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The Land of Fire was rich in resources. After crossing a vast forest, Byakuya spotted a busy iron ore factory. Konoha Ninja patrolled the area, and watchtowers had been built at high points. Anyone passing through would need to be skilled in stealth ninjutsu. Unfortunately, Byakuya wasn't.

He strode openly into the patrol's line of sight and showed them his Anbu pass and Forehead Protector.

To confirm he was really a Konoha Ninja, the patrolmen asked him all sorts of questions about life and customs in the Hidden Leaf Village. One of them seemed especially fond of Ichiraku Ramen and even asked Byakuya what kind of ramen Teuchi was best at making.

"Tonkotsu ramen. Actually, I don't like tonkotsu ramen."

"Huh? Someone who doesn't like Teuchi's tonkotsu ramen? Then tell me, what kind do you like?"

"Definitely the kind with special miso sauce and chashu pork."

"Oh, right! Come to think of it, I like miso ramen too, but I still prefer tonkotsu."

Byakuya's handsome face was hidden behind the sinister Shuten-dōji Mask. "Is that enough? I still have to get going."

"Judging by your direction, are you headed to the Land of Rivers?" one of them asked.

He didn't answer. With questions like that, both answering and denying were mistakes. Staying silent might leave them guessing.

"Who told you to ask him that? Kid, these kunai were forged at the iron ore factory. Take them with you."

The patrolman who had asked Byakuya about ramen took off his tool pouch and handed it to him.

"Thanks."

"Travel safely."

"You too."

After taking the tool pouch, Byakuya accepted his Anbu pass and Forehead Protector back from the patrolmen, along with the iron ore factory pass they'd given him.

His mysterious attire inevitably drew attention.

Akimichi Todō, returning from the front lines where Konoha was holding back Kumogakure's attack to deliver important ninja tools to the rear, stopped him.

After questioning him for a while, Akimichi Todō had more or less guessed which department Byakuya belonged to.

"You're pretty young, aren't you? Carrying out a mission alone?"

He said nothing.

"Namikaze Minato's back in Konoha to recover. Have you seen him?"

Silence.

"What a dull ninja. Tell me your codename. Maybe we'll work together someday."

Byakuya remained silent, merely pointing at his mask.

"Your codename is Shuten-dōji?"

Akimichi Todō tossed him his Anbu pass. "Don't be impulsive on the battlefield. If your superiors dared to send you on a mission alone, either you're highly capable or you're expendable and they're wasting you. Either way, I hope you survive..."

"You youngsters are the future of Konoha, after all."

Curving lines were painted across his plump face, and his eyes narrowed as he spoke.

The Akimichi Clan was one of Konoha's founding clans. They were the "Cho" of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio and possessed the secret Multi-Size Technique and Butterfly Mode. But what interested Byakuya even more were the Akimichi Clan's Three-Colored Pills.

The green Spinach Pill unleashed one's potential, the yellow Curry Pill made one strong and robust, and the red Chili Pill increased one's strength a hundredfold.

Though the Three-Colored Pills all had serious side effects, they were undoubtedly powerful trump cards.

Byakuya remembered that Akimichi Todō, the man before him, had once formed a combat squad with Namikaze Minato and fought the famous AB Duo of Kumogakure. That was the Fourth Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer B.

He wondered whether the AB Duo had fought Namikaze Minato by this point in the Third Shinobi World War.

Back in Konoha, Byakuya was only a storeroom attendant at the Ninja Academy. He had no reliable information from the battlefield. As for the news circulating among ordinary people, it was invariably all about Konoha Ninja winning, winning, and winning.

Byakuya understood the village's approach. Only by keeping people's morale up could Konoha continue fighting this exceptionally brutal war.

The war had barely begun, yet the names on Konoha's Memorial Stone were already increasing rapidly.

After leaving the factory without incident, he entered another forest.

Beyond it stretched endless farmland. A village large enough to rival a town came into view, but Byakuya didn't enter. He went around it and continued on his way.

He spent several days traveling. This time, he'd learned from experience and brought a camping tent.

Konoha Ninja were stationed along the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rivers. They must have had sensory ninja, because a three-man squad cornered him.

Two Konoha Ninja warily kept their distance. Behind them stood a man with his Byakugan activated.

Ninja from the Hyuga Clan were practically peerless when it came to reconnaissance.

The Byakugan in particular was even more hot-swappable than the Uchiha's Sharingan: plug it in, and it worked. No wonder other villages coveted the Byakugan so much. Without the Caged Bird Seal, what Hyuga would dare go out alone? There were plenty of ways to pluck your eyeballs out.

It would've been a lie to say he wasn't envious.

Byakuya withdrew his gaze from the Hyuga Branch Family ninja and tossed his Anbu pass to the three, who were standing ready.

"Is this really an Anbu pass? Why does it look like this?"

After carefully checking the chakra seal, one of them stepped forward and respectfully returned the pass to Byakuya.

They escorted him to the border checkpoint and let him enter the Land of Rivers.

The border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rivers was long, but there were only a few places one could cross. Everywhere else was either a canyon, a stretch of mountains, or a forest with harsh conditions...

With an Anbu pass like this, why make things difficult for himself?

Even if his mission was for the Root Organization, look at it another way: would they entrust him with a mission that required every detail to be kept secret?

So he might as well go easy on himself.

Even deliberately revealing his whereabouts was a kind of "Way of Survival."

"I'm already this useless. Don't give me any dangerous missions."

Once he reached the sparsely populated Land of Rivers, he stopped hurrying.

He took the time to find a valley where a stream burbled, then set about completing his Fate Grid mission. The deadline was almost up.

[Heaven Rewards Diligence, Perseverance Leads to Success

Time Limit: 6 days: Hit the bull's-eye with a Kunai (200/200)

Reward: Slight increase in chakra control

Fate Choice Two: Establish a foothold in the Anbu Training Department (Time Limit: 19 days)

Reward: Major increase in chakra quality]

He drew a target on a sufficiently wide tree trunk with a Kunai and threw two hundred times.

Byakuya's chakra reserves, stamina, senses, reflexes, and other attributes were all leagues beyond what they'd been before, so he finished with ease.

Before going to sleep that night, he wondered, I wonder if my current strength is enough to qualify as a Konoha Chunin...

As someone who lived by the Way of Survival, his Genin status was the perfect disguise. There was no need to chase better treatment or cater to other people's expectations by raising his ninja rank.

Solid skills and the strength to survive a crisis were what really mattered.

At night, he was awakened by footsteps and killed a wild bear just as it was about to attack his tent. When he woke at dawn, he packed up and set off through the mountains and rivers toward the area around the guard unit where his target, San-Dan-Kun, was stationed.

The Land of Rivers lay between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind. Its purpose was to serve as a buffer between the two, so there weren't many ninja within its borders.

Ninja from Sunagakure in the Land of Wind could come, and ninja from Konoha in the Land of Fire could come too. But if ninja from the Land of Rivers tried anything dangerous, they had better think carefully about whether they could afford it.

Byakuya found a small village, gave a villager two hundred ryo in exchange for clothes suitable for gathering herbs in the mountains, and made his way toward Konoha's guard unit.