As autumn deepened, the weather had turned completely cold. In the early morning, a thin layer of fog hung over the village entrance.
"Stop! Who are you?!"
At the entrance, Kotetsu Hagane, who was guarding the gate, spotted a plainly dressed middle-aged man wearing a straw hat. The man slowly emerged from the thin fog and headed toward Konoha. His clothes didn't look like those of a citizen of the Land of Fire, so Kotetsu immediately stood up and called out to him, alert.
Just a few months earlier, Konoha had been attacked. Although the village's Fourth Hokage, Uzumaki Kuming, had stepped in just in time and driven off the enemy, preventing the village from being damaged, the commotion had left a deep impression on Kotetsu. Even now, months after the attack, he never let his guard down while on duty.
"Hello. I'm Tazuna, from the Land of Waves. I've come to Konoha this time because I need the village's ninjas to help me with something."
"I'm here to post a mission."
Tazuna rested his right hand on his straw hat, took it off, and said with a broad smile. Faced with Kotetsu's questions, he didn't seem flustered. He showed none of the panic or inferiority ordinary people felt when meeting a ninja. Though he was already getting on in years, his eyes shone brightly as he looked at Kotetsu.
After just one meeting, Kotetsu had already formed a favorable impression of the middle-aged man.
"Do you have a travel permit?!"
When Kotetsu heard that the man was from the Land of Waves, his tone softened. He knew of the Land of Waves, a small country near the Land of Fire. There were no ninjas in the country, and during wartime it was essentially protected by the Land of Fire.