Massive Stockpile of Military Supplies

Bai Ye had already lost track of how far he had walked. Without chakra to speed his journey, even though his body had been trained for years, he was still just a child and was beginning to struggle. Blisters had formed on the soles of his feet, burst, and turned into calluses. His legs were covered in red scratches from bushes and thorns, some scabbed over and some still fresh. Two patches had fallen off his clothes, exposing the faded lining beneath. He had sewn them back on himself with needle and thread, crookedly, but at least the wind could no longer get in.

Sakumo's rain cape had been darkened by the soaking rain, its palm-bark color changing from dark gray to nearly black. His movements remained as steady as they had been on the first day, and his strides were just as long, but Bai Ye noticed that each time he stopped to observe, he spent longer doing so, and he crouched down to inspect the ground more and more often.

They had reached the depths of Hidden Rain Village territory.

The roads here were no longer muddy. They had been covered with a layer of coarse gravel, then pressed over with crushed rock. Feet would not sink into it, but it made faint, scattered sounds when stepped on. Each time Bai Ye set his foot down, he deliberately landed on the ball of his foot first, keeping the noise to a minimum.

Sakumo crouched behind a cluster of bushes, with Bai Ye crouching behind him.

"Do you see it?" Sakumo's voice was extremely low.

Bai Ye looked through a gap in the bushes.

In the distance, roughly two kilometers away, stood a mountain. Its ridgeline broke at one point, where two patches of vegetation in different colors could be seen—one yellowish, the other dark green. They were camouflage nets. Two nets of different ages had been joined together. The color difference was not obvious under the overcast sky, but after staring for a long time, Bai Ye finally made out the seam.

At the foot of the mountain, a road extended out from the forest. At its end stood a gate, wide enough for two supply trucks to drive through side by side. It was metal, painted the same color as the mountain. A faint, dim light leaked through the crack in the gate. If he had not activated his Sharingan, Bai Ye would never have noticed there was an entrance there.

"There's a high chance this is what we're looking for," Sakumo said. "It's at least three times larger than the warehouse at our camp."

An hour later, two patrols had passed by, spaced roughly fifteen minutes apart. Each patrol had five people and followed a fixed route, circling the eastern and southern sides of the mountain. The northern side was a sheer cliff, while the western side was a river valley, so no patrols passed through either side.

Bai Ye observed while making intelligence notes. Intelligence recordkeeping had specialized training, and he did pay attention during those professional classes. The number of people entering and leaving, the number and dimensions of the crates being moved, the intervals and times of patrols—Bai Ye recorded everything in meticulous detail.

"We can enter from the west," Sakumo said softly. "The river valley has dense vegetation. We can climb up from there and circle around to the back of the mountain. There should be another entrance at the rear. Supply trucks only enter and leave through the main gate, but a warehouse like this can't possibly have only one entrance. And the patrol personnel don't come out through the front gate either, so there's almost certainly another passage. I'd guess it opens onto the cliff face."

"We'll move tonight."

"We'll go in first to determine the exact location and scale of the supplies, then find an opportunity to destroy them." Sakumo did not take his eyes off the mountain. "Once we're inside, stay behind me and keep five steps away. If we get separated, don't look for me. Return the way you came and take the intelligence back."

Bai Ye nodded.

Night fell quickly.

Nights in the Land of Rain had no stars and no moon, only a layer of low-hanging dark clouds that swallowed every trace of light. Bai Ye and Sakumo lay hidden in the bushes of the river valley, waiting for a full two hours—for the patrol to pass, and for the guards at the entrance to change shifts.

The small rear door had been set into the cliff face. It was about a person's height and half a person's width, concealed by a wooden board painted the same color as the rock. If Sakumo had not determined its location beforehand, Bai Ye would never have noticed an entrance there.

Sakumo had already calculated the guard shift change. After the previous guards left, there was a brief gap before the next shift reached their posts. It was not long, but it was enough for two people to climb up from the river valley, pass through the wooden door, and enter the interior.

"I'll go first." Sakumo's voice was so low it was nearly nothing more than the friction of air.

He slipped out of the bushes, moving like a snake, pressed close to the ground without making a sound.

Bai Ye followed behind him, his movements nearly identical.

When Sakumo reached the wooden door, he ran his fingers along its edge and found the position of the bolt. The bolt was fastened from the inside and could not be opened from outside. But Sakumo's fingers found another mark on the door—a depression worn down by repeated pushing and pulling, near its lower edge.

He inserted his hand into the depression and lifted.

The wooden board rose an inch, opening a gap between the bolt and the doorframe. Sakumo slipped his fingers through the gap and felt the iron pin of the bolt. His fingers were as nimble as snakes as he pushed the pin out of the frame, silently.

The door opened.

Sakumo slipped inside sideways, and Bai Ye followed at once.

Beyond the door was a tunnel.

The tunnel had been dug into the rock layer, its walls reinforced with concrete. They felt cold and hard to the touch. The air was damp and carried a strong smell of engine oil and rusted metal. The tunnel turned at regular intervals, and a small lamp was embedded in the wall at each corner. The lampshades were dark, casting light only downward in narrow beams that did not spread far.

Sakumo moved close to the wall, placing every step in the blind spots of the lamps. Bai Ye followed behind him. Their shadows squeezed together on the wall, only to be cut apart by the next beam of light at the corner.

The tunnel was long. Bai Ye counted his steps in his head. After roughly two hundred steps, the tunnel widened, the ceiling rose higher, and the air began to carry the scent of paper and wood.

Sakumo stopped behind a pillar.

A warehouse.

A massive underground warehouse.

The ceiling of the warehouse stood at least two stories above the ground. Bare rock layers hung overhead, with glowing ore embedded in their cracks. It gave off a dim green fluorescence that shrouded the entire warehouse in a cold, eerie light. The floor was smooth concrete, divided into dozens of sections, each one piled high with supplies.

For a moment, Bai Ye could not count it all.

Sealed metal crates were stacked into small mountains, their surfaces marked with Hidden Rain Village's vertical-stripe emblem. They were arranged neatly, each stack two meters high, with passages wide enough for one person between them. Rows of wooden weapon racks extended deep into the warehouse, filled with kunai, shuriken, and ninja swords. Metal gleamed intermittently beneath the dark green fluorescence. Rolls of explosive tags, bundled into arm-thick scrolls, were piled on dedicated shelves, each layer lined with moisture-proof oil paper.

Farther away, dozens of large sealing scrolls stood upright. The patterns on their surfaces were dense and complex. Bai Ye knew at a glance that they were seals for large-scale strategic supplies—possibly food, medicine, or even tactical-grade ninja tools.

Sakumo tapped Bai Ye's hand with a finger.

It meant: Count them clearly.

Bai Ye swept his gaze from left to right, then from near to far, carving the position and quantity of every section, every stack of crates, and every row of weapon racks into his mind. There were roughly three hundred metal crates, around forty rolls of explosive tags, twelve rows of weapon racks, and twenty-six large sealing scrolls.