Three squads infiltrated the interior of the Land of Water according to the plan.
Whether it was intentional or not, Murata Masasuke chose nothing but rugged, difficult routes along the way.
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They were either swamps, poisonous miasma, or dangerous areas with frequent Kirigakure patrols.
But this time, Uchiha Yatsuhashi didn't fall behind.
Once they entered enemy territory, he stayed on high alert at all times.
He also stopped conserving his strength.
Mitaraishi Anko was still in poor condition.
But she had been personally trained by one of the Sannin, and her fundamentals remained solid.
The two looked out for each other and managed to keep up with the squad.
Murata Masasuke was clearly displeased.
"Clever little brat."
Murata Masasuke couldn't help muttering under his breath.
But he wasn't in a hurry. Once they reached their destination, he'd have plenty of ways to deal with them.
His expression grew even colder.
Several days later, everyone gathered at a secret Konoha outpost marked on the map.
The outpost's entrance was hidden in a cave behind a waterfall.
Calling it a secret outpost was generous; it was more like a temporary shelter.
There wasn't much room inside, yet it was packed with people.
Although Murata Masasuke had deliberately made things difficult for Uchiha Yatsuhashi's group, their infiltration had gone relatively smoothly.
The other two squads hadn't been so lucky.
Along the way, they had either encountered Kirigakure shinobi or triggered all manner of deadly traps.
By the time they assembled, fewer than fifteen of the more than twenty people who had set out remained, and almost all of them were injured.
But Uchiha Yatsuhashi noticed the Root jonin, like Murata Masasuke.
Though they showed signs of having fought, they were all unharmed.
Their breathing was steady, their eyes calm, and they even seemed composed, as if their plan had gone smoothly.
Silence filled the cave.
Only the injured people's labored breathing and the crackle of the torches could be heard.
They had lost nearly a third of their number just getting in.
Was this really the kind of attrition an "intelligence-gathering mission" was supposed to involve?
When no one was paying attention, Murata Masasuke quietly disappeared from the cave.
By the time he showed himself again,
Murata Masasuke was already discussing something with the two remaining Root jonin.
"Quiet."
Murata Masasuke's voice rang out. Everyone looked up at the three Root jonin standing on higher ground.
"We've received new orders."
Murata Masasuke unfurled a scroll.
"According to the latest intelligence, the lake here is the most likely place for the Three-Tails, Isobu, to revive."
He pointed toward the vast lake beyond the waterfall, stretching farther than the eye could see.
"Starting tomorrow, everyone will search outward in a fan-shaped formation, using this outpost as the center.
"Pay special attention to any unusual chakra fluctuations beneath the lake..."
He paused, his gaze sweeping coldly over every face.
"If you find anything unusual, report it immediately. Understood?"
"Everyone?"
Mitaraishi Anko couldn't help asking, "Including the injured?"
"Including them." Murata Masasuke answered without hesitation.
"Everyone goes out tomorrow. That's an order."
"But they..." Anko pointed toward the corner.
Two badly wounded shinobi lay there. One had a bandage around his abdomen that was still seeping blood,
while the other had lost a lower leg and was as pale as paper.
"No 'buts.'" Murata Masasuke cut her off, his voice carrying an unquestionable cruelty.
"This is a mission, not a game.
"Everyone must contribute something of value to the village. Those with no value are just wasting the village's resources."
He stepped forward, and the firelight made his face look even more savage.
"If you don't find it, you're not allowed to come back. If you retreat without permission, slack off on the mission, or..."
His gaze kept drifting, deliberately or otherwise, toward Uchiha Yatsuhashi.
"Anyone who delays the squad for personal reasons will be treated as a 'deserter' and a 'traitor to the village.'"
The temperature in the cave seemed to drop several more degrees.
In Konoha, the words "traitor to the village" were more frightening than death.
They meant your name would be added to the village's list of traitors,
your family would be branded as the family of a rogue shinobi and subjected to endless political discrimination and Anbu surveillance.
Your children wouldn't be allowed to attend the Ninja Academy. Your parents wouldn't be able to live normally in the village, and even friends and relatives would avoid them like the plague.
It was a social death, an erasure more complete than the destruction of the body.
"Think about your families back in Konoha."
Murata Masasuke lowered his voice, making it all the colder.
He watched with satisfaction as despair appeared in so many faces and eyes.
"So put aside that useless sympathy and fear of yours.
"Tomorrow, either find the Three-Tails and return alive, or..."
He didn't finish, but everyone understood.
Or die here, at least without dragging their families down with them.
There was no third option.
Listening to him, Uchiha Yatsuhashi's eyes turned cold as well.
Murata Masasuke had threatened his family. He had just earned himself a death sentence.
Although this was Uchiha Yatsuhashi's first mission outside the village,
he had still keenly sensed how strange this mission was.
When infiltrating another country to gather intelligence, the most important thing was not to be discovered.
But the other two squads had practically announced their arrival to the enemy.
And Murata Masasuke showed no intention of calling off the mission.
Even in the dark world of shinobi, this was way too dark!
They were practically being sent to their deaths in broad daylight tomorrow.
But faced with the hopeless situation before him,
Uchiha Yatsuhashi glanced at Mitaraishi Anko, who was sitting beside him with her knees drawn up.
He whispered, "I have a plan for tomorrow..."
Mitaraishi Anko turned to look at him.
"What plan?"
"We're bound to encounter Kirigakure shinobi tomorrow..."
At that, Mitaraishi Anko's face paled.
But there was no avoiding it.
Uchiha Yatsuhashi used his finger to draw a huge lake on the cold ground.
"Let's say we're here. No matter where the Kirigakure shinobi are, they'll be drawn to us tomorrow."
Uchiha Yatsuhashi continued slowly.
"When we start searching tomorrow, we'll find a chance to put some distance between us and the others."
He looked up at Mitaraishi Anko.
"Once the Kirigakure shinobi are distracted by the others, we'll get ahead and complete the mission first..."
"Three jonin and more than a dozen Chunin should buy us plenty of time."
Mitaraishi Anko stared at him for a long while.
This Genin's chakra was weak, and he had barely stood out at the Ninja Academy.
Yet now, the look in his eyes reminded her of the way her teacher, Orochimaru, looked when working through a difficult problem.
The next morning.
A thin mist enveloped the entire lake.
Under Murata Masasuke's direction, everyone split into groups of three to five and slowly spread out in a fan shape toward different parts of the lake.
Uchiha Yatsuhashi and Mitaraishi Anko were naturally in the same group.
"Keep your distance from one another, but don't lose sight of each other."
Murata Masasuke and the other two Root jonin stood behind them.
"Watch for any unusual concentrations of chakra..."
The ground beneath their feet was muddy, and every step sank to a different depth.
Uchiha Yatsuhashi made a point of staying close to Anko.
He took each step cautiously, doing his best not to make the slightest sound.
At that moment, he and Mitaraishi Anko were both waiting tensely.
Waiting for the Kirigakure shinobi to attack. Then, in the confusion, they would rush into the lake, find the Three-Tails' revival site, and escape.
It was their only chance to survive.
The closer they got to the lake, the quieter it became around them.
And for some reason, the mist around them was growing thicker and thicker.
Uchiha Yatsuhashi lowered his voice. "Something's wrong with this mist."
As soon as he spoke, Murata Masasuke shouted from behind. At some point, he had already brought the other two jonin over.
"Stop!"
"Mitaraishi Anko!" Murata Masasuke pointed toward the roiling mist ahead.
"Go up front and investigate!"
Mitaraishi Anko hesitated for a moment, then tightened her grip on the kunai in her hand.
Uchiha Yatsuhashi looked at the hostile expressions on the faces of Murata Masasuke and the other two.
"Captain Murata, please wait!"
He stepped forward and stood in front of Anko.
Murata Masasuke's gaze turned icy. "Uchiha Yatsuhashi, what are you doing? Are you going to disobey orders?"
"No."
Uchiha Yatsuhashi met his gaze. "I just think we don't know what's ahead,
"and it's too dangerous for one person to investigate alone. I request permission to go with Mitaraishi Anko so we can watch each other's backs."
Several Chunin stared at Uchiha Yatsuhashi in surprise, as if he were crazy.
Murata Masasuke stared at Yatsuhashi, his fingers tapping lightly against his gear pouch. It was a habit of his whenever he felt the urge to kill.
He had originally planned to kill Yatsuhashi on the spot if he dared to object, using "disobeying orders and disrupting the mission" as an excuse.
That way, he could eliminate his target and assert his authority in front of the Chunin.
But instead of objecting, Uchiha Yatsuhashi had volunteered to scout ahead.
That was beyond his expectations.
Then again, if the two of them went together and died in a trap, wouldn't that be killing two birds with one stone?
At the thought, Murata Masasuke couldn't help laughing.
But the smile made him look all the more terrifying.
"Granted."
Mitaraishi Anko looked at Yatsuhashi, a hint of gratitude flashing in her eyes.
"Let's go," Uchiha Yatsuhashi said softly, taking the lead toward the thick mist.
Mitaraishi Anko followed right behind him.
Their figures soon disappeared into the swirling white mist, leaving only faint outlines.
Murata Masasuke watched the direction they had vanished in, a trace of scorn in his eyes.
He turned to the remaining shinobi. "Everyone, stay alert and hold your positions. Once they..."
But before Murata Masasuke could finish speaking, a sudden change erupted!
The thick mist ahead suddenly churned violently, as if it were boiling.
It rapidly expanded, engulfing Murata Masasuke and all the remaining Chunin in an instant.
"Damn it!"
Murata Masasuke's expression changed drastically. He instinctively leaped backward!
The instant he left his position.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"
Several kunai fitted with Explosive Tags shot out of the mist from tricky angles.
They were all aimed at the spot where Murata Masasuke had just been standing.
Boom! Boom-boom-boom!
The force of the explosions tore up the muddy ground.
Several Chunin who reacted too slowly were swept off their feet by the shock wave, screaming as they crashed into the marsh.
"Enemy attack! Watch out for Kirigakure's Silent Killing Technique!"
Someone's roar rang out over the explosions.
In the dense mist, blurry figures flickered into view like ghosts.
They moved swiftly and silently, kunai in hand tracing cold arcs through the fog.
This wasn't a patrol from Kirigakure.
It was a professional ambush squad.
"Form Hand Seals and fight back!"
Murata Masasuke shouted sharply as his hands flew through the seals. "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
A gale burst from his mouth, briefly clearing the mist in front of him,
but exposing their position at the same time.
Even more Kirigakure Ninja came pouring out of the mist, like sharks scenting blood.
At that moment, at the very front of the dense mist,
Uchiha Yatsuhashi and Mitaraishi Anko were pale, but fortunately neither of them had been hurt.
Just moments ago, when they had entered the heart of the swirling mist,
Uchiha Yatsuhashi had yanked Anko down, and the two of them had crouched behind a boulder half their height.
Almost at the same time, they had felt several cold gazes sweep through the mist.
But those gazes hadn't lingered. They had quickly fixed on the people behind them,
Murata Masasuke and the others.
"Did they... let us in on purpose?" Mitaraishi Anko whispered, unable to believe it.
"Because we look like the weakest, and we're also at the front of the team, scouting ahead."
Uchiha Yatsuhashi's heart pounded, but his mind was unusually clear.
"The Kirigakure shinobi want to wipe us all out, so they let the two of us 'baits' venture deeper. Once the rest of the group entered the encirclement, they'd launch their attack.
Since we're at the front, we're temporarily safe."
Besides, he had deliberately called Murata Masasuke the team captain in front of everyone just moments earlier.
He'd done it to reveal to the Kirigakure shinobi that their group included a high-value target.
Unfortunately, Murata Masasuke had still managed to escape unscathed.
Uchiha Yatsuhashi looked behind him.
In the dense mist, flashes from the explosions and screams rang out one after another.
The battle had clearly reached its fiercest point.
And Kirigakure shinobi were still rushing to reinforce the fight from the white fog all around them.
"What should we do?"
Mitaraishi Anko instinctively asked Uchiha Yatsuhashi beside her.
Uchiha Yatsuhashi looked ahead.
He could just make out the faint outline of a lake through the dense mist.
"We can't go back," he said. "Going back would be suicide. Murata Masasuke won't protect us, and the Kirigakure shinobi won't spare us either."
"Then..."
"Forward. We can't let Captain Murata and the others die for nothing."
"While they're caught up in the fight, we'll skirt around the battlefield and head deeper into the lake.
Isobu might really have revived in this lake. If we can find even a small clue, that'll count as completing the mission..."
He didn't finish, but Anko understood.
Staying meant certain death; pressing on might offer them a glimmer of hope.
The two exchanged a glance, then crouched down together and used the mist and terrain for cover,
silently making their way deeper toward the lake.
Behind them, the sounds of the battle between the Konoha Ninja and the Kirigakure ambush squad
gradually faded, swallowed by the mist and the distance.
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