The air was thick with the scent of blood.
It was faint, but Hatani could smell it clearly. It was a fresh, sharp scent—the smell of blood newly spilled into the air—not the putrid, lingering stench of the Iwa corpses they had cleared out the night before.
Given Minato's earlier report of eight enemies, it was likely that another Konoha patrol squad had encountered some "dishonorable" Iwa shinobi who had caught them off guard with a sneak attack.
However, Hatani didn't speak up.
Firstly, speaking up now wouldn't bring those fellow shinobi back to life. Instead, it might make Sakumo and Minato rush forward in a panic, potentially alerting the enemy.
Secondly, the enemy consisted of only eight Iwa ninja who relied on numerical superiority and ambush tactics. Even without his warning, there was no real danger here. With the intel Minato had provided, Sakumo was more than capable of wiping them out with a few swings of his White Fang.
When the wind carried the latest update to him, Hatani's expression relaxed even further.
Whether these guys were favored by the Shinigami or simply had a sensor of their own, they had detected Hatani's group and were actively closing in.
Truly, there is a path to heaven you refuse to take, yet you burst through the gates of hell uninvited.
Fine by him. It saved him the trouble of a chase.
To the northwest, the eight Iwa shinobi—unaware of the fate awaiting them—moved in silence.
Beneath that silence, however, was a palpable sense of excitement and agitation. It was as if the shinobi they had just slaughtered weren't men, but "fruit of dreams" that would bring them everything they desired.
The eight were dressed identically, yet their attire differed significantly from standard Iwa shinobi. Instead of the typical one-sleeved uniform, they were entirely draped in deep gray robes.
They were clearly from the same clan.
The insects that periodically fluttered around them and rested in their palms gave away their identity:
The Kamizuru Clan.
They were once a clan of insect users whose name had commanded as much respect as Konoha's Aburame clan.
Over a decade ago, during an Iwa sneak attack on Konoha, the Kamizuru had served as the vanguard. Their plan was to use their bees to throw the village into chaos and clear a path for the main army.
Unfortunately for them, the moment their bees entered the village, the Aburame clan detected them. Using their Kikaichū, the Aburame not only wiped out the bees but used them to track down the Kamizuru themselves. The ensuing battle was a massacre; the Kamizuru lost most of their elite forces, and the failure of their opening gambit led to the total defeat of the Iwa army.
The late Mr. John F. Kennedy—an aficionado of convertibles—once famously said:
"Success has a thousand fathers, but failure is an orphan."
In the wake of such a crushing defeat, no one in Iwagakure was willing to admit the failure was their fault. Kennedy might have had the grace to shoulder the blame for the Bay of Pigs, but the leadership in Iwa lacked that kind of courage.
In such a situation, it all came down to a contest of strength and political leverage.
The Kamizuru clan, having suffered the heaviest losses during the failed attack, naturally became the easiest target for everyone else to bully.
The clan had originally hoped to play the "sympathy card" to secure more resources and rebuild. Instead, by the time the blame was finally settled, they realized with profound grief that they had become the official scapegoats. They were the "fathers" of failure, and the humiliation they faced from the village was absolute.
With their elites gone and the village constantly suppressing them, the Kamizuru clan's fortunes went from bad to worse.
But no species goes quietly into extinction. The Kamizuru fought back desperately, hoping to reverse years of decline and restore their former glory.
In the original timeline, years from now, the last few Kamizuru survivors would stake everything on finding the Bikochu beetle. They hoped the legendary insect would lead them to a secret scroll left by their first clan head, allowing them to reclaim their glory through "archaeology," much like the Protoss in StarCraft.
At this point in time, however, the Kamizuru weren't quite that pitiful. They still had two Jonin to keep up appearances. But they were living on borrowed time; with the village's continuous suppression, they couldn't even afford to "sit and eat the mountain empty."
So, when Ohnoki declared war on Konoha, the Kamizuru clan went all-in.
Of the clan members capable of combat, they sent two Jonin, six Chunin, and eighteen Genin to the front lines. They left only eight young Genin behind as "seeds" for the future. The other eighteen were currently part of the main army.
They held a single, firm conviction:
What was lost on the battlefield must be taken back on the battlefield.
If they could achieve enough merit to prove their value to the Tsuchikage and the village elders, then even if all eighteen of them died, the Kamizuru clan would no longer be swept into a dark corner to rot in obscurity.
Thus, when Ohnoki called for volunteers for high-risk sensory reconnaissance near the Konoha camp, the Kamizuru stepped up while other clans hesitated.
Ultimately, although the ten Genin were rejected by Kitsuchi for being "subpar," the two Jonin and six Chunin were selected. They were split into two squads for the mission.
While the Kamizuru had always been a step behind the Aburame, their ability to control insects made them perfect for infiltration missions—provided they didn't run into their natural counters.
Their success thus far proved it.
Using their insects for early detection, the eight Kamizuru had ambushed a Konoha patrol. Their bugs were so efficient and stealthy that the Konoha shinobi never even found the chance to fire a signal flare before being devoured.
The victory had sent the group into a state of euphoria.
They could already see themselves slaughtering their way through the Konoha ranks, gathering vital intel, and returning as heroes. They imagined a future where the Tsuchikage praised them personally, a future where they rose through the ranks and restored the Kamizuru name to its rightful place as a hero clan of Iwa.
Buzz! Buzz!
Suddenly, the frantic flapping of bee wings snapped them out of their delusions.
"Enemies ahead," the leader, a middle-aged female Jonin, whispered. Her voice trembled with a poorly concealed mix of excitement and anticipation.
"Conceal yourselves immediately!"
At her command, the eight figures blurred, moving toward the surrounding rocks. A moment later, their forms shimmered, turning transparent before vanishing completely into the landscape.
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