Chapter 124: The Mist Ninja Camp
"This should be the place."
Uchiha Kei and the four others lay quietly hidden atop a ridge, eyes locked onto the small encampment below. After some careful scouting, they were nearly certain—they'd found the right location.
After uncovering a lead, Hyūga Ayaka had immediately gone to find Imai Kenta. Not only was Kenta closer, but she also had no intention of meeting Uchiha Kei on her own.
Kenta hadn't thought much of it at the time. Wearing his usual easygoing smile, he followed Ayaka straight to Kei and relayed the information she'd discovered.
Kei hadn't expected Ayaka to come through so quickly—but since she had, there was no harm in checking it out.
That was, until Kei suggested they get Kakashi involved—an idea Ayaka firmly rejected.
Her reasoning was, "There are quite a few enemies in that camp. We should proceed more cautiously."
But beneath that, she also hinted—subtly, but unmistakably—that "this is our squad's discovery." If anyone was going in, it should be them.
Kei couldn't help but smirk coldly at that.
In his mind, there was a much simpler explanation: she was afraid. Afraid that if something went wrong, and Kei decided to turn on her, Kakashi might intervene—and then she'd be in real trouble.
"Acting all high and righteous... You think everyone's scheming like you, huh?"
Kei sneered silently to himself, conveniently ignoring the fact that he was exactly the type of person she was worried about.
After all, he'd just manipulated Minato Namikaze—one of the key figures destined to become Hokage. Kei had planted the seed that the Uchiha Clan played a role in Minato's rise to power. A dangerous illusion, one that might haunt the new Hokage for years to come.
Kei had no intention of backing Ayaka's suggestion. And apparently, Imai Kenta wasn't fully on board with it either.
So in the end, Kei simply used his authority as squad leader to order them to retrieve Kakashi and Nohara Rin.
Facing off against an unknown number of Mist-nin was not something they were willing to risk without proper backup.
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"Can you tell how many are down there?" Kei asked, peering through the foliage again. He turned toward Hyūga Ayaka. "And what about their chakra levels?"
"Twelve in total," Ayaka whispered. "As for chakra strength, I'd say... quite impressive. Judging by that alone, they're likely all jōnin."
Of course, rank didn't necessarily mean strength. Back when Kei, Kenta, and Ayaka were still officially listed as chūnin, they'd already taken down more than one so-called jōnin.
Rank was merely a form of recognition.
In the world of shinobi, real power wasn't determined by a title—nor by raw chakra alone.
Before they had concrete intel, chakra signatures and shinobi ranks were at least useful for gauging potential danger.
"Twelve of them, possibly jōnin-level," Uchiha Kei muttered with a frown. "Looks like this might be trouble. Summon Captain Minato. Even if he can't make it here in time, he needs to know we might be walking into something serious."
"Got it," Kakashi nodded, pulling out a kunai to send a message. But before he could act—
"Damn it! They have a Byakugan! We've been spotted!" Hyūga Ayaka suddenly shouted. Her face paled, and without hesitation, she leapt into the air.
Uchiha Kei instantly followed. Kakashi and the others were briefly confused—why would Mist-nin have a Byakugan?
Still, as trained shinobi in wartime, they didn't hesitate for long. Seeing Kei move was all the signal they needed. In unison, they scattered.
Just in time.
A massive water dragon came crashing into their previous hiding spot, an explosive surge of water tearing through the terrain they'd just vacated.
Kei wasn't shocked that a Mist-nin had the Byakugan—what surprised him was which Mist-nin it was.
He recognized that man.
A battle-hardened warrior, fiercely loyal to the traditions of the ancients. A man once hailed as "the Byakugan of unwavering loyalty, the seer who saw through deception."
That man was Ao, the future head of the Mist's Black Ops and the commander of the Sensory Division during the Fourth Great Ninja War.
"Why is he here?" Kei narrowed his eyes. As he landed, a thick mist suddenly spread through the area.
Hidden Mist Jutsu—a technique the Mist Village had long favored.
Looking around, Kei frowned. Their team had scattered in different directions during the earlier evasion, and now with the fog obscuring everything, he had no visual on them.
He sighed quietly. Another battle was inevitable.
Kei wasn't particularly afraid of the Hidden Mist Technique. In its most refined form, it could even block the vision of the Rinnegan. But these Mist-nin hadn't infused much chakra into the jutsu.
The fog was thin, diluted. Kei could still perceive faint outlines—chakra silhouettes moving through the mist. Not clearly, but enough to act.
Still, a thought crept into his mind—Could Ao's presence here be linked to Madara Uchiha? Did he send this group of Mist-nin after Kei, including even someone like Ao?
"Quite the bold move, Uchiha Madara." Kei thought darkly. "Maybe he's worried someone will discover the genjutsu on the Mizukage... So he sent someone with the Byakugan to keep it under wraps?"
If so, it made sense. The Mizukage—especially the Fourth—might be the most unfortunate of all the Kage.
First manipulated by Madara Uchiha. Later, the Fourth Mizukage Yagura was placed under Obito's control. The Mist's leadership fell into chaos under Obito's ruthless agenda, stirring discontent among the upper ranks.
Eventually, Ao, with his Byakugan, discovered that Yagura had been under genjutsu all along. After the illusion was lifted, Yagura didn't last long—Uchiha Itachi came and killed him soon after.
With the Mizukage dead, the Mist Village entered a long period of political instability, governed not by a Kage, but by an elder advisor known only as "Genji."
This elder held power equal to the Kage, and Mist tradition required his approval on all important matters. Perhaps due to the lingering trauma of Yagura's rule, or the corrupting influence of power, Genji refused to select a new Mizukage for years.
And so the Mist Village languished in a state of "shadowless" leadership.
It wasn't until just before the Fourth Great Ninja War, when the Akatsuki's hunt for the Tailed Beasts escalated, that the Raikage convened a rare Five Kage Summit. With Genji aging and unable to travel, the Mizukage's hat was finally passed on to Mei Terumī.
As Kei recalled this history—so far removed from the Land of Fire—his muscles tensed.
His eyes turned scarlet.
Sharingan awakened, he swept his gaze across the thick fog.
Then he smiled.
A glint of steel.
A long blade suddenly pierced through Kei's back.
CRACK!
In a flash, his body exploded into splinters—just a wooden log.
A Substitution Jutsu.
The real Uchiha Kei appeared behind the attacker in the same instant.
His blade drawn, coated in electric-blue chakra, Kei ignored the masked Mist-nin in front of him and stabbed straight into a shallow puddle at his feet.
The water turned crimson in a heartbeat.
The Mist-nin in front of him dissolved into a large splash, nothing more than a water clone.