"So, what important information was interrogated out of them?" Miki asked calmly, arms crossed.
"According to those bandits, here... this Mountain Fortress is just one of their strongholds. They have another stronghold hidden at the foot of the mountain." Masamoto straightened his back and reported with a serious expression.
"What?" Yuya's eyes widened suddenly, and he waved his hand excitedly.
"Is the information confirmed to be true? Could those prisoners be tricking us, and it's actually a trap?"
"This..."
Masamoto was momentarily at a loss for words, he couldn't answer any of these questions.
"Probably not."
It was Miki who spoke.
He pondered thoughtfully for a moment, his fingers unconsciously rubbing his chin. "Lying wouldn't benefit those prisoners at all, it would only make their situation worse."
If this information was true, then the purpose of the enemy's desperate defense of this fortress was...
"Go! Leave here immediately!" Miki suddenly shouted, his voice carrying an urgent sense of necessity.
He finally understood the key—the enemy was using the illusion of a desperate defense to drain their physical strength and energy.
"What's wrong? Captain!" A Chunin stood up from the ground and asked with a bewildered look.
"Don't ask too many questions, set off immediately."
Miki didn't want to complicate things and gave no further explanation, continuing to urge, "Move fast!"
Everyone present was confused by this sudden retreat order, their faces full of bewilderment, but their hands were not slow at all as they began to pack their ninja tools in an orderly fashion.
Since it was the captain's order, they simply followed it.
"What on earth is going on?" Yuya approached Miki and asked in a low voice.
Miki glanced at this Vice-captain in his early twenties. The young man's experience was still shallow and required more seasoning.
"If I'm not mistaken, there must be Sensory Ninjas nearby monitoring our every move. From the very beginning, we fell into a trap set by the opponent."
A flash of worry crossed Miki's eyes, and he sighed with regret, "This time I was misled by the information I brought, and I also underestimated the enemy. If I had spent more time analyzing it, I wouldn't have jumped into the opponent's trap so proactively. With our current state, the enemy must already be on their way with a large force to intercept us."
After hearing the captain's explanation, Yuya was startled and immediately understood the crisis they were in. Once their retreat path was blocked, the ninjas in the Mountain Fortress would swarm out, and they would be caught in a pincer attack.
"Quick, everyone hurry up, set off immediately!" He immediately turned and shouted loudly, though he was secretly shocked.
He had thought it was just a group of ordinary bandits, but he hadn't expected...
Thud—
Just then, a dark shadow suddenly flew out from the bushes and landed heavily on the path ahead of their retreat.
Staring at the dark shadow rolling a few times on the ground, Miki whispered to himself, "Am I still a step too late?"
He then raised his voice in warning, "Everyone pay attention, stay alert!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the team members immediately assumed battle stances, focusing all their attention on the surrounding darkness, wary of any attack that could occur at any moment.
"Damn it, I'm exhausted."
A figure rustled out from the bushes, but the sight before him made him freeze for a moment.
What came into view was a group of Konoha ninjas standing in a semicircle not far in front of him, holding various ninja tools, each looking tense and alert, staring at him warily.
"Is this a welcome for me?"
Mamoru quickly reacted and asked with a smile, "Who taught you this formation? It's way too wretched, isn't it?"
The latter half was pure mockery.
This kind of defensive formation was a basic course at the Ninja Academy, a fundamental skill that every Konoha ninja had to master.
"Oh, it's just you, kid? You scared the life out of me."
"Me too, I almost threw a shuriken."
"Seriously, can you not be so scary?"
"I say, aren't you afraid of crawling through the bushes alone in the middle of the night?"
...
Complaints sounded one after another from all around as everyone lowered their weapons.
"Why are you running here alone instead of staying in the rear?" Yuya frowned at Mamoru. "It's not safe here right now."
"Alright, I'm here to give you a surprise." Mamoru interrupted him impatiently.
He walked toward the corpse on the ground, flipped the face-down body over with his toe, and smiled with a raised eyebrow. "This guy is Shichikon... Surprised? Unexpected?"
The reason it was a corpse instead of a live prisoner was because Shichikon had given him a reason that left him no choice but to kill him.
He had originally wanted to bring back a live one, but someone insisted on using a death warrant as a bargaining chip.
Shichikon had revealed the location of the hidden money, and Mamoru didn't bother to distinguish truth from falsehood, simply solving the problem cleanly and decisively.
If Shichikon were brought back to Konoha alive, Mamoru believed he definitely wouldn't be able to withstand the Interrogation Squad's brutal torture, and by then, that money would naturally fall into Konoha's pockets.
Mamoru couldn't accept that outcome. Even if he couldn't use the money himself, he didn't want others to touch it—humans are just that contradictory.
"Is this really Shichikon?"
Miki and Yuya stepped forward, examining the corpse on the ground.
Under the backdrop of the night, the corpse's appearance was exceptionally terrifying.
Scars crisscrossed his face, half of his upper lip was missing, his teeth were exposed, his dull eyes were wide open in death, and combined with the hazy, eerie atmosphere of the night, anyone would believe it if you said this was a ghost.
"If this isn't Shichikon, is it a ghost?" Mamoru picked his ear and retorted unpleasantly.
"Don't say, he really looks like a ghost. Encountering this thing in the middle of the night would scare anyone to death."
"No way, this look is just ridiculous. If I had to fight someone like this, I'd be intimidated before the battle even started."
"Then you're too pathetic. I definitely wouldn't be afraid, I could fight him with my eyes closed."
"...Then you're even worse than me."
...
A group of Chunin gathered around, commenting on the corpse on the ground, showing absolutely no respect for the deceased.
"Wasn't Shichikon in the Mountain Fortress? Why is he here?"
By this time, someone finally realized the situation.
Mamoru rolled his eyes, they were a real bunch of characters.
"Eh! Right, why would Shichikon be here?"
"Then... whose people are those in the cave?"
"Captain, what's really going on?"
Everyone was talking at once, throwing out one question after another.
"Alright, everyone be quiet and listen to me." Miki signaled for everyone to be silent.
The scene immediately fell silent, and everyone waited in silence, hoping the captain could answer the doubts in their hearts.
Miki looked at Mamoru with a complex expression.
While they were working hard on the front lines, Mamoru had already found the enemy's true nest and even brought back the leader's corpse.