The western border of the Land of Fire, deep within the dense forests.
The four-man team had traveled for most of the day along the route marked by intelligence, arriving at the target area in the afternoon.
Kitahara Kaede stood atop a high slope, his gaze sweeping over the woodlands ahead.
Quiet.
Too quiet.
It was as if no one had ever set foot in this forest.
Nawaki stepped closer, lowering his voice. "Sensei, this place... doesn't look like there's any abnormal activity." He scratched the back of his head. "Could the intelligence be wrong?"
Kitahara Kaede didn't answer imdiately.
The Intelligence Departnt didn't make such amateur mistakes. If this area was flagged for abnormal activity, soone had definitely been here.
Yet, everything before them was far too clean. No footprints, no broken branches, no remnants of campfires; it was as if the site had been deliberately scrubbed.
Being too normal was the most abnormal thing of all.
"Scout in three directions," Kitahara Kaede commanded, leaping down from the slope and gesturing to the trio. "Two-hundred-ter radius. Watch your step, watch the canopy, and watch for anything unnatural. Report back here in twenty minutes."
The two Genin took their orders and split off to the left and right.
Just as Nawaki was about to move—
"Nawaki."
"Yeah?"
Kitahara Kaede looked at him. "Watch out for explosive tags."
Nawaki paused, instinctively glancing around. There wasn't a soul in sight. "Would there be any here—"
"Under stones, in the crevices of tree roots, at the base of shrubs," Kitahara Kaede said flatly. "The places where you'd think nothing would be hidden."
Nawaki swallowed the rest of his question. Three months of training had carved one realization into his very bones: whatever his Sensei said was never wrong.
He nodded seriously. "Understood."
With a turn, he vanished into the shrubbery of the right flank.
Kitahara Kaede watched his back disappear into the brush, then turned and slowly circled the periter of the clearing. The more he looked, the more he felt sothing was off, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it yet.
...
Ten minutes later.
Kitahara Kaede turned to see Nawaki erging from the bushes. He was hunched over, stepping lightly, jogging up to him.
"Found sothing?"
"I found them," Nawaki whispered, though his eyes were shining with excitent.
He picked up a twig and drew a simple diagram in the dirt. "There are explosive tags under the shrubs on the right flank."
Kitahara Kaede remained silent, signaling him to continue.
Nawaki drew a circle on the ground. "The first one was hidden under a stone at the base of a shrub." He paused, as if organizing his thoughts. "The soil beneath the stone was fresh; the color was different from the surrounding area."
"How different?"
"Half a shade."
Kitahara Kaede's brow twitched.
Half a shade.
Three months ago, Nawaki wouldn't have even noticed a difference that slight.
"I didn't touch it," Nawaki continued, drawing two more circles. "I circled around and found two more similar spots. The distance between the three tags is very uniform, and the shrub branches in the middle had been pushed aside and then put back—the break points all faced inward."
He looked up. "They're linked. If you step on one, the others will detonate together."
Kitahara Kaede looked at the diagram.
The difference in soil color—half a shade. The direction of the broken branches. The deduction of a linked explosive tag layout.
Individually, these were basic things taught during training. But to capture every single detail and combine them within a real mission environnt was the kind of skill that kept a ninja alive.
Kitahara Kaede knew one thing very clearly.
If it weren't for these three months of training... if he weren't the one leading the team... if no one had reminded him to watch for explosive tags...
Given Nawaki's personality, the first thing he would have done upon arriving was charge straight into the heart of the area.
He would have stepped on a tag, and that would have been the end.
Twelve years old, one wrong step.
And then Tsunade would be back in the Hidden Leaf, waiting for soone who would never return.
Kitahara Kaede retracted his gaze.
"Well done."
Nawaki froze for a mont. In the three months he had followed his sensei, he could count on one hand how many tis he had heard those words.
"Hehe..."
"Did you estimate the coverage of the array?"
Nawaki snapped out of his grin and replied seriously, "Roughly a fan-shaped area extending twenty ters inward from the front entrance. I didn't dare probe any deeper."
"That's enough." Kitahara Kaede stood up. "Wait for the other two to return."
Shortly after, the two Genin returned.
The taller one spoke first: "Captain, there are signs of habitation on the left flank. Fire pits, used water sources, and footprints."
The shorter one added: "The prints aren't very fresh, maybe three to five days old. At least four or five people."
Kitahara Kaede nodded.
Piecing all the information together, the answer was clear. Soone had co here ahead of ti, laid a series of linked explosive tags, and then cleared out completely.
No garrison, no sentries. Just a death trap.
They were waiting for a Hidden Leaf scouting party. A four-man team, mostly Genin, stepping into that fan-shaped zone—not a single soul would have survived.
"Mission objective confird. Perform one more sweep of the periter; if nothing new is found, we withdraw. Return—"
In the forest to the northwest, the birdsong stopped. All at once, as if sothing had throttled them simultaneously.
Kitahara Kaede's pupils contracted.
"Scatter—!"
He shoved Nawaki behind a large tree to the right and kicked off the ground with an explosive burst of speed.
Three kunai wrapped in explosive tags shot down from the canopy, pinning themselves exactly where they had been standing.
BOOM!
The explosion tore through half the shrubbery. Through the rising dust and smoke, figures surged from three directions.
Eight people.
Deep grey ninja attire, masks covering their noses and mouths, and headbands engraved with an hourglass.
Sunagakure.
The leader, a bearded man wielding a short curved blade, glanced at Kitahara Kaede and ca to a halt.
"A Hidden Leaf scouting party."
Kitahara Kaede didn't respond. His right hand hung at his side, and lightning flickered between his fingers.
Chidori Sharp Spear—a linear bolt of lightning pierced through the smoke, impaling a Sunagakure ninja on the flank who was in the middle of weaving signs.
The man's hand stopped at the third sign as his body was pinned to the tree trunk behind him.
The forest fell silent for a heartbeat.
The bearded man's expression shifted. "Chidori Sharp Spear—it's him! Why is he the Jōnin leading a mission like this?!"
He turned to roar an order to his subordinates.
Too late.
Kitahara Kaede moved.
Shadow Clones intercepted two Chūnin attempting to flank from the rear, while the original dove straight into the center.
The bearded man raised his blade to block, but the curved sword snapped in two, and he was sent flying backward.
It was a slaughter.
His current strength was already infinitely close to Kage-level; against a squad of this caliber, he didn't even need a second strategy.
In the span of a single breath, four were down.
The remaining Sunagakure ninjas lost their formation, fighting desperately and individually.
Amidst the chaos, one Sunagakure ninja circled around to Kitahara Kaede's rear right. A kunai flew—silent, from a treacherous angle, aid straight for the nape of the neck.
Nawaki saw it from ten ters away.
Nothing crossed his mind. His hands were faster than his thoughts—a shuriken flew from his grip.
It was off-target.
However, the shuriken grazed the Sunagakure ninja's wrist, clipping the handle of the kunai.
The clash of tal diverted the kunai's trajectory by three inches.
Kitahara Kaede tilted his head to avoid the blade and countered with a back-elbow strike to the man's temple.
A dull thud, and the man collapsed.
Kitahara Kaede looked back.
Nawaki stood there, his hand still held in the throwing position.
The two locked eyes.
Kitahara Kaede said nothing, turning back to finish off the remaining enemies.
But Nawaki saw the look in his eyes.
Kitahara Kaede's lips quirked slightly.
...
Eight Sand ninjas, all neutralized.
The entire engagent had lasted less than five minutes.
Kaede finished looting the last enemy's tool pouch, tucking the recovered intelligence scrolls into his bag.
"Let's go. Back to the village."
The four of them began their journey ho. As they erged from the dense forest, the terrain gradually opened up.
The two Genin walked ahead, whispering among themselves. Every so often, they would steal glances back at Kitahara Kaede, their eyes filled with the kind of awe reserved for those who had just cheated death.
Nawaki walked beside Kaede, remaining uncharacteristically silent for most of the trip.
After about fifteen minutes, he finally spoke.
"Sensei."
"Hm?"
"Those explosive tags... if I hadn't spotted them, and we had just charged in from the front..."
"But you did spot them."
Nawaki lowered his head and took a few steps in silence.
"But my shuriken missed."
"You missed, but it worked," Kaede replied, not slowing his pace. "Three months ago, you couldn't even react to a tripwire. Today, you relied on instinct to save the day in a real fight."
He turned his head slightly to glance at Nawaki.
"You call that a lack of progress?"
Nawaki's mouth opened and closed, but he swallowed his words.
He rembered the version of himself that used to sprawl across the grass of the training grounds. Twenty minutes, killed seven tis, shaking all over, unable to withstand even thirty percent of his master's strength.
Today had been a real battlefield. Eight Sand ninjas, led by two Jonin.
And he had survived.
That shuriken he threw might have been off-target, but it had shifted the trajectory of that kunai by three inches.
Nawaki sniffled and looked up.
"Sensei."
"Hm?"
"When we get back, I'm definitely going to brag to my sister."
Kaede gave him a sidelong glance.
Nawaki rubbed his hands together, his usual cheekiness finally returning to his face.
"I'll tell her that I saved your life on the battlefield!"
"Your shuriken missed."
"But it worked! You said so yourself!"
Nawaki stiffened his neck, planting his hands on his hips and tilting his chin up.
"'Off-target, but effective'—I'm quoting you word-for-word when I tell her."
He cleared his throat, his expression suddenly shifting as he mimicked Kaede's tone.
"'Nawaki perford excellently on the battlefield; he saved at a critical mont,'" he said, dropping his voice to a forced, solemn depth.
"My sister is definitely going to praise heaps."
Kaede gave him a sharp kick.
Nawaki stumbled, letting out a couple of chuckles as he hurried to catch up. After a few more steps, he leaned in again.
"Sensei, I'm serious."
"About what?"
"I want my sister to know..."
Nawaki scratched the back of his head, his tone suddenly losing its playfulness.
"That I've gotten stronger."
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