From the North

Soji's shortcomings as a ninja showed in every aspect of his abilities.

Not only were Taijutsu and ninjutsu beyond him... spatial awareness wasn't one of the boy's strengths either!

Soji had focused most of his attention on talking with Doctor Usami, so he couldn't possibly have noticed the eyes watching from the camp—even though he'd already guessed that Director Inoue had planted informants there.

Then again, the reason Soji had openly cozied up to Usami Hanbei was that he knew it didn't matter if he was being watched.

His partnership with Inoue Hisahide was a secret that outsiders could never know about.

Moreover, Director Inoue wanted to wash his hands of his past and ride the wave of reform sweeping in with the new generation. He needed young opinion leaders like Soji and Usami to draw closer to him.

So he wouldn't interfere with the boy's actions. If anything, he might even lend a hand and provide protection when necessary.

Still, if Director Inoue had sent someone to keep watch in secret, he must have had other, deeper motives...

Besides covering any gaps in Yamada Soji's plans, the director—who held the trump card of being an insider—also had to make sure that his former allies' betrayal wouldn't turn him into a stepping stone for the boy's rise to power!

The spy planted in the medical team supporting the front was his final insurance policy, just in case.

If Yamada-kun's actions diverged from Director Inoue's interests, this watcher could act as the director's agent, intervening through a third party to steer events toward the outcome he wanted!

All of this was part of the meticulous calculations of a man who preferred to remain behind the scenes.

Director Inoue had made every possible preparation. He was determined to seize this opportunity, while the old director was away supporting the front, and achieve his aims!

But with conflicts between shinobi villages growing ever fiercer, no one could say whether tomorrow or the unexpected would arrive first.

As a red signal flare suddenly burst above the camp, the entire supply convoy went on high alert!

After receiving the signal indicating an enemy attack, Soji, who was on guard duty, didn't even have time to say goodbye to Doctor Usami, with whom he'd been enjoying a pleasant conversation. He immediately shifted into combat mode.

He took the glass fibers he used as a casting material from his ninja pouch and tucked them into the compartment on the back of his tactical glove. Then, as agreed, he blew his whistle and raced toward the direction indicated by the signal!

The boy wasn't fast.

Unfortunately, the site of the incident was very close to where he was!

By the time Soji crossed the perimeter and switched into search mode, the other support squads still hadn't arrived!

Meanwhile, the evening forest cast sprawling, web-like shadows that looked like the claws of demons...

Being alone deep in enemy territory made the eerie shadows all the more terrifying!

Every step forward forced the boy into a fierce struggle against his own instincts!

The rush of adrenaline filled Soji's ears with the sound of both insects and his pounding heartbeat. The branches beneath his feet seemed to turn into a mountain of blades, each step bringing a phantom jolt of pain!

His overstimulated sympathetic nervous system made him sweat more, and within seconds, his neat, clean combat uniform was soaked through.

Soji's fingertips began to ache and tingle... the erratic electrical signals left his clever mind completely blank.

But the boy refused to let fear consume him!

—The glass fibers pierced the skin inside his glove, and the pain diluted the unease of his first time on the battlefield!

Afterward, his breathing gradually steadied, and as his body recovered its oxygen supply, his physical functions slowly returned to normal.

As Soji's ordinarily meticulous powers of observation came back online, he soon noticed something strange as he moved forward.

...The mottled shadows in the forest did create an unsettling atmosphere, but it wasn't all in his head.

Judging by their varying shades and the shapes of their edges, these tangled shadows had clearly been distorted by an outside force!

He couldn't yet tell whether the effect came from a ninjutsu or a genjutsu, but when it came to secret techniques involving shadows, there was probably no one in the Shinobi World better qualified to speak than the Nara Clan!

"So... is this Motochika-sensei's doing?"

Soji couldn't be sure.

Still, the thought brought him some relief.

After all, if Motochika-sensei could still maintain a secret technique on this scale, it meant that the supply convoy's elite fighters had already stepped in, and the battle was still under the control of the jōnin leading the team!

That drove away the debuff of fighting alone.

The severely unbalanced Soji finally regained some confidence, and he moved with greater decisiveness and ease.

But after pushing through layer upon layer of obstacles and finally reaching the combat zone within five hundred meters of where the signal flare had been fired, he found no scene of clashing blades and bloody fighting waiting for him.

Beneath several thick cedar trees, four masked men dressed head to toe in black were pinned against the deep brown trunks, their arms stretched out to either side as if they were doing chest expansions.

There were no ropes or anything else visible on their bodies, but dense shadows clung to them like invisible chains, pressing intricate patterns into their black clothes.

When Soji arrived, Motochika-sensei was standing in front of one of them.

He held his left hand in a Hand Seal while lightly flicking his fingers with the right. From a distance, he effortlessly removed the man's mask, revealing a face filled with horror and helplessness.

Only then did Soji realize that the black-clad men's limbs—and even their mouths—were completely bound by the Nara Clan's secret technique.

Until their captor gave them permission, all they could do was move their eyes.

So the boy's gaze immediately shifted to the other three men's pupils. After confirming that none of them were wearing colored contacts, Soji let out a rather conflicted sigh.

—Yamada-kun had spent all that time psyching himself up, only to miss his chance to show off.

By the time he reached the scene, the jōnin leading the team had already dealt with everything and moved straight on to the cleanup.

"Motochika-sensei..."

Although Soji was certain that Nara Motochika had sensed his approach long ago, he still announced his position as a matter of protocol. Then he made a few light leaps and landed steadily about four or five meters from Motochika.

"Oh, Soji. Didn't expect you to be the first one here."

Nara Motochika didn't turn to look at the boy, nor did he seem at all surprised by his student's arrival.

His eyes roamed over the attackers before settling on the forehead protector with an arrow-shaped symbol open at the base. "Let's see if you know this one. Which shinobi village does it belong to?"

"That's the symbol of Takigakure, sensei." Soji wasn't some clueless veteran slacker like Naruto. He took only a cursory glance before answering.

But Motochika-sensei's question wasn't pointless.

Using it as a starting point, the listless, languid, middle-aged man with a sickly look asked another question. "Then do you know where the Land of Waterfalls is?"

"I've heard it's a mysterious hidden village concealed behind a waterfall. On the map, it's north of the Land of Fire."

"Right... and yet they've gone all the way around and come to the banks of the Amber River in the southwest. It's baffling."

Motochika used his shadow technique to pry the fake tooth containing poison from the man's mouth, then released his control over the man's head.

"I know this question goes against a shinobi's professional ethics, but I'll ask anyway: who hired you to attack the supply convoy from Konoha?"

"I... I don't know." The black-clad man stammered and trembled.

Motochika-sensei had no intention of making things difficult for him.

He waved his hand, and the mottled shadows snapped the man's neck...

Blood splattered across the cheek of the second shinobi from Takigakure. Before long, it was diluted by his rapidly increasing sweat.

"Troublesome. You don't know either, do you?"