How You Look at It, He Was One of the Elite

Through the layered canopy, the moon hung high in the night sky.

Ye Yuexin glanced up at the moon and figured it was probably around midnight.

Fortunately, they were just about to reach the border defense base.

Otherwise, they would have had to spend the entire night using chakra to hurry along. Ye Yuexin had even gone through an assist along the way. Now all three of them were utterly exhausted and nearly at their limits.

As they drew closer, the trees around them grew sparse. It looked like this was deliberate.

The terrain had been cleared to prevent enemies from sneaking in and attacking the base.

A little farther ahead, they could already see wooden buildings.

Just then, a sound like an eagle's cry came from up ahead.

At the sound, Might Guy and Ebisu immediately stopped.

Ye Yuexin found that strange.

Might Guy quietly explained that they were exchanging passwords.

Five seconds later, a "Cuckoo!" rang out from up ahead.

Hearing it, Ye Yuexin realized they hadn't finished confirming the password yet.

Might Guy and Ebisu both took three steps forward, then stopped again.

Only then did it seem that they had finished checking the password.

Ye Yuexin saw someone running toward them.

Ebisu seemed to recognize the newcomer. "Senior Yage!" he called.

"Ebisu? What are you doing here? Where's Jonin Minato?" The newcomer was a handsome young ninja.

"This is Chunin Yage. We've worked on a mission together before." Seeing Ye Yuexin's confusion, Ebisu explained.

Ye Yuexin nodded. "Senior Yage, Captain Minato sent us here. We have important intelligence to report. Could you pass it along for us?"

Yage glanced at Ye Yuexin. "Then come with me. We're all on the same side, anyway."

Then he spoke to the empty air beside them. "Dashan, hold out a little longer. Once I've taken them inside, I'll come relieve you."

"Okay."

The three of them had been wondering what was going on, but the sudden voice startled them.

It had come from underground, only five or six meters away.

Ye Yuexin hadn't realized they were there at all.

Was it a matter of experience? No.

He started to think it was a matter of intelligence.

He'd been focusing all his attention on guarding against threats around them. It hadn't even occurred to him that someone could be underground.

He'd completely forgotten that Earth Release existed in this world.

Luckily, they were at their own base. If this mission had been to wipe out a Rock Ninja outpost, they would already have been surrounded.

And he was the leader of this three-man squad.

If that had happened...

Ye Yuexin didn't pursue the thought. But he would remember this lesson.

He wouldn't make the same mistake again. That was how the ninja world worked.

It wasn't some wish-fulfillment story where you just kept leveling up. This was a world full of real dangers.

Every mistake came with a bloody price.

It seemed ninja missions had to be tackled from the lowest level upward. Otherwise, you had to make up for your lack of experience with your life.

The three of them followed Yage into the defense base.

The base was quite large, with plenty of rooms, but they were all empty. It didn't seem like many people were stationed there.

Yage pressed a mechanism on the wall.

A space like an underground room appeared. As they followed him down, a crowd of people came into view.

It seemed they had only gathered because Ye Yuexin and the others had arrived. Some still had red eyes, as if they'd been woken from sleep.

Ye Yuexin silently counted about thirty-five people standing in the spacious underground area.

The space beneath the base seemed much larger than the structure above.

"Captain Akamichi Shima, these kids were sent by Jonin Minato. They say they have important intelligence."

Yage spoke to a portly man among the group.

He must be the captain here. Ye Yuexin looked him over. He seemed to weigh four or five hundred pounds.

Despite his size, he had a surprisingly well-proportioned appearance.

In Konoha, you couldn't judge a fat person by appearances, especially if their name was Akimichi.

In their clan, weight and strength were directly linked.

Judging by this captain's build, Ye Yuexin felt he was probably one of the elites even within the Akimichi Clan.

"All right, I understand. Go relieve the sentry. Dashan's been lying in wait for several hours. We're in a critical period, so we can't afford to be careless." Akamichi Shima spoke in a deep voice.

"Yes, Captain." Yage left.

Then Akamichi Shima turned to Ye Yuexin and the others. "What intelligence do you have? Go ahead."

The moon was especially round tonight. With no dense trees surrounding the base, its light spilled down without restraint.

The ground seemed to glow.

But the base couldn't be as quiet as usual tonight.

Not long after Yage took up his post, lights suddenly appeared throughout the base.

Yage thought the enemy had somehow infiltrated the base without him noticing.

Cold sweat broke out across his forehead.

But then he realized something was odd. He couldn't hear any fighting.

Everyone in the base soon came outside.

They gathered in the open space in front of the base, fully prepared. At Akamichi Shima's command, they all raced toward the distant Sand Ninja Defense Base on Konoha's border.

After hearing Ye Yuexin's report, none of them questioned it. They immediately began organizing their forces.

Apart from Yage, who was still serving as a hidden sentry, and the three sentries watching the other directions, Akamichi Shima left four more people behind as replacements.

Everyone else headed for the Sand Ninja Defense Base on the border.

Ye Yuexin and the others returned to the hidden sentry's post.

This time, Ye Yuexin could clearly sense that earth had filled in the original sentry's hiding place.

Yage had opened a new hiding spot not far away.

Ye Yuexin and the others went straight over.

"Were you looking for me?" Yage asked as they approached.

"Yes, Senior Yage. Captain Akamichi Shima gave me some instructions for you to pass on." Ye Yuexin then relayed what Akamichi Shima had said.

After hearing him out, Yage went to pass the message along to the other hidden sentries.

Ye Yuexin stood watch for him for a while. When Yage returned, they headed into the woods. He felt they should do something instead of simply waiting for Kakashi to arrive.

[New book out... Consider bookmarking it and letting it build up before reading. Your support is needed... Thank you, everyone.] Thank you all for your support!