[Three Years After]
"...Careful."
After dashing through the forest, the group of Iwagakure ninjas, comprising of ten members in total, came to a stop.
Their leader, putting a finger above his lips, indicated them to retain silence as he whispered.
"We have entered the war zone. And our mission right now is to investigate the whereabouts of group nine under the leadership of jonin Gouka. If possible, avoiding fights would be preferable."
Looking around the forest, he continued,
"Forest is not really our ideal fighting ground, and our ability to detect enemies fall compared to when we fight within the landscape of Iwa. Be on guard for potential ambushment—especially since many have gone missing around this area recently."
After three years, the war line has spread out quite thinly. This phenomenon occurred due to Orochimaru having a firm ground on the main battlefield where most of the Iwagakure's ninjas were concentrated.
To flank from the sides, Iwagakure used their numbers and alliance with Kumogakure as an advantage to go around Orochimaru's forces.
However, recently, many losses and missing cases were reported in this particular area—and the sheer loss was far too huge to overlook.
Some speculated the involvement of another sannin, Jiraiya, but many dismissed such a thought, saying that Jiraiya is likely leading the offensive operation that aims to attack Iwagakure's base while it is left relatively unguarded.
And therefore, here they were now, the team consisting of elite jonins—all ten of them.
"...Nothing seems out of position. We'll be proceeding deeper—"
Swoosh!
Suddenly, a kunai came in flying one that all ten jonins easily recognized. Dodging with a little effort, the kunai failed to hit any one of them and landed in the middle.
"Huh?"
One shinobi remarked as he examined the kunai,
"Three blades instead of one? And it has seals on—"
Then, there was a yellow flash. Within this flash was the Konohgakure shinobi of blonde hair and blue eyes.
Before anyone could react, he slashed his kunai.
Heads flew. Blood splattered.
Then, within the split second, he was gone from the Iwa jonins' sight.
"Where did he go—"
One Iwa ninja growled, before he was stabbed in the chest by said blonde shinobi from the back.
Once more, there was a yellow flash afterward, and the shinobi was gone.
Now, on the spot, six Iwa jonins remained. In an instant, four elite jonins were lost.
"How..."
One of them growled,
"What is happening?! Theoretically, it should take someone of Kage level to defeat ten of us! Are you saying that—"
"No time for chitchat!!"
Another man roared. The six of them, back to back, brought themselves in a defensive position.
"It seems that our enemy has an ability to teleport! He uses the kunai as a medium, so watch out for that!!"
And just as he said so, another kunai—one with three blades—was shot at them.
The six of them quickly dashed away from the kunai—
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique."
—before said kunai multiplied in number, much to the jonins' disbelief.
There were numerous flashes in on instance afterward, decimating them.
The last thing that they saw before their deaths were a pair of blue eyes—ones that belonged to the man who will eventually be known as the 'Yellow Flash': Namikaze Minato.
__________
"Huff... huff... just who is that guy!"
The shinobi, wearing the forehead protector with the symbol of Iwagakure engraved on it, ran through the dark forest in fright.
"That blonde haired guy... how is he able to teleport around like that?! As if I'm going to fight something like that!!"
This man was another shinobi of Iwa, a missing one that managed to escape before the arrival of ten jonins who were sent to investigate.
Thankfully, the man whom the shinobi was scared of didn't seem to be chasing after him.
There was no pursuit, and eventually, the shinobi came to slow down after the adrenaline had faded away.
"...Where am I?"
In the middle of the forest, a drop of rain touched the shinobi's skin. Looking up, he muttered,
"A rain?"
The rain suddenly intensified, causing the shinobi to frown.
"This must mean that I'm in... the borders of Amegakure."
Amegakure was one of those villages that took a neutral stance in this war, promising that they won't side with anyone if left alone.
The shinobi sighed from the relief that there will be no pursuits from those of Konohagakure, but raised his caution afterward, knowing that consequences may arise if ninjas of Amegakure find him.
Within the rain, he moved. Eventually, the forest disappeared, and he had to tread through muds and swamps, ones that raised his fatigue and desire to rest.
And at last, something novel entered his sight.
"...Houses."
It was a small village located at the outskirts of Amegakure, ones that the poor ones occupied.
Surely, they must have food—something to eat.
The shinobi's eyes flashed in greed, of primal instinct.
Vile in nature, the first thought that appeared in his mind wasn't to request for some, to communicate with those villagers. No, the thought which he made was to take everything from them and quench his hunger and thirst.
After all, he had the power. Why not put into a use?
Instinctively, he let out a sliver of killing intent as his bloodshot eyes locked onto the village. He walked with his right hand holding onto a sharp kunai.
And sitting on the deck under the rooftop of one house, one brown-haired man wearing a bamboo hat and black cloak sighed lightly.
As he raised his head slightly, his lone blue eye gleamed coldly—
—and the shinobi, one who was approaching the village, froze on his spot.
He then suddenly started to choke himself, grabbing his neck and crushing it out of his own will.
He shivered in a pale expression. He didn't even seem to know what he was doing. Then, his eyes abruptly widened, and quickly releasing his neck, he hyperventilated.
"W-What even—"
"It's amusing, really."
A voice was heard. The shinobi watched as the man with the bamboo hat and black cloak approached him.
"Is it that a war drives people insane? The ninjas that ended up around this area, regardless of their affiliations, resort to the idea of plundering. You too were no different, it seems."
Fearfully, the shinobi, quickly calming his breathing down, brought himself into a defensive stance.
"Who... who are you?!"
"Who I am is of no concern to you."
A strange phenomena was seen in the shinobi's eyes.
The fire manifested, ones that mystically spread out and enveloped the countless droplets of rain.
They mixed. The steam arose, one that impeded the shinobi's view.
"T-This...!!"
The shinobi exclaimed,
"Hiding in Mist Technique—"
He couldn't speak anymore, as the man with bamboo hat was behind him, re-sheathing the sword back into its sheath.
The shinobi's head, cleanly cut from his neck, flew up in the sky and fell to the ground, rolling.
Immediately after, all of a sudden, a kunai was shot at the man's back.
Poof!
Upon the contact, the man's form exploded into a puff of ash instead of spilling blood, revealing that he was a clone.
Swoosh!
On the spot where only the headless body of Iwagakure shinobi was present, three ninjas with the forehead protector of Amegakure landed.
"...Damn it,"
One cursed,
"We lost him, again."
Looking at the back, they saw nothing but the small village that was receiving the endless rain.
"Akashi of the 'Red Blade'..."
For some reason, Hanzo ordered them to capture him alive, contrary to what was written on the bingo book. It was for this discrepancy that he told them to do so—because Hanzo had to capture this man first before other ninjas killed him.
At this point, all ninjas of Amegakure assumed, that there was an unknown connection between Hanzo and this man named Akashi.