Suspicious Ninja
Hokage's office.
Tsunade sat in her chair, her face solemn, with Shizune standing beside her. Uzumaki Hane, Hyuga Tanaka, and Yamano Koromo stood in front of the desk, looking at Tsunade.
Tsunade said, "There have been reports of a suspicious ninja spotted within our borders. One of our ninja has already gone missing, and I suspect the other party may be a spy from another ninja village. Your mission is to find the missing ninja, capture the suspicious ninja, and find out why they appeared within our borders."
The three accepted the mission and left the office. Uzumaki Hane said, "Tanaka, Koromo, let's get ready and meet at the village entrance." Before long, the three gathered at the village entrance and set out for their destination.
Half a day later, they arrived at a town. It was the last place the suspicious ninja had been seen, and the missing ninja had disappeared there as well.
The three had no clues and did not know where to start looking.
Tanaka said, "Let's find a place to eat first." At his suggestion, Uzumaki Hane and Yamano Koromo both realized they were hungry. The three went to a restaurant, ate, and rested for a while before preparing to leave.
As soon as they stepped out of the restaurant, they saw a group of people in guard uniforms passing by. The people around them seemed terrified and hurried to clear a path. The three noticed a ninja following behind the guards. They exchanged glances, and Uzumaki Hane said, "That ninja looks suspicious. I don't know if he's our target, but that group doesn't look friendly either. I'll follow them and take a look. Tanaka, you and Koromo investigate that group's background." Uzumaki Hane then followed them from a distance.
The guards left the town and entered a nearby forest. After about half an hour, they still did not seem to have reached their destination. At that point, the suspicious ninja could no longer resist making a move. His figure flashed, and he appeared silently behind a guard, quickly clamping his left hand over the man's mouth. Before the guard could struggle, he drew the Kunai in his right hand across the man's throat.
After dealing with the guard, the suspicious ninja quickly vanished from the spot with the body and hid again, waiting for another chance.
The suspicious ninja believed he had acted flawlessly, never imagining that Uzumaki Hane had witnessed everything. Uzumaki Hane watched quietly. Since he did not know whether they were enemies or allies, he was in no hurry to intervene.
The suspicious ninja went on to deal with five guards using the same method. Only then did the group realize five of their people were missing, and they all began to panic.
Seeing this, the guard in the lead shouted, "Quiet!" Clearly, this guard commanded great respect among them, for everyone fell silent immediately.
The lead guard looked around at the others, then pointed to the guard at the very back. "Ishida, when did the person beside you go missing?"
Ishida looked panicked. "Guard Captain Sakai, I don't know anything!"
Guard Captain Sakai strode up to Ishida and shouted, "Useless! You didn't even notice the person beside you going missing. You're utterly useless! What right does a useless man like you have to be a guard for the Sakai Family? You're fired, effective immediately!"
Hearing Sakai Igami's words, Ishida grew even more panicked. "Guard Captain Sakai, please don't!" He reached out with his right hand toward Sakai Igami, seemingly intending to beg Guard Captain Sakai for mercy.
Uzumaki Hane sat on a tree trunk, watching the scene below with interest. The suspicious ninja had already killed the man called Ishida, then used the Transformation Technique to take Ishida's form and blend in with the group.
The suspicious ninja reached for the guard captain with both hands. Uzumaki Hane could see a faint metallic glint from his hands, and on closer inspection, the ninja seemed to have Shuriken concealed in them.
Just as the suspicious ninja was about to reach Guard Captain Sakai, a sharp gleam flashed in the captain's eyes. He seized the wrist reaching toward him and said, "You're not Ishida. Who are you?"
The suspicious ninja was somewhat surprised but did not panic. With a bang, he returned to his original form and said to Guard Captain Sakai, "So I was found out? What a nuisance. All you had to do was pretend you knew nothing and obediently take me to your destination. Why complicate things and force me to kill you?" Before he finished speaking, he jerked his right hand free of the captain's grip with ease, then thrust a Kunai in his left hand straight at Guard Captain Sakai's chest.
As soon as Guard Captain Sakai had discovered the suspicious ninja's identity, he had placed his left hand on the short sword at his waist. When the suspicious ninja stabbed at him with his right hand, he quickly drew the sword and, with a clang, blocked the Kunai in the ninja's left hand. The surrounding guards had not expected things to turn out this way and were a step too slow. Only when Guard Captain Sakai blocked the Kunai did they come to their senses, drawing their weapons and glaring at the uninvited guest.
The suspicious ninja pushed hard, sending Guard Captain Sakai stumbling, then hurled the Shuriken in his right hand at him.
Such strength, the captain thought. He hurriedly steadied himself and knocked the Shuriken away with his short sword. Seeing that he had missed Guard Captain Sakai, the suspicious ninja immediately stepped forward, closing in and slashing his Kunai at the captain's throat.
Guard Captain Sakai leaned back to avoid the attack. Seeing that he had failed to hurt the captain, the suspicious ninja lashed out with his right foot, kicking Guard Captain Sakai to the ground. He then stepped forward and stabbed his Kunai toward the captain's chest.
It all happened in an instant. The surrounding guards had not expected Guard Captain Sakai to be defeated so easily, and it was already too late for them to help.
Guard Captain Sakai lay on the ground, unable to defend himself, and instinctively closed his eyes. After a moment, the pain he expected did not come. He opened his eyes to see a delicate-featured, red-haired youth standing in front of him, holding a Kunai and blocking the ninja's attack.
Guard Captain Sakai looked at the Forehead Protector on the youth's head. He was probably a ninja from Konoha. The family had hired Konoha ninja before, so the captain recognized it at a glance.
The person who had intervened was Uzumaki Hane. He had originally only been watching the show, but it suddenly occurred to him that he could infiltrate that family and might have an easier time investigating the truth, so he appeared and saved the captain.
Seeing someone block his attack, the suspicious ninja put more strength into his hand, but his opponent's Kunai did not budge. He stepped back several paces and watched Uzumaki Hane warily. "Who are you?"
Uzumaki Hane looked at him and said with a smile, "I'm Uzumaki Hane, a ninja from Konoha. I'm here to investigate the disappearance of a Konoha ninja." Uzumaki Hane had said this deliberately to probe their reactions. As he spoke, he watched the expressions of everyone present. Guard Captain Sakai's expression changed when he heard about the missing Konoha ninja, but returned to normal in an instant.
The suspicious ninja's expression changed drastically. His figure flashed, and he quickly left.