Blind Spot in the Dark

Two hours later, three figures descended into the forest.

The Root captain in the lead raised his right hand, and the other two immediately stopped.

A vast stretch of trees lay toppled ahead, while the ground was covered in scorched cracks. The dirt blasted into the air had not yet fully settled, and the pungent smell of burnt explosive tags lingered in the air.

One of the members crouched down and pressed his palm to the ground.

After a moment, his voice turned grave.

"There's no chakra from any living person."

Another member took out a summoning scroll and confirmed that there were no new messages on it.

"The Flowing Moon Squad is already thirty minutes past the agreed time, yet they still haven't activated the scheduled summoning."

"Communications have been cut off, and there are no survivors on the battlefield."

"Something happened to them."

The captain did not respond and walked straight into the battlefield.

The first corpse was quickly found.

Its chest had completely caved in, and its body bore burns from explosive tag blasts. Only half of its mask remained.

The member responsible for the inspection reached for the side of the corpse's neck, then shook his head.

"Dead for at least two hours."

More than ten meters ahead, the second corpse lay beneath a tree, its throat cut open by a short blade. The wound was clean and precise.

The third corpse had half its body buried beneath shattered rocks.

The three swiftly searched the entire battlefield.

There were no survivors.

The Flowing Moon Squad had been wiped out to the last man!

The Root ninja responsible for reconnaissance walked over to a patch of raised ground and brushed aside the rubble.

Several broken stone pillars jutted diagonally from beneath the earth.

"Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears."

He found another collapsed spot nearby.

"There are also traces of underground movement here."

"Judging from the remnants of the technique, it should have been the Inner Decapitation Technique."

Another member landed among several broken trees and looked up at the blade marks on their trunks.

The cuts varied in depth, but their directions were extremely concentrated.

One of the trees, so thick that two men would be needed to encircle it, even bore a distinct indentation in its trunk.

That had not been caused by ninjutsu.

Someone had been blasted into the tree with tremendous force, then broken free in an instant and continued fighting.

"Captain, come take a look."

The captain walked beneath the tree and ran his hand along the edge of the indentation.

The bark had burst inward.

The surrounding ground was also covered in footprints. The soil had been repeatedly crushed beneath their feet, and several footholds had sunk as deep as half a foot.

"A high-intensity taijutsu clash."

The member said in a low voice, "And they were fast. Many footholds were only a few feet apart, yet the ground had burst apart at the same time. Both sides must have performed high-speed Body Flicker several times."

"Captain Flowing Moon excels at close combat, but he couldn't possibly have left this many traces."

The other man looked at the corpses scattered around them, his breathing growing heavy.

Flowing Moon was a jonin.

The other three members were also Root elites.

This squad had carried out missions together for years. Their scouting, control, ninjutsu suppression, and close-combat coordination had almost no weaknesses.

Even if they encountered Konoha's long-renowned elite jonin, they were confident they could retreat unscathed.

Yet now, not a single person had survived.

No one had even had time to activate the scheduled summoning!

The reconnaissance member crouched beside a corpse. After examining its wounds, he looked up.

"There was more than one type of fatal injury."

"Some died to explosive tags, some were slain by short blades, while others were heavily struck first and then finished off."

"Their formation was broken apart head-on."

Those words silenced the other two at once.

The strength of a Root squad had never been in any single individual, but in their coordination.

To break apart the Flowing Moon Squad head-on meant that the enemy not only possessed astonishing strength and speed, but had also completely seen through their tactics.

The captain swept his gaze across the battlefield again.

Earth Release.

The underground decapitation technique.

Explosive tags.

Large-scale collisions between ninja tools.

And taijutsu traces far beyond those of an ordinary special jonin.

Uchiha Lieyang's file swiftly surfaced in his mind.

Fire Release, Wind Release, genjutsu, ninja tool throwing.

Average taijutsu.

There was no record of Earth Release in the file, nor was there any mention of such terrifying close-combat ability.

"It wasn't one person."

The captain finally spoke.

The two members looked at him simultaneously.

"Uchiha Lieyang fought here, but others assisted him."

"Ninjas from another village?"

"That cannot be confirmed for now."

The captain looked at the corpses.

"Uchiha Lieyang alone, based on the intelligence we have, could not possibly have wiped out the Flowing Moon Squad."

"Anyone capable of this would have to be at least an elite jonin. There may even have been more than one."

One member asked, "Should we stop the pursuit?"

"No."

The captain took out a summoning scroll and swiftly wrote down the situation at the battlefield.

"The Flowing Moon Squad has been wiped out. If Uchiha Lieyang truly colluded with ninjas from another village, we must confirm their identities as soon as possible."

He bit his finger and pressed it against the center of the scroll.

"Summoning Technique!"

White smoke burst forth.

A small summoned beast responsible for carrying messages appeared atop the scroll.

The captain sealed the intelligence and tied it to the summoned beast's back.

"Deliver this to Root headquarters."

The summoned beast nodded, then vanished in a puff of white smoke.

The captain stood.

"Continue the pursuit."

"Maintain maximum vigilance."

"This target is no longer an ordinary special jonin."

The intelligence soon reached the Root base.

After reading the scroll, Danzō's fingers slowly tightened around his cane.

The Flowing Moon Squad had been completely wiped out.

One jonin and three elite members, without a single survivor left behind.

Jonin were not ordinary ninjas one could find everywhere.

Training a jonin required talent, resources, extensive mission experience, and countless battles between life and death.

Even Konoha had only a limited number of jonin.

Flowing Moon, in particular, was a Root elite personally selected by him, skilled in close combat, assassination, and battlefield command. The other three had followed Flowing Moon for years, and their coordination had long become instinctive.

Even if such a squad encountered a renowned elite jonin, it should not have been annihilated in such a short time.

Yet they had died within the Land of Fire.

They had died without a sound!

"Uchiha Lieyang..."

Danzō picked up the basic intelligence report from the table.

Taijutsu: average.

Ninjutsu: primarily Fire Release.

Greatest achievement: killed two chunin alone.

No record of Lightning-nature chakra, nor any record of Earth Release.

Danzō reread the field report.

Numerous traces of taijutsu clashes.

Earth Flow Spears.

The underground decapitation technique.

Close-range explosive tag detonations.

Every single detail contradicted the existing intelligence.

"Hidden strength?"

Danzō quickly dismissed the possibility.

Hiding one kind of ninjutsu was easy.

Concealing part of one's taijutsu ability was not particularly difficult either.

But to utterly overpower the Flowing Moon Squad, Lieyang's true strength would have to be at least at the elite jonin level.

Could a twenty-year-old Uchiha have hidden such strength flawlessly under the long-term surveillance of the ANBU and Root?

Impossible.

Then only one explanation remained.

"Someone was helping him."

Danzō stared at the map of the Land of Fire. Iwagakure, Kumogakure, Kirigakure, and Sunagakure flashed through his mind.

Anyone capable of silently infiltrating the Land of Fire and assisting Lieyang in wiping out an elite Root squad was no ordinary ninja.

Yet there had been no reports of anything unusual at the borders recently.

Konoha's intelligence operatives stationed in every nation had also detected no large-scale troop movements.

If they truly were elites from another ninja village, why would they risk helping an Uchiha defect?

Danzō could not understand it.

The less he understood, the heavier the anger in his heart became.

"Keep investigating."

His icy voice echoed through the underground chamber.

"Whoever killed the Flowing Moon Squad must pay the price."