Uchiha Izuna and the Ino-Shika-Cho trio stayed beside a secluded stream deep in the mountain woods.
"Come on, Yoshihiro, stop keeping us in suspense. Why do you insist we wait here?"
"If we waste another few days, Father will scold me even if we complete the mission!"
Izuna complained to Nara Yoshihiro beside him, who sat utterly unruffled, as though nothing in the world could shake him.
Nara Yoshihiro felt helpless too.
When his father, Nara Takamoto, had first approached him, he had clearly said, "The Uchiha have a young master of astonishing talent."
"If you devote yourself to supporting him, you might leave behind a partnership celebrated for generations!"
But when he and his friends arrived at the Uchiha Clan, they discovered that the young master his father had spoken of had not chosen the Ino-Shika-Cho. Instead, he had assigned the three of them to another young master.
Over the years, Nara Yoshihiro had come to think highly of Izuna.
But compared with the extraordinarily gifted eldest young master, Madara Uchiha, or the unfathomable second young master, Uchiha Jing Xiu,
the third young master before him, Uchiha Izuna, fell considerably short.
He gathered his thoughts and looked at Izuna solemnly. "At first, I was only forty percent certain that this mission would be extremely dangerous."
"But after approaching the Land of Whirlpools, I'm now eighty percent certain."
"If we march openly into the Land of Hot Water like this, we'll have almost no chance of surviving."
Izuna was neither as powerful as Madara nor as exceptionally intelligent as Jing Xiu.
Having grown up with them, he understood that he could only work harder at paying attention to the smallest details.
As long as he could catch what his two closest family members overlooked and fill those gaps, the three of them could work together flawlessly.
And so, attentive as he was, he had already noticed that something about the mission was amiss.
Izuna and the Ino-Shika-Cho had originally been tasked with going to the Land of Iron to purchase armored carriages for transport and combat.
They had already agreed on a price and were preparing to return to the Naka River with their purchases when they suddenly encountered another chunin squad.
After exchanging mission details with them, Izuna received his latest orders: "Proceed to the Land of Hot Water and establish commercial cooperation with its daimyo in the name of the Uchiha."
At first, Izuna had only found it strange. Only after Nara Yoshihiro pointed it out did he realize the problem.
The mission document listed no proposed business ventures, much less any guiding principles for commercial cooperation.
How could Izuna, who had never taken part in managing the clan's business affairs, possibly complete such a mission smoothly?
It was not that Nara Yoshihiro was more attentive. As the Nara Clan Head's second son, he had participated in managing the Nara Clan from a very young age.
That was why he had spotted the problem at a glance. In his view,
a mission like this was better suited to a senior figure such as the Fourth Uchiha Elder, who had long held a high position and helped Uchiha Tajima manage some of the clan's businesses.
Although Izuna's status also allowed him to represent the Uchiha, he was still young. Neither his prestige nor his influence could compare to those of the Uchiha elders.
Izuna smiled bitterly. "It seems Father has plans of his own."
His expression grew resolute, and Nara Yoshihiro saw an unshakable determination in his eyes. "Let's go! I trust Father!"
What Izuna left unsaid was that, beyond his trust in Uchiha Tajima, he trusted Jing Xiu, who was in the Land of Crafts, even more.
The Land of Hot Water lay northeast of the Land of Whirlpools, while the Land of Crafts lay due south of it.
Though the entire Land of Whirlpools stood between them, it was a small country.
For a ninja like Jing Xiu, whose strength had reached chunin level, crossing the whole country would take only two or three days.
Seeing that Izuna had made up his mind, Nara Yoshihiro decided not to press him further. If Izuna could abandon the mission despite risking punishment from Uchiha Tajima,
that would undoubtedly be the most responsible choice for the squad.
But since Izuna had chosen to continue the mission, Yoshihiro also had to take responsibility for the squad's safety.
That was the first thing a strategist ought to consider.
"Young Master Izuna, everything I said earlier was merely my own speculation."
"I suggest we rest here for three days."
"At present, I have far too little information. These three days will first give us a chance to recover from the exhaustion of traveling."
"Second, they'll give me time to gather intelligence. Once we have enough information, even if we encounter danger, we'll have a reasonable chance of escaping unscathed. What do you think?"
Izuna nodded. Yamanaka Kita of the Yamanaka Clan and Nara Yoshihiro left the squad to gather information in the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Whirlpools.
Izuna and Akimichi Katsuie remained beside the stream in the mountain woods.
Jing Xiu's shadow clone carried several jade talismans that Jing Xiu had left with him.
Some of these jade talismans could absorb natural chakra to replenish the shadow clone's daily expenditure.
Others could convert natural chakra into lightning shield chakra, supplying the shadow clone with the energy to perform ninjutsu.
Like his younger relative Sasuke Uchiha, Jing Xiu possessed both lightning and fire chakra affinities.
But Jing Xiu preferred using Lightning Shield over Fire Release, perhaps because he had once been a senior ritual elder of the Celestial Master Mansion and had studied the Thunder Method extensively.
In both power and utility, his Lightning Release was far beyond anything the other Uchiha could match. Even Madara Uchiha could not help marveling at Jing Xiu's unrivaled mastery of it.
After Jing Xiu's real body left the Land of Crafts, his clone began "holding lectures on the arts" there.
All of this served a single purpose: to deceive those lurking in the shadows by creating the illusion that he had never left the Land of Crafts.
Since Jing Xiu had guessed part of Uchiha Tajima's "god-making plan," he naturally had to remain on guard.
Qingming was delighted too. After forging the Four Symbols Divine Artifacts together with Jing Xiu, he had also studied the two ninja blades Jing Xiu had forged, one of fire and one of lightning.
Although his own forging skills stood among the finest in the shinobi world, there was still much about Jing Xiu's methods that he could not understand.
Well, you little rascal, since you're willing to teach, I'm going to wring every last secret out of you this time!
I'll forge a ninja blade that surpasses Arc Light and Pale Sun. I'll make everyone in the shinobi world know that I, Qingming, am its greatest master smith!
Qingming acted exactly as he thought.
With Qingming's "selfless" cooperation, Jing Xiu's clone found his "lectures" going exceptionally smoothly.
Whenever a demonstration or hands-on work was required, Qingming, the leader of the Land of Crafts, handled it for him.
As a result, the shadow clone, originally expected to last half a month, could remain in existence far longer.
But until the shadow clone was dispelled, Jing Xiu had little way of knowing any of this.
Otherwise, he would have had more time to devise an even more ambitious plan.
On the fourth floor of the Tenshu Pavilion in the Land of Hot Water, the mysterious one-eyed ninja had just slain more than a dozen ronin who had appeared from who knew where.
He stood with his blade sheathed, savoring the slaughter, when a tachi, crimson from end to end, suddenly plunged into the floor at his feet.
The trembling blade and its searing heat made it clear that this was a powerful ninja blade exceptionally well suited to a Fire Release ninja.
An unknown ninja clad in black robes stood on the pommel, abruptly appearing before the mysterious one-eyed ninja.
The two faced each other, their three eyes meeting. After only a few breaths, the mysterious one-eyed ninja picked up the ninja blade before him and vanished from the Land of Hot Water together with the black-robed ninja.
A storm of bloodshed awaited them on the road ahead.