Early the next morning, while the sky was still somewhat dark, the ninja resting in the dense forest woke early and set off full of energy toward their destination.
Only two hours had passed when the Hyuga ninja, who had kept his Byakugan active the entire time, seemed to pick up on something and immediately reported to Orochimaru up ahead.
Shin'un, bringing up the rear, naturally could not hear their conversation, but judging purely by the time elapsed and his usual line of thinking, the Stone Ninja outpost mentioned in the intelligence should have been just ahead.
Sure enough, once their conversation ended, Orochimaru, who was leading the group with his hands behind his back, immediately signaled for everyone to stop and led them into hiding within the enormous canopy where two or three large trees met up ahead.
As soon as everyone had settled on the branches, Orochimaru swept his gaze across their faces and immediately began issuing rapid instructions.
"Stay hidden. The Stone Ninja outpost we're looking for is just over nine hundred meters ahead."
"Everyone except the reconnaissance squad, prepare for battle now."
With that, Orochimaru turned his gaze toward the Hyuga Clan ninja.
"I need your reconnaissance squad to approach the Stone Ninja outpost and gather intelligence."
"Yes." The Hyuga Clan ninja accepted Orochimaru's order without hesitation, then promptly turned to lead his reconnaissance-oriented squad out to scout.
Just as he was about to leave, Orochimaru stopped him.
"Return within five minutes. Otherwise, I'll launch the attack directly."
The Hyuga ninja nodded solemnly and quickly disappeared from everyone's sight with his two squadmates.
Several minutes passed in silent waiting before the Hyuga ninja returned safely with his squad and immediately reported the situation at the Stone Ninja outpost to Orochimaru.
Exact numbers, guard positions, surrounding traps, patrol personnel... he reported each detail in turn.
Shin'un's eye twitched as he listened, gaining a new understanding of the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan.
All that detailed intelligence had been completely exposed in just a few minutes. Konoha's ninja were practically running missions with a full-map cheat enabled.
"Also, I discovered a Stone Ninja patrol outside the outpost, circling it on guard duty."
"Only one patrol?" Orochimaru gave the Hyuga ninja a puzzled look.
"Yes. That doesn't match the Stone Ninja's usual practice of using two patrols, but my squad confirmed that there is indeed only one patrol within a five-kilometer radius."
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes, feeling that something was off.
"How strong was the patrol you found?"
The Hyuga ninja immediately answered without a moment's thought.
"Based on the traces left in their chakra pathways by practicing Ninjutsu, we can infer that there are two veteran Chunin and one Special Jōnin."
Orochimaru nodded and hesitated no further.
"In that case, we'll begin the attack immediately."
Then, using the intelligence brought back by the reconnaissance squad, Orochimaru quickly laid out attack assignments for every squad.
What surprised Shin'un somewhat was that Orochimaru had also considered tasks for the students brought along to slack off and farm experience.
Although it was an easy assignment that kept them outside the fighting, watching the surroundings for the other ninja and guarding against reinforcements... at least they had a task, which gave Shin'un some sense of participation.
Only Yūichi, who had been eagerly anticipating a fierce battle, looked visibly disappointed.
"All right. Does anyone object to my arrangements?"
Although he addressed everyone around him, Shin'un noticed that Orochimaru's gaze lingered particularly long on Yūichi.
In response, Shin'un gave Orochimaru a slight look of acknowledgment.
It meant that he would watch Uchiha Yūichi and keep him from rashly joining the battle at the Stone Ninja outpost and disrupting the others.
Orochimaru nodded in reassurance, stood up, and looked ahead. An imperceptible killing intent gradually spread through his presence, like a venomous snake lurking in the shadows, concealed and lethal.
As though sensing the change in their leader, the atmosphere among the Konoha group also gradually shifted. They concealed their presence even more thoroughly, still hiding their tracks perfectly, but Shin'un keenly sensed the pure killing intent lurking beneath.
A group like this was clearly even more terrifying.
"Move out!"
At Orochimaru's command, the Hyuga Clan ninja immediately darted out of the canopy, leading the way toward the Stone Ninja patrol.
Before attacking the Stone Ninja outpost, Orochimaru had decided to eliminate the patrol first to prevent them from being attacked from both front and rear...
Everyone raced swiftly and silently through the treetops.
Soon, Shin'un saw the Hyuga ninja ahead signal that they were approaching the enemy.
Just as Shin'un wondered whether the group would stop again to consider and arrange their approach, he discovered that the entire group kept charging forward without pause, even picking up speed.
Soon, the Stone Ninja patrol appeared ahead.
At the same time, the Stone Ninja naturally spotted the Hyuga ninja leading the group at the very front.
The three Stone Ninja were just about to draw their Kunai and fight back when they saw more than a dozen Konoha Ninja burst out of the dense forest right behind the Hyuga ninja.
Orochimaru, five elite Jonin, and more than a dozen veteran Chunin who had spent so many years on the front lines of missions that the three Stone Ninja recognized their faces...
Wisely dropping the Kunai in their hands, the three Stone Ninja immediately abandoned any hope of survival upon seeing that lineup.
One reached toward the ninja tool pouch behind him, trying to launch a signal flare to warn his comrades at the nearby outpost.
Another, a little quicker on the uptake, abandoned any attempt to buy time and instead chose to shout a warning.
Unfortunately, the Konoha Ninja's attacks arrived in the next instant.
Exercising the privilege of the strong, Orochimaru claimed the sole Stone Ninja Special Jōnin for himself.
The other two Iwagakure Chunin suffered a massive saturation barrage from more than a dozen Konoha Ninja.
Shin'un had originally wanted to attack alongside everyone else, if only to take part.
But when he saw that every opening around the two Stone Ninja was filled with all manner of ninja tools and concealed Ninjutsu, and that several senior Chunin had no choice but to withdraw their prepared attacks because they simply had no room to strike, he could only lower his own prepared attack in disappointment.
Watching that sky-filling barrage of concealed, silenced attacks aimed at just two people, Shin'un could not help his mouth twitching.
He had not expected the Konoha Ninja's wartime combat tactics to be so brutal, with an entire group simply ganging up on their enemies.
But...
"I like it!"
Only an instant passed before it was over, and the final outcome held no surprises.
Off to the side, the Iwagakure Special Jōnin died soundlessly at Orochimaru's hands.
Here, faced with overwhelming combat strength more than a dozen times their own, the two Stone Ninja died swiftly and cleanly. The battle had ended before it even began, and they failed to pass any useful information to the nearby Stone Ninja outpost before their deaths.