Revolution in the Ninja World

The Land of Fields, the Land of Fire, the Land of Rain – ninjas frequently changing their location of battle or mission was a rather common occurrence. The ninja world itself was just a small world, and ninjas in wartime were highly mobile and had a wide range of activity.

To this planet, ninjas were nothing more than hyperactive insects.

In the Land of Rain, the amount of time the country was clear in a year was comparable to the amount of time it rained in the Land of Wind.

Habara hid in a large tree. He quietly pulled back the hood that covered his head, and the warm, humid air that had accumulated around him immediately escaped through his collar. This, combined with the fine, scattered cold rain hitting his face, instantly made him feel refreshed.

"This damn weather."

Habara took a few deep breaths, and still couldn't help but utter this complaint.

The reconnaissance squad's progress was very slow. The environment of the Land of Rain was unfamiliar and dangerous, and under these circumstances, it was crucial to ensure that their own team moved covertly. Secrecy meant safety.

And the intelligence Habara and the others were trying to gather wasn't some "Hanzo's little secret" that required them to infiltrate Amegakure itself. In fact, they only needed to confirm some general, broad matters, such as where Amegakure's main forces were currently deployed, and whether this deployment had changed compared to before.

It might seem like this kind of intelligence wouldn't be difficult to obtain, but for Habara's team, obtaining such intelligence was still extremely dangerous.

In this unchanging forest, even ninjas could get lost. What if they accidentally ran into a large Amegakure force...? The forests of the Land of Rain were a treasured place; the decomposition rate of corpses was particularly high.

At this point, the squad had checked the surrounding environment. They hadn't found any traces of enemy activity, which meant they had temporarily cleared a safe zone. Thus, some of the ninjas could take the opportunity to rest for a while... This was a long-term mission, and if everyone remained constantly tense, problems would arise.

After a while, Habara's hair was completely soaked. In this world full of war and chaos, no one could expect Habara, a (formerly) responsible adult male, to put any effort into his appearance. It was already commendable that he maintained his personal hygiene every day.

The time the original owner spent locked in the dungeon, the time Habara himself spent locked in the dungeon, and the time since Habara had seen the light of day – after so long, Habara hadn't thought to get a haircut anywhere. So now, his gray hair looked very cool, like a haystack.

At this moment, Izayo came to Habara's side and stuffed something into his hand. "Here, use this."

A hair tie?

Habara looked at the thing in his hand, then somewhat clumsily tied up the hair at the back of his head. Then he grinned silently, because he remembered something funny.

A low ponytail at the bottom was a standard hairstyle for strong characters in this world. It was a pity that Habara had gray hair instead of white.

Currently, the civil unrest in Amegakure hadn't ended. On the contrary, because of the events of three years ago, Amegakure was in an even more chaotic state.

Three years ago, because of the plot by Amegakure's Hanzo and a certain consistently self-proclaimed intelligent, but in reality, always brain-dead person from Konoha, the leader of "Akatsuki," Yahiko, died. This caused this organization, full of justice, to undergo a complete qualitative change, and the only hope of Amegakure was thus extinguished.

Although Hanzo was still alive now, to be honest, from the day Nagato went berserk, Hanzo was destined to die. The only difference was whether it would be sooner or later... A demigod was just a demigod, after all, no match for a god.

So what was the current state of Amegakure's fractured situation? Naturally, Habara couldn't know. He just hoped he wouldn't run into someone as abnormally strong as Nagato.

After taking turns resting, the twelve-man squad continued to advance.

About two days later, an Amegakure forward camp appeared in the Konoha reconnaissance squad's field of vision.

Izayo took out a map and recorded the relevant information.

"The location hasn't changed much from before. This camp is still used to defend against Konoha..."

"But the scale of the camp has expanded. Judging roughly from the number of tents, there are at least fifty percent more ninjas here than before."

"A targeted deployment? Targeted at what? Amegakure should only be able to defend passively; they shouldn't have the strength to launch an active attack."

The Konoha team was observing the Amegakure camp from a distance using telescopes. Doing so was inefficient in gathering intelligence, and the accuracy of the intelligence was limited; everything could only be judged roughly. However, this team would absolutely not get any closer to that camp... Konoha's strength naturally far surpassed Amegakure's, but that didn't mean a small squad could run wild in the Land of Rain.

In fact, the surrounding major powers were somewhat wary of the Land of Rain. Although Hanzo's Amegakure couldn't truly contend with a major power, in the stalemate among the major powers, Amegakure's movements could, to some extent, influence the direction of the war.

What Amegakure actually wanted to do was not for Habara and the others to worry about. Their mission was to obtain intelligence and bring it back. Judging Amegakure's actions was the job of Konoha's higher-ups.

But after obtaining the corresponding intelligence, could the Konoha infiltration squad successfully retreat from the depths of the Land of Rain?

The answer was no.

With the sound of a whistle, it was indicated that the Konoha squad no longer needed to hide themselves furtively.

"Retreat! Full speed retreat! Our operation has been exposed!"

The slightly dispersed Konoha squad quickly regrouped, and then began to move at high speed in a southwesterly direction.

"The enemy appeared suddenly. Several squads surrounded us from all directions!" Daigo explained while the team was retreating at high speed.

"Is there any possibility that they were routine patrol squads?" someone asked.

"Almost impossible. The enemy from all directions acted in unison. Their converging point was right here... Their target was very clear."

"Why were we suddenly exposed..."

The answer to this question was self-evident, because the enemy had superior reconnaissance ninjas, with far stronger reconnaissance capabilities than Daigo.

Habara couldn't help but look up at the curtain of rain in the sky.

"It can't be..."

Was a jinx not only forbidden from speaking carelessly, but even forbidden from thinking carelessly in his heart?

"Be prepared for the possibility that we won't be able to shake off the enemy's pursuit..." Habara reminded them.

"The enemy's encirclement is very tight. Now is not the time to consider shaking off the enemy's reconnaissance ninjas... Prepare to engage the enemy ahead!"

Very soon...

Habara would meet another kind of ninja.