Forcing the Issue

"Captain, shouldn't we interrogate them for information?!"

Two minutes later, Hideki had finished off his opponent. Gasping for breath, he stared at the four corpses and asked, confused.

"They were just an infiltration squad!" Fushan said coldly. "And this wasn't our mission!"

"But...!"

"Come on. Let's finish our own mission first!"

"Yes!"

Hideki was a little unhappy. He was an arrogant, rebellious youth, and rebellious youths always had adolescent fantasies.

Taking out a squad of Rock Ninja was at least a B-Rank Mission. It would look good on his record and give him something to brag about. Now that the mission reward was out of reach, he was naturally a little dissatisfied.

Fushan knew what he was thinking, but didn't care. His team members were all too young to understand the delicate relationship between the clan and the village. Especially at a time like this, it was better to avoid unnecessary complications.

If they said they'd run into a squad of Rock Ninja while leaving the village and had wiped them out, ordinary ninja would consider it a mark of distinction. But when it came to the Uchiha Clan, people might get suspicious. Why hadn't anyone else run into them? Why had it been their team?

Of course, such suspicions wouldn't amount to much. People would grumble for a while, then move on. But Suifeng was on his team, and Fushan couldn't afford to let anything happen to him. The best thing to do was finish this mission first, then figure out how to explain everything to the village after they returned to the clan.

This was one of the Uchiha Clan's shared traits: clan first, village second.

Hideki fell silent and said nothing more. Fushan was the captain, and once he'd made his decision, there was no room for the rest of them to object.

"Suifeng, what you used just now was...!"

"It should be Lava Release. I don't know what happened, either. I only discovered it a few days ago. My Fire Release suddenly changed. I asked the Great Elder and only then found out it was Lava Release!"

"Lava Release? It's a Kekkei Genkai, too?!"

"Lava Release is a Kekkei Genkai formed by combining fire-nature and earth-nature chakra!"

Fushan, walking ahead, interjected, "It's very powerful, but it has its drawbacks. It can't compare to the Sharingan!"

"Oh!" Haku nodded, but couldn't help feeling envious. This was a Kekkei Genkai! Although everyone in the Uchiha Clan had one, it was always the same kind, which could get a little tiresome. Now Suifeng had suddenly shown off another one, and it was so powerful, too. Naturally, Haku envied him.

Fushan had nothing more to say about it.

Suifeng's awakening of the Lava Release Kekkei Genkai had caused quite a stir at the clan's Jonin Conference, too. After a long discussion, everyone agreed there was no need to keep it secret.

After all, the Uchiha Clan was already a powerful bloodline clan, and Lava Release was so different from Fire Release that there was no way to hide it. They might as well use the opportunity to publicize it, cement Suifeng's image as a genius, and boost the clan's reputation.

"Lava Release has an advantage over Fire Release, but the foundation of our Uchiha Clan is still the Sharingan. Understand?!"

"Yes, Captain!"

They traveled without another word. By the time the sky began to brighten, the four of them had finally reached their destination.

It was a stockade nestled in the mountains.

The Ninja World had a wonderful natural environment, especially the Land of Fire. Perhaps it was thanks to the First Hokage's influence, or perhaps something else, but aside from inhabited areas, the land was covered in dense forests. Some of the old woods were filled with trees over a hundred years old. Even on a clear day, stepping into the forest made everything feel gloomy.

The mountain here wasn't very tall, and it was close to Xiaolu Mountain City. It wasn't exactly a major thoroughfare, but it saw plenty of traffic.

Three months ago, a group of wandering ninja had taken over the area and built a stockade deep in the forest. They made a living robbing travelers and merchants, nearly cutting off traffic through the region and seriously disrupting Xiaolu Mountain City's operations. Some merchants in the city who often traveled this route had hired Konoha to deal with the band of wandering ninja.

"The defenses are pretty tight!"

Standing atop a tree more than ten zhang tall, Suifeng surveyed the stockade several li away and formed a first impression.

"According to the intelligence, there's one Jonin in that stockade, along with five or six Chunin and a dozen or so mountain ninja. They're all deserters from the war. I'll handle the Jonin; the rest of you take care of the others."

For a major village like Konoha, these wandering ninja weren't much of a threat. Even the Jonin had only reached that level in terms of the amount of chakra they could refine. Their combat experience and techniques were nowhere near Konoha's.

The mission had been classified as B-rank only because the war had ended so recently and some of the ninja here had fought in it.

At Fushan's signal, Suifeng and the other two slipped silently down from the tree and made their way toward the stockade.

...Scene break...

"Boss, how much longer are we going to stay here? We've plundered so much this time. We should leave soon. This is the Land of Fire, after all. It'll be trouble if we draw Konoha ninja here!"

A short, thin ninja wearing a Kirigakure Forehead Protector spoke from inside the stockade. A deep slash across the metal plate split the Kirigakure symbol in two.

"Hmph! So what if they're Konoha ninja? Given what we've done, even if Konoha sends people, it'll be no more than a squad. We've got plenty of men here. Are we supposed to be afraid of them?!"

"But...!"

"The boss is right. Even if Konoha sends people, the first ones here will just be a squad. We can handle them!" said a tall, thin ninja. Cruel light flickered in his narrow, leaf-like eyes. "We'll wipe out that squad before we leave. It'll be payback for what happened to us in the war!"

Most of the ninja present had once fought Konoha in the Second Shinobi World War and been defeated. For one reason or another, they had left their villages and become rogue ninja. They might have been rogues now, but their hatred of Konoha hadn't faded. If anything, it had grown stronger with time.

"Then it's settled. Everyone stay alert for the next few days. Don't let anyone from Konoha sneak in. Once we've killed their ninja, we'll leave!"

"Yes!"

Several ninja answered in unison. None of them had any objection to killing Konoha ninja.

Seeing that everyone agreed, the Kirigakure rogue had no choice but to accept it.

Outside the stockade, the four-man team had already infiltrated the area.

"These guys really do have tight security!"

There might not have been many people, but the stockade wasn't large, either. Five ninja were on patrol, and they were all on alert. Judging by their presence and movements, they had clearly been through a war.

Suifeng hid behind a tree, his gaze moving among the rogue ninja. Most of the time, he could only watch them out of the corner of his eye. They were all ninja, and even a Genin had sharp instincts. If he stared at them with hostile intent for too long, they'd notice.

"The stockade backs onto the mountain and has only one entrance. Sneaking in with Earth Release probably won't work, so the only option is..."

As Suifeng was thinking, he saw Haku and Hideki charge out at the same time.

Damn, you two really went for it!

Just then, a shower of pink feathers suddenly drifted down. The patrolling ninja all froze. The Genin collapsed to the ground at once. Two of the Chunin sensed something was wrong and began forming Hand Seals, but before they could complete the first seal, Haku and Hideki had already rushed behind them and taken their lives with Kunai.

Demonic Illusion: Temple of Nirvana

Suifeng knew Fushan had made his move.

Since Fushan had struck, there was no reason for Suifeng to hesitate. He charged out at once.

Boom!!

Almost the instant he rushed forward, the ground began to shake. More than a dozen enormous cracks spread out from the center of the stockade.

Earth Release: Earth-Splitting Palm!

Another Earth Release technique!

Suifeng grumbled to himself, then leaped into the air and formed Hand Seals. A ping-pong-ball-sized fireball shot from his mouth and swelled rapidly in midair. By the time it landed, it had become a blazing ball of lava two meters in diameter, rolling swiftly toward the center of the stockade.

Lava Release: Lava Ball