The Advantage Is Ours

Three days earlier, in the conference room of the Hokage Building, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, sat behind his desk as smoke from his pipe slowly drifted upward in the winter sunlight.

"Our supply lines on the front have been cut twice by Hidden Stone Village infiltration squads. Although Tsunade has broken Chiyo's poison techniques on the main battlefield, the Hidden Sand Village outposts on the front still urgently need medical supplies and soldier pills. This shipment must get through."

Bai Ye, Minato, and Fugaku stood before the desk. Beside them were two chunin—one named Yamashiro Daisuke, the other Akimichi Yoshihisa. Chunin Yamashiro was a taciturn, lanky man with a sword slightly longer than an ordinary ninja blade hanging at his waist. Akimichi Yoshihisa was the complete opposite, broad-built and wearing the simple, honest smile characteristic of the Akimichi clan. On his back was a ninja tool pack three times the size of a standard one.

"The three of you have already reached a level above genin," the Third Hokage said, his gaze sweeping over them. "This mission will be led by two chunin. You will assist in delivering supplies to the Hidden Sand Village's front-line outpost."

The war had been going on for four years now, counting the earlier border skirmishes. Especially recently, fighting on multiple fronts had stretched the front lines thin. The Third Hokage had no choice but to transfer children from the Ninja Academy who possessed genin-level combat ability into the logistics corps, where they assisted with supply transport and other duties. Bai Ye and the other two were not the first batch.

"The route will pass along the border of the Land of Rivers, bypassing the main battlefield in the Land of Rain. Follow the border and deliver the supplies to the Hidden Sand Village front."

After winter arrived, the mountain paths along the Land of Fire's border became especially difficult to traverse. Loose stones and dead grass covered the narrow trail, while steep cliffs rose on either side, their gray-brown rock faces coated in a thin layer of frost.

The footsteps of the five people echoed between the cliff walls.

"Few people normally use this path," Chunin Yamashiro said from the front, keeping his voice low. "But that makes it easier for an ambush. Watch the tops of the cliffs on both sides."

Bai Ye walked in the middle of the group with the supply scroll on his back, sensing the sealing patterns inside it as he walked, as though he were holding a cup of water in his palms that could spill at any moment.

"Bai Ye," Minato suddenly said in a lowered voice, "don't you think it's too quiet?"

Bai Ye nodded. The birdcalls had vanished a quarter of an hour ago. The mountain wind still blew, and pebbles still rolled, but every sound of living creatures had disappeared.

"Stop." Chunin Yamashiro raised his right hand, and all five halted at once.

"Above."

Bai Ye looked up. From the top of the cliff, roughly twenty meters above the ground, three kunai with explosive tags tied to them fell from above, arranged in a triangular formation to seal off the front, middle, and rear of the group. Chunin Yamashiro drew his sword and flicked it upward, knocking away all three kunai in movements that were almost simultaneous.

At the same instant, Fugaku completed his hand seals. His eyes changed—his black pupils were dyed blood-red in an instant, and a black tomoe emerged within them, slowly rotating. It was Bai Ye's first time seeing Fugaku's Sharingan in actual combat.

"Seven," Fugaku said, his voice still calm, though twice as fast as usual. "Three chunin, four genin. The chunin in the middle should be the leader. He has the most chakra and is forming seals for an Earth Release technique."

His Sharingan tracked every movement of the Hidden Stone Village ninja at high speed—the order of their hand seals, the paths of their footsteps, the direction chakra flowed through their meridians. All that information poured into his mind at once.

Seven gray-white figures leaped down from above the cliff, landing in a semicircle around the squad.

"Konoha's transport team." The leading Hidden Stone Village chunin sized up the five of them, his gaze pausing briefly on the three children as a cold, hard curve formed at the corner of his mouth. "Three children? Is Konoha so short on manpower that it has come to this?"

Chunin Yamashiro did not answer. His sword lay horizontally before him, its blade reflecting the cold white daylight.

"Yamashiro, take the leader. I'll hold off the rest." Akimichi Yoshihisa set down the supply scroll on his back and rolled his wrists.

"Mm."

The battle erupted in the next instant.

The moment Chunin Yamashiro clashed with the leading chunin, the sound of metal striking metal exploded through the valley.

Akimichi Yoshihisa alone intercepted the remaining two Hidden Stone Village chunin. "Partial Expansion Technique." His right arm swelled to three times its original size. When his fist came down, it blasted a crater a meter wide into the ground, sending shattered rocks flying. One Hidden Stone Village ninja was thrown back five or six steps by the shockwave, his back slamming into the cliff wall as he let out a muffled groan.

The remaining four Hidden Stone Village ninja lunged toward the three boys.

"Split up!" Fugaku shouted. The three scattered at once—Minato to the right, Fugaku to the left, and Bai Ye forward.

Directly in front of Bai Ye stood a Hidden Stone Village genin, half a head taller than him, gripping a kunai and charging in quickly.

Flash Step, forward right.

His body flashed past the Stone ninja's left side, his blade sweeping horizontally at the man's knee. The Stone ninja reacted more slowly than Bai Ye expected, only jumping the instant the blade made contact. His kunai stabbed downward toward Bai Ye's head.

Bai Ye twisted aside. The kunai grazed past his ear as his body sprang backward, opening the distance. The Stone ninja's kunai missed, and momentum carried his body half an inch forward.

Now.

Bai Ye drove his blade into the exposed right side of the Stone ninja's ribs. The lightning on his sword flared brightly the instant it pierced flesh, and the Stone ninja groaned as his body toppled sideways.

One, Bai Ye counted inwardly.

Minato was even faster. Wind Release chakra wrapped around his body, pushing his speed to its limit. His afterimages darted between the Stone ninja—wrists, backs of knees, ribs. Every strike landed on a weak point in their defenses, forcing the two Hidden Stone Village genin back again and again beneath his relentless assault.

Fugaku held the left flank, the tomoe in his blood-red pupils slowly turning.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique."

A fireball burst from Fugaku's mouth, its blazing white flames painfully bright. The Hidden Stone Village genin had no time to form defensive seals and could only twist aside and roll away. The edge of the fireball brushed his left shoulder, burning a large hole through his gray-white camouflage uniform and leaving a red-black scorch across his skin.

"Damn it." The Hidden Stone Village genin gritted his teeth, clutching his burned shoulder with his left hand. The hand seals in his right were forcibly interrupted. Fugaku gave him no chance to catch his breath. Three shuriken followed behind the fireball, sealing off his rolling path. The Stone ninja barely dodged two, but the third buried itself in his thigh. He groaned and dropped to one knee.

Four enemies, and in a single exchange, all of them had been suppressed.

Bai Ye stood in the middle of the battlefield, blood still dripping from the sword in his hand. His breathing remained fairly steady. He looked around. Minato stood between two fallen Stone ninja, a bit of dust in his hair but not a single wound on his body. Fugaku's Sharingan slowly swept over the battlefield, confirming the condition of every enemy. Yamashiro had driven the leading Hidden Stone Village chunin to the edge of the cliff, while Akimichi Yoshihisa's Expansion Technique had smashed the last resisting Stone ninja into a pile of rubble.

If nothing unexpected happened, the advantage was ours.