The Suna shinobi worked fast after the fight. Blood still stained the dirt, and purple poison gas hung in the air like bad fog. Sōshi pointed at the dead Iwa bodies. "Clean them up. Store everything in scrolls."
Four chūnin jumped down from the trees. They pulled out blank storage scrolls, slapped seals on the corpses.
Weapons, headbands, even the broken chunks of the hut roof went in too. In five minutes the clearing looked almost normal, like no battle had happened.
Sōshi turned to the team. "Chūnin, check the underground base. Shota, you stay topside with me and the jōnin."
The chūnin nodded and slipped through the blasted-open hatch. Shota stayed on a thick branch, eyes on the sky. He heard muffled voices below, boxes shifting, paper rustling.
Ten minutes later the first chūnin climbed back up, arms full of scrolls and small crates.
"It's a supply base, sir," he reported. "Food, medical kits, explosive tags, clay bombs. Enough for twenty men for a month."
Sōshi's eyes lit up. "Good. That matches our second intel." He looked at the squad. "The Explosion Corps was supposed to stop here after their last hit on Konoha. They'll pick up fresh supplies, then head to their next target."
Shota kept quiet, but his brain spun. 'How did Suna know this?' The route of the Explosion Corps was top-secret in Iwa. Someone inside their camp or higher had to be feeding Suna info.
'Spy network of the great villages is scary,' he thought. 'But a mole inside the Explosion Corps? That's a huge win for Suna.'
Sōshi clapped Shota on the shoulder. "Good work, kid. Without you we'd have injuries, or a body bag. Your dōjutsu is something else. The Kazekage had assured me of your dojutsu prowess but seeing is believing it. Even now I can't believe what I have just seen."
Shota scratched his cheek. "Thank you, sir."
One of the jōnin, a tall guy named Ryo with a scar across his nose, grinned wide. "Ha! I bet those stuck-up Uchihas and stiff-neck Hyūgas would choke on their fancy eyeballs if they saw this. Their precious Sharingan and Byakugan? More like Sharing-gone and Bye-akugan when Shota looks at 'em!" He slapped his knee, laughing at his own pun.
Shota snorted, unable to hold back a chuckle. The other shinobi smirked too. Even the quiet sensor ninja cracked a smile.
Sōshi didn't laugh. His face turned thoughtful. "Hold up. Does your dōjutsu really shut down Sharingan or Byakugan the same way?"
Shota nodded. "I fought an Uchiha chūnin on the Konoha front. I locked eyes, he couldn't activate his Sharingan at all. Same should work on Hyūga. Both eyes need chakra to stay open. I cut the chakra, the eyes get back to normal with dojutsu deactivated."
The jōnin's jaws dropped. Ryo's eyes went round like full moons. Another jōnin, Kimi, whispered, "You're telling me this kid can just… switch off the two strongest bloodline eyes in the world?"
Sōshi's face turned hard for a second, then deadly serious. He stared at every jōnin. "This information dies with us. Konoha might know about Shota's ability , but they won't believe he can shut off their their precious clan dōjutsu with a stare. If the Uchiha or Hyūga clan elders hear this, they'll send death squads after him. They'll want him erased before he turns an adult and starts having children."
The jōnin nodded, faces hard. But under the grim looks, Shota saw something else, smugnezz in their eyes.
Ryo spat on the ground. "Let them try. Konoha's been kicking Suna's teeth in for three wars. Second Shinobi War, they burned our trade caravans, starved our kids and let's not talk about the White fang. And now? Their brats pop out geniuses every year."
Kimi's fists shook. "My little brother died at twelve because Konoha jōnin used him as a human shield. Twelve! He couldn't even grow a beard. And those leaf bastards laughed about it later in camp."
The last jōnin, old man Taro, growled low. "My wife lost her arm to a Hyūga palm strike. She was a medic, never held a kunai in her life."
Ryo pointed at Shota. "But now? Now Suna has a weapon those leaf snobs can't copy, can't steal, can't beat. A dōjutsu that makes their fancy eyes useless. Let them come. We'll bury every assassin under the dunes."
The hate rolled off them. It wasn't just anger, it was years of graves, empty dinner tables, and bedtime stories about monsters wearing leaf headbands.
Sōshi raised a hand for silence. He looked at Shota, "when were you deployed?"
"Seven, sir. Graduated academy same year."
A few eyebrows rose, but no one gasped. There were kids sent to the battlefield before the villages existed. There were still kids participating in the war. Seven was early, but not impossible.
Ryo whistled. "Four feet tall and already stabbing Iwa scouts. Respect, kid."
Shota shrugged. He had waited on purpose, graduated two years after Kakashi. The Hatake boy stole every spotlight: promoted to chūnin at six.
Shota used that time to train even harder with no missions to focus on. Less fame meant fewer targets on his back. For a lazy person, he sure was hardworking to protect his lazy future.
Sōshi clapped once. "Alright, enough chatting. We move. The Explosion Corps will smell this mess if we wait here. We set the ambush two kilometers west—dense trees, narrow path. They won't expect us there."
Everyone checked gear and moved. They leaped into the branches.
Shota landed light on a thin limb, wind in his hair. 'Let's hope the rest of the mission is as smooth as until now and I hope I don't jinx it.'
--------Author Notes---------
For every 250 power stones. I would be posting and additional chapter. So gimme those power stones!!!
Y'all can now read the next 15 chapters of the fanfic on my pat*reon. Thankyou for your support!
https://pat*reon.com/Charizard6
[No star]