Kakuzu

Sunlight filtered through the dense foliage of the towering trees, casting dappled shadows on the ground.

Between the trees and their shadows, two figures and a dog raced along the branches, leaving trails of afterimages.

Xia Yan and Kakashi had been traveling for a day, steadily approaching their target's location.

For convenience, however, Xia Yan had Kakashi summon a ninja dog to lead their pursuit.

The man they were supposed to capture was named Kashiwagi Sen. His file identified him as a Konoha ninja who had fought in the war and had a complete service record.

But that was merely his cover identity. His true identity indicated that he was actually a Sunagakure ninja.

The war had claimed many lives, but it had also given enemy intelligence networks loopholes to exploit.

On the battlefield, sometimes you could not even recover a dead person's body, leaving you with no way of knowing whether they were actually dead.

Obito was proof enough. He had become a "hero of the Sharingan" in Konoha, yet he was actually alive and well, being played like a fiddle by Madara Uchiha.

This Kashiwagi Sen had most likely died during the war, or perhaps he had been captured and interrogated for extensive personal information before someone assumed his identity.

Disguising themselves was nothing difficult for ninja, especially Sunagakure's puppeteers, every one of whom was an expert at it.

Just then, Pakkun suddenly stopped, and Xia Yan immediately made a tactical hand signal.

Behind him, Kakashi quickly stopped as well, drawing a kunai and going on alert.

"There's a strong smell of blood, and it belongs to the target you're tracking." Pakkun sniffed carefully, then said quietly, "But that fellow seems to be dead already. There are traces of someone else over there, too."

"Someone else?" Xia Yan could not help frowning at that. He did not recall this being a mission that multiple parties could accept.

Anbu missions were generally assigned individually, with either one person or a squad taking them on.

Since this mission had already been assigned to them, under normal circumstances it would never be given to anyone else. Even if it were, they would be notified beforehand.

"Which way is the scent of the person we're tracking heading now?"

Xia Yan had already realized something was wrong, but he kept his voice gentle.

"North," Pakkun answered quickly. After spending a day with Xia Yan, he had developed a somewhat favorable impression of him. "Clearly, they're not heading back to Konoha."

North?

Xia Yan turned and exchanged a look with Kakashi. Both realized that the problem seemed rather serious.

They had set out toward the Land of Rivers, which lay west of Konoha. Anyone returning to Konoha should have headed east, but the scent was heading in entirely the wrong direction. That could mean only one thing.

"Someone beat us to our mission," Xia Yan sighed. "Things aren't looking good."

"Captain, do you want to abandon the mission?" Kakashi asked quietly.

Although Xia Yan had told him he could simply use his name, Kakashi felt he should not change how he addressed him at will during a mission, so he still called him captain.

Abandon the mission?

Xia Yan could not help sinking into thought. Truthfully, he did want to abandon it. Who knew what sort of person they might run into?

But he did not dare, nor did he dare say so. He was not Kakashi, with a Fourth Hokage backing him.

Even if the Fourth Hokage was essentially a puppet, his standing still counted for something. No one would do anything to Kakashi.

Xia Yan was different. As a ninja without anyone backing him, his only way forward was to carry out his missions obediently and dutifully serve as a tool.

"Sometimes it suddenly feels like the Senju Clan has declined so far that it's worse off than the Uchiha."

Although the Uchiha were now almost completely isolated as well, the Second Hokage and Third Hokage's targeting had nearly split them away from Konoha.

The other major clans had largely been brought to heel or won over by the Third Hokage. With no outside support, the Uchiha were practically a cornered beast.

And with the war over, the Konoha High Command would inevitably turn its attention back to them.

Internally, they were also split into two factions: the doves, who advocated peace, and the hawks, who advocated a coup.

But regardless, as one of Konoha's two foremost major clans on the surface, they were still capable of protecting a person.

Shaking his head, Xia Yan said seriously, "Let's catch up and take a look. That fellow's body still holds plenty of secrets, including Konoha's secrets."

"Understood." Kakashi nodded without hesitation, then made a hand signal to Pakkun.

Pakkun caught on immediately and led Xia Yan and Kakashi onward, continuing to track the scents.

In fact, Pakkun himself was afraid of dying, and he had fled in the original story. The difference was that, as a ninja dog, he could return to the Summoning Realm at any time to avoid danger.

As he pursued, Xia Yan also considered who might have intercepted their mission.

Could it be someone from Iwagakure?

Judging by the direction they had left in, that was certainly possible.

But there were quite a few countries one could reach by heading that way.

The Land of Rain, the Land of Grass, and the Land of Waterfalls, for instance, all lay in that direction. They had once been used as battlefields and ravaged by fighting!

From Konoha's peace negotiations with Iwagakure to the Fourth Hokage's rise to office, Konoha's borders had seen no shortage of attacks by ninja posing as forces from Iwagakure or Kumogakure.

No one knew who these ninja really were. Perhaps the smaller nations had launched those attacks in retaliation.

Or perhaps arms dealers did not want the war to end and deprive them of further chances to get rich, so they hoped to prolong it through such methods.

And even setting those smaller nations aside, Kumogakure lay north of Konoha as well-a ninja village that had never signed a peace agreement with Konoha!

"Who could it be?"

Xia Yan pondered as he traveled, but unfortunately, the matter was too complicated, and he had no leads at all.

Soon, however, he stopped dwelling on it, because he had detected movement.

Not far away, a lone figure was walking slowly, carrying a corpse over his shoulder.

Focusing his senses, Xia Yan immediately discovered an enormous amount of chakra within the other man's body.

In terms of chakra reserves alone, he far exceeded the level of a chunin and was even more formidable than a jonin!

The stranger was wrapped from head to toe in a black cloak patterned with red clouds, with even his face covered by a cloth mask.

Before long, the man seemed to notice something and turned to look back.

Those calm, indifferent green eyes immediately made Xia Yan feel as though a beast were watching its prey.

In an instant, his expression darkened. He had recognized who this fellow was!

"This guy... is Kakuzu?"