The mission objective: kill the Sand Village spy, Sansan Kaoru, without alerting anyone.
Byakuya felt like this difficulty spike was intentional.
Sansan Kaoru was already confirmed as a Sand spy, hiding in a sensitive unit like the surveillance team. What was the problem with exposing his identity and executing him openly?
That was exactly what Byakuya thought before he made contact with the surveillance unit.
But after being "captured" and taken away by the surveillance squad, he immediately understood that a covert execution was indeed the best solution. Root likely knew the full picture but hadn't spelled it out in the mission brief...
Because the captain of this surveillance unit was Sansan Kaoru.
If Byakuya publicly announced that Sansan Kaoru was a spy, the rest of the squad would panic.
If our captain is a spy, then aren't we all doomed?
No one would dare gamble on the mercy of the village higher-ups. What if they decided to silence the entire squad to cover up such a humiliating security breach? Or what if they assumed the whole squad had been turned by Sansan Kaoru?
In that situation, going rogue and defecting to the Sand Village would seem like the only viable path to survival.
"It's dangerous in these mountains. Your parents let you come up here alone to gather herbs?"
Sansan Kaoru sat in a cave, roasting some animal leg over a campfire. Grease sizzled as it dripped into the flames, filling the cave with the scent of meat.
Byakuya acted terrified, trembling so hard he couldn't speak.
A Leaf ninja sitting next to Sansan laughed. "Don't be scared, kid. We're Leaf ninja, not Sand ninja. We're different; we won't kill you. Just answer whatever our captain asks."
Another ninja laughed loudly. "Look at him shaking. He only dares to look at the captain, not us."
Byakuya had already counted eight people in the cave. All of them radiated danger, except for Sansan Kaoru, who had a gentle, harmless-looking face.
"You, you, and you. Go scout outside."
"Aw, Captain. The Sand are timid as mice; they wouldn't dare attack the Leaf. The higher-ups must be crazy sending us to this godforsaken place."
"If they sent you to the Cloud front lines, you'd complain about that too."
Sansan Kaoru's face turned serious. "Stop goofing off. Get to work."
Seeing the captain getting angry, the three ninja didn't dare delay. They grabbed their weapons from the ground and ran out of the cave.
"What's your name?"
"Sa... Sasuke."
Sansan Kaoru smiled kindly, coaxing him. "Sasuke, where is your home?"
Byakuya seemed to calm down a bit. He pointed a finger vaguely. "Over those two mountains. My village is at the foot of the mountain."
"Does the village have a name?"
"Bear Village."
"That's a nice name."
"It's because bears often run into the village. My uncle was killed by a bear."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"Can I go now? I'm too clumsy; I haven't found any herbs worth selling yet. I'm afraid if it gets dark, I won't be able to find my way home."
"You need money?"
"Everyone in the village needs money. With money, we can go to town and buy salt. The price of salt went up again."
Sansan Kaoru pulled a wad of bills from his vest, not even bothering to count them, and stuffed them into Byakuya's shirt. "Kid, this money is yours. Can you take me... take him, to your village?"
Byakuya looked like a simple country boy, beaming with joy at the sight of money. "Mom and Dad will be so happy when I bring this much home! Take who? Who's going to the village?"
"Me. The Great One."
The ninja sitting next to Sansan stood up and grabbed Byakuya by the collar. "Let's go. My time is precious."
The ninja caught a subtle signal from Sansan Kaoru's eyes and nodded slightly.
Meanwhile, the real Byakuya was hiding in the dense foliage of a large tree, watching the ninja lead his Shadow Clone out of the cave.
He didn't know exactly what would happen next, but he found out soon enough.
Outside the cave was a forest full of wild beasts and poisonous insects. The path was rugged and difficult.
After the two figures disappeared into the woods, Sansan Kaoru walked out of the cave with two other subordinates and quietly tailed them.
"Does killing the entire surveillance squad count as 'eliminating the target without alerting anyone'?"
With his current strength, that was a pipe dream.
The fact that they set up this kind of counter-surveillance meant they suspected something.
This was the danger of the mission: he could easily be mistaken for an enemy and killed by Leaf ninja.
Poof.
He dispelled the Shadow Clone.
In an instant, the clone's memories flooded into his mind.
Byakuya quickly processed the images from the cave. There are bad seeds in the Hidden Leaf, he thought darkly. To let a Sand spy become the captain of a surveillance unit.
Shortly after, Sansan Kaoru led the ninja back to the cave, recalled the scouts, and immediately moved the surveillance unit to a new location.
Every move they made was exposed to Byakuya's eyes.
To avoid the sensory ninja in the squad, Byakuya had chosen a blind spot.
He was hiding in a large tree behind a massive boulder. His eyes were just above the rock line, giving him a perfect view of Sansan Kaoru and his men.
"If Sansan Kaoru really is a Sand spy, then the Sand Village must already know about this cave. It was probably Sansan's communication point. If he suddenly changes the camp location with other Leaf ninja 'watching,' it would be hard for him to communicate with the Sand."
"I'm guessing Sansan will use the excuse of scouting or retrieving something to return to the cave and leave a clue about the new campsite."
"Or, maybe my Shadow Clone spooked him. Maybe he thinks the Sand Village sent someone to contact him, and because he couldn't talk in front of the Leaf ninja, they used the 'lost kid' ploy."
"Worst case scenario: this entire surveillance unit has already defected to the Sand, and the mission just got a lot harder."
Regardless of the situation, Byakuya just needed to plant explosive tags in the cave.
If Sansan Kaoru took the bait and returned, he'd blow him sky-high.
If he didn't take the bait, Destiny Choice 2 had plenty of time left, and that snake Hiroya hadn't given a specific deadline either.
Byakuya could wait for another opportunity.
There was no way his main body was going to engage Sansan Kaoru in direct combat.
To become a captain of a surveillance unit, Sansan Kaoru had to have some skill, even if he was a spy.
Fighting him head-on went against the Way of Laying Low.
Near Evening.
Wearing the Shuten-doji mask and black trench coat, Byakuya buried explosive tags from his space-time scroll inside the cave.
He left a Shadow Clone hiding deep within the shadows of the cave while his main body returned to its hiding spot to wait.
He waited for what felt like hours. Looking at the position of the stars, Byakuya estimated it was around 11:00 PM.
That was when it happened.
A figure appeared outside the cave.
He carefully observed the surroundings. Only after confirming no one had followed him did he step inside.
"Hmph. Still using these outdated methods. Aren't you afraid the Leaf ninja will notice?"
Byakuya's Shadow Clone seemed to blend into the darkness, his voice raspy. "Even if the methods are outdated, you still came."
Sansan Kaoru retorted angrily, "Did I have a choice? Those damn Leaf surveillance ninja... two of them are starting to suspect me. If I stay any longer, I'll be exposed. Tell me, when can I return to the village? I miss my children."
Suddenly.
Sansan Kaoru's face went pale with horror. He turned to run.
The conversation order was wrong.
They should have exchanged the code words first to confirm identities.
But the person hiding in the cave had shown zero intention of giving the code.
It was a trap.
He had been played.