Chasing the Rogue Ninja

March 1st, the 34th year of Konoha. While border frictions between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind had not yet reached the point of escalation, the Land of Rain—sandwiched between the lands of Fire, Wind, and Earth—made a move that shocked the entire shinobi world.

Hanzo of the Rain, the daimyo of the Land of Rain and current leader of Amegakure, publicly announced that he would no longer tolerate the exploitation of the three great nations and was preparing for a nationwide mobilization to wage war against them.

This "nationwide mobilization" was no simple matter. It meant that Amegakure would conduct a large-scale recruitment of bounty hunters and rogue ninjas operating within and around the Land of Rain, offering them high-bounty missions and access to the village's internal ninjutsu heritage.

Although the strength of Rain ninjas could not be compared to the five great hidden villages, they had survived since the Warring States period, and their ninjutsu heritage possessed unique merits. To the bounty hunters and rogue ninjas at the bottom of the shinobi world, this was an incomparably attractive offer.

On the very day the mobilization order was issued, the sensory unit in Kikyo City, Land of Fire, detected hundreds of suspected ninja chakra signals entering the Land of Rain from the side bordering the Land of Fire.

Along the even longer borders between the Land of Rain and the lands of Wind, River, and Earth, it was likely that even more bounty hunters and rogue ninjas were entering, potentially mixed with a large number of ninjas from smaller villages.

Ninjas from the lower ranks of villages such as Kagerou Village in the Land of Rivers, Suomae Village in the Land of Keys, Hoshigakure in the Land of Bears, and Kusagakure in the Land of Grass were voluntarily defecting to join Amegakure.

What was even more alarming was that bounty hunters and rogue ninjas operating within the lands of Fire, Wind, and Earth were attempting to secretly smuggle themselves across the borders into the Land of Rain.

While Konoha in the Land of Fire did not show obvious signs of this, the less-regarded Shin-Gaku Village and Kairan Village had already seen over a dozen defection incidents within three days.

Team Shinku, to which Touma belonged, had just received a mission to pursue and suppress defectors from Kairan Village.

The contact for Team Shinku this time was Umino Sadami, a jonin who had collaborated with them during a previous mission in the capital.

The surname Umino belonged to a great clan from the Warring States period in the Land of Fire, though the clan had split up long ago; ninjas of the Umino clan could be found in Konoha, Shin-Gaku, and Kairan.

Umino Ikkaku, the father of Umino Iruka, was a rare jonin in Konoha who had achieved his rank through expertise in barrier and sealing techniques. If one were to stretch the connection, Umino Sadami could be considered a clan uncle to Umino Ikkaku.

Umino Sadami was a typical Water Release user from Kairan Village. It was said that she had contracted a special cetacean summon and could manifest parts of its body to unleash Water Release techniques on a scale rivaling the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama.

Although Touma and his team had been limited by the environment of the capital during their last mission and had no chance to witness the Water Release techniques that earned Umino Sadami the title of "Sea Release," this pursuit mission truly opened their eyes.

First, it must be clarified that the reputation of Senju Tobirama "contracting the ocean" was not because he had actually contracted the ocean itself, but because the Senju clan's constitution naturally possessed a massive amount of chakra, allowing him to condense large-scale Water Release techniques in environments without water.

However, this did not mean others could not use Water Release in waterless environments; any ninja who had delved deep enough into the art of Water Release could achieve this, provided they were limited by their own chakra reserves and the scale of the technique.

Umino Sadami's constitution was quite ordinary, and the reason she could unleash Water Release on such a scale was entirely due to the humpback whale summon named Senkawa-maru.

According to intelligence gathered by Konoha, Senkawa-maru exceeded 50 meters in length and weighed an astonishing 300 tons, several times larger than the blue whale, the largest creature in the ocean.

The chakra provided by such a massive body was equally terrifying. If compared to the One-Tail Shukaku, which had been the most thoroughly studied, Senkawa-maru's chakra reserves were roughly three to five times greater.

Of course, having massive chakra did not mean its recovery mode was the same as a tailed beast. The essence of Senkawa-maru's chakra was still a combination of spiritual and physical energy, not the rapid recovery of lost chakra through the conversion of natural energy like a tailed beast.

Every time Senkawa-maru wanted to accumulate sufficient chakra, it needed to hunt in the ocean for five to seven days, which was why Umino Sadami did not use the partial summoning of Senkawa-maru as a standard move.

The targets of this pursuit mission were two chunin squads. One squad leader was Shiba Shinichi, a special jonin, and the other was Shiba Kuro, an elite chunin.

One could tell from their names that the two leaders, Shiba Kuro and Shiba Shinichi, were definitely related by blood. In reality, Shiba Shinichi was Shiba Kuro's nephew and his only remaining relative in Kairan Village.

As for the remaining six chunin, aside from Xiao Gui, who had explicitly refused the two leaders but was kidnapped anyway, the other five had listened to the benefits promised by the two leaders and defected half-heartedly.

To be honest, while the standard of living in Kairan Village could not compare to a top-tier village like Konoha, it was certainly much better than that of Amegakure.

Amegakure's mobilization and recruitment orders were certainly aimed at attracting special jonin and elite chunin who could be useful on the battlefield; chunin and genin would still be treated as cannon fodder.

Not to mention, these two chunin squads led by the Shiba uncle and nephew had been formed recently and had no coordination to speak of. Even if they were absorbed into Amegakure, their units would be broken up and reassigned, making the promises of the Shiba duo nothing more than "flowers in a mirror and the moon in the water."

Because the impact of the Shiba duo's joint defection was so severe, the first pursuit team did not hold back once they tracked the route of the two squads.

Unexpectedly, the Shiba duo used traps to wipe out the entire first pursuit team, which forced the village to seek reinforcements from Konoha and dispatch Umino Sadami, who had already entered the upper echelons of Kairan Village, to assist in killing them.

The Shiba duo would be handled one-on-one by Teacher Shinku and Uncle Umino, while the remaining six chunin, excluding the kidnapped Xiao Gui, would be handled by Touma, Shibi, and Kizashi.

Ever since the mission in the capital ended, both Shibi and Kizashi had returned and requested special training from Teacher Shinku.

Shibi focused on increasing the capacity and quality of his Kikaichū, and with the help of Teacher Shinku's genjutsu, he greatly improved his insects' resistance to illusions.

After all, during the previous mission in the capital against the Yomi Sect, Shibi's Kikaichū had been influenced by the power of the demon Moryo, slipping out of his control several times and nearly causing a riot in his internal hive. Thus, his primary problem to solve was the genjutsu resistance of his insects.

As for Haruno Kizashi, due to his decent chakra control, Teacher Shinku taught him a visual genjutsu that could be used in conjunction with taijutsu: Demonic Illusion: Falling Cherry Blossoms.

It allowed the user to hide completely within an illusion covered in cherry blossom petals, making it impossible for the enemy to distinguish the path of the attack.

The needs of the two complemented each other perfectly during sparring; one familiarized himself with a new genjutsu, while the other trained his resistance. In just half a month, their progress was rapid. According to Teacher Shinku, their current strength was more than enough to participate in the Chunin Exams.

It was only because the entire village was currently undergoing war mobilization that all assessments, other than those for natural promotion through mission quotas, had been halted. Otherwise, Teacher Shinku would have truly reserved the recommendation slots for the three of them today.