Retreat

Satomaru and the other three followed Fugaku and his companion into the warehouse.

"Hyuga Ning, keep watch outside. The other two Jonin could come by to patrol the warehouse at any moment. Everyone else, plant Explosive Tags wherever you can."

Fugaku said, "Qiuze Danye, see if you can break the Sealing Jutsu here."

"Yes."

Fugaku's intelligence had said nothing about a patrol team, but this was one of Sunagakure's supply warehouses. Someone was bound to make regular rounds. The more critical the moment, the less they could afford to be careless.

Qiuze Danye came over and carefully examined the Sealing Jutsu in the warehouse.

"Captain, Sunagakure's Sealing Jutsu is crude," Qiuze Danye said. "It won't be hard to break. Give me a moment."

Fugaku nodded. The Land of Whirlpools and the Land of Fire had the strongest Sealing Jutsu in the Shinobi World. The Senju Clan and Uzumaki Clan were close kin, and after Konoha's founding, it had brought in a great deal of Sealing Jutsu from the Land of Whirlpools and continued to improve it.

Konoha's Sealing Jutsu had long since surpassed that of the other four nations.

Before the Land of Whirlpools was destroyed, the other nations had learned only the basics of Sealing Jutsu, nothing Konoha took seriously. Only after its destruction had more advanced Sealing Jutsu begun to spread among them.

Qiuze Danye formed a rapid series of hand signs and struck the tent with his palm.

"Release!"

The sealing symbols surrounding the tent twisted and gradually vanished.

"Good." Fugaku nodded. "Let's go in and see what Sunagakure thought was worth sealing away."

Qiuze Danye lifted the flap and went in first. Wooden crates filled the small storeroom.

He reached to open one, but Fugaku stopped him. It paid to be cautious. If Sunagakure had set a trap here, counting on an intruder's eagerness, the whole team could die.

"Hyuga Ning, come in for a moment," Fugaku Uchiha called from outside the storeroom. "Use your Byakugan to check what's in the crates."

Hyuga Ning had kept his Byakugan active, watching the area around the tent so no Ninja could catch them by surprise.

At Fugaku's call, Hyuga Ning entered the sealed storeroom. The neatly stacked boxes offered no concealment from his Byakugan.

"These boxes aren't what they seem." Hyuga Ning's expression grew grave. After a moment's thought, he said, "Many of them are traps fitted with explosives. Open one, and it'll detonate.

"One box could set off a chain reaction and blow the whole warehouse sky-high. No one inside would survive."

"Clever."

Fugaku Uchiha had to admire the Sunagakure commander's strategy. Who would expect the storeroom deliberately sealed inside a warehouse to be a powder keg? Whether it was a traitor from within or an outsider who slipped in, they would be dead.

"Put an Explosive Tag here," Fugaku said. "Use your Byakugan to check for anything else hidden away."

He did not want them to withdraw only to discover they had missed something and left the mission unfinished.

Hyuga Ning nodded and walked through the warehouse, examining its structure as he went.

"Captain," Satomaru said suddenly, "we're out of Explosive Tags. I'm afraid we don't have enough to destroy all the supplies."

Fugaku nodded. He had expected the tags to run short. What he had not expected was to find no Explosive Tags stored here, only an explosive trap Sunagakure had set themselves. That was a welcome surprise.

"Captain, all the supplies are here. I haven't found any hidden compartments," Hyuga Ning said.

"Prepare to withdraw," Fugaku said gravely. "What comes next will be a brutal test for us. Remember the escape route."

"Yes."

The Konoha shinobi sent on missions to the Land of Rain were all among Konoha's elite. They had long since accepted that they might die.

Fugaku's hands blurred through several signs. His chest swelled, and he spat a stream of fire toward the grain stored in the warehouse.

Sack after sack caught fire. Explosive Tags had been placed on the tent nearby. Once the flames reached the first tag, a chain of explosions would blow the entire warehouse sky-high.

"Disguise yourselves as Sand Shinobi again and withdraw as fast as you can," Fugaku said. "If you encounter an enemy, don't stop to fight. Focus on getting away."

Several shadows flickered, and the six of them emerged from the tent as a squad of elite Sand Shinobi, heading along their planned escape route.

The sky had gone completely dark. The relentless rain worked in their favor. A faint glow showed through the tent, and raindrops striking the flames sent up wisps of steam.

The fire drew the attention of many Sunagakure shinobi. Alarms rang throughout the outpost as squads of Sand Shinobi appeared outside it and rushed toward the warehouse.

A string of explosions reached Fugaku's ears. The Explosive Tags they had planted were going off, though he did not know whether they had injured any Sand Shinobi.

Ahead of them, Kurozawa appeared with four Sunagakure Chunin.

Rain was beating down the flames behind them, and the fire seemed to be shrinking. Many Sand Shinobi breathed a sigh of relief. At this rate, the losses would be limited. Then explosions sounded from inside the warehouse.

Blast after blast tore the warehouse apart. The whole structure became a massive fireball that surged into the sky, then shattered to pieces.

Fugaku knew Sunagakure's trap had detonated, but its power exceeded his expectations. If a spy really had slipped inside, was destroying the entire warehouse's supplies worth it just to kill one?

A huge crater was all that remained of the warehouse. The outpost's supplies were gone.

"Black Sand! It was you after all!" Kurozawa shouted. Even his usually calm temperament had given way to fury.

As one of the Ninja stationed at the supply depot, Kurozawa had watched the culprits enter right under his nose. His responsibility was nearly as great as Ishida's, who had guarded the warehouse.

Ishida was dead now, leaving Kurozawa to bear most of the blame for the destroyed supplies. Only by capturing Black Sand and the others could he lessen his punishment.

Kurozawa's hands flashed through signs, and he exhaled a powerful gale. Wind Release: Great Breakthrough! The wind swept toward Fugaku's group, driving the downpour before it.

It also lifted water from the ground and hurled it at Fugaku and the others.

"Keep moving. Don't let his Ninjutsu delay our retreat," Fugaku said. He had returned to his original appearance and was forming hand signs as he spoke.

"Fire Release: Great Fire Dragon Jutsu!"

Three blazing fire dragons shot from Fugaku's mouth. The Great Fire Dragon Jutsu was one of the Uchiha's more powerful B-rank Fire Release techniques.

The three dragons flew in a triangular formation and struck Kurozawa's Wind Release one after another.