An unexpected confrontation

“Hey, watch out!”, shouted an older Haruto at us while we were patrolling in the woods.

He was looking at the setting sun or to be more precise observing the growing small black dots in it. Taking out his Kunai he tried to deflect the countless incoming projectiles while minimizing his attack surface by slightly rotating his body.

“URGH!”, he let out a pained sound when a Shuriken hit his right wrist. Hearing him groan, I stepped forward with my short sword and took over the task of deflecting the approaching projectiles. Miyuki, on the other hand, immediately began to perform the necessary signs for a Wind Release Jutsu.

“STRONG GALE JUTSU”, shouted Miyuki when a strong wind swept across the field making it impossible to use any ranged weapons thus buying us precious time to retreat and recover. Luckily for us, our attackers temporarily stopped their attack when they began to notice that the air was poisoned by Miyuki.

“Let’s fall back!”, I desperately shouted at my teammates before seeing them nodding at me.

‘How the f*ck did this happen?!?!?’, I asked myself while casting a Jutsu which covered the whole area with thick fog.

A little more than two years had passed since our first mission successfully concluded and our team has since continued to diligently train under our teacher while regularly accepting suitable missions. Finally, a couple of months ago, we managed to pass the Chunin exam thereby becoming freshly baked Chunins.

In order to become a Chunin, our team had to pass a written exam before accomplishing several C-ranked missions without Mr. Gin’s aid. We passed the written exam with excellent results but the missions proved to be quite the challenge: We really noticed the lack of guidance by a more experienced Ninja but fortunately, we managed to successfully finish them all.

Right now we were supposed to be patrolling on the eastern beaches of Uzushiogakure due to a sudden increase of unusual activities in this area: They ranged from fishermen sighting dead corpses floating on the sea to the mysterious disappearances of weapons from a smithy.

“If I remember correctly, there’s a huntsman’s hut just a couple of miles from our position. Let’s retreat there and reorganize ourselves.”, I voiced my opinion while running through the forest with my hands behind my back.

“Yeah, let’s do that. My wrist also needs some tending.”, Haruto replied from my side.

“HUFF…HUFF…Good…HUFF…Idea…HUFF.”, Miyuki heavily breathed out showing the effects of her nearly depleted Chakra reserves.

“Do you guys have an idea how we can contact the village?”, Haruto asked us while jumping from a tree branch. Sadly, Miyuki only shook her head while I was thinking hard.

‘How can we contact the village? A messenger pigeon made of Wind Chakra won’t work because of its limited range and we’re still quite a bit away from the next patrol tower. We also need to consider that we’re probably outnumbered by the unknown attackers.’

‘At times like this, I sincerely wished that the Naruto world would have progressed a bit faster. Just imagine having radio communication! The endless practical usages for it! Unfortunately, these thoughts can only remain mere pipe dreams.’

“Hey, I can see a hut at 1 o’clock.”, Haruto said, interrupting me from my thought processes. Compared to my Chakra sight, Haruto’s eyes were like the eyes of a hawk or falcon: They could identify even the smallest dots on the horizon.

Sometimes, I really thought that Haruto had an eye-specific Kekkei Genkai. But after repeatedly checking his Chakra when he used his excellent eyesight, I never detected any signs of unusual Chakra activity: He simply had excellent eyesight.

Turning my head to where the hut was, I scanned the building with my Chakra vision. Luckily, nobody was in there or the surrounding area so after checking the hut we took a much-needed break inside it.

While I was standing guard on the outside, I could hear Miyuki tending to Haruto's injury. Due to her familiarity with poisons and sedatives, she was our designated medic and carried the first-aid kit.

‘Yet another reason to never annoy your team’s poison specialist.’, I wryly thought while trying to distract myself from the previous hostile encounter.

‘But who attempted to ambush us? They attacked us with the sun behind their back and judging by the accuracy and amount of thrown projectiles they’re experienced Ninjas… We would’ve died there if not for Miyuki’s quick Jutsu and poison combo.’, I reflected with a dark frown.

‘Our main priorities should be to quickly report our encounter and safely return to Uzushiogakure. If we can, we should try to avoid our attackers while looking out for some clues for their sudden appearance.’

‘But I’m certain that their appearance should be somehow linked to the strange reports coming from this region… Hmm, it’s going to get dark soon. We should camp at the hut and rest for now.’, I concluded my thoughts before heading inside.

As I was entering the hut, I could see Miyuki gently tending to Haruto’s wound while he was attentively observing her face. This of course made Miyuki slightly blush. The two of them made quite the harmonious picture and I silently waited for a while before coughing:

“Cough. Cough. Sorry to interrupt you but we should discuss what we’re going to do now.”, I explained.

“...Ah…Right.”, Haruto replied with a smile.

“...Yes, that would be the best.”, answered Miyuki, having recovered a bit of her breath after the earlier encounter.

“Do you have any idea who attacked us earlier?”, I asked them.

“Sadly, no.”, replied Miyuki.

“Eh…I’m not quite sure but I think that our attackers wore masks with strange slits as their eyes.”, described Haruto while trying to remember what he saw.

Hearing Haruto’s description made me frown as I realized that we almost died to Hunter-nins from Kirigakure: They were a highly specialized branch of Kirigakure’s ANBU forces that focused on the assassinations of deserters and traitors.

‘Shit! Things are going even more south than I expected. This is serious. This is half a step away from crossing the point of no return!’, I grimly thought.

‘And they typically don’t leave until the traitor has been killed which means that the unusual activities in the region were probably caused by the traitor and the Hunter-nins.’

“...If my thoughts contain even a bit of truth then we’re in serious trouble.”, I explained to my teammates.

“...Why so?”, asked Haruto who hadn't realized the seriousness of the situation.

“Is it because we’ve clashed with Hunter-nins?”, inquired Miyuki who clearly also deduced the identity of our attackers.

“Yeah.”, I dryly replied.

“But why did they attack us then?”, wondered Haruto aloud.

“...I don’t know. Normally, they’re just focused on their target and avoid confrontations.”, I wondered too.

“Maybe it’s because they’ve mistaken us for their target? But I admit that it doesn’t sound very plausible.”, suggested Miyuki.

“...Hmm. Well, it doesn’t matter why they attacked us. We should focus on informing the village of them.”, I voiced my opinion.

“That sounds good to me. Any ideas?”, asked Haruto around.

“How about sending a messenger pigeon?”, began Miyuki to suggest.

“I’ve also thought of that possibility but it doesn’t have the required range to fly back to Uzushiogakure, right?”, I explained while glancing at Miyuki.

“You’re right. But we could try to send it to the nearest guard post and let them inform the village.”, proposed Miyuki.

“That’s a good idea but there’s always the risk that the guard post has already been eliminated by the hunter-nins.”, I argued.

“...Eh, isn’t it actually really simple? As you know, Uzushiogakure has a surveillance Fuinjutsu covering the whole island. It’s just very rudimentary so it can only detect a large increase in environmental Chakra caused by a big invading force.’, elaborated Haruto.

‘‘But it’s constantly monitored so if we damage a local part of it, it will be registered at home and a Jonin force with at least a master Fuinjutsu practitioner will be immediately dispatched. I believe that reinforcements should arrive in a couple of hours after the Fuinjutsu is damaged.”

‘...How could I forget about the surveillance Fuinjutsu! Mr. Gin briefly mentioned it when he was teaching us the application of wide-area Fuinjutsu… That’s so crazy that it might just work!’, I thought while looking at my friend with astonishment.

“You’re a certified genius, Haruto!”, I shouted out with a smile while slapping his back.

“...Have you guys gone crazy?!?!?”, questioned Miyuki with a horrified face.

“What do you mean?”, asked Haruto and me at the same time.

"No sane person would want to damage a large-scale Fuinjutsu! What if it explodes?!?!?", vehemently argued Miyuki.

"Ah, don't worry Miyuki! I just have to simply blow it up very fast.", explained Haruto trying to calm her down. In addition, I can install a Fuinjutus Timer on a Fuinjutsu bomb on it which would set itself off after a couple of minutes.”, continued Haruto to elaborate.

"Seems like you've lost your ability to reason along with the functionality of your wrist today.", let Miyuki in a tired voice out while holding her right hand to her forehead.

"But even you, Takumi? I can understand that Haruto has the occasional crazy idea but you're clearly smart enough to realize the sheer madness of the plan!", reproached Miyuki.

"... But we don't have any better option. The longer the information isn't delivered the worse our situation gets. We're no match for the Hunter-nins and I'm sure that they're more than capable in tracking us."

"I know that Haruto's plan sounds quite risky but compared to the other options we can choose when and where to engage our enemies. That's preferable to being hunted down by the hunter-nins."

As I was explaining my reasoning, Miyuki's expression changed from disappointment to understanding and finally to one of acceptance.

"... I see... Fine, let's go with your plan.", conceded Miyuki, proving her maturity.

“What do you think, guys? How much time do we have?”, she asked us with a worried voice.

“Not much. Your poison should have bought us some time, as they need to tend to their members. But we can’t rule out the possibility that they’ll hunt us down as soon as they possibly can.”, I voiced my opinion.

“Therefore, we should immediately begin with planting the hut with some improvised traps and afterward search for a different shelter… And if I remember correctly Haruto, Mr. Gin should have taught you how to make some Fuinjutsu-based booby traps, right?”, I mischievously smiled at the redhead.

“Yeah!!! I’m going to leave many ‘presents’ to our dear visitors.”, he grinned back at me while already fondling his Fuinjutsu equipment.

“Urgh… How can you guys enjoy this kind of situation?”, groaned Miyuki while asking herself why boys were so irritating, especially those with red hair and names that started with H and ended with aruto.

OOO

“WHAT THE F*CK WAS THAT?!?!?!”, demanded a masked Ninja to know while using his elbow to press a smaller Shinobi against the trunk of a tree.

“...”, the smaller Ninja remained silent.

“I SAID: WHAT THE F*CK WAS THAT?!?!?!”, repeated the enraged Ninja before increasing his elbow's pressure.

“...Cough… I just followed my orders.”, weakly replied the subordinate before again feeling his throat tighten again. Unbeknownst to his superior, his victim swore to later take his revenge.

“THE F*CK!!! When did I give you the order to ambush some Chunins?!?!?”, shouted the older Ninja.

“Urghh…I…was ordered by you to ‘ensure the success of the mission at all costs’. I deemed the Chunin squad to be a threat to that objective as they were rapidly approaching us and would have soon discovered us.”, explained the adolescent while his face had turned white.

“... What the f*ck are they doing in the Ninja Academy?”, asked the Ninja himself before letting his subordinate go.

“You, go and hunt some game.”, he ordered the kneeling Ninja who was breathing heavily.

“...Yes, sir.”, the youth responded before disappearing into the woods.

Seeing the youth disappear into the woods, the Ninja began to pinch his eyebrows while letting out a frustrated sigh. Next to him crouched a Hunter-nin silently inspecting his various tools while occasionally spinning a Kunai in his hand.

“He should’ve at least succeeded in killing them.”, cynically commented the crouching Ninja without looking up after he didn’t sense his teammate’s Chakra signature anymore.

“It would’ve been the better if that were the case. Now we need to hurry up before these Chunins report their findings or take a detour and kill them.”, voiced the other Ninja.

“Killing some kids won’t be a problem even if one of them can use Poison Arts.”, grinned the other Ninja while casually spinning the Kunai on his fingertip.

“Hmm, let’s do that tomorrow. I’m still a bit weak after being poisoned so we should rest for a bit, just to be safe. But then we can start hunting them.”

“Finally a bit of exercise.”

As the standing Ninja finished his conversation with his fellow Hutner-nin, he turned around before looking at the dark sky covered with countless stars. He took out a piece of dried meat before chewing on it.

‘What’s happening back at home? The new Ninja Academy graduates are becoming more and more mentally unstable… Let’s hope the problem is going to be fixed soon.’, sincerely prayed the experienced Hunter-nin while hoping to finish his mission soon.

Unfortunately for him, on the orders of the Mizukage, Kirigakure’s Ninja Academy had recently begun to radically reform itself and would soon finish its transformation to an institute of rationalized death largely inhabited by children with broken spirits.

OOO

“Hey, did you finish your part?”, asked Haruto while using his brush to create a chained Fuinjutsu trap.

“Almost!”, I replied while checking the Fuinjutsu on a small piece of paper.

The night had arrived and one could clearly see the moon. After resting for a while and taking turns to nap for a couple of hours, we began to search for the Surveillance Fuinjutsu. Fortunately, thanks to my Chakra-sensing eyes, we managed to quickly find the local part of the surveillance Fuinjutsu before Haruto took out a ridiculously large Chakra Scroll with countless ink lines on it from his Storage Scroll. When I had asked him about its function, I got an ‘interesting’ answer to say the least.

“You know, sometimes I get a bit tired from studying Fuinjutsus so I usually relax by creating explosion Fuinjutsus and then link them together. I figured that I would sooner or later need a big explosion so this baby was created.”, he joyfully answered while lovingly patting the scroll.

As one would expect, Miyuki wasn’t at all pleased by this revelation: Judging by her scary expression, Haruto, who didn’t suspect anything, would be strictly ‘educated’ about the reasons why safety standards were created after we had returned to Uzushiogakure.

‘... Well, if we return to Uzushiogakure at all.’, I gravely thought.

Regarding the traps we decided to make: While Haruto decided to copy his masterpiece by linking countless explosion Fuinjutsus to create a massive detonation that would trigger upon receiving a Chakra signal from him, Miyuki carefully coated the surrounding environment with a vicious mix of different poisons which would turn lethal in less than a quarter-hour and last for dozens of minutes before decomposing effectively creating a temporary chemical wasteland.

In fact, the mixture was so deadly and painful that even the Minowa Clan hasn’t found an antidote for it to this very day - And believe me, it wasn’t due to a lack of trying. Judging by Miyuki’s description of the poisoning mechanism and symptoms it reminded me a lot of nerve gas but instead of a convulsing body, the victim’s Chakra pathways get out of control and ‘neutralize’ themselves by slowly shrinking before imploding - So in essence, top-tier material for a war crime.

As for myself, I assisted Haruto with creating Fuinjutsus while checking the surroundings for any hostile forces. Luckily for us, we finished our ‘gifts’ before the Hunter-nins had found us. Now onto phase two of the plan.

“Let’s detonate the surveillance Fuinjtusu after Miyuki returns.”, I suggested before using my Chakra-sensing eyes to spot Miyuki who was on her way to the hut.

“Yeah, I’m ready if you're finished with the last Fuinjutsu part.”, Haruto replied while pointing at the small Fuinjtusu in my hand.

“Here, you can connect it now.”, I told him before handing out the final link.

Haruto took the piece of paper from my hand and connected it to the backside of a tree by adding numerous thin black ink lines: The tree in turn was connected to other trees thus forming a ring of explosives around the hut.

“I kinda pity our pursuers now.”, I joked after seeing the anxiety my teammate tried to hide.

‘Well, maybe I’m just joking because I’m the most nervous one’, I wryly thought.

“You’re absolutely right! They’re gonna wish that they weren’t born in the first place!”, exclaimed Haruto.

“Stop shouting and save your stamina for later.”, advised Miyuki who had rejoined with us. While she was trying to hide it, I could also feel that her voice had an anxious tint.

“Let’s damage the Surveillance Fuinjutsu and escape to the mountains.”, Miyuki added earning two nicks from Haruto and me before our Fuinjutsu fanatic activated a Fuinjutsu timer that would detonate the Fuinjutsu bombs in about a dozen minutes.

After we armed the trap, we quickly ran toward the Surveillance Fuinjutsu’s location where Haruto upon arrival immediately began to connect another timer to his Fuinjutsu bomb.

“Ignite!”, he commanded and infused his Chakra into the timer which would set the Fuinjutsu bomb off in a couple of minutes.

As we ran toward the mountains we anxiously anticipated the explosion while hoping to not cross any enemies. While I was jumping from tree to tree, I tried to predict our pursuers' reactions and next steps.

‘The Hunter-nins should be near the hut and close to the previous engagement area which is in the opposite direction of the mountains. They should be quite stressed after they hear the explosion and would probably search our previous location. If everything goes acco-’

KABOOOOM!!!!

I first heard an incredibly loud sound before feeling a strong heatwave envelope my body catapulting it forward and making me almost clash against a sturdy tree before I spun my body and landed on top of a tree branch. If it weren’t for my quick reflexes, I fear that I would have been seriously injured.

“Are you guys fine?”, I asked my teammates with concern.

“I’m fine!”, Haruto answered.

“Me too!”, Miyuki replied.

‘Well, let’s see the Hunter-nins response, shall we?’

OOO

“WE HAVE LOST THE CHAKRA SIGNAL FROM SECTOR NORTH-32! I REPEAT: WE HAVE LOST THE CHAKRA SIGNAL FROM SECTOR NORTH-32!”, shouted a young red-haired Ninja at his superior with a panicked voice.

The headquarter of the Surveillance and Intelligence Division (S.I.D) fell into a chaotic state after receiving the information and most of the present younger Ninjas began to panic. Only the older generations kept their calm but deep inside their battle-hardened hearts, they feared the worst.

‘Damnit! What happened there?’, asked the current Head of the S.I.D himself.

“Immediately send the emergency Jonin strike force and notify the Clan Head! Also, contact every available Ninja and raise the village’s alertness level to class 4!”

“Understood!”, replied dozens of masked Ninjas before dispersing in different directions.

As the higher-ranked Ninjas began to discuss the potential reasons for the missing signal and the appropriate courses of actions for each scenario, the Head of the S.I.D silently stood there while thinking:

‘Let’s pray that it was only a serious error.’

While he was desperately hoping that it only was an error, he recalled one particular set of memories from his past: How could he forget the last time Uzushiogakure was invaded? Not when his whole squad had been outnumbered and almost got completely annihilated.

OOO

KABOOOOM!!!!

An enormous explosion abruptly woke up the three Hunter-nins from their sleep: Without even communicating with each other, they rapidly began to check their immediate surroundings while paying special attention to the location of the explosion.

“I’m betting my goddamn Kunai on the fact that these Chunins have something to do with this!”, barked one of them while firmly gripping his weapon.

“Be quiet!”, shouted their captain before turning to his subordinates.

“We’re moving out at once! Follow me!”, the older Ninja ordered before dashing deeper into the forest.

Hearing their superior’s order, the other two masked Ninjas followed their captain’s lead. As they were rapidly approaching the explosion sight, one of them noticed an abandoned hut near their left and notified their superior of it.

After receiving this piece of information, the Ninja in charge decided to first check the hut in hopes of finding the Chunins they previously had encountered. As they were getting closer to the hut, they noticed that something wasn’t quite right: There were traces of human activities but the strange thing was that nobody had even tried to conceal them.

‘I’m having a bad feeling right now.’, thought the captain with a grim expression

‘...F*ck! This is way too suspicious! We’re going out of here, right no-’

KABOOOOM!!!!