He Awakened It Because of Me...

Anko bent at the waist, dodged the attack, and flipped away to put some distance between them.

A dark-skinned Kumogakure ninja with a face full of stubble jumped out of the carriage and took his stance with a kunai in hand.

"Konoha only sent a brat like you? I'm a jonin. You should be honored to die by my hand."

With that, the Kumogakure jonin lunged at Anko. She crossed her arms and was knocked back several steps with a bang.

"Hidden Snake Hands!"

Anko swiftly formed hand seals and thrust out her left hand. Several pythons burst from her sleeve, hissing as they snapped at the Kumogakure jonin and forced him back.

The jonin swept his kunai through the attacking snakes, killing them. A wary look flashed in his eyes.

That move looked like Orochimaru's signature ninjutsu. He was one of the Konoha Sannin, which meant this brat had close ties to him.

The thought delighted the Kumogakure jonin. If he captured her, perhaps...

Anko seized his moment of distraction and charged straight at him.

"Arrogant brat! You saw a jonin like me and still didn't run?"

The jonin lunged at Anko with a vicious grin. He had already decided to take her alive.

But after several exchanges, he realized he couldn't bring Anko down quickly. He kicked her back, then glanced around, unease creeping in.

According to the plan, he was to stay in the carriage while the genin posed as merchants, gathered intelligence during the day, and delivered a copy to him at night. But his teammates still hadn't come...

"Still spacing out?"

Anko thrust her kunai at him. The jonin met her attack. Forget it. I can't use ninjutsu without drawing attention, but I'll catch this brat eventually with taijutsu alone.

Meanwhile, Yan followed the window ledge to the room where the three men were staying.

"Drink! Have another."

The room was full of people urging one another to drink. He couldn't pick out any useful intelligence.

So Yan chose to charge straight in. Once he beat them, he could hold them under genjutsu.

Crash!

Glass shattered, and the three men inside immediately drew their kunai and attacked Yan as he burst in.

Yan frowned. They looked as though they'd been expecting him.

Before he could think further, all three had closed in.

Hum.

An invisible field spread outward from Yan, and the three men caught within it slowed to a crawl.

"How is that possible?"

The three watched helplessly as their hands slowed. Yan smiled and flung a kunai, pinning one of them to the floor.

He grabbed the other two by the head and wrenched them toward him before they could react. Both looked straight into his eyes.

They were a scarlet pair of Two-Tomoe Sharingan. In an instant, both men fell under his genjutsu.

Then Yan turned to the Kumogakure ninja pinned by the kunai.

By a ninja's training, a man trapped before such a powerful opponent should have killed himself at once. Instead, his pupils contracted and he squirmed toward the door like a worm.

Only when Yan stood over him did he remember to kill himself before he could divulge any intelligence.

But one glance into Yan's eyes was enough to draw him into genjutsu too.

"Tell me everything you know. How did you spot me?"

One of them answered blankly:

"You and that woman were acting all lovey-dovey downstairs, but once you got to your room, we didn't hear any of the sounds we expected. The bed didn't even shake. That's when we knew something was wrong."

"Ahem." Yan felt a little embarrassed. This was his first time infiltrating a place, and he hadn't considered that detail.

Yan then extracted all their intelligence and searched them, finding their intelligence scroll.

"We split up. Our superior is hiding in the carriage..."

Yan's heart lurched. He quickly disposed of the three men and raced toward the carriage.

"Damn it!"

Anko's punch struck the Kumogakure jonin and sent him back several steps. He cut away the steel wire wrapped around him and glared at her.

I've been tangled up with a brat for this long!

He was about to charge Anko again when he caught sight of someone racing toward them in the distance.

So fast!

He knew his subordinates had failed. Anko was clearly tiring, but he still couldn't take her down.

The jonin cursed under his breath. No longer worried about exposing himself, he formed hand seals.

"Lightning Release: Thunderclap!"

He spat several balls of electricity at Anko. She twisted and leaped clear of them.

"Hyah!"

While Anko dodged, the jonin vaulted onto the carriage and cracked the whip. The horse broke into a run and charged out of the inn's back gate.

"Are you all right?"

Yan flashed to Anko's side. She shook her head, took his hand, and gave chase.

After they rounded a corner, Yan's gaze sharpened. He pulled Anko into an alley.

A carriage racing down the empty nighttime street naturally caught Team Kakashi's attention.

"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"

A wall of earth shot up in front of the carriage. The horse panicked, and the Kumogakure jonin hauled on the reins to steady it.

"Take this!"

Obito rushed out excitedly and hurled several shuriken. Rin and Kakashi attacked from different directions.

"Got you!"

Obito grabbed the jonin's clothes, but the stubbled face twisted into a vicious grin.

Crackle.

"Watch out!"

Minato appeared beside Obito, grabbed his hand, and teleported them to Kakashi's side.

The enemy turned into lightning and dissipated on the spot.

"Are you all right?"

"A Lightning Clone?"

Rin Nohara and Kakashi understood as soon as the enemy vanished. Rin helped the shaken Obito to his feet, while Kakashi scanned their surroundings warily.

"Let's head over to Yan."

Minato, who knew what was happening, led the three toward Yan.

Elsewhere.

"Heh. Have fun chasing that, Konoha brats."

The real Kumogakure jonin had jumped off the carriage at the earlier turn. He was now sprinting through a narrow alley.

"I didn't get the latest intelligence, but what I have from the past few days is worth it."

"Hmph."

A cold snort came from ahead. Before the jonin could react, a blade flew out of the darkness and buried itself in his left shoulder.

"Ah!"

The force of the blade drove him back several steps and pinned him firmly to the ground.

Yan became a dark blur. He planted a foot on the jonin, yanked Crimson Sky free, and cut off the right hand reaching for a kunai.

"Uchiha..."

The moment the jonin saw those scarlet Sharingan, he fell under genjutsu before he could finish saying Yan's surname.

Anko arrived and quickly staunched the jonin's bleeding to keep him alive.

Yan slung the jonin over his shoulder. He and Anko met up with Team Kakashi and returned to Minato.

"I see. Kumogakure sent them to probe Konoha's forces as a diversion."

After extracting the intelligence, Minato swept his kunai across the jonin's throat, ending his life.

He turned to the six of them with a gentle smile.

"Well, for your first real mission, you did well."

Obito scratched his head. He had been the most reckless one on this mission.

Kakashi stood with his head lowered, saying nothing. Their squad had barely contributed.

Seeing this, Minato began pointing out where the six could improve:

"First, Kakashi and Rin. Kakashi's approach would be the best choice under normal circumstances. It would've worked during the day, when people were coming and going. But we entered town at night, so we should've checked the inn where the most people had gathered."

"Next, Obito. You rushed in so fast your teammates had no time to tell whether it was a trap. They could only follow you."

Obito lowered his head sheepishly. Minato turned to Yan.

"Finally, Yan and Anko. Yan, you're strong enough to handle every enemy yourself, but they were here to gather intelligence. You didn't consider that they might split up and hide the intelligence in different places, which put Anko in danger.

"And Anko, the enemy couldn't take you down easily because he didn't dare use ninjutsu, but you had no idea when Yan would arrive to support you. You should've sent a signal right away instead of engaging him."

"Still..."

Minato changed tack. "Yan awakened his Sharingan this time, so something good came of it."

"What? Yan awakened his Sharingan?"

Obito jumped to his feet. Yan went along with the explanation and nodded, claiming he had awakened his Sharingan during this mission. He showed everyone his Two-Tomoe Sharingan.

While the others marveled, Anko stared into Yan's scarlet Sharingan, her thoughts in turmoil.

I heard the Sharingan only awakens after intense emotion. Did he sense I was in danger and...

Anko's cheeks gradually reddened. No one noticed in the firelight.

"All right. Get some rest. We still have to head to the front lines tomorrow."