Sarada stood upstairs, watching the construction outside, a smile never leaving her lips.
Everything was moving in the best possible direction, and her confidence kept growing.
But the peaceful days did not last long. A mission scroll from Konoha shattered that calm.
The encrypted mission document contained another assassination assignment issued by Konoha: eliminate several foreign shinobi roaming the border.
Sarada frowned slightly as she read the scroll, but did not refuse.
She knew full well that she could not afford to openly break with Konoha yet.
That night, she slipped out of the Land of Rain alone without a sound.
An assassination mission like this was child's play for her. The ordinary shinobi had no chance to fight back and died silently in the wilderness, without causing the slightest disturbance.
The deaths of low-ranking shinobi were all too common in the shinobi world. No one bothered to investigate, so they naturally caused no ripples.
Sarada wrapped things up neatly and returned quietly to the Land of Rain, expecting to rest in peace for a while.
But she had rested for less than two days when another Konoha Mission Scroll was delivered into her hands.
The instant she read its contents, Sarada's expression darkened, and the air around her turned cold.
The mission specified: eliminate the entire Cangmu noble clan in the northeastern Land of Lightning. Leave no survivors.
"Wipe out a clan? A noble clan, at that?"
Sarada tightened her grip on the scroll and growled, her voice thick with anger, "Is Konoha deliberately trying to get back at me?!"
Standing nearby, Kisame saw the mission details. His pupils contracted sharply, and shock filled his face.
The earlier assassinations had been internal conflicts within the shinobi world. They were simply part of a shinobi's job and fell within its