The two days of leave passed in the blink of an eye.
Aside from his daily taijutsu training and study of sealing jutsu, Lin Ze spent most of his time silently monitoring the two Root bases through his distant shadow clones.
Yet Yamato never appeared.
It seems Danzo keeps him under tighter watch than I imagined, or he's carrying out some mission away from the bases.
Lin Ze analyzed the situation without growing too anxious.
Hunting required patience, especially when the target was an important experimental subject under a sly old fox like Danzo. He had long since prepared himself for a lengthy wait.
That morning, an Anbu ninja arrived at the Orphanage on time to deliver the Hokage's latest orders.
Unsurprisingly, a new mission had arrived.
Lin Ze followed the ANBU operative to the Hokage's office and quietly listened to Hiruzen Sarutobi's mission briefing.
Mission details: infiltrate the Land of Water, investigate Kirigakure's recent movements, and assess its intentions regarding war and its internal situation.
Mission rank: S-Rank.
Mission deadline: two months.
Another S-Rank reconnaissance mission... The Land of Water after the Land of Wind? Lin Ze understood.
He had only just brought back intelligence from the Land of Wind. Clearly, Konoha would not leave a "blade" like him idle, immediately putting him to work monitoring the next potential threat.
The Third Shinobi World War appeared to pit Konoha against four opponents, but in reality, the great nations were also riddled with conflicts and distrust of one another.
Sunagakure had just been beaten down, while Iwagakure and Kumogakure remained locked in a stalemate with Konoha. At this point, the most restless party, and the one best positioned to make covert moves, was undoubtedly Kirigakure, isolated overseas with its strength relatively intact.
According to Lin Ze's memories, Kirigakure at this