The moon was dark, and the wind was high.
Liu Yun glanced up at the pitch-black sky, then turned and left the valley.
Teacher Kosuke, wait for me. "Who are you?"
Maruboshi Kosuke stood with his sword in hand, studying the two clearly separate groups.
Their outfits were somewhat similar, and all of them wore masks. Only their forehead protectors differed.
He instinctively looked toward the group wearing Konoha Forehead Protectors, but only silence answered him.
For a moment, the atmosphere grew tense.
He sensed that neither group seemed focused on him. Instead, they were subtly facing off against each other, with strange looks in their eyes.
"Disguising yourselves as Iwagakure ninja-who are you?"
"Hmph. Disguising yourselves as Konoha ninja-who are you?"
Silence fell again.
Listening to the exchange between the two groups, Maruboshi Kosuke frowned involuntarily.
Those wearing Iwagakure Forehead Protectors did not seem to be Iwagakure ninja, and those wearing Konoha Forehead Protectors did not seem to be Konoha ninja either.
He could not quite figure out which hidden villages they actually came from.
All he could be sure of was that they came from different villages and did not get along. That was good news for him.
Perhaps I could...
A moment later.
"Since we share the same objective, let's... cooperate!" someone said.
At those words, both groups seemed tempted.
In truth, if they had not been guarding against and interfering with each other, they would have already finished off Kumogakure's Envoy Mission.
Now someone was blocking their way. If they kept dragging this out, their targets would soon escape into the Land of Fire. Running into Konoha's border forces would make things troublesome.
"...Fine."
5
A ninja wearing an Iwagakure Forehead Protector glanced at Maruboshi Kosuke and said coldly, "You deal with him. We'll pursue the