Under the moonlight, by a riverbank, two rogue ninjas finally met with a contact.
In the forest, Shūichi Hoshita and his three companions silently observed.
The contact didn't display any obvious signs of being a Suna ninja. Instead, he appeared to be a wandering samurai.
The distance was too great to hear what they were saying, and Shūichi didn't know how to read lips.
Within five minutes, the meeting concluded.
As the rogue ninjas began to head back, Shūichi and the others quickly concealed themselves.
In the darkness, Minato Namikaze used hand signals to communicate.
"Track the contact!"
However, the contact, who resembled a wandering samurai, was very cautious and ran downstream along the river.
Shūichi and the others followed through the forest.
After covering nearly 10 miles, Minato used hand signals again to issue a new command.
"Strike!"
They split into two groups again. Shūichi and Minato moved ahead to intercept, while Shisui Uchiha and Sanyō Kurama dove into the river to chase the target.
As soon as the command was given, Shisui and Sanyō changed direction, rushing out of the forest and into the river, sprinting across the water's surface to pursue the wandering samurai.
The samurai, sensing their presence, glanced back under the moonlight. "Konohagakure! Two kids?"
Realizing that someone might be moving ahead to cut him off, the samurai sneered, "You're underestimating me!"
Without hesitation, he turned and charged toward Shisui and Sanyō, intent on dealing with the two kids first.
In the forest, Minato immediately led Shūichi in a charge towards the fight.
Shisui and Sanyō came to an abrupt halt.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Shisui hurled several shuriken, while Sanyō quickly formed hand seals.
The samurai deftly dodged the flying shuriken, but Shisui suddenly tugged on the thin steel wire attached to the shuriken, causing them to change direction and converge on the samurai from three different angles.
At the same time, Sanyō completed his jutsu.
Genjutsu - Mirage Technique!
This genjutsu distorted the target's vision, making what they saw differ from reality.
At that moment, Sanyō aimed to disrupt the samurai's perception of the shuriken's trajectories.
The samurai drew his sword, slicing through the wire and deflecting two of the shuriken, but he missed the third.
Thud!
The shuriken lodged into the samurai's right arm, blood spilling out and staining the river red.
The agonized scream of the samurai echoed loudly in the stillness of the night.
"Damn it!"
Breaking free from the genjutsu, the samurai roared in anger, the water beneath his feet exploding as he leaped into the air, bringing his sword down towards Shisui.
"Retreat!"
Shisui and Sanyō quickly withdrew.
The wandering samurai missed his strike and was about to pursue when he heard the sound of something cutting through the air.
Turning his head, he saw a kunai flying toward him. His pupils dilated in shock as he stumbled, the kunai barely missing his face.
But before he could feel relieved about dodging the attack, a figure appeared in front of him, catching the kunai mid-air.
"You..."
The samurai was stunned. Before he could finish speaking, Minato Namikaze's powerful punch cut him off, sending him flying off the river's surface.
As he fell, Shūichi Hoshita arrived just in time, landing a whip-like kick that sent the samurai crashing into the river with a loud splash, knocking him out cold.
Shūichi quickly retrieved the unconscious samurai from the river and brought him to the shore.
The interrogation that followed was naturally led by Shisui Uchiha.
Even with just a single-tomoe Sharingan, Shisui's genjutsu abilities surpassed those of Sanyō Kurama.
After enduring a beating, the wandering samurai's willpower was severely weakened, and it took less than ten minutes for Shisui to extract the information.
The man turned out to be a Suna ninja, a Chūnin named Tonegawa Ryō.
Moreover, he wasn't working alone—his mission involved a four-man team.
The other three members consisted of one Jōnin and two Chūnin.
The Jōnin from Suna was a seasoned veteran, while the two Chūnin were sensor-type ninjas.
The bandits led by the rogue ninjas were receiving intelligence from this Suna team.
Their goal aligned closely with what Shūichi had previously speculated.
Those two rogue ninjas had originally enslaved the small mountain village until they were discovered by Tonegawa Ryō's team. They then recruited the village's young men as forced labor, with Suna providing intelligence to help them cross the border and raid the Land of Fire.
After just one operation, the young men of the village were completely trapped in the cycle.
As a result, the two rogue ninjas moved into the village, abandoning their mountain hideout.
Suna's goal was to use this bandit group to stir conflict between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rivers, creating an opportunity for Suna to take over missions in the Land of Rivers.
The bandits were set to act again tomorrow, but this time Suna had deliberately fed them false information. They were going to run straight into a Konoha border patrol squad.
A battle would ensue, the bandits would be defeated, and Konoha would discover the bandits' hideout, leading to a massacre in the village.
Even if Konoha and the Land of Fire managed to restrain themselves, they would inevitably hold the Land of Rivers accountable.
Of course, there was a risk that Suna would be exposed during this operation.
Therefore, Tonegawa Ryō and his team would also take action tomorrow, planning to kill the two rogue ninjas amidst the chaos and dispose of the bodies.
"Sunagakure is truly despicable!" Sanyō Kurama said angrily.
Shūichi and Shisui nodded in agreement.
The plan was indeed vicious—low-cost, high-reward, and not particularly difficult to execute.
With the current calm in the shinobi world, Konoha's patrols along the Land of Fire's borders were relatively lax, making it easier for Sunagakure to exploit the situation.
Minato Namikaze looked down at the unconscious Tonegawa Ryō in thought before raising his head to ask the three young shinobi, "What do you think we should do next?"
Sanyō immediately replied, "Minato-sensei, we should take down his comrades as soon as possible, preferably capturing them alive. We should also notify the border patrol squad and leave the rogue ninjas alive. With this evidence, we can present it to the Daimyō of the Land of Rivers, showing him Sunagakure's ambitions and pushing him to fully align with Konoha."
Minato turned to Shisui.
"I agree with Sanyō," Shisui said. "If Tonegawa Ryō doesn't return in time, Suna will definitely suspect something is wrong."
Minato nodded, then looked at Shūichi.
Having already thought it through, Shūichi said, "We should capture the Sunagakure team, inform the border patrol, and report the situation to the Third Hokage. Since this mission involves the Land of Rivers and Sunagakure, only the Third Hokage can decide how to handle the situation."
Minato's eyes reflected approval, though he didn't express it outright. He said, "We'll split into two groups. Shisui, Sanyō, Shūichi, you three take Tonegawa Ryō back to the Land of Fire's border and assist the patrol squad in capturing the rogue ninjas and bandits—alive if possible."
Sanyō was startled. "Minato-sensei, you're going alone...?"
Shūichi smiled and said, "Sanyō, let's follow Minato-sensei's orders. We should trust in our sensei's strength."
Minato smiled, "Alright, it's decided."
He then took out a specially made Flying Thunder God kunai and handed it to Shisui. "Shisui, take this. I'll return as quickly as possible."
(End of Chapter)
❇❇❇
Support me on Patreon - Read Up to 30+ Advanced Chapters There!
patreon.com/RedX43
❇❇❇