"We're going out on a mission."
The next day, Renya brought Shimura Danzō and Utatane Koharu to the Hokage's office to report to Senju Tobirama that they were going out on a mission.
Ever since he snuck out of the village last time, that old man had made Renya promise that whenever he left the village he must first report to him.
Renya could only report to Senju Tobirama at the office before accepting any mission.
"You three plan to go on the mission together?" Senju Tobirama looked at the three with mild surprise.
They hadn't run missions together for a long time; usually each of them fought alone and they rarely teamed up. Their own strength was more than enough to complete missions; they didn't need the mutual support they once relied on.
"Yes." Renya nodded in agreement.
He worried that if Danzō and Koharu went on the mission alone, Uchiha Madara might brutally kill them and then frame others, all to force him to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan...
Although he wasn't sure whether Madara would actually do that, he wouldn't bet on it.
If he lost that bet, his two teammates would be gone.
Renya clearly understood why Uchiha Obito had opened his eyes. He didn't want to experience the pain of eye awakening before Obito did.
And if Danzō and Koharu's deaths didn't trigger his eyes, who knew what other contingencies Madara might have prepared?
To prevent those worries from coming true, Renya had to do his best to protect his teammates' safety.
At least, as long as the two were alive, Madara wouldn't go harming others.
"Be careful on the road." Senju Tobirama saw Danzō and Koharu with them and didn't press further.
With the three of them teamed up, the chance of encountering danger was greatly reduced; there was no need to worry about their lives.
They left the Hokage's office and headed toward the mission gathering hall.
"Renya-kun, what rank mission are we taking?" Utatane Koharu couldn't help asking.
When she usually went on missions alone, she chose B- or A-rank tasks for safety and avoided anything too difficult.
"Hmph, of course we're taking an S-rank mission." Shimura Danzō said coldly.
If they're going to team up, they might as well take a high-difficulty mission. If word got out that they teamed up for an A-rank mission, where would their dignity be?!
"Danzō's right. We'll take an S-rank mission." Renya agreed.
He had originally thought of taking an A-rank mission with them, but ultimately dismissed the idea. Three jonin teaming up for an A-rank mission would definitely raise suspicions.
If Madara learned about it—he would be tipped off.
Then Madara might change targets and go after other people. Renya didn't want that to happen. Better to let Madara focus on Danzō and Koharu; as long as they were on a mission together they could look after one another and probably avoid major problems.
Besides, since Madara wanted to recruit him, he wouldn't kill Danzō and Koharu right in front of Renya—that would be counterproductive.
From what Renya knew of Madara, the other would likely use a "kill by proxy" strategy—the same trick he used to deceive Uchiha Obito into joining his cause. If Renya prepared in advance, Madara's plan would be hard to carry out.
...
Shimura Danzō was pleased to see Renya agree with his suggestion and nodded in satisfaction. Only those who dared to take risks and fight would be deserving of becoming Hokage!
Utatane Koharu, seeing both of them make up their minds, had no reason to refuse.
At the mission gathering hall, Renya accepted an S-rank pursuit mission—
[An elite jonin of Sunagakure has defected and fled to the border of the Land of Fire. He knows many of Sunagakure's secrets and is powerful—he once single-handedly defeated numerous ninja squads. To avoid causing a dispute between the two countries, Sunagakure requests Konoha's assistance in the pursuit...]
The three of them left the village and headed toward the Land of Fire's border.
They didn't notice that, along the way, a black cat was perched every so often on the treetops, closely watching their every move.
Because none of the three were sensory nin, they didn't detect this at all.
In a shabby wooden hut somewhere in the ninja world.
"Madara, what's wrong?"
Senju Hashirama found his friend staring into space and asked with worry.
His only current concern was that Madara might try to persuade Renya to join the "Moon's Eye" plan.
"Nothing." Uchiha Madara shook his head.
Renya taking teammates with him on a mission showed some caution. But that little cleverness meant nothing in front of Madara.
And how could Renya be sure Madara would only act against his two teammates? There were other people who could give Renya the chance to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan besides those two.
It was just that Hashirama had been beside him, which made Madara put off acting for the moment.
Of course, Madara also had other reasons not to be in a hurry...
If he were desperate to recruit Renya, he wouldn't care about Hashirama's objections. After all, Hashirama couldn't truly stop him from executing his plan!
...
Land of Fire border.
Renya and the others arrived at the last known location where the Sunagakure rogue ninja had been seen.
"Renya-kun, we need to capture the target alive." Utatane Koharu looked at the intel in her hand and frowned.
This kind of mission was indeed difficult—that's why it was S-rank. Everyone knew that capturing an enemy alive was harder than killing them. Especially when the enemy was an elite jonin from Sunagakure.
They would need power far beyond the opponent's to take him alive. Otherwise they might get killed during the capture...
"Capture alive?" Renya curled his lip in disdain. "I can tell you right now this mission will fail."
Always cautious, he had no intention of capturing the target alive; he wouldn't risk even a sliver of danger to do so—especially with Madara watching from the shadows. If it came down to it, they'd just mark the mission as failed.
Danzō's eyes brightened at Renya's words, as if he understood Renya's intent—
Completing the mission was a pretense; obtaining the intel was the real goal!
If they could find the rogue before Sunagakure's team did, they could kill him and bring back the corpse to the village. The Yamanaka clan could extract information from the body...
Then the village would learn Sunagakure's secrets!
Sunagakure had made a fatal mistake by inviting other countries to join in capturing the rogue. Heh heh—as expected of Renya! If not for Renya's hint, Danzō himself wouldn't have thought of this layer of planning.
Renya had no idea how much Danzō had thought through in such a short time; he simply didn't want to take any risk.
At that moment, an explosive tag detonated in the distance.
The three of them glanced at one another, then rushed toward the direction of the sound.
No need to guess: the Sunagakure squad had encountered the rogue.
"Damn it, we can't let them succeed!"
Danzō clenched his fist and quickened his pace, already bounding to the front in the blink of an eye.
Renya: "???"