The "Light Tailor" in the Woods

By the time they had dealt with the two prisoners, daylight had finally broken fully.

Minato and Kakashi hadn't gotten anything useful out of the interrogation. The two were just mercenaries doing a job for money. All they knew was that they had to take out Furukawa or destroy that shabby bag in his arms-no need to guess, it had to contain that "trade contract."

Furukawa's plump face was deathly pale. He clutched the bag like his life depended on it, his voice shaking uncontrollably. "J-Jonin Minato! They'll come again! You have to protect me!"

"Don't worry. It's good that we found out."

Minato smiled reassuringly, but Shuo could see clearly that both his and Kakashi's eyes had darkened-an assassination attempt mixed into a C-rank mission meant this wasn't simple.

The group set off again, the mood stifling.

Minato and Kakashi widened their watch considerably. Obito and Rin didn't dare chat anymore, either. Furukawa huddled inside the covered wagon, lifting the curtain every so often to look around like a frightened bird.

Shuo remained in the middle of the convoy, but he could feel Minato and Kakashi sweeping their senses over him-so they were counting entirely on him for early warnings now?

Grumbling inwardly, Shuo could only fine-tune his Light Perception, focusing on those "off" patches of light and shadow.

The morning was fairly peaceful. During their midday break, Furukawa didn't even have the energy to complain about how bad the Soldier Pills tasted. He took a couple of bites and put them down.

That afternoon, they entered a dense forest. The road was barely wide enough for one wagon, and the towering trees on either side blocked out the sky and sun, leaving the light dim.

"Places like this are ideal for hiding," Minato reminded them.

Shuo heightened his senses as well.

The forest's light and shadows were a jumble, sunlight shredded by the leaves. He had to pick out that "unnatural" sluggishness among all those shifting patches of light-as though water had gotten stuck to something.

Half an hour later, his brow lifted.

At a bend a hundred and fifty meters ahead, the light in the dense woods on the right was wrong, flowing half a beat too slowly. Behind the rocks on the left, there was a trace of something similar.

Without giving anything away, he scratched the back of his head-the signal he and Minato had agreed on, meaning, "Something might be wrong, but I'm not sure."

Up ahead, Minato paused briefly. His feet kept moving, but his senses grew noticeably sharper, sweeping toward the bend.

The group slowly drew closer. Eighty meters, sixty meters...

When they were fifty meters from the bend, everything changed!

Not from either side-three people suddenly sprang out of a blind spot ahead!

They were dressed much like the two that morning, but their movements were sharper. One look told him they were tough opponents!

Two went straight for Minato and Kakashi. The third slipped around the front like a gray shadow and lunged straight at Furukawa's covered wagon!

"Enemy attack!"

Obito shouted as he formed hand seals, spewing a Great Fireball to try to stop the attacker.

But the man was far too agile. Just as the fireball was about to burn him, he swerved sharply without losing any speed. A poisoned Short Blade flashed in his hand as he thrust it toward the wagon's window!

Rin cried out and threw a Kunai, but he casually knocked it aside.

Shuo had moved the instant the enemies appeared-but instead of rushing forward, he took two steps back toward the other side of the wagon.

He wasn't watching the Short Blade. He was watching a stone chip beneath the wagon wheel, tipped up by the abrupt stop, its edge as sharp as a razor.

A faint light flickered at his fingertip, like a firefly.

Yata Mirror Hypothesis-he gently adjusted the angle at which the light refracted along the stone's edge. No one could tell.

At the same time, he tapped the ground with the tip of his right foot, lightly enough to step on an ant.

Light-Speed Kick: Faint Spark-he didn't kick out a light projectile, merely sent a thread of force into the ground, directing it precisely into the loose soil beneath the stone.

It all happened in the blink of an eye.

Just as the Short Blade was about to pierce the wagon's curtain-

Pop!

The stone suddenly bounced a few centimeters upward, landing directly beneath the attacker's foot!

The man was thinking of nothing but killing and seizing the scroll, paying no attention whatsoever to the ground. His foot came down on the stone's edge, and a crisp crack of breaking bone rang out!

"Aagh!" He screamed. His forward rush became a stumble, his ankle twisting at an unnatural angle. The Short Blade scraped past the edge of the wagon, only cutting a slit in the curtain.

Obito's second Great Fireball arrived right then. His aim was still lousy, but it covered enough ground to force the man into a desperate roll.

Rin seized the chance to throw another Kunai. This time, it finally struck his shoulder!

Meanwhile, Minato and Kakashi had already dealt with the other two. Minato turned into a golden flash and instantly appeared behind the injured attacker, pressing a Kunai against the back of his neck. "Don't move."

The entire fight had lasted barely more than ten seconds.

Furukawa was trembling uncontrollably inside the wagon. Only after Rin lifted the curtain and told him it was safe did he shakily climb out, his face white as paper.

After checking the prisoners, Minato and Kakashi frowned even more deeply. "They knew our route and our team composition. Either someone leaked the information, or they've been watching us the whole way."

"Shuo, thanks for that." Minato looked at him. "That kick was perfectly timed."

Shuo was squatting on the ground, poking the stone that had earned its keep. He looked up innocently. "What kick? That stone was digging into my foot, so I just kicked it aside."

Minato laughed despite himself, while the corner of Kakashi's mouth twitched.

Obito ran over, his eyes bright as light bulbs. "Shuo-senpai! How did you do that? The stone bounced up at exactly the right moment!"

"Coincidence." Shuo stood and dusted himself off. "Maybe he was just unlucky and stepped in some dog crap~"

[Ding! Crisis resolved with 'Environmental Micro-Manipulation,' achieving a tremendous result with minimal force. A perfect recreation of Kizaru's 'seemingly coincidental, actually calculated' style! Imitation Points +45!]

[You're getting smoother and smoother with 'Yata Mirror Hypothesis.' That microscopic control is badass!]

[Current Imitation Points: 735/1000.]

The group stopped again. Furukawa needed calming down, and Minato needed to rethink things.

Shuo rested against a large roadside tree. Two attacks in a row had left him mentally wound tight. He closed his eyes and activated Light Energy Affinity, slowly recovering.

"Shuo." Minato walked over. "The road ahead will probably be even more dangerous. Could you scout ahead and keep an extra eye out with your senses?"

Shuo opened his eyes. Scouting? Better than staying with Furukawa, but it's more tiring, too.

Looking at Minato's serious eyes, he knew he couldn't turn this down.

"All right." He sighed. "But if there's more trouble, you'll have to pay extra."

"No problem. I'll apply for an extra bonus for you once the mission is over," Minato agreed with a smile.

Only then did Shuo slowly stand and stretch his arms and legs. "I'll go take a look, then."

"Be careful."

He nodded, his figure shifting as he leisurely slipped into the dark woods ahead-he looked slow, but his steps were exceptionally sure and efficient.

Only after leaving the convoy did he fully release his senses, sweeping the woods ahead and to either side like invisible feelers.

He walked slowly and examined everything carefully, missing not a single bush or stone.

Light Perception focused on the faint changes in light and abnormalities in temperature.

After about a kilometer, he stopped.

In a clearing ahead, the road forked. One branch continued forward; the other was a path barely wide enough for a person, with trees packed like walls on either side.

There were fresh footprints on the ground at the path's entrance. Someone had deliberately brushed them away, but hadn't cleared them completely. There were wheel tracks too, very faint, but they couldn't escape his senses.

They weren't from their convoy.

Someone just passed through here, or... was waiting inside?

Shuo didn't dare venture in. He crouched to examine the footprints and extended his senses down the path-it was darker inside, blocking much of his perception, but two hundred meters away, he could vaguely sense several outlines of "light and heat," motionless as hunters hiding in the dark.

An ambush? Or another group?

He took out an ordinary Shuriken and used chakra to carve a simple mark into it-the danger signal he and Minato had agreed on.

Then he backed up a few steps, found a gap between the trees where sunlight could filter through, and placed the Shuriken in the center of the patch of light, adjusting its angle.

Sunlight struck the metal blade, reflecting a faint glimmer that was inconspicuous in the darkness but would be visible to Minato and the others.

With that done, Shuo turned and ran back, much faster than he had come-he had to report this quickly.

The road ahead...

Probably wasn't as simple as "dangerous" anymore.

His figure darted through the light and shadows, the habitual laziness on his face fading a little for once.