After ten days of lying in wait, we finally found an opportunity to act.
"Move."
"Shouldn't we wait a little longer, Sakumo? What if some of them turn back..."
"If we wait any longer, it'll be hard to find another chance. We're getting closer and closer to the front lines. Even the slightest disturbance will be noticed."
To avoid exposing our tracks, Sakumo and I communicated through special hand signals, not daring to make even the slightest sound.
"I understand. How should we proceed?"
"There are eight enemies, and only one is at Jonin level. Don't use smoke bombs. Drifting smoke can easily draw attention. Don't use any ninjutsu that makes noise either. We'll sneak in and kill them all as quickly as possible."
"Understood."
An assassination without making any noise, and against eight people at that. This was quite a difficult mission...
"I'll handle the Jonin, then take care of three more. The other four are yours, Qingyue. We absolutely cannot fail."
"Understood!"
After discussing our plan, Sakumo moved first. In less than the blink of an eye, he had vanished from sight and charged into the enemy camp.
Following right behind him, I immediately locked onto a target, channeled Battle Aura, and used Silent Sword of the Sword God Style to instantly close in and cut the man down.
Sorry, but... I didn't want to see my comrades die in this war of invasion.
Before the man who spotted me could make a sound, I used a North God Style technique to conceal my movements beneath my robe, drew the short blade from my thigh, and threw it. The blade shot through the air at bullet-like speed, pierced his throat, and killed him in one strike.
After taking down two men in two seconds, Observation Haki warned me. I looked toward what had been my blind spot.
Not good, he's about to blow the whistle!
There was no time to hesitate. Enduring the backlash from the previous Silent Sword, I used it again and successfully killed him before the whistle could sound.
I spotted the last man from the corner of my eye. At this distance... I twisted around without hesitation and hurled the ninja blade in my hand with all my strength.
The spinning blade was incredibly powerful and difficult to react to. Without any surprise, it struck his neck and killed him.
Judging from the faint sounds, Sakumo had probably succeeded as well.
"Not bad, Qingyue. I didn't hear a single sound from your side the whole time."
"You're still stronger, Sakumo. There was a Jonin among the people you dealt with, right? You took him down that quickly?"
"That guy was pretty capable. I almost slipped up, but it turned out fine."
Silently killing a Jonin in seconds... Although I had seen the Hatake Clan fight many times before, their battles had never lasted more than a minute.
But it was truly terrifying. This time, he had taken down a Jonin in just a few seconds.
As far as I remembered, only Minato had accomplished something like that. He would place a Flying Thunder God mark during the first exchange, then kill his opponent the next instant.
Konoha's White Fang, the Hokage's right-hand man... they were absolute powerhouses without a shred of exaggeration.
"We don't have much time. Set up trigger-based Explosive Tag traps here, then hurry to the next location."
"Shouldn't we completely destroy this place before leaving?"
"That would make too much noise and alert Hidden Sand. We have to stay out of sight."
"Understood."
When it came to matters like this, all I had to do was follow Sakumo's command. Even with two lifetimes of experience, I had no knowledge in this area.
Acting on my own was absolutely unacceptable.
After traveling for an entire day, we finally reached the location of the next transport unit.
This time, things went quite smoothly. After only two days of waiting, we found an opportunity and eliminated all the transport personnel.
However, we made a slight miscalculation this time. Several people who had left suddenly returned.
Fortunately, there were no powerful enemies. Sakumo and I worked together and quickly dealt with all of them.
In just one month, we successfully destroyed two of Sunagakure's supply camps. The goods they transported were resources for several squads.
"Qingyue, the missions ahead will only become more difficult. Sunagakure has grown suspicious."
It was no wonder. Two supply camps had been destroyed in a row. It would have been strange if they still hadn't caught on.
"There shouldn't be too much to worry about, right? Konoha's comrades will put pressure on Sunagakure at the front lines. As long as that pressure remains, it'll be hard for them to send many people to help the rear."
"That's true, but we still need to be careful, especially of Sunagakure's poison experts. We suffered badly from poison when we fought them before. Fortunately, Lady Tsunade developed an antidote. But this time... Lady Tsunade isn't at the front lines, and Hidden Sand has surely developed even stronger poisons."
The recent battles had ended too quickly, and only then did I remember that Sunagakure's specialties were Magnet Release and puppets.
And the most dangerous weapons of puppets were all kinds of poison-coated hidden weapons.
I still hadn't faced a puppet master head-on. If the controller stayed outside the range of my Observation Haki, things would become troublesome.
"War is exhausting. It's always here and there. After delivering this load, we have to make another trip."
Inside a Sunagakure camp, a Chunin wearing a forehead protector complained to the person beside him.
"Stop whining and hurry up. Compared to fighting on the front lines, this work is already easy. I heard we have an absolute advantage now, and Konoha is being surrounded."
"Hmph, Konoha gets the best resources. Why? They take every mission for themselves. Serves them right for getting surrounded!"
"Instead of chatting, why not carry more? The sooner we deliver these to the front lines and complete the mission, the sooner the war will end. Then these miserable days of facing the dirt will be over."
Yet as they chatted happily, two pairs of eyes on a nearby treetop watched them intently, like crocodiles lurking beneath the water.
"Hey, did you hear? Shorty's wife seems to be pregnant."
"Really? That short guy is so lucky?"
"Yeah. She'll probably give birth soon."
"Then he really is lucky!"
The transport unit continued onward, and its numbers gradually dwindled.
"I'll leave the rest to you. Keep an eye on your surroundings. Konoha ninja might ambush you."
"Understood!"
"Then I'll go help the next unit. Take care of yourselves, and make sure the supplies reach the front lines safely."
The instant the last man left, silver and golden-brown figures flashed down from the treetop. The head of the man who had just been chatting happily with his companion fell straight to the ground.
And the short man whose wife was about to give birth was pierced through the heart from behind by White Fang in the next instant. He spat out a mouthful of blood and died without ever knowing why.
"Matsu... Nono..."
In only a few seconds, all ten members of the transport unit lay in pools of blood, never to make another sound.
Not a single one of them had reacted before their lives were taken by a white chakra short blade and a silver ninja blade.
"That makes three locations now, right, Sakumo?"
"That's right. With this, Sunagakure will be completely on guard against us. We can't act rashly from here on."
"Should we return to the village and draw up a new plan, or go to the front lines and discuss it with Lord Orochimaru?"
For our missions, Sakumo could basically make all the decisions himself. The Third Hokage had given him considerable authority.
"The ambushes ahead probably won't go so smoothly. Returning to Konoha would waste too much time. The Third Hokage entrusted the command of the front lines to Orochimaru, so we'll go discuss it with him."
Before you continue