Naruto Card King

Jiraiya took out a pen and was drawing routes on the map, while Tsunade, being preoccupied with answering Haruto Saito's questions, hadn't helped much.

"He's ranked first? Then what about 'Thirteen'? Shouldn't the leader of the Anbu have stronger assassination skills?" Haruto asked in surprise.

"Thirteen's abilities are very similar to Hanzo's because he was personally trained by Hanzo. His main strength lies in his swordsmanship, and his weapon of choice is a scythe. A scythe is a large weapon, not ideal for assassination. So while he does have powerful assassination abilities, in this area, he is not as proficient as Teridou."

"Does Teridou have some kind of special ability?"

"There isn't much information about him, only that he's highly skilled in tracking, concealment, counter-tracking, sensory detection, and reconnaissance, and he has mastered an extremely unique assassination technique."

"That's what you call 'not much information'?"

"Of course. It's not detailed enough. Teridou is always by Hanzo's side, like his shadow. So we can only infer his capabilities from certain battle records, but we don't have concrete details."

"Then how did he earn the title of the number one assassin?"

"There was once a rogue ninja from Kirigakure who defected to Amegakure. He was an elite Jonin named Otsuki Yama Shigeji. This guy brought vital Kirigakure intelligence with him when he defected, which made Hanzo highly value him, even granting him a high-ranking position… But then, just three months after defecting to Amegakure, Otsuki Yama Shigeji betrayed them and returned to Kirigakure."

"A ruse? He was a spy?!" Haruto interjected.

"Yes. Otsuki Yama Shigeji was a spy. He never truly defected from Kirigakure; his so-called betrayal was just a ploy to obtain a specific piece of intelligence from Amegakure," Tsunade continued. "Seventeen days after he returned to Kirigakure, he was dead."

"Teridou's doing?" Haruto guessed.

"Correct! This is something Amegakure openly acknowledged! They wanted to send a message to Kirigakure. It's not just a rumor—Teridou infiltrated Kirigakure and assassinated Otsuki Yama Shigeji inside the village itself. Then, he hung the body on the flagpole at the entrance of Kirigakure. That was three years ago, and it caused an uproar! From that moment on, Teridou cemented his status as Amegakure's number one assassin."

"Hanging him on the flagpole…" Haruto murmured. That was insanely bold!

"That's why, in recent years, assassins who kill their targets often hang the bodies on flagpoles—it's all to imitate Teridou."

"And Kirigakure didn't retaliate?"

"How could they? The distance was too great, separated by the sea and by our Land of Fire. Even if Kirigakure wanted to retaliate, their hands were tied. Sending their own assassins to Amegakure was even more impossible. Since the First Shinobi World War, no high-ranking ninja from Amegakure has ever been assassinated within their own village. Amegakure is practically a village built for assassination. Any assassin who dares to infiltrate it to take down a high-level ninja is just asking to die."

"Tsunade, take a look at this." Jiraiya suddenly spoke up, pointing at the map.

Tsunade leaned in to examine it and began discussing with Jiraiya in a hushed tone.

Haruto stood by silently, his face shifting between expressions of unease. Amegakure's number one assassin—Teridou! He was right behind them, wasn't he? He had already been tracking them, right?!

This was bad!

"I have another question," Haruto said.

"Go ahead," Tsunade replied without turning, still focused on the map.

"If we encounter Teridou, can we win?" Haruto asked.

"We…" Tsunade stood up and looked at him. "If Orochimaru were here, the three of us together would have a great chance of winning. But without him, it's just me, Jiraiya, and you, a useless little brat…" Tsunade dragged out her words. "Our chances of losing are very high!"

"So it's my fault?" Haruto rolled his eyes at her.

"In front of Teridou, you really would be completely useless, trust me! You'd only slow us down," Tsunade stated bluntly.

Haruto made a face like he'd just swallowed a bitter pill. Did she have to be so harsh?

"But our luck shouldn't be that bad. We're just making comparisons. No need to look so depressed—it's not like we're actually going to run into Teridou," Tsunade reassured him.

She had no idea just how worried Haruto was!

Teridou was really right behind them!

Haruto suddenly clasped his hands together and quickly formed a sequence of hand signs before closing his eyes and remaining still.

"Secret Art: Marking Technique!"

Tsunade glanced at Haruto. Due to the dark mist surrounding him, his chakra signature was concealed, making it difficult for her to determine what jutsu he was casting. She didn't ask, though—Haruto was always acting strangely.

Within a radius of several kilometers, every living creature's presence became clear to Haruto. He suddenly felt a bit relieved—he couldn't sense Teridou. That meant Teridou had indeed lost their trail earlier, though that didn't mean he wouldn't find them again.

Tsunade crouched down again to continue strategizing with Jiraiya over the map.

"We'll go this way… then over here… If we run into trouble, we can loop around this way. This area is good for hiding… But this part will be a problem—it's too open. We could try to sneak across, but if that's too risky, we'll have to take a detour, though that'll add another two hundred kilometers…"

Jiraiya and Tsunade finally finished planning. They both stood up, Jiraiya packed away the map, and Tsunade grabbed Haruto as the three resumed their journey.

Half an hour later.

They were about to exit the mountain range and enter the open grasslands.

Night had fallen, and the sky was dark.

The three of them climbed up a hill and suddenly stopped, crouching among the trees. In the distance, there were flickering lights across the grasslands! The view was wide open there, so even though the lights were far away, they were particularly striking in the dark.

Jiraiya pulled out his telescope, observed for a moment, then turned back. "It's a group of ninjas. I can't tell where they're from. Around thirty of them. They've set up tents—it looks like they're camping for the night."

"Why would they randomly set up camp in the middle of the grasslands?" Tsunade frowned in confusion. It didn't make sense—if they were going to camp, they should do it in the mountains. The grasslands had strong winds and heavy rain, with no natural cover. It wasn't an ideal spot to spend the night.

There had to be a special reason.

And the most likely explanation was that they were stationed there for a purpose, but their exact intentions were unclear.

Tsunade took the telescope from Jiraiya and observed the camp. Their uniforms were inconsistent, and they were all male ninja of unknown origin.

"Let me see." Haruto took the telescope and looked through it. His heart sank immediately.

These ninjas were from a small faction called 'Raincry Village,' located within the Land of Rain.

But that wasn't the real problem.

The real problem was that they all registered as hostile!

Why were they hostile?

Would a small faction like Raincry Village dare to oppose Konoha? If not, then there was only one explanation—they were tracking Haruto and his group!

BOOM!

Suddenly, a loud rumbling sound erupted behind them, several kilometers away. It sounded like thunder, but it came from an intense battle. In that instant, all three of them felt a powerful surge of chakra.

The commotion was so loud that even the ninjas camping on the grassland noticed it.