"What do you want Shuku Kohei for?"
At the question, Kandachi smiled obsequiously.
"Hanzō-sama, I think this boy is incredibly clever and quick on his feet—he'd be a perfect fit for an infiltration mission.
If we assign him to Iwagakure in the Land of Earth, our greatest threat, I'm sure he'll establish an intelligence network in no time."
What he really wanted was to send Reiji far, far away—out of sight, out of mind, and out of competition for favor. Getting rid of Reiji would solve multiple problems at once.
If Reiji succeeded, great—he could keep doing the job, as long as he stayed out of Hanzō-sama's line of sight.
If he got exposed and captured, then Iwagakure could eliminate the brat for him.
And if he somehow escaped and returned to Amegakure, he'd still fall out of favor for failing the mission.
At that moment, Hanzō of the Salamander, overwhelmed with other matters, didn't catch on to Kandachi's scheming. After a moment of thought, he had to admit Reiji seemed well-suited to espionage. With no real talent for training, putting him to work for the village like this was a decent way to make use of him.
With that, Hanzō gave a slight nod and ordered, "Bring Shuku Kohei and Mizukuma here!"
Some time later, Mizukuma and Reiji—who had only just parted ways—were back in Hanzō's office, staring each other down.
Mizukuma had completely sobered up. He stood there, expressionless, staring at his feet, back to his usual serious self.
Reiji stared at Mizukuma's fake composure in disbelief. Just earlier, the guy had been partying hard at the "Ame Free Information Center," yelling about throwing a birthday bash for his sister.
Uncomfortable under Reiji's intense gaze, Mizukuma slowly raised his head and gave him an awkward smile—one that looked more like he was about to cry. His eyes practically screamed: "This is Hanzō-sama's office—stop staring at me! Keep it up and I'll break out in hives!"
Reiji got the message. He blinked to show he understood and stopped staring.
From behind his large desk, Hanzō watched the two troublemakers exchanging looks and sighed internally.
Mizukuma had once been so serious and well-behaved. Now, barely two weeks of hanging out with Reiji and he was already goofing off in front of him.
That sealed it—Hanzō had made up his mind. This brat had to go!
He cleared his throat with a quiet "Ahem," and both boys instantly snapped to attention.
"Here's the situation," Hanzō began. "The village is sending a group of sharp, nimble kids to serve as undercover agents in the Five Great Nations. Shuku Kohei, as my disciple, it's your duty to take on this dangerous mission.
So, I'm assigning you to the Land of Earth—Iwagakure."
With a wave of his hand, Hanzō settled Reiji's fate.
What?
Reiji froze.
You want me to be a mole? A snitch?! A backstabber?!
And in the Land of Earth of all places—that desolate dump?!
His first instinct was to refuse, but one look at Hanzō's cold, threatening stare and the words died in his throat.
"Uh, Hanzō-sama." Reiji hunched his shoulders and cautiously spoke. Seeing Hanzō didn't stop him, he gathered his courage and continued.
"I completely accept the village's decision. It's just... I have one small request."
"Speak!"
"Uh... could I be assigned to Konohagakure instead? I... I just... kind of hate Konoha!"
He had originally wanted to say he liked Konoha, but quickly caught himself—he was representing Amegakure as a spy. Liking Konoha was out of the question.
Mizukuma suddenly looked like he wanted to say something, but Kandachi shot him a glare from behind Hanzō that shut him up immediately.
"Approved," Hanzō declared without hesitation.
Hearing this, both Reiji and Kandachi were secretly delighted.
Reiji was thrilled to be heading to the legendary Konohagakure on a mission.
Kandachi, meanwhile, immediately thought of the Yamanaka clan.
For a spy, Wood Release, Sharingan, Byakugan—none of those were as dangerous as the Yamanaka, who ran Konoha's counterintelligence operations.
Put simply, every member of the Yamanaka clan was a natural enemy of traitors, making Konoha the hardest place for a spy to blend in—especially if one hoped to climb the ranks.
But to Kandachi, that was great news. If he hadn't been worried about arousing Hanzō's suspicion, he would've sent Reiji to Konoha ages ago.
"Shuku Kohei, good luck. The village will remember your contribution!"
With that, Hanzō waved his hand.
Reiji nodded and turned to leave.
Once Reiji was out, Hanzō of the Salamander shifted his gaze to Mizukuma.
"Mizukuma!"
"Yes, Hanzō-sama!"
"I'm assigning you a task. Over the next week, you'll be in charge of training twelve children—including Shuku Kohei—in infiltration techniques."
"Yes!" Mizukuma stood straight and nodded firmly.
Hanzō, seeing that Mizukuma still carried himself with that dependable air, nodded in approval and waved his hand to dismiss him.
But Mizukuma didn't move. He stood there, frozen.
"What is it? Something else?" Hanzō's brow twitched slightly at the hesitation.
Mizukuma looked at Hanzō with a conflicted expression, as if wrestling with himself.
"Hanzō-sama, you once said… to protect the village, and to protect the children of the village…" His voice trailed off, and he changed direction.
"Lord, I don't believe children are fit for missions. It's not just that they're immature and easily manipulated—the most important trait for an infiltrator is a strong mental fortitude. That's something even most adults can't manage, let alone unseasoned kids!"
As he finished, his determined expression quickly faded into one of hesitation and fear.
To be fair, it wasn't his fault. He was a child whom Hanzō of the Salamander had personally saved, and he instinctively feared his benefactor.
That he could speak up at all today, under this kind of pressure, showed how deeply he believed in what he said.
Hanzō stared in silence at the boy he had once pulled from a pile of corpses. He hadn't expected the once-timid child to speak so boldly.
In a blink, that little brat had grown up.
For a moment, Hanzō was caught off guard.
But he was still the leader of Amegakure and a Kage-level shinobi. His softness vanished in an instant, his face returning to a cold, unreadable expression.
"Take a look at this."
He tossed over a bundle of scrolls.
Mizukuma stepped forward, picked them up, and scanned them rapidly.
The further he read, the more anger twisted his face.
"Those bastards... how dare they brazenly break into the intelligence department and sell out the village's secrets like this? We should tie them to stones and drown them in the lake!"
Catching Mizukuma's fury from the corner of his eye, Hanzō nodded, satisfied.
"If you were in charge, and every last infiltrator died—what would you do?"
"Uh..." Mizukuma froze at the question, his face darkening with uncertainty.
"Lord, I... I don't know."
Disappointment flickered across Hanzō's eyes. He took the scrolls back and waved his hand.
Mizukuma understood and, after a moment of hesitation, turned and left.
...
Meanwhile, Reiji was being led by Kandachi into a dimly lit chamber.
The room was small, resembling the laboratories used by the Jashin cult in their underground base.
At the center was a stone platform about the size of a single bed, surrounded by researchers bustling about.
Chains stained with dark red rust hung ominously around it.
It was obvious these people had been conducting cruel, inhumane experiments in secret.
These chains weren't for pigs—they were for people.
On the stone slab, a boy lay with his eyes shut tight and his mouth forcibly pried open. Two ninja-like men were handling the boy's tongue roughly.
"You know what that is?" Kandachi's mocking voice rang out behind him.
Reiji shook his head, innocent and clueless.
Seeing his naive expression, Kandachi gave a cruel smile, slung an arm over Reiji's shoulder, and led him up to the stone platform.
"This is a cursed seal—one of the strongest ones in our village!"
Reiji said nothing, just watched the two operators at work with interest. He wasn't worried in the slightest. Kandachi clearly brought him here to scare him, trying to get off on his fear.
But truthfully, Reiji had known from the start—this guy Kandachi clearly had it out for him.
As for why, he couldn't figure it out, but it didn't matter. In his mind, Kandachi was already dead. Once he mastered his techniques, Kandachi would be the first to go!
Seeing that Reiji wasn't scared or even nervous, but instead looked like a curious spectator, Kandachi felt like he'd just punched empty air.
"Hmph, enjoy yourself while you can, brat. Once it's your turn, we'll see who's crying!"
He pointed to the strange raindrop-shaped mark on the boy's tongue and sneered.
"This is the Cursed Seal: Brain Implantation Technique! It's meant to keep you brats tight-lipped.
If your mind is tampered with, or if you spill any information about Amegakure, the seal will activate.
And then..."
He paused for effect, then suddenly spread his hand wide, mimicking an explosion.
"Boom!"
"The seal will scramble your brains like soup—turn your skull into a blender!"
Reiji secretly rolled his eyes, then clutched his chest with a terrified expression.
"You idiot, it scrambles your brain, not your heart."
"Huh?" Reiji blinked, then quickly let go of his chest and covered his head instead.
"Sorry, sorry—habit. I'm used to grabbing my chest."
Seeing Reiji's half-hearted apology and that blank-faced look, Kandachi felt his blood pressure spike. This kid was beyond irritating.
Soon after, the boy on the stone slab was carried out. The two operators moved in, ready to hold Reiji down.
Just then, Reiji raised a hand to stop them and turned toward Kandachi.
"Kandachi-sama, can I make a small request?"
Kandachi, recalling Reiji's earlier request in Hanzō-sama's office, agreed easily.
"Bring me a bucket of water and a glass of water."
At that odd request, the operators looked hesitantly at Kandachi, who, curious about what trick Reiji was playing, nodded for them to go along with it.
Soon enough, a wooden bucket and a cup of water were brought over. Reiji pointed at the bucket and gestured.
"You two—yeah, you—go wash your hands."
The moment the words left his mouth, Kandachi and the two operators stared at each other, their faces turning pitch black.
But the water was already here. What else could they do but wash?
Once they were done, one of the operators pulled out a thick syringe to administer anesthesia.
"Nope!" Reiji jumped back immediately.
No way. With his unique constitution, not even poison could knock him out—an anesthetic would be useless. Worse, it could expose him!
"Don't bother with the anesthesia! I'm doing this for the village of my own free will. If you use anesthetic, how is that voluntary?"
Then, without warning, he grabbed the syringe and jabbed it straight into Kandachi's leg.
"You little—"
Kandachi didn't even finish cursing. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed on the spot.
Reiji stared at Kandachi's limp body, hand over his mouth, whispering, "Whoa, that stuff really kicks in fast!"
With Kandachi knocked out, the cursed seal was successfully implanted without further issues.
After holding out his tongue for ages, Reiji's first instinct wasn't to check it but to grab the cup and rinse his mouth out thoroughly. Then, casually, he spat the water right onto the unconscious Kandachi.
Glancing at the two operators, whose faces had gone dark as soot, Reiji scratched his head sheepishly.
"Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean you two were dirty...
I meant everyone here is dirty!"