Dawn in the Land of Earth was a bleak, cold gray. Kenji had been awake for an hour, meditating in an unmoving posture to try and gather every last scrap of chakra. His body still ached, but his mind was sharp again. He was no longer a Jounin at the peak of his power, but he was still a shinobi. And a shinobi always finds a way to survive.
Hana was awake. Her fever had subsided somewhat thanks to the Mystical Palm Technique, but she was still very weak. Sadao had used the rest of his torn coat to tie the secret scrolls securely to Kenji's body, hiding them under his cloak. "So that Sir Ninja can have his hands free," he explained simply.
"Listen," Kenji said to the pair, his serious tone permitting no argument. "Today's journey will be long and difficult. We must remain absolutely silent. Follow my footsteps exactly. When I signal you to stop, you must immediately find cover and make no noise, no matter what happens. Is that clear?"
Sadao nodded gravely. Hana, despite her young age, seemed to understand the urgency in Kenji's words; she nodded and clung tightly to her grandfather's hand.
The journey began. Kenji led the way, moving slowly but surely, his eyes constantly scanning his surroundings. He wasn't just looking; he was listening, smelling, and feeling. He sensed the shifts in the wind, the unusual crunch of gravel, the smell of damp earth where there should be no water. He taught Sadao how to use the terrain to hide his form and showed Hana how to place her feet on rocks to minimize sound.
They were like an unlikely family on the run. The cold shinobi, the weathered old man, and the innocent child. Several times, when Hana was too tired to go on, Kenji didn't hesitate to carry her on his back, right next to the secret scrolls that would decide the fate of the war. The girl's weight was negligible, but the responsibility he felt was as heavy as a mountain.
At noon, while hiding behind a rock formation to avoid a distant Stone Village patrol, Hana asked softly, her voice a whisper, "Mister Ninja... why is everyone fighting?"
Kenji was silent for a moment. A child's simple question was the most difficult one of all. He looked into her clear eyes, which held no hatred, only confusion.
"Because," Kenji finally said, his voice low, "each side believes they are doing the right thing to protect the ones they love. Sometimes... that belief causes them to hurt others."
It was the best answer he could give. Sadao looked at him with a grateful expression.
As dusk began to fall, they reached the foot of the mountain. And there, looming through the clouds and barren trees, was the curved roof of an old temple. It stood in silent contemplation, seemingly unaffected by the war ravaging the land below.
"Stay here," Kenji ordered, after finding a safe hiding spot for them. "I'll go inside and check."
He moved, as swift and silent as a ghost. The temple seemed quiet. Too quiet. His instincts told him something was wrong. The main door was rotten, leaving a small opening. Kenji didn't use that entrance. He circled around to the back, scaled a wall, and slipped in through a window in the attic.
Inside, dust motes danced in the last rays of sunlight. Everything was covered in a thick layer, proof it had been abandoned for a long time. But there were signs of recent life. The remains of a dead fire in a corner. Footprints in the dust, not from one person, but two or three. And a discarded Stone Village ration-pill container.
Kenji drew his kunai, cautiously advancing into the main hall. The place had been ransacked. Several wooden crates were pried open, their contents scattered. Sadao was right; this was a temporary supply cache. Kenji found what he needed: a small medical kit containing fever-reducing medicine and several rolls of bandages.
He reached out to take it, then froze. A familiar sense of danger. He glanced down at the floor. A thin, nearly invisible tripwire was tied to the medical kit, connected to some mechanism in the ceiling. A simple but deadly trap.
Kenji didn't touch the kit. He took a step back and used a thrown kunai to sever the tripwire from a distance.
CRASH!
A huge iron net fell from the ceiling right where he had been standing, accompanied by dozens of kunai that embedded themselves deep into the wooden floor. If he had been a second faster, he would have been skewered like a hedgehog.
They had left, but they'd left a "gift" for anyone who came after.
After making sure there were no other traps, Kenji approached. He picked up the medical kit. But underneath it, there was something else. A folded piece of paper, not like the paper from the Stone Village. He opened it. It was a hand-drawn map of the area, in the style of the Hidden Leaf.
And on the map, there was a line of text written hastily in a code that only Leaf Jounin could understand. Kenji read it, and his heart felt like it stopped.
The message read: "Iwa patrol east. Ambushed. Lost supplies. Heading to rendezvous 'Sparrow'. Be careful. There is a traitor."
Kenji gripped the paper in his hand. The chill that ran down his spine was more terrifying than his confrontation with Ganseki.
There was a comrade out there, also being hunted. But the worst part wasn't the Hidden Stone enemy.
It was a traitor from the Hidden Leaf itself.
His mission home had now become something else entirely. He was in the middle of a much more dangerous conspiracy, and he didn't know who he could trust.