'Damn that wretched old man Danzo!'
Yuta leaned against a jagged black rock, his face a perfect mask of grievance aimed squarely at the absent Hokage's advisor.
Right now, he could be in Konoha.
He could be deciphering the complexities of the Flying Thunder God Technique, paying a respectful visit to Grandma Mito, sharing a laugh with Meyuri, or enjoying a head massage from Tsunade with his head pillowed in her lap. At the very least, he could be happily swindling more money out of Jiraiya.
Instead, here he was. Stuck in the middle of nowhere, carrying out Danzo's so-called "Iwagakure Genius Hunt Plan."
Well, it wasn't entirely in the middle of nowhere. At least it was better than being sent to the Land of Wind, where the sky was permanently yellow with choking sand.
He had to admit, the plan itself was sound.
It had probably even worked in the "original story," judging by how Ōnoki later struggled to find a worthy successor, having to wait until his seventies or eighties to finally pass the title to his granddaughter.
But why did he have to be the one to carry it out?
That insufferable, scheming bastard!
'One day, I'll... ah, forget it.' Yuta checked the violent thought.
While there was that dark shinobi tradition of the student killing the sensei in the Naruto world, he wasn't actually keen on adding that particular "achievement" to his resume.
Danzo was annoying, but he didn't deserve that. Maybe he was just a glutton for punishment. Why did he always accept the missions that the old badger assigned him?
With a final, soft sigh and one last internal curse hurled at Danzo's general direction, Yuta's gaze sharpened and drifted downwards to the flat, rocky basin below.
The target had appeared.
He pulled the lengthy scroll from his storage seal—Danzo's so-called "Reaper's Ledger"—and unrolled it just enough.
He compared the small, grainy photo beside the name to the figure moving below. A match. He tucked the scroll away.
'It was her. No mistake.'
Mao. No family name. Just a civilian-born genin promoted to chūnin at the remarkable age of eleven. Specialized in Earth Release. Danzo's file gave her a B+ "Genius Threat Rating."
'You had to hand it to the old hawk; he is terrifyingly professional when it came to intelligence.'
The list didn't just have names and ages. It had photos, known affiliations, and—most chillingly—catalogued the specific ninjutsu each target was confirmed to have mastered.
For that level of detail, Danzo earned a begrudging point.
The squad itself was unremarkable. Mao's jōnin sensei, referred to in the file as "Teacher Ōtsuchi," seemed to be an average jōnin, his skill likely on par with or even below someone like Osamu back in Konoha.
The only complicating factor was the method. Ideally, he needed to use Water Release to take them out.
Danzo's plan was to frame Amegakure, to make each kill look like a deliberate, retaliatory strike from the Hidden Rain Village.
Truthfully, Water Release wasn't his strongest suit. But needs must.
He watched the young girl with the slightly bouncing gait below. No flicker of hesitation touched his heart.
Sage Mode, activate.
Sage Art: Water Release: Heavenly Weeping!
Yuta brought his hands together in a sharp clap.
From his mouth, a dense cloud of pressurized water needles erupted, falling upon the unsuspecting squad below like a sudden, deadly downpour.
Cultivating a good relationship with Tsunade and getting access to the Senju compound to meet Lady Mito had its perks.
Once he'd become a familiar face, browsing the Senju family's extensive ninjutsu scroll archive was permitted.
He'd read almost everything except for First Hokage Hashirama's legendary Wood Release techniques. That included the Water Release ninjutsu perfected by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama.
The Heavenly Weeping was one of them.
"Ōtsuchi-sensei! It's raining!"
"It's really... weird for rain to fall from a perfectly clear, cloudless sky! No! This isn't normal rain!"
The expressions of the Iwagakure squad shifted from confusion to dawning horror. Yuta's primary target, Mao, wore a look of pure terror.
Unfortunately for her, realization came too late.
The essence of Heavenly Weeping was that its "raindrops" were actually needle-sharp projectiles. The technique's area of effect was vast and inescapable.
Yuta had made a slight... modification. Well, not a modification per se. It was more of an enhanced effect achievable only when channeling the technique through Sage Mode.
For an ordinary shinobi, contact with a single water needle was fatal.
"Defensive positions! This is an ambush—must be Rain ninja! Don't let the rain touch you!"
Ōtsuchi, the jōnin, barked, reacting with commendable speed after his initial shock. He began forming seals for an Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall.
He was still a fraction of a second too slow.
"Agh—!"
A pained, truncated cry cut through the artificial rain. The girl named Mao was already gone.
'Mission accomplished for this one,' Yuta thought dispassionately.
He didn't bother watching the fate of the remaining squad members. Their end was a foregone conclusion. If some random jōnin could withstand his Sage-enhanced technique's, he might as well hang up his headband for good.
A true professional walks away without looking back.
'So… next target.'
He pulled out the "Reaper's Ledger" again. His eyes skimmed past the names already struck through, landing on the next entry.
~
Name: Roshi
Age:21
Affiliation:Iwagakure, Jōnin.
Chakra Natures:Fire, Earth. Capable of Lava Release.
Threat Rating:A+
~
'What the hell, Danzo? Are you out of your mind?'
'The Four-Tails Jinchūriki, and you only gave him an A+ rating?'
Yuta's mouth twitched in disbelief. But then, understanding dawned.
No matter how extensive Danzo's intelligence network was, the identity of another village's jinchūriki was a top-tier state secret.
Unless Danzo had personally broken into the Tsuchikage's office and read his private files, it would be nearly impossible to confirm Roshi as the host of the Four-Tails.
Some jinchūriki were public knowledge, of course. Like Lady Mito, the Nine-Tails host. But Yuta doubted anyone was foolish enough to target her.
Roshi… He racked his memory. If he recalled correctly, Roshi was a perfect jinchūriki. He was young now, but the fact that Ōnoki had felt confident enough to sit out the Uzushio raid suggested he had immense faith in his tailed beast weapon. That implied Roshi was either already perfect or very, very close.
Yuta pondered this for a long moment, then hit a major logistical snag.
As the Four-Tails Jinchūriki, Roshi wouldn't be sent on routine missions outside Iwa. How was he supposed to assassinate a guy who never left his heavily fortified village?
'Wait for him to venture out? That could take months, maybe years.'
He couldn't just… waltz into Iwagakure and carve his way to Roshi, could he?
'You know what…' part of him really wanted to see if he could pull it off.
But after a lengthy internal debate, cooler heads prevailed.
'Better to skip this one for now. I'll wait until he has a falling out with Ōnoki and goes rogue.'
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