By leveraging the darkness of the night and the relentless rain to mask their forms and movements, the reconnaissance squad finally managed to bypass the border defenses of Amegakure. After cautiously changing their insertion point three times due to fresh signs of enemy activity at the first two locations, they were officially inside the Land of Rain.
But crossing the border didn't mean success. In fact, the hardest part of the mission had just begun.
Previously, regardless of the danger, they were still on Land of Fire soil, which provided a psychological and environmental home-field advantage. Now, they were entirely within enemy territory. Aside from their teammates, everything in their surroundings was hostile.
In this region, the density and number of enemies were incomparable to the borderlands. The roles of host and guest had been completely reversed. A single slip-up by Ui could lead to the instant and unquestionable death of this four-man squad.
As they moved vertically deeper into the country, Ui resumed the lead. Relying on his bio-electrical sensing ability at the front was the only way to maximize their chances of avoiding unnecessary encounters.
If the mission was merely "entry," Ui could have used his summoning—specifically a creature like the Yatagarasu—to fly the team over. But their orders included reconnaissance. They needed to map the enemy's deployment along the route; if Konoha were to launch a full-scale invasion later, this intelligence would be invaluable.
Aerial reconnaissance in this weather was useless. From high up, human sight has limits, and none of these ninjas possessed X-ray vision like the Byakugan. If they flew low, the massive target of a summoning beast would be spotted instantly.
Thus, they chose the most stable yet perilous method: ground infiltration.
Mapping the Shadows
Along the way, they encountered several Rain Ninja four-man cells. Thanks to Ui's sensing, they evaded them by the narrowest of margins. Not only did they avoid detection, but by observing the frequency and distribution of these patrols, Ui began to piece together their movement patterns, patrol ranges, and shift timings.
In the dead of night, the squad crouched together in a tight circle. They weren't seeking warmth; they were recording data.
Ui pulled a waterproof map from his vest—a specialized paper that repelled the persistent drizzle. Asuma and Aoba held the edges taut while Ui, utilizing his incredible memory and spatial deduction, pinpointed their current location with an error margin of less than 200 meters.
He needed to mark the patrol routes they had just identified.
Lighting a flare or a lamp was out of the question—it was a death sentence in the dark. Instead, Ui produced a "fluorescent pen." It wasn't actually fluorescent; it just emitted a tiny, pinprick glow at the tip. From twenty meters away, it looked like a single, dim firefly. Any further, and it was invisible.
Ui pressed his face close to the map, straining his eyes to annotate the findings. This is a real eye-strainer, he thought.
Once finished, Aoba and Asuma folded the map back into its protective casing and returned it to Ui. As the captain, he carried all critical mission documents. The entire process was conducted in absolute silence, without a single spoken word. Even if a patrol had passed within earshot, they wouldn't have heard a thing.
The Objective
Their ultimate destination was a frontline base 50 kilometers from the border. According to Konoha's intelligence, nearly a thousand ninjas were stationed there. Ui's primary goal was to confirm if those numbers had fluctuated—a key indicator of Amegakure's offensive readiness.
The Land of Rain is small. While 50 kilometers sounds short, in this context, it meant penetrating deep into the enemy's core control zone.
Because of the unfamiliar terrain and the constant threat, their progress was agonizingly slow. To minimize risk, Ui decided on a "nocturnal" schedule: they moved only under the cover of night and hid during the day. Even though the overcast skies kept the daylight dim, it wasn't dark enough to hide four moving targets from a vigilant sentry.
They slept in shifts, maintaining high alert. Food and water were strictly regulated; they relied solely on the concentrated rations they carried, as foraging was too risky. Communication was restricted to hand signals and silent ninja code.
In this state of absolute silence and tension, three days and four nights passed. Finally, they arrived at the outskirts of their primary target.