After a few days of travel, Shitsuya's team finally arrived at their destination.
Entering the large fortress, Shitsuya saw many ninjas moving as they each attended to their tasks.
This was military base set up by Konoha in order to deal with the war inside the land of rain.
At the helm of this fortress, White fang, Sakumo Hatake took the position of commander.
As they had newly arrived, Shitsuya and his team's identities had to be verified first.
The verification process involved many steps.
They had to have their chakra sealed to deactivate any possible Jutsu they might use to change their identity.
Then they needed to recite the secret password given to them by the leaf.
Even then they would need to have their chakra signatures examined and compared to samples sent by the leaf.
Then and only then would they be allowed to finally join the fortress as part of it's troops.
Unlike his teammates who grumbled at the headache they had to go through and suspicions they faced, Shitsuya whole heartedly approved.
Ninja were well known for covert infiltration and intelligence gathering.
So it stood to reason that any competent force would have to tighten their security to ensure no spies could slip in.
After their identities were confirmed, Shitsuya and his team had an audience with the leader of the fortress.
Even while bowing in a greeting, Shitsuya still looked up at Sakumo. Of the legendary figures mentioned in the anime, Sakumo was the one he knew about the least.
He was mentioned to have a high reputation similar to that of the sanin and also committed suicide after being blamed for failing a mission to save his comrades.
Shitsuya inwardly scoffed at the leaf's hypocrisy of claiming that everyone in the village were family while driving a soldier to commit suicide after saving his comrades.
Still Shitsuya guessed that there was something more to the matter and it most likely involved the same man behind every major internal conflict in the village, Danzo Shimura.
Shitsuya would have to find a way to deal with Danzo sooner or later as his Uchiha blood made him someone Danzo would want to get rid of eventually.
Dealing with Danzo would have to take a backseat for a few years or decades however.
Snapping back to reality, Shitsuya listen to Sakumo's words.
Standing straight in a commanding posture with his hands behind his back Sakumo spoke.
"I am greatful that all of you came from so far away. I am sure that you are very tired but I have an urgent mission for you."
Shikane, raising his head, spoke respectfully, "We are here to assist in the war effort, please do not hesitate to make use of us."
"I am greatful for your cooperation, you are all worthy of being Konoha Shinobi."
Hearing Sakumo's words, Shitsuya felt Hana next to him and resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
Superiors would never bother to butter up subordinates like them unless they had an important use for them, Shitsuya considered the very serious possibility that they would be sent on a perilous mission.
"The mission I have for you is of utmost importance. Due to the many hostile forces inside the land of rain, sending messages through carrier birds is not feasible." Sakumo said as he grabbed a small scroll from inside his pocket and handed it to Shikane.
"This scroll contains important information, you will be tasked with delivering it to the Sanin who are currently inside the land of rain." Sakumo said and a light flickered past Shikane's eyes.
******
The next day, Shitsuya's team left under the cover of darkness and crossed the border to enter the land of rain.
The land of rain was relatively small in comparison with the land of fire so crossing through it was possible in just a single day for a ninja.
Shitsuya's team moved through the trees as the rain constantly poured down on them.
In this land the rain almost never stopped, this was quite the unnatural phenomenon in Shitsuya's eyes.
Although it was normal for some areas back on earth to be more prone to rain there was never a place where the rain poured all year around.
As the sun rose from the horizon, Shitsuya's team was now in the heart of the land of rain.
There were only a few dozen kilometres more before they would arrive at their destination perhaps their mission would go smoothly.
Of course the world wasn't so kind and Shikane suddenly shouted "Halt." And they all had to stop.
"Enemies to our 12, on your guard." Shikane spoke and they all drew a Kunai while Shitsuya drew his new Katana.
A few moments later a dense fog rolled in and surrounded them as they stood with their backs to each other.
Hana weaved a few hand signs and blew a strong gale the pushed back the fog momentarily and revealed a sight the sent a shiver down Shitsuya's spine.
They were surrounded by Dozens of Shinobi from all sides.
Their figures disappeared into the fog as it rolled back in and Shitsuya clenched his sword and opened his Sharingan.
'We'll have to fight our way out.' Shitsuya thought and the next moment a figure appeared from the mist and swung a Kunai at Hana.
Hana could not react in time and before she could be hit, a Kunai flew and stabbed inside the eye of the assailant killing him on the spot as his body fell to the ground.
"Focus." Shikane spoke as he grabbed another Kunai and stared ahead.