The next day, before dawn had even broken across the horizon, Zoro was already awake.
Beneath the cherry blossom tree in the courtyard, he silently practiced his swordsmanship alone.
He wore a specially tailored black coat over his body, and hidden beneath the fabric were countless dense weighted restraints tightly fastened against his skin.
Every movent carried astonishing pressure.
Clang!
The instant his blade left its sheath, the muscles throughout his body contracted explosively.
A single slash cut through the air.
The drifting cherry blossom petals around him froze montarily before being crushed into fine pink dust by the violent sword pressure.
The surrounding ground cracked faintly beneath his feet.
After finishing his training, Zoro simply washed up before standing before a mirror.
The reflection staring back at him wore a black coat and a cat-faced Anbu mask.
Even without speaking, an invisible aura of cold killing intent naturally radiated from him.
As the pale light of dawn gradually illuminated the sky, Zoro left the Uchiha compound and headed toward the designated gathering point.
The eting location was a forest on Konoha's outskirts.
His body moved silently between the branches like a ghost.
Soon, two adult-sized Anbu wearing cat masks entered his field of vision.
One possessed a large, muscular fra and carried an enormous blade more than a ter long strapped across his back.
The other was slimr and carried an ordinary katana at his waist.
"You're late, rookie."
The burly ninja carrying the giant blade jumped down from the trees first, his tone filled with obvious dissatisfaction.
"I don't believe I'm late."
Zoro replied calmly while silently observing the two Anbu before him.
"Anbu squads gather early to account for unexpected situations. Understand now?"
Compared to the burly man, the katana-wielding ninja seed much colder in temperant.
From his tone alone, it was obvious he was equally dissatisfied with a newcor suddenly being assigned to their squad.
"From now on, we'll use code nas."
The katana-bearing ninja took the initiative to explain things while clearly acting as the leader of this mission.
"I'm Wind. He's Fire."
Then he looked toward Zoro.
"What about you?"
Zoro glanced at the two swords hanging at his waist before answering casually:
"Blade."
"Good."
Wind nodded lightly.
"Follow . I'll explain the mission on the way."
The mont he finished speaking, Wind imdiately vanished using the Body Flicker Technique and rapidly advanced deeper into the forest.
Fire and Zoro followed closely behind.
As they moved through the trees at high speed, Wind explained the mission in a cold, concise tone.
"Our objective is simple. Eliminate a spy hiding within Konoha."
"According to intelligence, the target originally belongs to Iwagakure. Today is the scheduled day for him to hand over information."
The Anbu itself was divided into several branches.
There was the familiar Torture and Interrogation Unit, as well as Intelligence and Reconnaissance divisions.
And without question—
The departnt Zoro had entered belonged to the Execution Unit.
The blade held in the hands of the Third Hokage.
Soon, the three of them left the forest and arrived at a barren rocky plain.
Gigantic stone pillars rose from the ground like jagged teeth.
The trio crouched silently atop one of the massive stone columns.
Ti passed quietly.
Before they realized it, noon had already arrived.
During the entire waiting period, not a single word was exchanged between them.
For masked Anbu like themselves, they did not even know one another's real nas or appearances.
The only thing that mattered was the mission.
Thinking about that, a trace of coldness surfaced deep within Zoro's heart.
A bunch of loyal hounds.
It seed that if he wanted to move against Hiruzen Sarutobi in the future, he would first need to destroy the Anbu under his command.
At that thought, killing intent unconsciously flickered within Zoro's eyes.
"They're here."
Wind's low voice suddenly sounded beside him.
In the distance, a ninja gradually entered their field of vision.
The man moved cautiously and sneakily, dressed in standard Konoha green flak gear with a Konoha forehead protector strapped to his head.
Monts later, several Iwagakure ninja hidden nearby also erged from concealnt.
"You weren't exposed, were you?"
One of the Iwa ninja stepped forward cautiously.
He had hedgehog-like hair and wore dark red combat armor.
"What movents has Konoha made recently?"
"How could I possibly be exposed?"
The Konoha spy laughed smugly.
"Don't tell you don't trust ? I've already been undercover for months. My disguise techniques aren't sothing ordinary people can see through."
"Enough nonsense. Hurry up and—"
The Iwa ninja's expression suddenly changed.
Without hesitation, he instantly leapt away from his original position.
Too late.
"Puchi!!"
The sound of flesh tearing apart echoed sharply.
Crimson blood sprayed through the air.
The Konoha traitor who had been smugly bragging monts earlier was instantly riddled with black shuriken.
His body collapsed heavily onto the ground.
!!!!
"Who's there?!"
The remaining three Iwagakure ninja imdiately reacted, backs pressed together as they vigilantly scanned their surroundings.
"Move."
The mont the traitor was eliminated, Wind and Fire instantly sprang into action.
Their bodies blurred forward.
In the blink of an eye, the three Iwa ninja were already surrounded.
Looking at the hedgehog-haired Iwa shinobi below, Zoro felt a strange sense of familiarity.
For a mont, however, he could not rember where he had seen the man before.
"Konoha Anbu…"
The lead Iwa ninja's expression darkened imdiately.
"Don't freeze up. Counterattack!"
He knew very clearly what encountering Anbu in the wilderness ant.
Konoha's Anbu never negotiated.
If they found you outside the village, it almost always ant an assassination mission.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Rampart!"
One of the Iwa ninja slamd his palm against the ground.
Rumble!!
A massive semicircular earthen wall instantly rose upward, shielding the three of them inside.
"Boom!!"
Wind imdiately unleashed a Wind Release technique.
A razor-sharp blade of compressed air slamd violently into the earthen wall, carving deep cracks across its surface.
"You."
Fire suddenly looked toward Zoro.
"Go break it open. I'll cover you from the side."
His tone sounded less like cooperation and more like deliberately pushing the dangerous job onto the rookie.
"Why ?"
Zoro's voice remained calm and indifferent.
"Don't you have hands?"
He made no move whatsoever.
Only an idiot would recklessly charge into unknown danger first.
"You—!"
Fire's expression imdiately darkened beneath the mask.
He clearly had not expected a newcor to speak to him like that.
Were rookies nowadays all this arrogant?
It seed he would need to properly teach this brat later what it ant to respect senior mbers.
"Enough."
Wind's voice suddenly turned ice-cold.
"We're in the middle of a mission. Do both of you have a death wish?"
His tone carried obvious irritation at their lack of coordination.
"Hmph."
Fire suppressed the anger in his chest before pulling the massive blade from his back.
"Then I'll do it myself."
With a violent roar, he swung the enormous weapon heavily toward the earthen wall.
"BOOM!!"
The Earth-Style barrier shattered apart instantly.
But at the exact mont the wall collapsed—
Wind's urgent warning suddenly rang out beside them.
"Careful! That guy—!!"
Too late.
"BOOM!!!"
A terrifying explosion erupted instantly.
Violent flas and shockwaves blasted outward in every direction.
Fire was sent flying backward on the spot.
There were no explosive tags anywhere nearby.
Which ant—This was ninjutsu.
"Explosion Release…"
A faint glimr flashed through Zoro's eyes.
No wonder the man looked so familiar.
This hedgehog-haired Iwagakure ninja was actually soone possessing the Explosion Release kekkei genkai.
If Zoro rembered correctly…
This should be the sa shinobi who would later be reincarnated during the Fourth Great Ninja War.
His na seed to be—
Gari.
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