Aoki Tsuki arrived at the village entrance on time that morning.
When Satō Ichirō arrived and saw that everyone was present, he nodded in satisfaction.
He swept his arm forward. "Move out!"
Ten squads in all headed for the border under the command of the Jonin Satō Ichirō.
Each squad was led by a Chunin, making Satō Ichirō the only Jonin.
The village had felt the pressure of war, which was why it had been able to spare Satō Ichirō's guard squad to reinforce the border.
There was simply no one else available.
The Land of Rain was small, and after half a day of swift travel, they reached the border outpost at noon.
"Squad leaders, come with me. Everyone else, rest here."
Aoki Tsuki and the other nine squad leaders followed Satō Ichirō into a wooden room.
A border map hung on the wall, and a simple terrain model stood in the center of the room.
"First, I'll explain our basic position. When leading your patrols, make sure you base your response to the enemy on it. Do not act blindly and cause unnecessary conflict."
Satō Ichirō began by setting the tone for the meeting.
Hanzō's ambition had suffered a severe blow after his crushing defeat in the Second Shinobi World War, and he had grown increasingly conservative in his actions over the years.
He also turned a blind eye to the rogue ninja forces within his territory, as long as they did not threaten his rule.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. At worst, they could play it safe when they encountered an enemy. That was better than fighting head-on and losing their lives.
Aoki Tsuki had expected as much. He knew that the main battlefields of the Third Shinobi World War were not in the Land of Rain.
Sunagakure fought Kirigakure, Iwagakure, and Konoha in succession, acting like a rabid dog. Iwagakure and Kumogakure also fought a particularly brutal war.
During that time, Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure had all tried to send surprise-attack forces deep into the Land of Fire to strike Konoha, but all of them were stopped.
Avoid all unnecessary battles?
He had to admit, the village's strategy suited Aoki Tsuki's way of surviving.
"The Kumotori Mountains form the border between the Land of Wind and our Land of Rain. From one end to the other, there are five peaks: Iwate, Tsukimi, Tanzawa, Rishiri, and Chōkai.
"These will be our main patrol points. Jonin Tomohisa is stationed at Tsukimi, and I'll be at Rishiri, so we can provide support to both flanks."
Tomohisa was the Jonin stationed with the border forces. He had long hair and an unkempt beard.
Seeing everyone look at him, he began sharing the experience he had gained from years of patrols.
"Rumor has it the Third Kazekage has gone missing, and lately the people from Sunagakure have been going around picking fights like madmen. If we run into them, try to avoid a conflict.
"If you can't avoid one, fight while retreating and send a signal to wait for reinforcements.
"When you engage them, watch out for puppet masters. They mostly fight with poison and hidden weapons, and their real bodies are usually hiding nearby.
"If you encounter one, split up. Two of you hold them off while the other two look for their real body. That should force them back."
Everyone present understood. The central point both Jonin had made was to drive enemies away, not fight them.
Satō Ichirō nodded and said, "Now we'll assign patrol areas. Afterward, each of you should collect a three-day supply of soldier pills, then set out."
"Yes, sir."
Aoki Tsuki's squad was assigned to the Chōkai Peak area, which bordered another small country, the Land of Birds. Farther north was the Land of Earth.
In the forest, the four squad members leaped from tree to tree. First, they had to conduct an initial survey of the area.
They needed to mark important locations.
That would make it easier to plan their patrol strategy going forward.
Before long, they reached the summit. Looking out from there, they could see the land of the Land of Wind.
Compared to the Land of Rain, which was shrouded in dark clouds year-round, the Land of Wind was the complete opposite.
Everything in sight was golden. The enormous mountain range was like a dividing line between yin and yang, holding the clouds back.
"How do people from the Land of Wind even live in a place like that?"
It was Ryōta and Shinichi's first time at the border, and their eyes were full of shock and bewilderment.
"They have meat and vegetables. Why couldn't they live there? The strong don't complain about their environment," Aoki Tsuki replied.
Seeing how baffled the two were, Mieko added, "There are scorpions, lizards, and cacti in the desert. If you're hungry enough, you can eat them all."
"All right, I love the Land of Rain."
Ryōta had thought life in the Land of Rain was pretty hard, but now that he had something to compare it to, he found it wasn't so bad.
"Let's take a break and have some soldier pills."
Aoki Tsuki called out to them, found a rock to sit on, and began silently eating his soldier pills.
The pills were made from a mixture of food and medicine. They were highly nutritious and could quickly replenish energy, but they didn't taste very good.
They couldn't light a fire during a mission, either. The smoke would give away their position.
"Sigh, I wonder how long this patrol will last. I hate long-term missions," Mieko said.
Missions like this, which required staying overnight in the wild, were very inconvenient for female ninja.
"How is your study of Medical Ninjutsu going?"
Aoki Tsuki paid close attention to the mental state of the only female member of his squad.
Setting everything else aside, squads with female members had a harmonious atmosphere.
Mieko shook her head. "Same as ever. I don't have a way forward."
"The war is about to start. Do well and try to get promoted to Chunin. Transferring to a desk job shouldn't be a problem."
"Mm."
Mieko wasn't confident about that. It was relatively difficult for a sensor ninja to earn a promotion through merit, so she could only rely on her team.
"Does your Sensory Ninjutsu work well in an environment like this?" Aoki Tsuki asked curiously.
"I tried it just now. Aside from taking a little more time, there's no problem."
"That's good."
Only then did Aoki Tsuki relax. A sensor ninja was their eyes and could detect enemies in advance. Losing their sensor ninja would be far too dangerous.
Their break lasted until evening. No one was supervising them anyway, so it was the perfect time to slack off.
They found a cave and went inside to sleep.
Early the next morning, Aoki Tsuki found a spot and spent some time feeling nature, then began a new day of patrols with his squad.
The day passed without incident.
They continued patrolling on the third day, and no one was as tense as they had been on the first.
They had thought nothing would happen that day either, but halfway through their patrol, Mieko was the first to sound a warning.
"This feeling... chakra fluctuations. Someone's fighting in that direction."
"Oh, I remember there's a ravine over there, isn't there?"
Aoki Tsuki frowned. He had marked that location during their initial survey.
Fights were likely to break out in ravines and at shallow crossings, so those were places to avoid.
The patrol plan he had devised avoided trouble where possible, letting them pass potential enemies by. Now that they had come across a fight, though, there was nothing for it but to go take a look.
Who knew whether any of the squad members under him had been planted by someone else to evaluate him?
If he wanted to advance, he had to step up when something happened.
"Yes, Captain."
"Let's go take a look."
Aoki Tsuki took the lead, changing direction and hurrying toward the battle with the squad. He didn't forget to remind them, "Control your speed and stay alert."
Ryōta and Shinichi each kept watch in a different direction.
Only Mieko, who was at the rear of the squad, knew that Aoki Tsuki was actually stalling for time.
He was hoping the other side would finish fighting before they arrived, so they would only have to clean up the battlefield.
Before long, the squad reached the edge of the ravine. From a distance, they saw two corpses lying among a pile of rocks.
"Judging by their clothing, they seem to be ninja from Sunagakure. Who was their enemy?"
The squad members leaped down to the battlefield and began examining the scene.
The Kurokawa Squad, which had been assigned to Chōkai Peak along with them, was responsible for patrolling the other half of the area.
They couldn't have come all the way here to fight Sunagakure ninja, nor did they have the strength to wipe out the enemy.
Mieko walked over to the rock against which a charred corpse was slumped, touched it, then took out a cup of water and poured it over the rock.
Hiss...
Steam rose.
Crack...
Several cracks appeared on the surface of the rock.
"It was Fire Release, a very powerful Fire Release."
Aoki Tsuki nodded and looked in the opposite direction. He walked forward for a short distance and found cuts left by Wind Release on some of the rocks.
Wind Release had strong offensive power, but Fire Release countered it.
"Captain, we found something over here too."
Nearby, Ryōta and Shinichi had found several Shuriken and Kunai among the scattered stones.
Aoki Tsuki took them and examined them. He found that their markings had been deliberately rubbed off, which immediately reminded him of the weapons he had seen on his last mission.
Their markings had also been rubbed off, and they were the same models.
"Was someone deliberately stirring up trouble?"
Maybe it was a coincidence. He couldn't jump to conclusions.
They would only know after returning to the outpost and compiling what had happened along this border recently.
Just then, Mieko suddenly looked grave as she stared into the depths of the forest. "Someone's coming, and they're fast."
Realizing things were bad, Aoki Tsuki hurriedly said, "Signal for reinforcements! Formation B, quick!"
Mieko and Shinichi immediately split up and hid behind boulders, while Aoki Tsuki and Ryōta remained at the scene, offset from each other front to back.
Whoosh, whoosh...
Two figures appeared ahead. The one in the lead was older, with ordinary features, narrow eyes, and a murderous aura.
The other had face paint in the shape of the character "米" on his right cheek. When he saw the two corpses on the ground, his expression changed in shock.
He cried out in grief, "Taya! Anna!"
"I'm sorry, ninja of Sunagakure, but we only just arrived ourselves."
Aoki Tsuki spoke first to make their position clear, tossing the weapons they had just picked up onto the ground.
"We collected these from the scene. They might be of some help to you."
But to his surprise, the man with face paint merely glanced at the weapons on the ground and snorted coldly.
"What can a few Kunai and Shuriken prove? Don't think you can get off that easily. Tell us honestly, what are you doing here?"
Seeing that the man had no intention of talking reasonably, Aoki Tsuki immediately changed his approach, dropping his earlier friendly manner.
"I'll ask you the exact same question. Don't forget, this is the territory of the Land of Rain."
"You're from a mere small country. What right do you have to ask what we're doing?"
The man with face paint was full of disdain and shook his head impatiently.
"Forget it. I can't be bothered wasting time on you. Once we beat you half to death, you'll talk."
He took a scroll from his person and formed hand seals with both hands.
Poof...
A puff of white smoke appeared, and a centipede puppet and a scorpion puppet materialized in front of him.
A puppet master's strength was measured by the number of puppets they could control.
This man could control two combat puppets at once, so he naturally felt confident facing mere Amegakure ninja.
"I see. You don't care who the killer is at all. You just want to vent the hatred in your heart however you please."
Aoki Tsuki glanced at the middle-aged man who had remained silent from beginning to end. The man gave him a strong impression, but he wasn't so strong that Aoki Tsuki had to flee for his life.
So he signaled to the squad members behind him.
Fight with everything they had!