Konoha, Root.
"Lord Danzo, Amegakure sent people to wipe out one of our supply outposts in the Land of Rain. Hachinosu was killed in action.
According to our intelligence agents, the Aoki Tsuki Squad also dealt with the arms dealer we had placed in the Land of Rain earlier."
Danzo sat in the shadows, his expression unchanged after hearing the report.
"It seems Hanzō has some talented people under him after all," he said languidly. "Amegakure isn't quite so useless."
His subordinate remained silent, awaiting further orders.
"We only lost a few supplies. Continue with the plan. And find an opportunity to kill everyone in that squad."
In Danzo's eyes, an enemy was to be eliminated.
Even potential threats had to be removed as early as possible. A weakened Amegakure was what the Five Great Nations wanted to see.
"Yes, sir."
The Root ninja immediately left to relay Danzo's orders.
In Amegakure, the Aoki Tsuki Squad assembled once more and headed straight for Kyoto in the Land of Rain on a mission.
After they left, Takenaka Osamu came to Hanzō's place of quiet retreat to report. "My lord, the Aoki Tsuki Squad has set out for Kyoto."
"Did you make the points he needs to watch out for clear to him?" Hanzō asked.
Takenaka Osamu heard the distrust in Hanzō's voice and hurriedly replied, "I did. I believe he can handle it."
"Mm. Young people need to have their temperaments tempered."
"Quite right!"
Takenaka Osamu agreed. People with a little talent tended to have a bit of pride of their own, and they needed to be tamed before they could be useful.
The Lands of Wind, Fire, and Earth were now using all sorts of methods to pressure Amegakure, openly and covertly, to take a side.
Seeing that their plans weren't working, they had started looking for ways to approach the daimyō.
Although ninja generally honored the tacit understanding that they wouldn't actually kill a daimyō, Amegakure would become a laughingstock if anything did happen to him.
Hanzō had already sent one of his own guard squads over, and now the daimyō had requested another reliable elite squad as reinforcements.
The village's manpower was tied up wiping out rebel forces within the country, leaving no resources to spare.
After considering it, they found that Aoki Tsuki's squad was the only one that barely met the requirements at present.
Seeing that Hanzō was silent, Takenaka Osamu spoke up. "My lord, after the recent sweep, we've destroyed a number of outposts the major ninja villages had hidden in our country.
Should we step up our efforts from here?"
"Continue. Drive all those enemy forces out, and don't spare the rebel forces either. Send word to the Shinonome Squad.
Tell them to increase surveillance and thoroughly investigate every faction in contact with the daimyō."
"Understood."
The Aoki Tsuki Squad arrived in Kyoto in the Land of Rain at two in the afternoon. Its style was completely different from the steel buildings found elsewhere in the country.
The place was steeped in history and had a strong commercial atmosphere.
It was as though they had been pulled out of the war and placed amid prosperity.
After reaching the daimyō's residence, they passed through several layers of searches by the guards before being allowed to see him.
A middle-aged man with an anxious face, pronounced bags under his eyes, and faint dark circles.
That was Aoki Tsuki's first impression.
Seeing how young the Aoki Tsuki Squad members were, the daimyō looked utterly disappointed. He exchanged a few perfunctory pleasantries, then ended the meeting.
Aoki Tsuki and the others were then taken to meet the village's permanent guard force stationed there.
Their leader was a Jōnin named Shinonome. The squad he led was itself part of Hanzō's guard, and a gas mask covered his face, making it impossible to see what he looked like.
"I've learned a little about your squad from the messages sent by the village. From now on, you only need to stand guard and patrol the perimeter of the residence."
"Yes, sir."
Jonin already had the authority to assign and command Chūnin and Genin. Before they left, Takenaka Osamu had instructed them to follow Jonin Shinonome's arrangements in everything.
Through their conversation, they learned that the Guardian Ninja around the daimyō weren't all Rain Ninja.
He had also recruited elite members of the Iron Fang Group, the Land of Rain's largest civilian organization, to protect him. Clearly, he didn't trust Amegakure.
The Iron Fang Group was said to be made up mostly of formidable rogue ninja.
The organization had grown rapidly in the Land of Rain after the Second Shinobi World War, and Amegakure had failed to wipe it out despite sending forces against it several times.
That alone showed how strong it was.
"Stay on high alert. If the enemy finds an opening, you'll bear the consequences yourselves."
Jonin Shinonome gave them that stern warning and hurried away.
That left Aoki Tsuki baffled. Responsibility should match the work assigned, so what did Shinonome expect after assigning him to peripheral duties like standing guard outside?
Jonin Shinonome was wary of him and didn't want him to know too much. None of the Shinonome Squad's other members had shown themselves.
"Captain, why do I get the feeling we're being isolated?" Mieko said.
The guard squad didn't seem to welcome them. It wasn't just Mieko; Ryōta and Shinichi were puzzled too.
"Maybe they see themselves as Lord Hanzō's guards and look down on us."
Amegakure's true elites were all gathered around Hanzō. The members of his guard formed a circle of their own, and every one of them would have been at least a squad leader back in the village.
It was only natural for them to be proud and arrogant, so Aoki Tsuki paid it no mind.
Protecting the daimyō was a recognition of a ninja's strength and an honor, but it also meant being drawn into complicated struggles.
"All right, let's work out which points we need to watch."
Jonin Shinonome had already handed Aoki Tsuki a map of the residence's perimeter.
The daimyō's residence, naturally, had pavilions, waterside structures, gardens, corridors, and even a sizable artificial lake. Hundreds of people, including servants and ordinary guards, moved through it.
All of that made security a major challenge. It was also Aoki Tsuki's first time on a guard mission like this.
Based on his experience patrolling the border, he needed to station people at several key points.
He placed himself in the center and the others on the two flanks, while Minako sensed Chakra at fixed intervals.
Enemy ninja could have only two purposes in attacking the daimyō.
The first was to kidnap him and force Hanzō to make concessions, such as secretly helping transport supplies or providing aid.
The second was to disguise themselves as ninja from another country and assassinate the daimyō, making him choose in their side's favor.
Night fell quietly, and the Aoki Tsuki Squad remained on high alert, but there wasn't even a shadow of an enemy. The next night was the same, and the following week passed without any movement.
The members of the Aoki Tsuki Squad looked exhausted from staying up every night and being on edge.
There was no helping it. The potential enemy hadn't appeared, and they couldn't let down their guard.
Aoki Tsuki himself was fine. He spent his nights cultivating, and entering a tranquil state actually improved his awareness of his surroundings.
The rest of the squad all had dark circles under their eyes.
"This can't go on. Looks like we'll have to change our strategy."
He didn't believe the ninja squads from the Shinonome Squad and the Iron Fang Group were as diligent as they were.
Nine times out of ten, they were slacking off.
The enemy had probably found an opening and frightened the daimyō, prompting him to ask Amegakure for another guard squad.
"Listen, starting tonight, we're changing our surveillance strategy. First, we'll reduce the frequency. Mieko, you only need to sense once an hour now.
Ryōta, Shinichi, when you're on patrol, take a break if you get tired."
Mieko said worriedly, "What if someone finds an opening? Will Jonin Shinonome blame us?"
Of course he will!
In their position, they'd be left holding the bag no matter what happened. Since that was the case, why worry so much?
"Don't worry. There's still one last line of defense. Things kept running fine before we got here, didn't they?" Aoki Tsuki reassured her.
You aren't as indispensable as you think you are.
"I guess that's all we can do."
They tried slacking off for a few days and found that nothing happened and nobody paid them any mind.
So they grew bolder and even had the energy to start cultivating and improving themselves. After all, the long nights were just too boring.
Two months passed like that.
During that time, Aoki Tsuki finally learned the names of the Shinonome Squad's remaining three members, but they worked the day shift and had almost no contact with him.
He did, however, often run into Aoki Tsuki and the Iron Fang Group's other guards, who also worked the night shift.
They were reasonably polite on the surface and briefly introduced themselves.
Their leader was named Yotaka. He seemed quite strong to Aoki Tsuki, who estimated that he had the strength of a Jonin. He also seemed easy to get along with.
The four squad members, on the other hand, had cold expressions and an air that kept people at a distance.
Most ninja had peculiar tempers and were hard to get along with. That was true even of people from the same village, let alone outsiders.
They were extremely wary.
Aoki Tsuki hoped those days would last as long as possible, so he could have more time to cultivate and improve himself.
After exploring his swordsmanship over that period, he had advanced another step, which made him quite happy.
But that routine was broken one morning.
The Aoki Tsuki Squad had finished their night's watch and were preparing to return and rest when they heard that several attendants at the residence had died from poisoning.
It had started because those people got up relatively early for their jobs and ate early as well.
An investigation revealed a problem with their drinking water, giving everyone else quite a fright.
"Poison?"
The enemy hiding in the shadows might have been trying to frighten them with it.
The daimyō had someone specifically assigned to test his food and drink, so this trick couldn't poison him. There would be other moves to follow.
"Did you notice anything last night?" Jonin Shinonome asked.
Aoki Tsuki shook his head. "No, everything was normal."
After taking it easy for a while, he had almost forgotten what he was there to do, and he felt a little guilty.
"Stay alert."
"Yes, sir!"
The poisoning wasn't a failure on his part. There were too many ways to do it, and he couldn't guard against them all.
The next night, everything was normal.
The third night was normal too.
Late on the fourth night, sounds of fighting suddenly came from the daimyō's living quarters at the center of the residence, giving the Aoki Tsuki Squad a fright.
"Captain, someone's gotten inside."
Ryōta and Shinichi were about to rush in. The captain had said not to be afraid of things going wrong; what mattered was fixing them.
"Stop! Don't be rash."
Aoki Tsuki hurriedly stopped them, then turned to Mieko. "Where's the enemy?"
Mieko pointed. "They ran that way. Huh? They've disappeared..."
"I see. Did they dive through the artificial lake to get here?"
Aoki Tsuki quickly guessed how the intruder had entered and hurriedly said, "Keep guarding this spot and don't give the enemy an opening. I'll go take a look."
With that, he flashed away and vanished into the darkness.
When Aoki Tsuki reached the artificial lake, he found that the entire Shinonome Squad was there. One of its members, named Shioame, was pressing his palm against the water to sense. A moment later, he said, "The enemy has already left through the water."