The afternoon sun shone over Konoha, filtering through the scattered clouds and bathing the bustling streets in warm light.
The peaceful atmosphere after the war drifted through the village like a gentle breeze, touching everyone's faces. Shops lined the streets, while vendors' calls and cheerful laughter blended into a lively symphony of prosperity.
Yet amid this peaceful scene, one figure stood completely out of place.
The Third Mizukage of Kirigakure, a middle-aged man with a gloomy face and lifeless eyes, walked slowly along Konoha's main street.
Escorted by two Kirigakure ANBU guards, his movements were stiff as his gaze casually swept across everything around him.
The newly built houses, the dazzling displays of merchandise, and the carefree smiles on Konoha's villagers.
His lips moved ever so slightly as he muttered in a hoarse, emotionless voice that only he could hear.
"So... this is Konoha's peace? Such... disgustingly warm happiness."
His fingers curled unconsciously, as though rejecting the vibrant life surrounding him.
"A false prosperity... built upon the suffering of other villages... Uchiha Chiya..."
His whisper was interrupted by a sudden burst of arguing.
The Mizukage's vacant eyes slowly shifted, like a puppet pulled by invisible strings, toward the source of the noise.
Near the exit of the training ground at the street corner, three young shinobi were caught in a heated argument.
"It's all your fault!!"
Uchiha Obito, his stubborn spiky hair sticking up while his goggles rested on his forehead, was red-faced with frustration. Waving his arms wildly, he looked ready to jump into the air.
"I already had the last enemy cornered with my Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique! But you just had to rush in and finish him off! And what happened? The client nearly fainted from the aftershock of your Lightning Cutter! We spent forever calming him down, and we only just finished writing the mission report!"
Leaning lazily against a nearby wall was Hatake Kakashi. His silver hair stood out beneath the mask covering the lower half of his face, leaving only his perpetually bored, dead-fish eyes exposed.
He let out a lazy yawn, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Heh. The dead last always has such unique logic. If someone's Great Fireball hadn't nearly burned down the client's warehouse because of terrible aim, we wouldn't have wasted ten extra minutes cleaning up afterward.
Besides, eliminating the final threat quickly and precisely to avoid unnecessary complications is a basic skill for any shinobi. Oh... I forgot. You're probably not very familiar with the word 'precision.'"
"Kakashi! You arrogant jerk! Say that again!"
Like a cat with its tail stepped on, Obito lunged forward and grabbed Kakashi by the collar, veins bulging across his forehead.
"My Fire Release is powerful! That's called strategic deterrence! What would you know?!"
"All I know is that the 'accidental property damage' section of our mission report just got a few more lines added."
Kakashi allowed himself to be grabbed, speaking as calmly as if he were commenting on today's weather.
"That's enough, you two!"
Standing between them was Nohara Rin, her warm brown hair framing a pair of bright eyes. Looking both anxious and helpless, she tried to separate them.
She gently patted Obito's hand that was clutching Kakashi's collar.
"Obito, let go first."
Then she turned to Kakashi, a hint of reproach in her voice.
"Kakashi, you should stop teasing him too. We completed the mission in the end. It had a few bumps along the way, but the client was satisfied. We're a team. We have to stick together!"
Rin's gentle voice carried an unwavering strength that eased the tense atmosphere.
Obito reluctantly let go, though he still glared at Kakashi with obvious dissatisfaction.
Kakashi looked away as if he didn't care, but the slight relaxation in his shoulders revealed that he had taken Rin's words to heart.
The Third Mizukage's gaze swept coldly across the emotional Obito and the indifferent Kakashi like a venomous snake lurking in the shadows.
In the end, his eyes locked firmly onto Nohara Rin.
At that instant, a faint crimson light flashed deep within his hollow eyes before disappearing so quickly that it seemed like nothing more than a trick of the light.
Almost simultaneously, Rin's body stiffened ever so slightly while she was still trying to calm her teammates.
A nearly imperceptible reddish glow rippled through her eyes, her pupils briefly lost focus, and even her words paused for a fraction of a second.
Everything happened so quickly that neither Obito nor Kakashi, despite standing right beside her, noticed anything.
Even Rin herself seemed to feel nothing more than a brief wave of dizziness. She shook her head lightly and immediately returned to normal.
"Alright, alright. Let's stop arguing here and hurry to the Hokage Building to submit our mission report."
Rin smiled again as she linked one arm with the still-pouting Obito while gently pushing Kakashi forward with her other hand.
"If we don't hurry, Minato-sensei will probably scold us again."
This strange and fleeting scene happened to be witnessed by Terumi Mei, who had just arrived at the street corner and was about to greet her village's Mizukage.
Out of courtesy, Mei had originally intended to pay her respects.
After all, she was still a shinobi of Kirigakure. Deep down, she still resented how Uchiha Chiya had practically forced her to come to Konoha.
Now that she had seen her own village's Mizukage, greeting him seemed only natural.
But just as she raised her hand and a smile was about to appear on her face, her sharp instincts caught something different about him.
Especially those eyes.
They were nothing like before.
Mei's heart suddenly sank, and her raised hand froze in midair.
Lord Mizukage's eyes...
How could they...
Be so terrifying?
Could he have been controlled by Uchiha Chiya?
She decisively lowered her hand, quickly slipped into the shadow beside a nearby shop, and held her breath.
As one of Kirigakure's elite shinobi, her instincts screamed that something was terribly wrong.
That was no ordinary look of observation or reflection.
Something hidden within those eyes filled her with inexplicable fear and unease.
Watching carefully, she noticed that the Mizukage's attention remained completely fixed on the brown-haired genin while showing no awareness of her presence whatsoever.
What's going on?
What's so special about that girl?
Mei frowned deeply as suspicion spread through her mind like creeping vines.
She watched Rin leave with the two boys, then saw the Mizukage stand motionless for several seconds before returning to his usual gloomy expression as though nothing had happened and slowly continuing down the street.
Stepping out from the shadows, Mei stared at the Mizukage's departing figure, her expression uncertain.
She abandoned the idea of greeting him.
A powerful sense of foreboding settled over her.
This was far too abnormal.
She had to... stay alert.
For now, she decided not to act, but she engraved the incident firmly into her memory while silently raising her guard.
Night quietly descended, gradually swallowing the bustle of the day.
Lights illuminated the village.
Konoha's nights were never completely silent.
But the area near the village's edge, especially the ancient forest bordering the barrier, was exceptionally quiet and secluded.
Moonlight filtered through the dense canopy in shattered fragments, leaving only scattered patches of light across the moss-covered ground.
The occasional rustling of nocturnal animals only made the forest feel even more eerie.
"Rin, what is this all about? Why did you have to bring us out here in the middle of the night?"
[Translator: They never fucking learn]
Uchiha Obito rubbed his arms. It wasn't cold, but the surroundings made him feel uneasy.
Looking at Rin leading the way ahead, he spoke with confusion and a hint of complaint.
"And that Kakashi guy came too. What a mood killer."
With both hands in his pockets, Hatake Kakashi cautiously scanned the dark woods around them, his voice colder than usual.
"Dead last, use your Sharingan and take a good look around. Rin suddenly summoned us to a place this close to the village border using the emergency signal. That's already extremely unusual."
A vague sense of unease lingered in his heart, as though something unseen was watching them.
Rin stopped and turned to face them.
She wore her usual gentle, slightly apologetic smile, but beneath the pale moonlight, it seemed to lack its usual warmth.
Instead, it looked oddly stiff.
Almost mechanical.
"I'm sorry, Obito. Kakashi."
She pressed her palms together apologetically.
"It happened so suddenly, and it has to stay confidential."
As she spoke, she took a scroll from her ninja pouch.
The scroll looked completely ordinary. It used Konoha's standard mission scroll format, and even bore what appeared to be an official Hokage Office seal.
"Look! This is the emergency mission scroll that just arrived tonight!"
Holding it up for them to see, Rin spoke with just the right amount of urgency and excitement.
"Minato-sensei delivered it to me personally through a special channel. He said the information is extremely urgent and has to be dealt with immediately without alerting too many people."
"An emergency mission?"
Obito instantly became excited. Every trace of his earlier complaints vanished, and his eyes sparkled.
"Minato-sensei personally assigned it? Haha! Just as expected! Only the future Hokage can handle such an important mission! What rank is it? A-rank? Don't tell me it's S-rank!"
He eagerly leaned forward, trying to read the contents of the scroll.
Kakashi, however, frowned even more deeply.
Instead of stepping closer, he instinctively took half a step back, carefully studying both Rin and the scroll in her hands.
"Minato-sensei assigned it personally? Then why didn't he come himself? And... what kind of emergency mission requires meeting near the village border in the middle of the night while acting so secretive?"
His doubts only grew stronger.
Minato-sensei sometimes made them train extra, but he had never ignored proper procedures like this.
Skipping the mission office to assign an emergency mission directly was highly unusual.
Rin seemed to have expected his reaction. Her smile remained unchanged as she answered smoothly.
"Minato-sensei was suddenly called away by Lord Fourth Hokage because of an even more urgent matter. He said the mission target is outside the village and quite far away, so to save time, we should leave directly from here. He'll complete the paperwork afterward."
She pointed deeper into the forest.
"According to our intelligence, a group of roaming bandits, possibly rogue ninja or wandering shinobi, has appeared near Loulan Town. Their movements are extremely suspicious, and they seem to be planning something.
Minato-sensei is worried they'll threaten passing merchant caravans or even damage the ruins of Loulan, so we need to investigate immediately. If we confirm they're a threat, we're authorized to eliminate them."
"Loulan Town?"
Obito scratched his head.
"Bandits actually went there? No problem! Leave it to me! I'll catch every last one of them with my Great Fireball!"
He immediately cracked his knuckles, already imagining himself driving off the enemy and receiving enthusiastic praise from Minato-sensei.
"Wait, Obito!"
Kakashi sharply stopped his hot-headed teammate, his eyes fixed firmly on Rin.
"Rin, let me examine the scroll carefully. Does it list the mission details, enemy numbers, estimated rank, rendezvous procedures, and everything else?"
The sense of unease inside him had reached its peak.
Rin's behavior was too normal.
So normal that it felt rehearsed.
Besides, no matter how busy Minato-sensei was, he could always spare a Shadow Clone to explain things personally.
Rin blinked and showed a troubled expression.
"Kakashi, part of the scroll contains classified information. Minato-sensei said the mission is extremely urgent and told us not to waste any time."
As she spoke, she extended the scroll toward Kakashi, though her movement seemed oddly hurried.
Seeing this, Obito immediately stepped between them, blocking Kakashi's outstretched hand.
"Hey! Kakashi! You're being way too suspicious! Rin brought this mission herself, and Minato-sensei assigned it! Are you actually doubting both Rin and Minato-sensei? Or... are you scared of a few little bandits?"
"Idiot! That's not the point!"
Kakashi shot him an annoyed look and tried to push him aside.
"This doesn't follow protocol! And something about it feels completely wrong!"
"What's wrong with it? I think you're just scared! Too scared to take an emergency mission!"
Obito argued stubbornly.
"Come on, Rin! Let's go! Forget this coward!"
As he spoke, he reached out to lead Rin toward the forest.
"Kakashi..."
Rin also looked at him, her eyes filled with pleading and a trace of hurt from being doubted.
"The mission is really urgent... Come with us, okay? With you and Obito here, everything will be fine."
Kakashi looked at Rin's almost pleading expression before glancing at the unconvinced Obito.
The unease deep within him grew stronger than ever.
Yet his teammates' trust, their urging, and the seemingly reasonable explanation left him caught between two choices.
Maybe...
Maybe he really was overthinking it.
Under their watchful gazes, Kakashi struggled internally for several seconds.
In the end, he took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the powerful sense of foreboding.
"...Alright."
"But stay on maximum alert the entire way. If anything unusual happens, report it immediately."
"That's more like it!"
Obito immediately cheered, all his earlier frustration gone.
A sweet smile of relief also appeared on Rin's face.
"Mm! Let's get going!"
Without wasting another moment, the three-person team set off with Rin leading the way, Kakashi and Obito following close behind. They quickly passed through the forest, crossed Konoha's invisible barrier, and sped toward Loulan Town.
Once they had left Konoha's territory behind, only the cold moonlight illuminated the road ahead.
Kakashi remained vigilant, constantly watching the surroundings in the distance.
Obito, meanwhile, remained excited, enthusiastically talking about how he would perform once they reached their destination.
Then, all of a sudden...
Everything changed!
Five figures burst out from beneath the ground.
They launched a direct surprise attack on the three of them.
"Watch out!!"