Dawn.
After breakfast, Natsuki convened a brief jōnin meeting in the command tent.
The timing was deliberate — right before the day's assignments deployed.
"Last night, eight operatives from the Hidden Stone Village's Explosion Corps attempted a night raid on our main camp. I intercepted and eliminated all eight."
Silence. Then a ripple of shock.
None of them had known. The reconnaissance team in particular felt the weight of that — under normal circumstances, they should have been the first to detect the incursion. It was, by any measure, a failure on their part.
"Their remains." Natsuki produced a summoning scroll. "Reconnaissance team — take custody. Extract their memories and see if anything actionable turns up."
He didn't assign blame. He knew the limits of what conventional sensor capability could cover on terrain this vast.
"Yes, Lord Natsuki." Aburame Shibi stepped forward and accepted the scroll.
"The Explosion Corps is the Stone's premier unit. On a battlefield, even a small squad can inflict catastrophic damage." Natsuki let the warning settle. "Factor them into every mission from here forward."
"Yes, Lord Natsuki."
"Dismissed. Get moving."
The jōnin filed out. Mikoto remained.
"Natsuki..." She looked down, embarrassed. "I slept through the entire thing. I didn't even notice you'd left."
"That's my fault, not yours."
He set his hand on the curve of her ass and let it rest there.
She flushed. The reason she'd slept so deeply was exhaustion. The reason for the exhaustion was entirely him.
At this rate, she genuinely worried that if the camp were attacked, she wouldn't have the strength to fight.
"Stay in the command tent. If anything urgent comes through, handle it at your discretion." He gave her a squeeze, then withdrew. "I'm taking my students out."
As commander, he should have stayed in the tent issuing orders. But that wasn't who he was — and the Door-Door Fruit meant he could return in an instant.
"Mm." Mikoto nodded.
Natsuki found Guy, Kurenai, and Shizune within minutes.
"Natsuki-sensei — do we have a mission?" Guy was practically vibrating.
"We're destroying a Stone outpost."
"Yes! Finally — time to let our youth explode!"
Natsuki smiled and turned. "Let's move."
The three fell in behind him.
"Both sides will spend this week establishing fortifications," he said as they moved. "We'll be hitting their positions before they solidify. Expect heavy contact."
His original plan had been to assign his students to construction duty, but on reflection, that was a waste of their squad's combat ceiling. The fastest route to a reputation was the battlefield.
And who knew — he might trigger another teacher-archetype template.
They reached the ridge quickly. Natsuki activated Observation Haki, his perception radiating outward across the broken terrain.
"This way."
No Air Door. He wanted them moving on their own power — bounding across the jagged rock at speed.
"Four Stone shinobi ahead." Kurenai spoke up, her own Observation Haki running since they'd entered the mountains. Control and support was her role, and she hadn't forgotten it.
"They're setting up an outpost in that tree line." Natsuki had detected them long before she had, but said nothing. "Prepare for battle."
He slowed. The three pulled ahead.
They understood — this kill was theirs.
"All four are chūnin," Kurenai confirmed from their chakra signatures.
"Leave it to me!" Guy surged forward and crashed through the treeline.
"Enemy contact!"
The Stone squad reacted instantly.
"Armament Haki!"
Guy's fists clenched. Two invisible concussive waves tore through the air, converging on the nearest Stone shinobi.
The man snatched a blade from his hip — too slow. The impact launched him backward. He hit the ground unconscious.
Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears!
A kunoichi ran through hand seals. The ground buckled, and a forest of jagged stone spikes erupted toward Guy.
"Moonwalk!"
He launched skyward, clearing the spears entirely.
The kunoichi began her next sequence — and froze. Her body locked mid-seal, vision swimming.
Kurenai's hand was raised. The bracelet on her wrist had split apart, extending into the Golden Canopy Rope. It whipped out and coiled around the kunoichi in a single fluid motion, binding her completely.
Shave.
Shizune blurred forward.
Cherry Blossom Impact.
Chakra condensed into her fist — dense, devastating. The punch connected with the force of a falling boulder. The bound kunoichi launched backward, hit the dirt, and didn't move.
The remaining two Stone shinobi hadn't been idle. Hand seals were already complete.
Earth Release: Earth Mausoleum Dumpling!
One of them ripped a massive boulder from the ground and hurled it at Kurenai.
"Tempest Kick!"
Guy materialized in its path. One kick shattered the boulder into gravel.
Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death.
Kurenai's seals completed. Phantom roots erupted from the earth and wrapped the Stone shinobi tight.
Guy closed the distance and drove his elbow forward — the arm wearing all seven rings. The impact was wet and final. The shinobi collapsed in a ruined heap.
Kurenai turned. The last one had vanished.
"Underground," Shizune said instantly.
Kurenai's eyes narrowed — Observation Haki confirmed the position.
Tempest Kick.
The vacuum blade hit the ground and split it open like a fault line.
A scream. A spray of blood. The shinobi below was bisected.
Battle over. Under ten minutes.
Kurenai exhaled and turned to the half-built outpost — a simple rectangular fortification, nothing more than a claim staked on contested ground.
Tempest Kick.
The structure collapsed in a cascade of shattered stone.
"Well done." Natsuki descended from above, landing lightly before them. "Ten minutes' rest, then we hit the next one."
Returning to camp after a single engagement felt like a waste. He was the commander — he could assign missions on the spot.
"Yes, Natsuki-sensei!"
The three found positions, sat, and began recovering chakra.
Ten minutes later, they moved again. Another outpost. Another swift, decisive engagement.
The pattern held.
March.
Hidden Stone Village main camp — weekly jōnin meeting.
"This past month has been... difficult." Gari chose his words carefully. "Team Natsuki, in particular."
Every jōnin in the tent nodded.
On paper, the Stone held the numerical advantage — five hundred more shinobi than the combined Konoha-Amegakure force. In practice, the war had gone the opposite direction entirely.
Konoha and the Rain displayed intelligence capabilities that bordered on omniscience. Gari had tested for a mole within his own ranks — multiple times — and come up empty. The leaks persisted even on operations where only he knew the details.
Was he the traitor?
But the single greatest headache was Team Natsuki.
Four shinobi. One squad. They located Stone outposts with uncanny precision, struck before defenses solidified, and vanished before reinforcements arrived. In one month, they'd eliminated over three hundred Stone combatants.
Before this campaign, the Stone only knew Natsuki's name. Now they'd memorized the faces of Might Guy, Yūhi Kurenai, and Shizune as well.
Every shinobi in Gari's command — himself included — wanted them dead.
"If this continues, we lose." Gari's voice dropped. "Our Anbu have confirmed the location of the Hidden Rain Village's main camp. I intend to personally lead the Explosion Corps against it."
Destroying five hundred Rain shinobi in a single strike would constitute a major victory — enough to appease Ōnoki's mounting displeasure. And with the Rain eliminated, they could concentrate everything on Konoha.
"To ensure the operation remains undetected, I need all of you to intensify pressure on Konoha's positions." He still didn't understand how the enemy's intelligence worked, but flooding the field with simultaneous operations would create noise. The real objective could hide in the chaos.
"Yes, Lord Gari."
"We currently have three of Konoha's larger strongholds mapped. Those are our targets."
The meeting lasted another thirty minutes, then adjourned.
Deep beneath the command tent, White Zetsu slipped away through the earth, tunneling north at speed.
He surfaced in a dense forest.
"Lord Madara."
Uchiha Madara sat in a tree above — not the real body, a Shadow Clone.
"Report."
White Zetsu relayed the entire briefing, word for word.
"A useful opportunity." Madara's eyes narrowed with quiet satisfaction.
"That's what I thought!" White Zetsu preened.
Madara dropped from the branch.
The "opportunity" wasn't what Zetsu imagined. Madara intended to compromise key members of the Explosion Corps. When they struck the Rain's main camp, the chaos would provide cover for a single, targeted death.
Yahiko's.
He could handle it personally — but his body was failing, sustained entirely by the Demonic Statue. Another injury could be fatal, and dying now was not an option. His proxy hadn't been finalized.
His preferred candidate was Uchiha Obito, currently deployed to the northeast border under Minato. No war on that front yet meant no opportunity to break the boy.
So Nagato would go first. Let him taste the darkness of the shinobi world. Let him see the people he loved die in front of him.
That was how you forged a weapon.
"Monitor this war. Every movement. Miss nothing."
"Yes, Lord Madara!"
Konoha main camp, Land of Earth.
Natsuki sat on the carpeted floor of his tent, leaning back until his head settled into the soft warmth of Mikoto's chest. He looked up — his view was entirely blocked.
He closed his eyes.
Over the past month, every spare moment had gone to leading Guy, Kurenai, and Shizune on raids against Stone outposts. His students had built formidable reputations, but the engagements hadn't triggered any new character templates.
Among his existing templates, only one ability could be unlocked in the short term: the Aizen template's Kyōka Suigetsu, which required killing a Kage-level combatant.
That meant Rasa.
But identity was the problem. If Natsuki killed Rasa as himself, Pakura would be forced to declare war on Konoha to quell internal dissent. The cleanest approach was to operate under a Stone Village disguise.
A snake slithered into the tent.
Mikoto — mid-scalp massage — flinched.
"Ryūchi Cave," Natsuki said.
She relaxed immediately. She knew about his summoning contract.
He bit his thumb and summoned Tagorihime.
Snake language was beyond him; he needed the translation.
"Major movement from the Stone," Tagorihime reported. "They've recalled a significant number of shinobi. Three groups are converging on three Konoha strongholds."
The Stone's jōnin meeting had been impenetrable — too many high-level shinobi in one space for either the serpents or the Eyeball Clones to infiltrate without detection. White Zetsu was the sole exception to that kind of security.
But the aftermath — troop movements, deployment patterns — told the serpents everything they needed.
Everything except the Explosion Corps. They hadn't moved yet.
"Finally making a push." Natsuki's expression shifted, calculating.
The Stone had been losing ground for a month. Gari needed a win. Hitting three strongholds simultaneously was the obvious play.
"Continue monitoring."
Tagorihime and the serpent vanished.
Natsuki extracted himself from Mikoto's warmth — reluctantly — and crossed to the command tent.
The camp's jōnin assembled in minutes.
"Intelligence indicates the Stone plans to strike three of our strongholds tonight." Natsuki spread the tactical map. "Simultaneously."
Surprise crossed several faces — partly at the Stone's aggression, partly at Natsuki's seemingly supernatural intelligence reach.
Like Gari and every Stone shinobi, Konoha's own jōnin couldn't explain how Natsuki always knew. They were simply grateful he was on their side.
The briefing was short. The plan was straightforward: reinforce all three positions. There was nothing exotic about defending ground you knew was about to be hit.
Assignments distributed, meeting dismissed.
Natsuki returned to his tent and pulled Mikoto close, settling her hands against his chest for warmth.
Night fell.
He released her and stood, preparing to inspect the three strongholds.
A faint sound stopped him.
Another snake.
Natsuki frowned. A second report this quickly meant something had changed.
He summoned Tagorihime.
"Over a thousand Stone shinobi have split into three columns — headed for the three Konoha strongholds." She paused. "Gari has taken the Explosion Corps on a separate heading. Their target is the Hidden Rain Village main camp."
Natsuki's eyes went sharp.
The pieces aligned in an instant. The triple assault on Konoha's strongholds was a diversion. The real strike was aimed at the Rain.
He opened an Air Door and stepped through.
"Natsuki-sensei?"
Yahiko looked up from the map table, startled. Nagato and Konan turned from their positions nearby.
"Gari is leading the Explosion Corps toward your camp right now." No preamble.
"What?"
Yahiko's surprise was genuine. Their own intelligence had caught nothing.
Without Natsuki's warning, the first they'd have known about the Explosion Corps was the sound of their camp detonating.
"The Corps is designed for maximum damage in dense formations," Natsuki said. "But since we already know they're coming, we dictate the engagement. We take the fight to them before they reach the camp."
"The four of us can handle it!" Yahiko's fists clenched.
"My thought exactly."
"This is going to be something!" Yahiko grinned — fierce, eager. "We haven't fought together in ages!"
Nagato and Konan exchanged a glance, anticipation flickering across both their faces.
"Let's go." Natsuki ruffled Konan's hair briefly, then opened an Air Door. "Aerial approach."
The four stepped through and emerged at altitude, high above the ridge. Natsuki drew Minazuki and transformed it into the giant manta ray.
They settled onto its broad back and swept toward the rocky terrain.
It didn't take long.
Below them — Gari and the Explosion Corps, moving fast through a narrow pass, heading straight for the Rain's main camp.
_________________________________________________
Read Advanced Chapters on : patreon.com/Kaizo247
~ Every 150 PS = Bonus Chapter
~ Push the Story forward with your [Power Stones]