"Five bottles?"
Bai Ye tossed the pack back onto the table.
"You're planning to capture five people?"
"Maybe."
"I'm going with you."
"You can't leave the village."
"I'll go underground."
"The Cursed Seal hasn't been cleared yet. Once you leave the Root Network, Hidden Sound Village will be able to find you."
Bai Ye pulled open his collar. The insulating wood layer beneath his collarbone had already fused against his skin, with only half of the black markings exposed along the edges.
"It hasn't moved in three days."
"Three days isn't enough."
"Are you afraid I'll steal your target?"
"A little."
"Then we'll each kill our own."
Chiba tightened his pack.
"This time, I have to defeat a quasi-jōnin myself."
"Your tree needs to eat again?"
"Yeah."
"I'll hold him down for you. Who gets the credit?"
"I do."
"Then I should go even more."
Chiba laid the Root Network map of the western side of the clan grounds on the table.
"After I leave, guard this place."
Bai Ye did not touch the map.
"What if Root people come in?"
"Don't kill them. Break their legs and throw them at the front gate."
"What about Hidden Sound Village?"
"Kill them."
"What about the one who delivers food?"
"Let him in."
"Iruka?"
"Let him in too."
"Who's Naruto?"
"Throw him out."
Only then did Bai Ye put away the Root Network map.
"What if you're not back by Monday?"
"Keep waiting."
"What about Tuesday?"
"Go to the academy and find Shikamaru."
"Why find him?"
"He knows who to notify."
"I can't remember faces."
"Find the one who looks the least energetic."
After dawn, Chiba left Konoha with an out-of-village training permit issued by Iruka.
The permit only covered the old Senju training grounds. The gatekeeping chūnin checked it twice, then still pointed out the deadline to him.
"Be back before dusk tomorrow. If you're overdue, the patrol will treat you as missing."
"Got it."
"Do not cross the southern river valley."
"Got it."
"If you encounter unfamiliar shinobi, retreat immediately."
"Got it."
The gatekeeping chūnin handed the permit back.
"You answered so quickly that I'm even more worried now."
"Then I can listen to it again."
"Forget it. Go."
After entering the training grounds, Chiba first used a Wood Clone to leave chakra traces along the southern side, while his real body crossed the river valley through underground root tunnels.
Iron Claw had last appeared on a trade road seventy li away.
The attacked caravan had not been cleared away yet. Three cargo wagons lay overturned beside the road, their axles all twisted apart by bare hands.
Chiba crouched beside a wheel and brushed aside the wood chips.
The fractures held traces of metal powder, yet the footprints in the mud were not deep.
Steel hardening increased body weight, but the opponent could still spread chakra beneath his feet.
The assessment of quasi-jōnin was correct.
The sound of a wagon board shifting came from the other side of the road.
An injured driver crawled out from behind a cargo crate, clutching half a wagon shaft in his hand.
"Don't come closer. I'm out of money."
"Which way did Iron Claw go?"
"You're a bounty hunter?"
"A student."
"What is a student doing here?"
"Training."
The driver looked at the broken axle, then at Chiba's shinobi tool pouch.
"Konoha trains children by sending them after rogue shinobi now?"
"Direction."
"North. They stole the ore and kidnapped two miners who know explosives."
"How many people?"
"Five."
"What weapons do they use?"
"The leader's hands can turn to iron, a woman uses thin threads, and there's a short guy carrying a barrel of gunpowder. I didn't see the other two clearly."
Chiba took out some hemostatic medicine and tossed it over.
The driver failed to catch it securely, and the medicine bottle rolled beneath the wagon wheel.
"You're really going after them?"
"Yeah."
"Those five killed Yaqu. Yaqu's men didn't even leave behind bodies. What can you possibly do against them?"
"Collect samples."
"What?"
"Change the medicine every day. Don't let the wound touch water."
After leaving the trade road, the traces Iron Claw had left behind began to grow chaotic.
There were three sets of footprints in the northern woods. Two led toward the river, while one curved around toward the hillside. Ore fragments were scattered along every route.
Chiba did not follow the footprints.
Roots burrowed into the soil, spreading outward along the crushed grass roots.
The soil by the river had been disturbed, with two Explosive Tags buried beneath it.
There were no footprints on the hillside, but fresh iron filings clung to the inner sides of the tree trunks.
The real route ran west along the cliff face.
At noon on the second day, roots found five bowls at an old campsite.
Four had been washed clean, while dried meat juices still clung to the bottom of the remaining bowl.
Chiba reached out and touched the stove ashes. Warmth still remained inside.
"They left less than four hours ago."
Pebbles rolled nearby.
An old miner carrying a bamboo basket stood on the slope, his hoe already held across his chest.
"You can't go that way."
"Why?"
"The mine collapsed. People are still living inside."
"Iron Claw?"
The old miner took a step back.
"I didn't say that."
"Where are the miners they captured?"
"Who are you?"
"A Konoha shinobi."
"Konoha sent a child to rescue them?"
"I only want the location."
The old miner's hand slid lower on the hoe, blocking the bloodstains along the side of the bamboo basket.
"The abandoned mine to the west. They make me deliver food. If I miss one meal, they cut off a finger."
"How many exits does the mine have?"
"Three. The north entrance collapsed, the south entrance is flooded, and only the eastern one is passable."
"What about ventilation shafts?"
"How did you know there were ventilation shafts?"
"Miners wouldn't leave themselves only one way out."
The old miner crouched and drew the mine's layout in the dirt.
"The ventilation shaft is at the mountaintop. It's too narrow for an adult to enter."
"A child can."
"There are tripwires inside."
"What else?"
"The eastern entrance is buried with gunpowder. There are hidden pits on both sides of the tunnels, and Iron Claw stays in the furnace room at the very back."
"What about the captives?"
"Beside the explosives storehouse."
Chiba memorized the route and took the meal from the bamboo basket.
"Go back to the trade road and wait."
"You're going in alone?"
"If the food gets delivered, they won't change locations."
"At least wait for Konoha reinforcements."
"They won't arrive in time."
Before sunset, Chiba entered the mine through the ventilation shaft.
Bone Wood Vines grew alternately along the shaft walls, lowering his body into the third-level mine tunnel.
People were talking below.
"Why is the old man so slow today?"
"The meat's still hot. Who cares?"
"Iron Claw, there are still two survivors from that caravan to the east. Should we go back and finish them off?"
"Tomorrow. Make the miners finish mixing the explosives first."
"We've already collected Yaqu's bounty. Why are we still guarding this lousy hole?"
"Konoha recently released news about a batch of graduation exams. Someone is willing to pay for children with bloodline limits."
"Who?"
"The buyer left no name."
Chiba placed the food container at the fork in the tunnel, and roots crept through the cracks toward the furnace room.
Five chakra signatures.
One at the entrance, one at the explosives storehouse, and three in the furnace room.
They were spread out more than expected.
A sensory type was hidden in the middle section of the mine tunnel. Gunpowder Hand guarded the hostages, while the woman using thin threads stood to Iron Claw's right.
The fifth person's chakra flowed along the rock layer, responsible for sealing the paths with Earth Release.
Kill the sensor first, cut off the explosives storehouse, then use water roots to soak the gunpowder.
The remaining three could be trapped inside the furnace room.
Just as Chiba was about to withdraw his root tendrils, two knocks came from inside the mine wall.
The ninja hidden in the earth spoke.
"A rat touched my Rock Needle."
Mu Jin walls fell at both ends of the tunnel at once.
The ventilation shaft above was sealed with Earth Release as well.
The short ninja guarding the middle section removed his ear protectors and pointed his nose toward Chiba's hiding place.
"Konoha's little rat, come out. Your wood was making too much noise underground."
Chiba stepped out from behind a Mu Jin pillar.
The five had already changed positions.
Fine wires sealed off the space overhead, gunpowder barrels rolled in behind him, the sensory ninja stood pressed against the wall, and the Earth Release ninja had both hands on the ground.
Iron Claw sat before the furnace, his right arm turning dark gray from the wrist onward.
"A child?"
"He's wearing a Konoha forehead protector."
"The latest graduation exams haven't even started yet, have they?"
"Maybe he's merchandise delivered ahead of schedule."
Iron Claw raised his hardened index finger and pointed at Chiba.
"Kid, who sent you?"
"No one."
"Then what did you come here for?"
"To find you."
"Revenge?"
"Evolution."
The group exchanged looks.
The woman with the wires was the first to laugh.
"Did something go wrong with your brain?"
Chiba spread Bone Wood Vine along both arms, its white inner framework locking together piece by piece.
"All five of you. Together."
Gunpowder Hand removed the wooden barrel from his back.
"Iron Claw, this brat's looking down on us."
"Don't touch his head. The buyer wants an intact blood sample."
Iron Claw rose from beside the furnace. With every step he took, the ore beneath his feet caved in.
"Kneel, and I'll leave you with both legs."
Bone Wood Vine burst through Chiba's sleeves, poisonous markings lighting up along its tips.
Chiba looked at the five closing in around him and pressed his palm to the ground.
"Weak."
As Iron Claw raised his hardened arms, two evolutionary branches on the World Tree lit up at once.
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