Uchiha Yatsuhashi and Mitaraishi Anko raced through the white mist.
The mud beneath their feet gradually gave way to a lake that stretched beyond the horizon.
Anko panted. "Which way should we go?"
Yatsuhashi looked out at the vast lake before them, shrouded in mist.
He felt utterly insignificant.
"I don't know either."
He answered honestly, then turned to Anko beside him.
"You choose. I trust your judgment."
Anko froze and turned to look at him.
On this deadly mission, where they could be abandoned as pawns at any moment, those words—"I trust your judgment"—
were like a pebble tossed into stagnant water, sending faint but genuine ripples across the icy, numb lake of her heart.
Who didn't long for a teammate they could trust absolutely, someone they could entrust with their back?
Especially in such a desperate situation.
"...All right."
Anko suppressed the complicated emotions churning inside her.
Following little more than her instincts, she continued toward the center of the lake.
Yatsuhashi slowly let out a breath. Whether they lived or died depended on this.
Far away, the battle between Murata Masasuke's group and the Kirigakure shinobi was growing fiercer by the moment.
It had drawn in nearly all the remaining Kirigakure shinobi around the lake.
That, in turn, had made things temporarily safer for the two of them.
While Yatsuhashi and Anko felt their way through the lake by instinct,
the real Konoha elite squad began its operation on the far side.
Several figures slipped into the lake like ghosts.
They deftly skirted the area where Murata Masasuke's group was fighting.
Like scalpels, they cut precisely toward the lake's depths.
Along the way, the occasional Kirigakure patrol or sentry didn't even have time to raise the alarm.
They were silently killed in the white mist, and their bodies were swiftly dragged underwater, leaving no trace.
Their movements were clean and precise.
They carried the ruthless air unique to elite Jonin.
"Move faster."
The leader's voice came through the mask on his face.
"Those decoys won't hold out much longer.
"We have to get the intel and withdraw before Kirigakure can bring in its stronger fighters!"
"Understood."
They were the true core of this S-rank intelligence mission.
An elite squad composed entirely of Jonin, specializing in infiltration, reconnaissance, and assassination.
As for the Genin and Chunin led by Murata Masasuke, who were connected to Orochimaru,
they had been nothing more than "expendables" meant to draw Kirigakure's attention and create chaos from the start.
The village was using potential "threats"
to secure vital intelligence on the Tailed Beast for Konoha while "purging" its own ranks.
By Root's logic, it was an exceptionally good bargain.
As for whether the decoys might escape, they weren't concerned.
The three Root Jonin led by Murata Masasuke would naturally "take care" of any pawns who refused to obey.
However, they had underestimated how thoroughly Kirigakure had secured its own heartland.
As they broke through the lake's outer reaches at great speed and ventured deeper,
they unknowingly triggered the barrier Kirigakure had set up around the lake.
A short youth with sharp purple eyes stood silently by the water in the white mist.
He looked young, but the aura around him was deep and still as an abyss, utterly at odds with his youthful appearance.
Karatachi Yagura closed his eyes, as though listening to the whispers of the lake and mist.
Suddenly, he opened them. A cold glint flashed in his purple eyes.
"The barrier reacted... Konoha rats have slipped in."
Yagura sensed two separate teams within the barrier. Both had already broken through the Kirigakure shinobi on the outskirts.
They were both heading toward the center of the lake, where Isobu would be reborn.
The barrier Kirigakure had set up let him sense the chakra levels of the intruders clearly.
One group was obviously an elite Konoha squad, moving faster and possessing greater strength.
The other group had only two people, and he didn't even consider one of them a proper shinobi.
His chakra reserves were simply too low...
So, after glancing in the direction of Yatsuhashi and Anko,
he quickly locked onto Konoha's elite squad.
Then he slowly sank, as though melting away, and silently disappeared beneath the cold water.
Almost as soon as Yagura vanished,
the Konoha elite squad stopped in the middle of a stretch of lake that seemed ordinary, but where water-aligned Natural Energy was unusually dense.
"This is it!"
A sensory-type Jonin whispered,
"The water-aligned chakra beneath us is abnormally concentrated, and it's still slowly growing stronger!
"This matches the signs of a Tailed Beast's rebirth described in the records!"
Another quickly formed several Hand Seals and confirmed it.
"That's right. There's a huge mass of water-aligned chakra about a hundred meters below us."
"Record it with a scroll, quickly..."
The captain spoke rapidly.
A Jonin immediately took a specially prepared sealing scroll from his robe.
This intelligence would reveal not only the exact location where Isobu would be reborn,
but also the approximate time of its rebirth.
It would undoubtedly be of tremendous help to Konoha's future operations against Kirigakure.
A moment later, the recording was complete.
The Jonin swiftly resealed the scroll and tucked it away.
"Mission complete. Withdraw—" Before the captain could finish,
a young, icy voice suddenly sounded from behind them.
"Hey, Konoha rats!"
"Don't underestimate the Village of the Bloody Mist."
"Wait!"
Yatsuhashi, who had been moving forward, suddenly felt a sense of unease.
He reached out and stopped Anko, who was about to continue.
Trusting Yatsuhashi, Anko reacted almost instantly.
A Kunai flew toward the direction his warning gaze had fixed on, swift as lightning!
"Clang!"
A crisp metallic impact rang out from the dense mist ahead.
"Interesting. How did you find me?"
A short figure slowly emerged from the white mist.
He had brown hair and purple eyes, and a youthful face, yet he radiated a terrifying pressure that belied his appearance.
At a glance, Yatsuhashi knew they were in trouble.
This child was probably Karatachi Yagura, the future Fourth Mizukage of Kirigakure!
Seeing that Yatsuhashi hadn't answered his question,
Yagura continued speaking to himself. "Are you a natural sensor-type shinobi?"
"That's a shame. Your talent is too poor for you to become an excellent shinobi..."
Faced with a Chunin and a Genin whose strength was far below normal,
Yagura was confident he could capture them with ease.
He might even be able to seal them and hand them over to the village's interrogators.
Perhaps he could get some valuable intelligence about Konoha out of them.
"Yatsuhashi."
Anko looked at the bloodstained scroll in Yagura's hand.
The clear Root insignia on it was all she needed.
Anko immediately guessed that this was the target of their mission.
"Careful, he—"
Yatsuhashi had just started to warn Anko of their opponent's terrifying strength when
Yagura suddenly lunged forward and appeared right in front of him.
Too fast!
Anko's eyes couldn't follow his movements at all.
But Yatsuhashi, facing Yagura head-on, didn't simply retreat.
Instead, he drew on years of experience sparring with Might Guy.
Almost instinctively, Yatsuhashi's body reacted on its own.
He ducked beneath the attack, then used the momentum of rising to strike forward with all his might.
"Thud!"
A muffled impact rang out.
Yagura had lunged forward, but now, his face stunned, he was sent flying by Yatsuhashi's shoulder.
In that instant,
Anko quickly formed Hand Seals and reacted.
"Ninja Art: Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
A thick, purple-scaled serpent shot from her sleeve,
its jaws spreading wide as it bit down with perfect precision on the bloodstained scroll in Yagura's hand while he was still flying through the air.
Then it yanked hard!
"Riiip—"
The scroll flew from his grasp, tracing an arc through the air.
It landed neatly in Anko's hands.
Yagura regained his footing, and his purple eyes narrowed sharply.
A chilling killing intent spread through the air, almost tangible.
Those two had actually snatched the scroll from him?!
It was a complete humiliation!
"Heh!"
Yagura let out a faintly mocking laugh. "Now that's unexpected..."
Just as he was about to erupt into a furious attack,
Yatsuhashi let out a low growl. A powerful aura suddenly burst from his body.
Anko was stunned by the sight.
She hadn't expected Yatsuhashi, a Genin,
to unleash such incredible strength.
"Eight Inner Gates: Opening Gate, open!"
Feeling the frenzied chakra coursing through Yatsuhashi's body,
Yagura was just as surprised by the Genin before him.
"An interesting technique. Come, let's see what you've got!"
But though Yatsuhashi had seemed so imposing a moment earlier, he didn't hesitate for even a second.
He turned and grabbed Anko, who had been preparing Hand Seals to support his attack, and began a tactical retreat.
Watching the two flee, Yagura finally realized he'd been tricked.
"Tch."
With a contemptuous click of his tongue, Yagura immediately chased after them.
Feeling Yatsuhashi's incredible speed, Anko was astonished all over again.
It was hard to believe he was the same Yatsuhashi who'd been so weak in the Land of Fire that she'd needed to support him.
Yatsuhashi took the scroll. "Is this it?"
"Yeah."
Hearing this, Uchiha Yatsuhashi didn't waste time. He shoved the intelligence scroll into his vest.
He could feel Karatachi Yagura drawing closer behind him.
A sheen of cold sweat instantly broke out across Uchiha Yatsuhashi's forehead.
But just as he was thinking of a way out, three very familiar figures appeared ahead.
They were Root's jōnin, led by Murata Masasuke.
When the Kirigakure shinobi had slaughtered the Chunin to the last man,
Murata Masasuke had made sure that Uchiha Yatsuhashi and Mitaraishi Anko were also killed.
Only then had he set off after them with the two remaining jōnin,
heading in the direction they had come from.
For the first time, Uchiha Yatsuhashi felt that Murata Masasuke was so very welcome.
"Captain, catch!"
With that, Uchiha Yatsuhashi tossed the scroll to Murata Masasuke.
"Captain Murata, this contains highly classified intelligence on the Three-Tails, Isobu.
Even if you're killed, don't let the Kirigakure shinobi take it!"
Hearing this, Murata Masasuke couldn't spare a thought for Uchiha Yatsuhashi and Mitaraishi Anko's lives.
He immediately caught the scroll in midair.
But before he could even check it,
Karatachi Yagura was already upon him.
"Water Style: Water Mirror Technique!"
Before you continue