Mamoru Uehara understood the fatigue in his squad, but unfortunately, at a time like this, there was little time for rest.
"Sorry. I'd like to rest here too, but we have no choice. There are still plenty of missions in the village that need us."
With their suggestion rejected, Katsuto and Yui looked utterly dejected. Unable to overrule him, they could only return reluctantly. Both kept their heads down the entire way, an air of gloom hanging over them.
Looking at the dispirited pair, Mamoru Uehara could only make them a promise.
"Although we can't rest in the Land of Rice Fields, I can ask Lord Hokage to give you a day off. But once your break is over, you need to take your missions seriously."
Neither Yui nor Katsuto had expected things to take a turn for the better. Delighted, they shook off their gloom and regained their spirits.
And so Kōki and the others returned to Konoha. Yui and Katsuto seized their hard-earned day off to play and rest to their hearts' content, while Kōki sought out Hiruzen Sarutobi and asked for a secret technique. He believed it could greatly enhance his strength.
Three months passed before they knew it. Strangely, war had not broken out between Konoha and Sunagakure at the border, but tensions between the two sides were indeed growing increasingly strained. Reports from the front said Sunagakure seemed to have some unknown reservations and had not chosen to strike first. As the defending side, Konoha adhered to a strategy of not moving unless the enemy did, maintaining the standoff with Sunagakure.
This situation suited Kōki very well. Over those three months, he had carried out missions constantly under Mamoru Uehara's leadership, gaining combat experience while also successfully mastering an unusual secret technique. The purple diamond-shaped mark on his forehead was the best proof.
This technique was the Yin Seal, which had appeared in the original work. It accumulated chakra during ordinary times and sealed it in the forehead, allowing the user to gain an enormous amount of chakra by releasing it in battle.
Successfully mastering this technique would form a purple diamond-shaped mark on the forehead, and Kōki had mastered it within a week of obtaining it.
However, the chakra within the mark had to be accumulated from scratch. Throughout that time, Kōki had stored chakra in the seal whenever he had a moment to spare. Finally, today, he had successfully stored what he considered enough chakra to sustain one high-intensity battle.
This sealing jutsu could be said to suit Kōki extremely well. His current shortcoming was that his body had yet to grow up, leaving him with insufficient chakra.
With this technique, Kōki could unleash his full, formidable combat strength in battle. The only drawback was that each release lasted only a limited time, making prolonged combat impossible. Still, for Kōki as he was now, it was more than enough.
"Kōki, urgent mission! Uehara-sensei wants us to gather at the village gate immediately!" His teammate Masato Yoshino suddenly appeared outside Kōki's home and shouted toward the house.
Hearing the urgency in Katsuto's voice, Kōki immediately packed his things and headed for Konoha's gate with him.
"Katsuto, did Uehara-sensei get another mission?" This was the first time Kōki had received such an urgent summons, and he wondered whether there was some pressing mission they needed to carry out.
But Katsuto had not received much information either. What he knew had come from Yui.
Soon, the two reached the village gate, where Mamoru Uehara and Yui Fujiwara were already waiting.
"Katsuto, Kōki, you're here. Let's set out now."
Before Kōki and Katsuto could even catch their breath or ask what was happening, Mamoru Uehara immediately gave the order to depart.
"Sensei, what mission is so urgent?" Kōki could not help asking as he leaped through the trees.
"Lord Hokage received intelligence that a Sunagakure assassination unit has bypassed our border defenses and is pursuing our Anbu within the Land of Fire. Our Anbu obtained important intelligence from Sunagakure, so they need someone to support them now."
"And our squad is the only one currently in the village strong enough to bring them back. The situation is critical. Lord Hokage needs us to set out immediately."
Mamoru Uehara quickly relayed the information he had received from Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Understanding the urgency, Kōki and the others silently quickened their pace.
At the same time, Kōki understood the gravity of the situation. Their squad was no longer a simple Genin squad.
After more than a year of missions, Yui and Katsuto already possessed Chunin-level strength. Through his training over the past three months, Kōki himself was now no weaker than a Jonin, and their leader, Mamoru Uehara, was an elite Jonin.
Their squad could already be considered one of the village's elite squads. A mission assigned to a squad like theirs would be anything but simple, and they might very well encounter powerful enemies.
An hour later, as Kōki and the others traveled, they suddenly heard a tremendous explosion from the woods ahead.
Immediately realizing something was happening, the group quieted their movements and stealthily approached the site of the explosion.
Before long, Kōki saw the scene ahead from his hiding place. Four members of Sunagakure's assassination unit were surrounding and attacking two Konoha Anbu ninja.
Two of the four Sunagakure ninja were attacking at close range, while the other two circled a little farther away, seeking openings while also preventing the Konoha Anbu from breaking out.
The Konoha Anbu were in a bad state. One of the two was severely injured, his body covered in wounds, the blood staining his Anbu uniform red. The other was less badly hurt, with only minor wounds on his arm and shoulder, though he looked somewhat bedraggled. The two supported each other as they resisted the Sand ninja's attacks. More precisely, the less injured one was looking after the severely injured one.
"Captain, go! Don't worry about me. You have to bring the intelligence back!" The severely injured Anbu ninja urged the lightly injured ninja to leave quickly. He knew he could not return to the village alive and only hoped his captain could break out soon and bring the intelligence back.
"Mei... damn it!" The Anbu addressed as captain understood the importance of the intelligence and could only endure the pain of abandoning his longtime companion.
Enduring the intense pain in his body, the ninja named Mei rapidly formed hand seals. "Earth Release: Earth Flow River!"
The surrounding earth turned swamp-like and spread toward the Sand ninja around them. Seeing the Earth Release coming, all four Sunagakure ninja retreated a few steps. They had not expected those few steps to give the Anbu Captain an opening.
Seizing the opportunity, the Anbu Captain used the Body Flicker Technique and attacked the weakest Sunagakure ninja.
"Kira, watch out!"
The other three Sunagakure ninja understood his intention to break out the moment they saw him move. They formed hand seals, intending to drive him back with ninjutsu.
"Wind Release: Wind Blade!" ×2
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears Technique!"
Faced with so many attacks, the Anbu Captain showed no intention of retreating and continued charging straight toward the Sand ninja named Yoshino.