In the mountain forests of the Land of Hot Water, the members of Makoto's team moved quickly, occasionally stopping to carefully inspect the faint traces on the ground.
One of the objectives of this mission—to investigate and deal with the backers behind Genshin, the second son of the Land of Hot Water's Daimyō—had already been completed. Although some of those people had not died, they had all been crippled; staying alive only made them a burden to their companions.
What they were carrying out now was the second objective: to conduct an in-depth investigation into the Kumogakure ninja's intelligence.
Earlier, Makoto had deliberately allowed the other side to take their wounded away so it would be easier to track them from behind, but an unexpected situation had interrupted that.
Fortunately, it was not a big problem. The other side was carrying crippled companions on their backs, so their traveling speed would not be too fast. If they also had to go out of their way to erase the traces of their movement, their speed would become even slower.
If they did not erase them, they would be easily caught up to. That was what it meant to go from being single-minded to being trapped from both ends.
The facts proved that, in order to return to their main base as quickly as possible, they simply had no time to eliminate the traces they had left behind.
It was also possible that they were relying on the poor visibility at night being to their advantage, making it not worth the time spent cleaning up traces.
Following those faint clues, Makoto's four-man team headed north all the way in the direction of the Land of the Moon.
Between the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning, there were two relatively large buffer countries along the land route. The Land of Hot Water leaned toward Konoha, while the Land of the Moon leaned toward Kumogakure.
More than a year had passed since the end of the Third Shinobi World War. Although the major countries had already withdrawn their troops, they still maintained quite a bit of vigilance along the borders.
Because the Nine-Tails disaster had broken out in Konoha, Kumogakure had been the first to jump out and begin increasing its forces at the border, looking very much as if it intended to reignite the flames of war.
Those dark-skinned brutes loved nothing more than taking advantage of a crisis.
The closer they got to the Land of the Moon, the heavier the traces left behind by those two squads of Kumo ninja became, as if they were deliberately putting more force into each step to make it easier for the Konoha ninja to track them.
The moonlight, which had originally still been fairly bright, was suddenly covered by dark clouds, and snowflakes actually began to drift down from the sky.
In a barren stone forest, Makoto stopped tracking.
Looking at the fresh footprints on the ground, Yamato said, "They're much more obvious than before. It looks like they were left on purpose."
Hayate looked north. "Seems there's an ambush ahead."
Makoto said, "That's right. We'll rest here, recover our strength, and move after daybreak."
Yūgao reached out and caught a snowflake. "Captain, if the snowfall gets heavier, it'll cover up the tracks, right? Won't we lose them?"
"We won't. By this point, we don't need tracks anymore. But we could run into enemies at any time, so we need to make sure we're in good condition first."
After finding a concealed spot nearby, Yamato honestly formed hand seals and used Earth Release to create a space underground where they could hide.
He had not yet fallen into the house-building business. Even if he could use Wood Release to build houses, he would not do so. Out in the wild, it would be far too conspicuous.
...
Just as the sky was beginning to lighten, the four of them returned to the surface, only to see a world of white.
The heavy snow was still falling, covering all traces.
Fortunately, ninja feared heat, not cold. After straightening their gear, everyone set out again.
The snow on the ground was like white silk, and a string of footprints was stamped into it, but it was as if wind followed behind the four of them, sweeping up piles of snow and brushing over the depressions, restoring everything to its original state.
This was Makoto's doing. As a seasoned ninja, he naturally would not leave behind such an obvious flaw for others to discover.
Not long after they moved on, Makoto sensed the ambush, and the four of them then changed direction.
In a forest that was not very large, three Kumogakure ninja were patrolling this area.
One of them, the shortest—a young boy—complained, "With snow this heavy, who's going to be out here? Maybe the ones tracking Bikai-sama already stumbled into the trap and got taken out."
The adult ninja with pale skin leading the group rebuked him, "Shut up. Stay alert."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Seriously, I thought the war was over."
In the shinobi world, carelessness could cost one's life.
Just as the short boy finished speaking, he suddenly became even shorter. His entire body was dragged into the earth, leaving only his head exposed above the snow, his face filled with confusion.
Who am I? Where am I? Why does everyone around me suddenly look so much taller?
It seemed he had never participated in a war before; his sense of danger was extremely lacking.
By the time he reacted and tried to break free, Yamato had already struck the back of his head with a punch, knocking him unconscious.
Hayate and Yūgao fully engaged another Kumogakure ninja who looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old. He did not last long either before being knocked unconscious.
Their captain, the adult ninja with pale skin, was no exception. He was facing Makoto; before he even saw the opponent, he felt a sharp pain at the back of his neck, and his body completely lost sensation.
Falling to the ground and looking at the approaching enemy, he sank into deep fear and despair. Damn it—why would Konoha's people just happen to appear on his patrol route?
This time he was finished. What would happen to the beautiful wife waiting at home?
Then his gaze met a pair of eyes behind a mask, and he became trapped in a genjutsu, unable to free himself.
After interrogating the intelligence, Makoto delivered a "Wind Finger Gun" to the two unconscious Kumogakure ninja. The four of them then quickly left the place, continuing their hunt through the heavy snow.
Behind them, the adult Kumogakure ninja, who had regained consciousness, let out a miserable howl. While venting the fear in his heart, he was also calling for his companions to come rescue them.
He believed that the three of them had merely been struck by a ninjutsu that temporarily prevented them from moving. What he did not know was that there was a very high chance he would spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
On the road, Yūgao asked in confusion, "Captain, why didn't we kill them?"
Hayate and Yamato also did not understand. They knew the consequences of having the spine struck by the Wind Finger Gun—for a ninja, it was a fate far more terrifying than death.
If they had not known Makoto well, they might even have thought their captain had some twisted psychological fetish.
Makoto explained to the three of them, "Death is only a moment. Most ninja are not afraid of dying. If we kill them, it will only make the surviving Kumo ninja share the same hatred and cause another war with Konoha."
"But if we cripple them, the Kumo ninja will have to assign people to take care of those comrades. It reduces the enemy's effective numbers to the greatest extent, and it also pushes the Kumo ninja into an atmosphere of extreme fear, stirring up their war-weariness. Understand?"
The three nodded and quickly understood.
Death was not frightening. Living a fate worse than death was what was frightening.
It was like certain weapons on Earth in Makoto's previous life—developed not to kill the enemy, but specifically to create disabilities.
They increased the enemy's logistical burden, spread an atmosphere of fear, and amplified war-weariness among the rank-and-file soldiers.
Very inhumane.
Unfortunately, the shinobi world had no United Nations conventions to restrict such things, and ninja would not talk about human rights with their enemies.
Not long afterward, the four of them crippled several more squads of Kumo ninja. Then, based on the intelligence they had obtained, they located the Kumogakure main camp.
Hayate and the other two guarded the surroundings while Makoto closed his eyes and carefully sensed the situation inside the camp.
With perception abilities that far exceeded the norm, they had no need to risk infiltrating it.
The size of Kumogakure's force this time was not large—only around three hundred people. Including those carrying out missions outside, the total might not even reach five hundred. It seemed they did not intend to start a full-scale war with Konoha, but were mainly applying pressure and probing.
The Fourth Raikage and the Eight-Tails' jinchūriki were not there, and the number of jōnin in the camp was not particularly large either. However, one ninja had an enormous amount of chakra.
It was the Two-Tails' jinchūriki—Yugito Nii. This beauty should currently be about the same age as Kakashi. It was unknown how much of the tailed beast's power she could bring out.
Aside from the One-Tail and the Nine-Tails, the other seven tailed beasts were relatively easier to deal with. Not to mention that Kumogakure had essentially cheated, possessing a complete system for training perfect jinchūriki.
Fortunately, although Konoha did not have perfect jinchūriki, it routinely had its own kind of "cheat."
A moment later, Makoto opened his eyes and said, "Let's go. We can head back."
...
Inside the Kumogakure camp, the temporary medical ward was filled with a suffocating atmosphere of despair.
Including the jōnin Bikai who had been crippled by Makoto, nearly twenty ninja lay neatly arranged across several rooms.
Most of them believed they had only been injured. But the diagnosis from their own medical ninja told them that their shinobi careers were finished. For the rest of their lives, they would only be able to lie in bed, eating, drinking, and relieving themselves there.
For any ninja, that meant endless despair.
Even the most optimistic person would be crushed by such a fate.
An atmosphere of fear began spreading throughout the camp.
Beside the hospital bed, the commander Dodai asked, "Bikai, who attacked you?"
Bikai's eyes were dull, and his voice carried the weight of death. "I don't know. The other side was Konoha ANBU. Not very tall—probably quite young—but extremely powerful. More than a dozen of us were almost completely defeated by him alone."
"Is that so? What a terrifying talent. The only person I can think of is the 'Shield of Konoha' who once fought Raikage-sama."
"Maybe. Whoever it was, I only know one thing—he's a devil."
"Crippling people without killing them, spreading despair and fear… that is indeed the style of a devil. This is quite troublesome."
"Dodai-sama, please kill me. I don't want to live like this."
"Bikai, what nonsense are you saying? Don't give up. The village will find a way to treat you."
"Can they really find one?"
"Don't worry. They definitely will. Rest for now."
After Dodai walked out of the ward, his deputy asked, "What should we do, Dodai-sama? The atmosphere in the camp isn't very good right now. Should we control the spread of the news?"
"There's no need. We didn't control it at the beginning, so it's already too late now." Dodai shook his head, then asked the medical officer beside him, "Is there really no way?"
"There's no way. Their central nervous systems were completely destroyed by high-density Wind-attribute chakra. With injuries like this, perhaps only Tsunade could treat them."
Dodai had a mouthful of complaints he didn't even know how to voice. Damn it—wasn't she also from Konoha?
The two sides were practically on the verge of another war. Did they expect Tsunade to agree? They must be dreaming.
Dodai decided it would be better to let the Raikage determine the subsequent arrangements.
...
Land of Hot Water, inside the Konoha camp.
After listening to Makoto's mission report, the commander Nara Suzaku rubbed his temples in frustration. "A jinchūriki… that's a bit troublesome. We don't have anyone here with the strength to contend with one."
People from the Nara clan who specialized in strategy feared opponents like that the most. No matter how good a plan was, what was the use? Could it stop a Tailed Beast Bomb?
Konoha's current situation was that the Fourth Hokage had been injured and temporarily withdrawn, two of the Sannin had disappeared, and because of the matter of the Hokage position, Orochimaru was unlikely to give his full effort—even if he came, he would probably only go through the motions.
Should they have the Third Hokage come personally? It was hard to say whether the old man could withstand it.
Makoto said, "Actually, it's not too bad. The Two-Tails' jinchūriki isn't very old, and her own strength limits how much of the tailed beast's power she can bring out. Dealing with her won't be difficult."
Suzaku's eyes lit up. He naturally knew who the person behind the mask was.
'I'm such an idiot, really. Why look far away when the answer is right in front of me? Isn't there already someone here who captured the Four-Tails and soloed the Nine-Tails? What does the Two-Tails amount to?'
"Makoto, we've worked together for quite a while. It seems this time we'll still need your help."
"Jōnin Suzaku, you've mistaken me. I'm Forest Owl, the captain of the ANBU Owl Squad."
"Oh, right, right. So… are you going to stay?"
"That's not something you should ask me. You'll have to ask Hokage-sama."
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