, Might Duy!

Might Duy was now looking at his son with excitement. After all that effort, he had finally found him.

"Of course I came to find you!"

Might Duy grinned and gave Guy's shoulder a hearty slap before speaking loudly.

"I've been looking for Lord Orochimaru, hoping he could tell me where you were.

"I had no idea you were carrying out such a dangerous mission. Lord Orochimaru gave me the same assignment, so here I am!

"Guy, let's give it our all together!"

Hearing his father's words, Guy fell silent for a moment. He had no idea what to say.

Meanwhile, Shiranui Genma quietly edged farther away and slipped a hand into the weapons pouch behind him. His gaze grew wary.

"Uncle Duy, can I ask you something?" he asked softly. "How did you find out about this place?"

"Hm?" Guy was startled by Genma's question, then looked at Might Duy.

"The villagers told me," Might Duy said with a smile, though he understood that he needed to be more serious.

"You're certainly cautious. The first time I met them, they treated me the same way. But they checked me thoroughly, and a ninja over there told me you were in this direction."

"Is that so?"

Guy sounded uncertain, while Genma grew even more wary.

"Then, Uncle Duy, did you run into any enemies on your way here?"

"Enemies?"

Might Duy seemed to notice Genma's attitude, but he didn't take it to heart.

Of course he knew Shiranui Genma. He was one of his son's teammates. The other was Ebisu, though it was strange that he wasn't there.

"By the way, where's your other teammate, Ebisu? Never mind. I didn't run into any enemies. I guess I was lucky."

At the mention of Ebisu, Guy and Genma exchanged a brief glance, their wariness growing stronger.

The fact that he could name Ebisu was enough to confirm that the man before them was indeed Guy's father.

Ebisu wasn't famous, and neither were the two of them. No one would bother looking into their circumstances.

But their group had made quite a stir in the Land of Whirlpools. They shouldn't have been able to avoid every enemy. That left only one possibility!

"Pretty sharp, aren't you, kid?" Just then, a voice suddenly rang out around them.

The voice instantly changed the expressions of Shiranui Genma, Guy, and the civilian patrol. Even Might Duy's ever-present smile faded.

They turned around and saw seven or eight ninjas in Kirigakure uniforms standing in the trees, looking down at them!

"Looks like we really did hit pay dirt this time. No idea whether you're just some resistance group or your central command, but..."

"At least following this idiot around for so many days wasn't a waste!"

"Captain, here's the casualty report from this operation."

Outside the town, Uchiha Sou stood idly on a hillside, gazing into the distance. Uchiha Shizuka and Shisui Uchiha stood behind him.

Shisui was quiet, but Uchiha Shizuka kept handing Uchiha Sou documents. It was giving him a bit of a headache.

Nara Rukawa had far too much on his plate. He was busy all day, so some tasks naturally had to be delegated.

Uchiha Shizuka was capable, and she was also Uchiha Sou's clanswoman, making her the perfect person to handle some of the reports.

"Thanks for all your hard work."

Uchiha Sou took the documents from her. He would rather be training or carrying out missions.

After all, his Sharingan was only thirty points of proficiency away from reaching the Mangekyo he had dreamed of.

But he knew there was no need to rush. Everything required balance. Especially now that the plan had just begun, he had to devote some of his attention to the important matters at hand.

"We've lost this many people?"

Uchiha Sou opened the report and began reading it carefully. Before long, his brows rose.

The Full-Scale Harassment Plan had been underway for a month, and so far, it was working fairly well.

A ragtag band of nobodies couldn't hope to face a proper ninja force head-on.

But by taking advantage of their familiarity with the terrain and the preparations they'd made in advance, they could strike and run, and they had caused the Mist Ninja considerable trouble.

So far, they had destroyed or seized quite a bit of the Mist Ninja's supplies bound for the front lines.

This had forced the Mist Ninja to assign more people to guard and transport their supplies. Those extra personnel had either been pulled from the front lines or drawn from the reserve forces.

Either way, it had increased their costs. And with supplies lost, their frontline forces had been affected to some extent as well.

But Uchiha Sou's side had taken its share of losses, too. The ninjas had fared all right, but the civilians in the resistance groups hadn't been so lucky.

Like Genin on a frontline battlefield, they could easily die in a random area attack. In fact, they had it even worse than the Genin.

Across all the resistance groups in the various "theaters," the combined number of wounded and dead was already several hundred!

That was a serious headache for Uchiha Sou. They were supposed to strike and retreat, yet the losses were already this bad. If they were unlucky enough to face a large-scale sweep, wouldn't the region be left devastated?

"Looks like we need to increase their training and tell the local ninjas to be more cautious."

Uchiha Sou considered it for a moment before speaking. Uchiha Shizuka immediately began taking notes, sneaking glances at him as she wrote.

Just as Uchiha Sou knew nothing about her, she knew little about him beyond the fact that he was a clan prodigy.

"Also, we can't stop recruiting for the resistance groups. We need more people. That way, we can cut off Kirigakure's supplies more effectively. Hmm?"

But Uchiha Sou stopped midsentence. Shisui, beside him, quickly got to his feet.

The town's alarm bells were ringing, and in the distance, flames flashed and explosions rumbled. They could hear them clearly even from here!

"Is someone attacking?" Uchiha Sou murmured. He was about to go take a look when Shisui spoke up.

"Captain, take Shizuka back. I'll go check it out." Without waiting for Uchiha Sou to object, he ran straight toward the disturbance.

His actions made Uchiha Sou shake his head slightly. But just as he was about to take Uchiha Shizuka away, a voice suddenly rang out.

"I never expected the commander here to be you, kid."