Pat… pat…
The cold, late-autumn rain enveloped the entire forest. Layers of dark green canopy formed a dome, and mist wandered between the branches, creating a gloomy and oppressive natural atmosphere.
Several dark figures flickered among the tree trunks and branches in the forest. Rainwater dripped down the folds of their deep black raincoats, tracing winding paths on the surface of the waterproof fabric.
Arata, also wearing a black raincoat, was positioned in the middle of the group. He carefully scrutinized the others in the escort team from the corner of his eye.
Of the fifteen people in the group, twelve were Anbu ninjas, forming three squads of four members each.
This showed a high degree of importance placed on the mission; the Anbu, as the Third Hokage's personal guard, were not usually dispatched for tasks lightly.
As for the remaining three, besides Arata, who was partially under protection, there were two Konoha jonin.
One was a jonin from the Akimichi clan, and the other was a jonin from the Aburame clan.
The others all wore masks of various designs, exuding an aura of stern austerity and lethal intent.
It could be said that this escort team possessed formidable combat strength, making safety concerns seem almost nonexistent.
However...
'Danger doesn't necessarily come from outside.'
Arata's gaze swept over the Aburame clan jonin, acutely sensing a familiar coldness emanating from him.
A Root ninja.
Shimura Danzo indeed hadn't given up. But that was fine; their goals aligned.
"Stop."
Arata spoke abruptly. The others around him instinctively halted and turned their gazes towards him.
"Two o'clock direction, one kilometer out. Thirteen ninjas gathered. Their chakra signatures are chaotic, probably rogue ninjas."
As he spoke, Arata removed his goggles and wiped them, revealing the skin beneath his eyelids, pale from the moisture.
"We'll go around," the Akimichi jonin's voice was distorted by the rain.
Rogue ninjas, as the name suggests, were mostly unaffiliated ninjas wandering from place to place. They didn't belong to any village, roamed between countries, and stole techniques from various lands, usually only grasping the basics or imitating forms without substance, hence their generally low skill level.
Of course, a group of over a dozen rogue ninjas gathering together often meant they had been subdued by a missing-nin from some village.
Their mission was simply escort duty. The sooner they delivered the corpse to Kumogakure, the better. They shouldn't invite trouble along the way.
"How much further to the Land of Hot Water?"
The Aburame clan jonin, Ryoma, suddenly asked.
Arata glanced at the map and replied, "About a hundred and fifty kilometers left."
The Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning did not share a border. Two small nations, the Land of Hot Water and the Land of the Moon, lay between them. Their destination this time was within the Land of Hot Water.
At a ninja's standard speed, without using Body Flicker techniques, it took three days and nights to reach Sunagakure from Konoha. The journey to the Land of Hot Water was slightly shorter, still taking a full day and night.
"Elder Todo," Ryoma turned to the Akimichi jonin beside him and suggested, "We're still far from our destination. How about resting here? Since we have the Byakugan in the team, there's no need to worry about surprises."
"..."
Todo's eyes were squeezed into two slits by his plump cheeks. He slightly turned his head to glance at Arata behind him, inwardly acknowledging the boy's performance throughout the journey.
He was also a veteran jonin who had participated in the Third Ninja War, having once belonged to the team led by the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.
He had initially thought that the Third Hokage placing this boy in the team would be a burden. Unexpectedly, the boy kept pace with them perfectly and, thanks to the Byakugan, they had encountered no trouble at all.
This level of perception, this level of stamina, and the composure he displayed...
"Rumors really can't be trusted," Todo thought to himself. He didn't reject Aburame Ryoma's proposal and said, "Alright, we'll rest here for a while."
Saying this, he looked at the eight Anbu ninjas from the Fourth and Fifth Squads. They nodded in understanding and vanished using the Body Flicker Technique.
Since they'd decided to rest temporarily, they might as well clear out those rogue ninjas. After all, they were still within the Land of Fire, and rogue ninjas were mostly a blight.
The remaining few found spots to rest. The only sounds were the rustling of their deep black raincoats, like a group of soaked owls preening their feathers.
Todo summoned an eagle with a summoning technique, gave it a written scroll, and sent it back to the Third Hokage.
They had to maintain communication with the village. Losing contact would prompt the village to immediately send personnel to investigate.
Arata also found a spot to sit. Since someone had taken over his watch, he deactivated his Byakugan to recover his chakra.
However, just as he raised his canteen to drink, his eyes flickered slightly.
An insect had flown into his sleeve.
The insect was very small and ordinary. Anyone else, even Todo, would not have noticed it.
But Arata's sensory abilities didn't rely solely on the Byakugan.
"An Aburame clan's Shōkaichū (Neutralising Destruction Insect)?"
Arata lowered his canteen with a calm expression, seemingly unaware of the insect's anomaly.
Neutralising Insects were reconnaissance-type insects used for gathering intelligence, not as dangerous as Kikaichū (Parasitic Destruction Insects) or Rinkaichū (Phosphorus Destruction Insect).
However, they could still pose a problem for his upcoming actions.
Just as he was pondering how to deal with the insect, his eyes suddenly moved slightly. He looked down at the ground.
"Watch out below..."
Arata warned without hesitation, but before he could finish, the muddy ground beneath him suddenly split open.
"Earth Release: Headhunter Technique."
Bam!
Two hands shot out from underground without warning, clutching kunai aimed at Hyuga Arata's ankles.
They wanted to cripple him, cripple the team's "eyes."
It wasn't just beneath Arata; hands also emerged beneath Akimichi Todo and Aburame Ryoma.
But the former simply raised his hands to form seals, lifted his muscular legs, and stomped down with full force. The latter was enveloped by his insects.
Crack! Splat!
A mess of red and white blood mixed with rainwater spread across the ground. Countless insects swarmed underground, producing a chilling sound of gnawing.
The two swiftly dealt with their assailants and instinctively turned towards Arata.
They saw that after evading the attack, he had seized the two hands protruding from the ground and forcefully yanked the figure beneath out.
With one palm strike, a tremendous penetrating force created a large, transparent hole in the enemy's abdomen. Blood mixed with organ fragments gushed out uncontrollably.
"A missing-nin from Iwagakure," Arata said, glancing at the corpse's forehead protector. "Probably part of that group ahead. They spotted us..."
He looked up at Todo and the others, only to meet several astonished gazes.
Their surprise wasn't unwarranted. Such a brutal method of dispatching an enemy didn't fit their stereotypical image of the Hyuga clan.
'These missing-nin were at most chunin level. Arata killing one wasn't entirely unexpected.'
'But since when did a Hyuga clan member shatter someone's stomach with a single palm strike? Wasn't his method a bit too cruel and rough?'
Meanwhile, Ryoma frowned slightly. Sensing that his Neutralising Insect had died, he instinctively glanced at Arata's sleeve, only to see a blur of bloody froth.
Assuming the bug had been accidentally crushed by Cloud during the scuffle, he casually released a few more to fly over silently.
But now, no matter how many he released, it was useless.
Arata's real body had already donned his Shadow Robe and departed silently. The Arata smiling here now was merely a Shadow Clone.
He needed to go ahead and set the stage.
For his "puppets."
Within the dense shadows of the trees, Arata, clad in his Shadow Robe, moved like a phantom. As he advanced stealthily, he murmured in his mind, 'Materialize, Otsutsuki Ruins...'
This time, the object of his deception was no longer a single person or a group of people.
It was everyone in the ninja world, including Kumogakure and Konoha.
Arata was about to tell an earth-shattering lie.