The silence of the vast, circular chamber was thick with anticipation. This was the third staging area. It was as impersonal as the first cube – grey, seamless stone, lit by the same constant lamp. But this time, it was not empty.
He was not alone.
Eight other figures, like himself, wore the plain grey ANBU uniform and blank porcelain masks. They stood, spaced evenly around the room, utterly silent, their bodies radiating carefully controlled, but varied, chakra signatures. They were the cream of the crop, individuals Minato had chosen to test. Ryuu acknowledged them with a silent mental nod, then took his own designated spot, facing the blank wall like the others.
He noticed the details. No fidgeting. No audible breathing. Each person stood with discipline, projecting a quiet readiness that spoke volumes of their individual strength.
Moments later, the air rippled as three more masked figures materialized in the center of the room. A different set of ANBU proctors than before, the Cat Mask, the Bear Mask, and a new one – a lithe, slender operative with a sharp, elongated Raven mask.
"Welcome, candidates," the Raven Mask spoke, their voice chillingly toneless. "You have navigated the path. You have demonstrated mental fortitude, discipline, and basic combat proficiency against a high-level opponent." Their gaze swept over each masked candidate as they spoke, "The third trial is of a different nature. It is practical. You will be assigned individual missions, varied in scope, difficulty, and objective. Your performance will be judged not only on success but on methodology. Stealth. Discretion. Efficiency. Adaptability."
The Raven Mask stepped forward, holding a handful of small, specialized mission scrolls.
"You will take your assignment. Read it once. Commit it to memory. You will not discuss it. You will not bring it with you. The location is designated by encrypted coordinates. The objective is singular. Completion will be judged upon the returned information and your seamless return to Konoha."
The Cat Mask and Bear Mask began to move among them, handing out the scrolls one by one. Ryuu reached out and took his. It felt smooth, almost cold, against his gloved fingers.
"Your names are now gone," the Raven Mask continued. "For the duration of this trial, you are Unit 001 through Unit 009. There is no camaraderie in the field. There is only the mission. Success and your absolute discretion are paramount. Dispel these scrolls upon memorization. Disappear into the night. We will be watching your every move. We will see how you adapt."
As the Raven Mask finished speaking, the candidates simultaneously unfolded their scrolls, reading rapidly, then dispelling them into smoke as per instructions.
Ryuu's gaze scanned his assignment quickly, absorbing every detail with his accelerated learning capabilities.
Mission Parameters: Unit 003 – Infiltration and Intelligence Gathering
Objective: Infiltrate the Yubana Tea & Gemstone Processing Plant (Primary Contact for Kiri-aligned merchant guilds), located near the 'Dōjutsu Hot Springs' in the Northern Land of Hot Water.
Information Target: Acquire internal logs concerning recent shipments of rare, specific 'Mineral Salts' to a private mercantile contact, identified as 'Azure Scale Merchants'. Verify suspected illicit transactions related to unauthorized Kiri acquisition of raw resources for... unspecified research purposes. Confirm any unusual personnel presence, particularly those displaying atypical chakra signatures or non-standard movement patterns.
Methodology: Zero contact. Zero detection. Infiltration must be flawless.
Elimination: Lethal force forbidden. Subdue and escape if absolutely unavoidable.
Extraction: Return to Konoha via covert means within a week of mission commencement. Report to Designated Intelligence Outpost Lambda.
Ryuu immediately processed the implications. The Land of Hot Water, known for its neutrality and natural geothermal energy, often served as a covert hub for various shinobi and merchant dealings. Yubana was clearly a cover for Kiri's resource gathering. The 'Mineral Salts' and 'unspecified research purposes' immediately triggered alarm bells. He didn't really know what this information meant, but he highly suspected it was drug trafficking.
He was still physically drained, his muscles aching. He couldn't leave immediately at peak efficiency. This mission required precision, not brute force. Rushing now would be reckless.
His hidden proctors, he knew, would be monitoring his initial move. They expected a shinobi to assess their current state, to prioritize recovery before a long-range infiltration.
Ryuu moved, not towards an exit, but to a vacant, shadowed corner of the staging area. He sat down, back against the cool stone, and closed his eyes. He didn't meditate deeply, just enough to bring his rapid heart rate down, to consciously calm his body and innitiate the subtle process of natural recovery. Twenty minutes later, he opened his eyes. Not fully recovered, but significantly better.
He slipped from the training ground and navigated Konoha's deeper, unmonitored passages, the ones typically reserved for ANBU. His movements were fluid, blending with the subtle currents of the night-time city. He didn't choose the nearest exit. He chose the most secure. He followed a winding, dimly lit tunnel that snaked beneath the city, known to only a select few. He used it often to sneak out of Konoha's detection and get the best training outside the village.
He needed to vanish. Not just from human sight, but from chakra detection itself.
He knelt, barely visible in the deeper shadows of the tunnel. He formed a single, precise hand seal, channeling a concentrated surge of his Ice Release chakra.
"Hyōton: Zero," he whispered, the name of another newly developed technique.
The temperature around him plummeted sharply. It didn't freeze the air around him, it suppressed his own biological functions. His heartbeat, already calm, slowed further, becoming a faint, almost imperceptible thrum against his ribs. His breathing became so shallow as to be almost undetectable. His chakra signature, instead of flaring or diminishing, became inert, cold, drawing inward, matching the ambient energy of the surrounding stone, making him practically invisible to sensory perception.
It was a profound state of self-preservation, a near-hibernation for extreme stealth. The cost was a significant slowing of his physical speed, every movement deliberate, almost languid. He moved like a ghost, slower than a normal walk, but utterly without presence.
He had vanished from the watchful eyes of Konoha, his presence erased. The unseen ANBU supervisor, watching from a distant, registered the sudden nullification of Ryuu's signature, a brief flicker of surprise in their masked eyes before their tracking resumed.
The journey to the Land of Hot Water took three and a half days of relentless, covert travel. Ryuu maintained a grueling pace, adapting his strategy as he went. He couldn't use Hyōton: Zero for a long period of time, since it exhausted him and made breathing hard.
Instead, he used the technique in short, critical bursts – crossing major roads, bypassing hidden checkpoints near the Fire Country border, or infiltrating the dense, steaming forests of the Land of Hot Water itself. For general travel, he relied on disciplined stealth and a meticulous use of two Kage Bunshin. These two clones would run ahead, scouting for patrols, ambushes, or hazardous terrain. They'd dispel upon encountering any significant threat or after a set number of hours, relaying their gathered information back to the original Ryuu.
This multi-layered reconnaissance, combined with his own heightened sensory awareness, allowed him to maintain both speed and discretion.
The environment shifted dramatically as he approached the Land of Hot Water. The crisp, pine-scented air of Fire Country gave way to a constant, humid warmth, heavy with the scent of sulfur and minerals from the myriad hot springs. Steam rose perpetually from the ground, creating thick, natural mist banks that swirled through the valleys.
This environment was both a blessing and a curse for an Ice Release user. The abundant moisture provided endless raw material for his techniques, but the pervasive heat made manifestation harder.
He reached the 'Dōjutsu Hot Springs' area on the evening of the third day, establishing a concealed observation post overlooking the Yubana Tea & Gemstone Processing Plant. The air thrummed with the low hum of machinery and the constant gurgle of geysers. The faint, earthy smell of processed minerals mingled with the rich scent of brewing tea.
The plant was made of aging stone and metal, sprawling across a thermal vent. Its exterior security was, as his briefing suggested, surprisingly lax. A scattering of local shinobi, probably hired guns, patrolled idly. Their chakra signatures were undisciplined, broadcasting boredom and fatigue. Basic tripwires, a few motion-sensing seals – nothing Ryuu couldn't handle.
Processing all the sensory data, Ryuu meticulously mapped the entire compound. He needed to find the 'Azure Scale Merchants' transaction logs.
He found the eastern perimeter of the plant guarded by two shinobi, their movements sluggish. One, a man with a heavy gait and a distinct, almost stale tobacco scent, seemed the easiest to mimic. Ryuu observed his patrol route, memorizing every step, every lingering pause.
His heart rate calm, Ryuu circled wide, moving with precision. As the chosen guard rounded a stack of crates, momentarily out of sight from his partner, Ryuu struck. One hand clamped over the man's mouth, the other delivering a precise, chakra-enhanced strike to the back of his neck, right at the vagus nerve. The guard crumpled instantly, unconscious, falling into a pre-positioned hollow of the crates Ryuu had subtly noted earlier.
Swiftly, Ryuu molded chakra for Henge no Jutsu.
He didn't need to weave multiple handseals for it, already perfecting it to only need a single one handed sign. With a puff of smoke, his body rippled, reshaping itself, adopting the broader build, the slightly hunched shoulders, even the subtle scent of stale tobacco that emanated from the original guard.
Of course he had achieved this through actual tobacco rather than the power of his jutsu.
He internalized the guard's weary gait, the way his head lolled almost imperceptibly, mimicking the aura of boredom and fatigue that flowed from the original. He picked up the man's kunai pouch and his lantern. He was a perfect copy, indistinguishable to a casual observer, or even a basic sensor. He did not, however, utter a single word as to not break his guise.
The internal layout of the plant was a sprawling maze of machinery, conveyors laden with tea leaves and crude gemstones, and the pungent smell of industrial chemicals blending with mineral-rich steam. Ryuu moved with practiced casualness through the dimly lit corridors. He passed other local shinobi guards, none of whom gave him a second glance, merely nodding vaguely or grunting.
His senses were stretched, discerning chakra signatures that were previously hidden, thin and frayed. Human. Many.
The 'Azure Scale Merchants' logbooks location was unknown, but he decided to look for the first place where they could be, the plant manager's office. He found the office on the second floor, past a surprisingly modern steel door with a rudimentary chakra-pressure lock. He bypassed it with a fine stream of wind chakra directed precisely at the lock mechanism's sensor.
It clicked open with barely a whisper. He slipped inside.
The office was standard. A desk. A cabinet. He searched thoroughly, not finding anything interesting. He began searching the walls by channeling his chakra into them, noticing something strange. It was a movable section of the wall, where the faint chakra signatures came from.
He dispelled his guard disguise returning to his original appearance, his blank ANBU mask hiding his true feelings.
His nausea, a physical knot in his gut, was immediate. The stench hit him first—the coppery stink of old blood, stagnant human waste, and the sickly sweet, cloying aroma of heavily processed hallucinogenic drugs, far more potent than anything he had ever smelled.
It turned his stomach, almost making vomit.
His advanced senses painted the picture of the chamber below even before he descended. The low whimpers and sporadic coughs. The constant, rhythmic scrape and clatter of primitive machinery. Distorted chakra signatures, many weak and flickering like dying embers, a few strong and malevolent.
He descended silently.
The space was a vast, subterranean cavern, roughly carved into the rock, hot and humid, illuminated by crude lamps. Emaciated figures, their bodies bruised and scarred, their clothing reduced to rags, were chained to workstations, working like automatons. Men and women, of all ages, their eyes dull with starvation and pain.
They operated hand-cranked grinders, stirred bubbling vats of noxious liquid, or sorted through piles of crystalline "mineral salts" that were clearly the raw material for the a drug. Their visages were haunting, skeletal. Some had old, festering wounds, others shivered from an internal sickness.
They were literally worked to death.
Overseeing them were perhaps two dozen figures – guards, taskmasters, shinobi hired for their cruelty and willingness to turn a blind eye. They wore various mercenary garbs, none associated with Kiri, but their presence and distinct lack of any standard moral code marked them as complicit in this hellish operation.
Some were kicking the captives, others wielded short, vicious whips that cracked occasionally against flesh. He even sensed several civilian administrators overseeing production figures. These weren't victims of circumstance, they were willing perpetrators of this monstrous endeavor.
Ryuu's carefully cultivated detachment wavered. His mask remained placid, but his jaw ached.
His blood ran cold. This wasn't what he had expected. Nothing had prepared him for a scene like this.