Enemy spotted

Early morning.

Outside Orochimaru's camp.

A large crowd of ninja had gathered outside the camp, including Orochimaru, Minato Namikaze, Kakashi Hatake, Obito Uchiha, Rin Nohara, and the Uchiha Clan. Even Jonin Moonlight and Jonin Akita had come. They were all there to see Chihane off.

"Kakashi, I hope you'll be wearing one of these vests too the next time I see you."

Chihane showed off his newly acquired jonin vest to Kakashi, who stood beside him.

Parting was always painful, especially in an age ravaged by war. This farewell could easily be their last. No one could guarantee they would survive to see the war end.

But Chihane didn't want everyone wearing sorrowful expressions when he left.

"Chihane, next time we meet, I'll have my own jonin vest too! Just you wait-you'll be calling me Lord Jonin Obito!"

Obito Uchiha suddenly cut in from the side.

"You? Try becoming a chunin in your lifetime first."

Chihane cast Obito a skeptical glance, then spoke lightly.

"You bastard! What are you saying? I'm the man who's going to become Hokage! Don't underestimate me!"

Seeing Chihane's skeptical look, Obito Uchiha felt as though he had been insulted and protested indignantly.

Obito's noisy outburst eased the mood somewhat, bringing smiles to everyone's faces.

But Chihane knew it was getting late. Hiruzen Sarutobi had told him to return to the village as soon as possible. It was time to leave.

"Everyone, I'm heading out. Even if we're far apart, I'm sure you'll hear of my exploits on the other battlefields."

He took one last, lingering look at them, committing the scene firmly to memory.

Then, with a whoosh, he vanished before their eyes.

Until we meet again, everyone.

Elsewhere.

At that moment, Might Guy was setting out on a very serious mission with his teammates, Genma Shiranui and Ebisu, his father, Might Duy, and his jonin instructor, Jonin Hatano.

A small village not far from Konoha, one without any ninja, had recently been harassed by mountain bandits. It had submitted a mission request to Konoha, and considering the severity of the mission, Konoha had dispatched its core fighting force.

The future Blue Beast of the Hidden Leaf and his teammates were sent out, along with the most experienced genin, the "Eternal Genin" Might Duy, to provide guidance. A famously helpful jonin, Jonin Hatano, led the team to drive off the bandits.

Might Duy was clearly a powerful ninja, but because no one knew his true strength, nobody was willing to team up with him. In the end, he had only gotten this chance thanks to Might Guy, whose instructor, the helpful Jonin Hatano, was willing to take him in. Otherwise, Duy couldn't even leave the village on missions.

"This is your first C-rank mission, so you must be careful, careful, and careful again. Being a ninja is a dangerous profession, especially when you're undertaking your first mission that involves killing. You must stay alert. These aren't the stray cats and dogs you usually deal with, nor are they stalks of straw in the fields or plates at the Barbecue Restaurant. They'll fight back. One careless mistake, and even a ninja can be killed by them."

Jonin Hatano spoke sternly to the three young ninja embarking on their first mission of this kind.

"Yes, Sensei Hatano. We'll be careful and make sure we complete the mission."

Might Guy and Genma Shiranui listened attentively and answered solemnly.

Ebisu, however, clearly had other ideas. He believed that with his strength, he could defeat a bunch of bandits all by himself. Why did they need to take it so seriously?

"All right, let's move out!"

Seeing how seriously Might Guy and Genma Shiranui were taking this, their jonin instructor was quite pleased.

Although he was somewhat dissatisfied with Ebisu's attitude, he didn't think much of the mission himself. They were only a bunch of petty bandits, after all.

"Yes, Sensei Hatano!"

The three young ninja, who had been waiting for some time, answered excitedly when they heard that the mission was finally beginning.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Five figures sped forward, soon arriving outside the bandits' stronghold.

The entrance was eerily quiet, quite unlike the noisy atmosphere of an ordinary bandit hideout.

Even if there were no sounds of human activity in a normal stronghold, there should at least have been cicadas buzzing and birds calling.

But here, there was only silence.

Unlike the three excited young ninja beside him, Might Duy was well versed in all sorts of C-rank missions, so he was the first to react. He gave Jonin Hatano a slight shake of his head, signaling that something was wrong.

Jonin Hatano had noticed the problem as well. Seeing Might Duy's reaction, he gave the three young ninja their prearranged hand signal to halt the mission.

Jonin Hatano decided to suspend the mission and observe the situation, only proceeding once he had confirmed there was no danger.

What he hadn't expected was that Ebisu, who had paid little attention to his earlier warning, was too excited to notice the signal and had already charged into the stronghold.

Though Jonin Hatano was displeased, Ebisu's safety came first. After a moment's thought, he told Might Duy to hide nearby with the other two young ninja and wait for him, then slipped into the stronghold himself.

As soon as he climbed over the wall, he saw Ebisu standing rooted to the spot. Corpses lay scattered across the ground before him. Judging by their clothing, these were clearly their mission targets-the bandits.

That explained the silence in the stronghold. The bandits inside were all dead.

Animals were particularly sensitive to danger. They must have sensed something threatening and fled the area.

"Sensei Hatano, someone killed our mission targets!"

Ebisu stared blankly at the scene before him, but he had prepared himself somewhat before coming here. He quickly recovered and spoke to Jonin Hatano, who had just reached his side.

The scene had clearly shaken him badly. In the end, he was still a child, and the purpose of this mission had been to give them their first taste of bloodshed.

Jonin Hatano stepped forward and carefully examined several bodies. Most had been killed with sharp weapons, while some had been torn apart, apparently by explosive tags. It seemed they had all been killed by ninja!

The bodies were still warm, too. Their condition made it clear that the killers hadn't been gone long.

This was already deep within the Land of Fire, very close to the village. Konoha ninja were assigned missions exclusively; until one ninja failed a mission, it would not be handed to another. Clearly, Konoha ninja hadn't done this. That meant ninja from another village must have been responsible.

The presence of another village's ninja in Konoha's heartland, especially during wartime, gave Jonin Hatano an ominous feeling. He decided to report this to the village immediately.

"Let's go. We'll head back first!"

With that thought, Jonin Hatano immediately called to Ebisu beside him. He needed to take them back to the village and report what had happened.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Jonin Hatano and Ebisu vanished from the stronghold.

Once outside, they found Might Duy and the two young ninja waiting in the woods. After briefly explaining the situation, Hatano decided to lead them back to the village.

But just then, a massive sword suddenly came spinning toward them from the distance.

The huge blade spun at tremendous speed, heading straight for Jonin Hatano.