Judgment

The attempt to combine genjutsu with the secret art Rain Woman's Heart had paid off, and young Soji finally felt a little more confident about the coming confrontation.

But unlike the four people on the decision-making team who knew what was going on, everyone in the Frontline Support Battalion—including the other members of Team Five—remained wound tight and on edge!

...To preserve operational secrecy, most of the details of the ambush plan had never been disclosed.

The passengers aboard the two transport ships knew nothing of the support personnel gathering intelligence along the Amber River. They were even unaware that the Frontline Support Battalion's operation had been coordinated with the border garrison's deployment!

The lack of information only deepened the unease they felt out in the middle of the great river.

Insomnia, heart palpitations, and hormonal imbalances spread among the crew like a plague.

Add to that the increasingly strict security measures and the dizziness caused by the choppy waves, and the tense, grim atmosphere was almost suffocating...

After several days, the chubby Todo's seasickness and vomiting had grown worse. Even Erina, usually the most energetic and restless of the bunch, had dark circles under her eyes!

The two youngsters often glanced at the boy as if they wanted to ask something, while doing their best to stifle their curiosity and avoid raising anything that might violate the confidentiality rules.

Little did they know that Soji himself was under a different kind of psychological pressure.

—As it turned out, being in the dark was certainly agonizing, but pulling the strings behind the scenes was no easy task either!

For decision-makers and managers, intense conflicts where lives were at stake often meant receiving far too much redundant information from all kinds of sources every day.

Sifting through that hodgepodge of intelligence to find what was truly useful inevitably took a great deal of effort.

...The reconnaissance units responsible for surveillance and detection weren't omniscient, either.

The many reports they submitted were not only riddled with subjective judgments, but might even lead to contradictory conclusions because of the limits of their perspective.

If the reports weren't sorted and assessed according to their specific contents, the intelligence department's work wouldn't aid the operation. It might instead throw the entire command structure into disarray.

To prevent that, the decision-making group—Nara Motonari, Usami Hanbei, Chosokabe Masayuki, and Soji himself—had to shoulder the responsibility of judging what to keep and what to discard.

And every one of them knew that a single misjudgment could send the entire Frontline Support Battalion down a path to ruin...

The crushing pressure of having so many lives in their hands could break anyone who wasn't steadfast.

Especially Nara Motonari, the commander-in-chief who had the final say. He bore responsibility for the fate of more than a hundred people!

Fortunately, Motochika-sensei seemed long accustomed to shouldering such a heavy burden. He had spent the past few days processing the dizzying flood of information in an orderly fashion, showing not the slightest impatience in the calm before the storm.

"The waterway near Eagle Sorrow Ravine is still quiet today... The scouts have expanded their search to a hundred-kilometer stretch both upstream and downstream, but they've found no sign of Sand Ninja activity."

Soji brought the intelligence compiled by Group A to Motochika-sensei's desk. The latter didn't look up, merely nodding slightly to show he'd heard.

"The fleet will enter Eagle Sorrow Ravine from the open waters tomorrow. Given the current situation, the possibility of the enemy ambushing us there is now only a remote theoretical one."

"...That's surprising. The narrow, slow-moving channel should be ideal for setting traps, and its elevated terrain would make it easy for the enemy to position their weapons. I never expected the Sand Ninja to give up that advantage." Soji pressed his lips together, a hint of worry in his voice. "Could they have seen through our plan?"

"That is too early to say." Nara Motonari waved a hand casually. "From Eagle Sorrow Ravine onward, the Amber River has at least three more places with similar terrain before it joins a tributary flowing into the Land of Rain. The Sand Ninja may have avoided setting an ambush there precisely because the terrain is too dangerous. They might worry that it would put the Frontline Support Battalion on alert."

"Then they'll strike at one of the more treacherous stretches farther downstream?"

Soji frowned.

He was wondering whether to advise Motochika-sensei to change the current deployment of the reconnaissance units and strengthen patrols along the latter part of the route.

But the commander-in-chief saw through him first and cut off the thought before he could voice it.

"That's only one possibility. The enemy might deliberately exploit that assumption and choose one of the ambush sites farther upstream instead."

"...So you've covered both sides of the argument."

The boy was at a loss for words...

Nara Motonari only smiled~

He didn't directly answer Soji's question. Instead, he picked up another report and handed it to the boy. "This report was sent by Group D through the Communications Squad earlier. They found signs of intruders near Ranunculus Mountain. Based on their examination of the site, it appears to be the remains of a camp from two or three days ago."

"Does that mean the enemy set their ambush at Ranunculus Mountain? Hmm... no, that's not right..."

The words had barely left Soji's mouth when he reconsidered. "By my reckoning, our unit had only just reached the Amber River basin then. Before confirming that we had chosen the river route, the enemy couldn't have planned an ambush in advance."

"Good. You're making progress~"

Nara Motonari nodded approvingly, then soon buried himself in the paperwork again. "The most important principle of intelligence work is to make bold conjectures and verify them carefully. The worst habit is to jump to conclusions and deceive yourself!

"No matter how capable your intelligence network is, once the commander has made up his mind, all the investigation that follows becomes pointless—like shooting an arrow first and drawing the target afterward.

"So never rush to a conclusion because of outside pressure. Until truly decisive evidence turns up, all you need to rely on are your eyes and ears."

"..."

Soji fell silent and made a zipping motion across his lips.

Just then, Miss Inoue Reina—whose appearances always brought important news—once again broke the stalemate!

The short-haired kunoichi asked permission before hurrying into the cabin. She handed Motochika-sensei a message written in code.

"Commander, we've just received an urgent report from the front line."

"Which department?" Nara Motonari quickly took it and immediately pulled out his codebook.

The full reference text wasn't at hand. The codebook only contained the periodically changed secondary cipher used for relaying messages.

The page numbers and characters deciphered from it still had to be matched against the original text of a book Motochika-sensei had memorized before they could reveal any meaningful information.

"Group F. They'd just received orders to change their reconnaissance area earlier."

"Mm, mm... So they showed up there after all."

Nara Motonari deciphered the message quickly as he listened to his subordinate's report.

Though he'd said "after all," Soji couldn't detect any surprise in his expression.

And Motochika-sensei's next order confirmed the boy's suspicion.

"Soji, are the special ninja tools I asked Erina to prepare ready?"

"Of course. Everything's ready."

"Excellent!"

Nara Motonari nodded with satisfaction, then turned to Miss Inoue. "Notify every department to change its reconnaissance strategy according to the plan. Remember: approach closely, but don't alert the enemy."

"Yes, sir. I'll relay it exactly as instructed."