It was dark, the town was a shadow with breathing. Riku and I tore out of the cheap inn we stayed like wind. My legs moved on habit now, chakra pulsing under my skin to steady my jumps and silence the landings.
No wasted motion. No wasted Chakra.
We ran through alleys, past shuttered stalls and sleeping dogs. I fed small pulses of chakra into my feet to mute impact and bite into the roofs when we climbed a larger building.
Riku kept pace with me, silent, we were used to each other movements after working together for the last week.
Soon we crossed the walls and rushed through the trees.
The meeting point was an alcove hidden behind a massive tree. It was a place we'd used before. We slid into the shadowed space. The air tasted like moss and bark.
Sayuri-san and Hanami-san were already there. Sayuri-san stood with that same calm look on her face, hands folded and dressed in standard Konoha garb and Hanami-san stood next to her, as she checked the straps on her belt,
We exchanged the quick nods that passed for good mornings.
Sayuri-san wasted none of it. "I'll keep it quick," she said. "The higher-ups want the town now, the lord is cautious, trusts no shinobi and loves his granddaughter more than anything. We use that."
She tapped the scroll in her hand once. "We stage a kidnapping and make it look like Iwa did the deed." Her gaze landed on me when she said it. I felt the weight of the plan settle into the pit of my stomach.
"How?" Riku asked under his breath.
Sayuri's look shifted to me again. "Doton ninjutsu signatures. We weaken the courtyard foundation or shift around the ground, so that it looks like someone used ninjutsu. Basara-san will be responsible for this."
Her voice was flat; the implication wasn't lost on me.
Riku's eyes flicked to me, uncertainty written plain. "How would… that lead them to iwa?" he muttered.
Hanami cut in before I could answer. "To most people, Iwa equals Earth Release. Konoha equals Fire. If the ground's manipulated in any way, the civilians will believe it was an Iwa operation." She sounded practical, not cruel. "Even the local samurai would not find it suspicious based on the town's location."
Sayuri checked our faces one by one. "Hanami-chan and Basara-san will enter the girls courtyard. Basara-san, please assist Hanami-chan as she retrieves the objective and get out fast. Riku and I take overwatch positions. we'll leave the town as soon as you get out. We don't go back to camp directly, we follow the border toward the Land of Earth, then loop to our camp, to throw off any potential trackers"
The plan was surgical and Immoral in a way that had my jaw clench. It was the kind of mission that used people as chess pieces and called it strategy.
Still, the logic was clear: create a crisis that points fingers outward, not inward. Make the lord beg for help, offer Konoha the role of protector and the town bends
This is the mission…. And I cant say no
I kept my face blank. "We move in before dawn," I said. "We get the girl, then fall back to the border. Understood."
Sayuri-san nodded once. Hanami gave a small smile as if to say she'd rehearsed the steps a dozen times.
We broke from the alcove and then made our way back into town.
We moved fast through the richer quarter like ghosts. Lantern light slid over carved eaves and lacquered gates. Guards stood at intervals, polished armor catching the glow of the lanterns; their patrols were regular but slow, more for ceremony than actual security. The lord's manor sat behind a high wall, gates flanked by stone lions and a pair of lanterns hung on iron posts. It looked every bit the kind of place built to keep other people out.
Sayuri and Riku peeled off without a word, slipping to the rooftop's edge to take overwatch. Hanami-san cut a narrow way through service doors and side passages, and I followed at her shoulder. Her movements were small and efficient; she knew the house like a blueprint in her head. We moved through courtyards and servant corridors, the servants' area had low ceilings, polished wood and screens painted with cranes and pine.
The manor's interior was larger than the exterior suggested: a small garden courtyard, corridors lined with tatami rooms that opened into one another through sliding doors. Our target room was well-guarded, with a pair of door guards in the main corridor and a maid's station outside her chamber. Still, the household was civilian, not military; their security relied on regular soldiers and servants, not trained samurai or Shinobi.
Hanami-san motioned me down a side passage, fingers pointing to a shadowed Inlet. We climbed a narrow ladder into the rafters and slipped along the beams, with the ceiling panels just above our heads. The room doors below were paper screens, tightly closed. The air smelled faintly of oil and perfume, a sign they'd kept care for the sleeping rooms. My pulse was steady. The plan was simple: Hanami-san would get the girl unconscious, and I'd be ready IN case of any mishaps.
We reached the rafters over the target's room. Through the slight gap in the panel.I could see a low bed, cushions, a small lacquered table. The girl not more than ten, wearing a light kimono, slept on her side, hair braided and piled in a loose knot. She looked fragile in that quiet way young children do, all softness and small bones.
My throat felt tight for a second, and I pushed it down. There was a job to do.
Hanami-san dropped down like a shadow, silent as a cat. She landed beside the bed, A hand over the girl's mouth, a small cloth pressed to her nose.
I felt the faint chemical sting of sedative on the cloth, quick-acting, designed to put someone out without a struggle. The girl fought once, blinking, hands flailing, then sank back. Her breath stuttered and slowed. Hanami kept her hand firm until the chest rose slow and even.
I exhaled quietly; the relief was immediate but thin. This part had to be clean; any outcry would ruin everything.
Then a voice, unexpected and close. A maid who had been stationed in the corridor she must have heard shuffling through the paper door. She called the target's name softly and pushed the sliding door open.
There was no time to think.
I have to do this
My body moved on command. I dropped from the rafters, boots landing on the floor with no more sound than a cat's. The maid stepped fully into the room, eyes wide in surprise. Her mouth opened for a call, and…
I hesitated for a second but...
A kunai came up before my brain finished the calculation, clean and fast. It slid into her eye. She fell without a sound. She slumped against the doorframe, eyes glassy.
No scream, no struggle.
I stood over her for a heartbeat, she was just some poor woman in the wrong place at the wrong damn time. I then shook my head, forcing such thoughts to the back of my mind as I retrieved my kunai from the woman's body.
My hands shook a little.
I felt a strange disconnect from my actions and their consequence, but the old part of me that'd once recoiled at killing had been smothered by need.
Part of me catalogued the details out of habit: the way her robe pooled, the smear at the edge of her hair. Part of me noticed how easy it had been, and that ease felt wrong in a way I didn't let myself examine long.
Hanami wiped the cloth from the girl's mouth and motioned. "Let's go," she mouthed.
We lifted the target carefully. She was light, limp, and quite unconscious. I kept thinking of the maid's face as we passed, and the thought tasted bitter, but there was no time for it.
I needed to carry out the next part of the mission.
Outside, the courtyard was quiet; lanterns cast small islands of light across paved stones.I stood motionless, breath steady, eyes locked on the ground beneath me. My fingers flashed through the seals
Ram - Ox
Chakra surged from my core, a controlled pulse threading through my feet into the courtyard's foundation. I guided the chakra along the stone's stress lines.
The ground trembled, a faint shiver only I could sense. A hairline fracture spiderwebbed through the pavement to a stone bench where guests probably lounged, its edges glinting as dust trickled down like ash. The wall nearby groaned, a low, silent creak, as a slab loosened, sending a shower of grit raining onto the pavement.
My chakra probed deeper, teasing the stone apart. The fracture widened under my soles, a jagged scar just deep enough to snag a foot or to trip a guard. I held the flow steady for a second more and then the courtyard settled as I eased back.
Nodding at me, Hanami-san slipped out of the room with the girl, moving like a practiced thief toward the edge of the manor. Riku called softly from above the wall; his signal confirmed the sweep was clear. We climbed up the roof and met up with Sayuri-san and Riku, Then…
We ran.
Our path hugged the town wall, shadows clinging to us as we moved in silence. The fields beyond the town were slick with dew, the grass catching faint moonlight like cold metal. Once clear of the town, we broke for the treeline into the safety of the canopy.
When we reached the trees, Sayuri-san gave a small signal with her fingers, forward. And then we went full tilt.
The world became a blur of bark and wind.
Chakra pulsed through my legs in clean bursts, grounding my steps as I ran along the trunks, leapt from branch to branch, and pushed off again. Each impact was a muted thud a rhythm now second nature to my body from weeks of practice and from memories that didn't quite belong to me but guided me all the same.
The forest thickened, trees rising taller, older. Mist clung low to the ground, pale silver in the faint pre-dawn light.
Sayuri-san took point, her movements smooth and controlled.
Riku followed behind her, every few paces lifting his nose to catch the faintest threads of scent in the air. Hanami-san was beside me, the young noble girl limp in her arms, wrapped tightly in dark cloth. I guarded the rear, eyes darting across the shadows of the trees.
We ran like that for what must've been hours.
Then…
Riku halted so suddenly the team almost collided into him.
He crouched low, one hand pressed against the ground, nostrils flaring hard. His eyes snapped wide. I felt a sense of unease as he tensed his shoulders and saw the slight tremor in his hand.
"Scents," he whispered, low but sharp. "Multiple… blood…" His voice hitched. "And… I know two of them. Konoha."
That made everyone still instantly. My heart kicked once hard in my chest.
Sayuri's head turned toward him, calm but alert. "How far?"
"Not far," he said. "Half a kilometer. Maybe less." His voice started to shake. "It's Tsume-nee. I… I know her scent anywhere. And Kuromaru's. But…" He swallowed, the panic surfacing. "It's mixed with blood."
Sayuri's expression didn't waver, but her tone turned clipped and firm. "Hanami. Give me the girl. Basara, Riku… get ready. We're moving to assist."
Hanami passed the unconscious girl into Sayuri's arms without question. I felt my stomach tighten.
This was about to turn ugly.
Riku's hand hovered near his kunai pouch, his chakra flaring erratically from agitation. Sayuri caught his wrist mid-motion, squeezed once, grounding him. "Focus," she said quietly. "If she's there, we save her. But you keep your head in the game. Got it ?"
Riku nodded sharply, though I could see the storm still behind his eyes.
Sayuri shifted the girl's weight against her hip and gave a signal.
We moved.
Branches whipped past as we surged forward again, faster this time, driven by adrenaline.
The forest thinned, the light growing faintly stronger ahead, the dull gray before sunrise. Every breath I took burned sharp in my lungs, but my focus narrowed until the rest of the world disappeared.
Ahead, I caught faint flashes of light, chakra reactions, distant but growing closer. Then the ground trembled beneath us.
A low rumble rolled through the forest, followed by a sound I recognized instantly
An explosion.
"Move!" Sayuri barked.
We leapt from the last ridge, breaking into the open. The forest ended abruptly into a scarred clearing, blackened trees, smoldering earth, and smoke curling in thin sheets toward the sky.
Below, I saw four Konoha shinobi, one of them clearly wounded, running hard from the blast. Their flak jackets were torn and smeared with soot. And beside them, a ninken, dark fur matted with blood, limping but keeping pace.
Riku froze for half a second, his breath catching. Then he shouted, voice cracking through the chaos.
"TSUME-NEE!"
Sayuri's hand shot out to stop him, but he was already gone, chakra bursting from his feet as he dropped from the treeline straight toward the clearing.
"Riku!"
I swore under my breath and followed, pushing chakra through my legs. Sayuri cursed low and shifted the unconscious girl into Hanami's arms. "Stay with her!" she ordered, then leapt after us.
We hit the ground running. Dirt kicked up beneath my sandals as I drew my kunai. I could already feel the pressure of open chakra signatures ahead, too close.
Shapes emerged through the smoke.
Iwa shinobi.
At least six of them, maybe more, moving in coordinated formation through the haze, dark vests, cracked forehead protectors with the mark of the rock. They fanned out, flanking the fleeing Konoha team.
The lead shinobi was already forming hand seals fast. My stomach dropped as I noticed their positions.
They weren't going to make it
The man exhaled, and from his mouth poured molten death, a wave of searing orange liquid that hissed as it hit the earth, spreading like fire through the clearing.
The ground blackened, smoke rising instantly.
My brain stalled for half a heartbeat.
Lava Release.
The Konoha shinobi ahead froze, unable to dodge fast enough with their wounded. The lava was already curling toward them.
I didn't think.
My hands moved on their own the signs burned into me from repetition.
Tiger - Hare - Boar - Ram - Dog - Ox - Snake
Doton: Doryūheki!