The sudden abnormality in the Land of Earth would certainly raise the alertness of the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, to the highest level.
"Molten Wasteland and the sudden disappearance of several squads—could this be related to the Four-Tails inside Roshi?"
As Onoki thought of this, his expression darkened.
He had no doubts about Roshi himself—not now, not ever—but when it came to the Four-Tails sealed within him, everything changed.
Except for Konoha and Sunagakure, rampages by tailed beasts were common occurrences among the other hidden villages.
One used the Uzumaki bloodline to suppress its beast, while another kept theirs locked away tightly—these two places naturally had little chance of experiencing uncontrolled rampages.
The Roshi Onoki trusted had never once caused a single casualty during his previous rampages in the Land of Earth.
It was precisely because of this trust that Onoki had allowed him the freedom to move throughout the Land of Earth.
But this suspected rampage of the Four-Tails marked the first time a slight crack had appeared in Onoki's confidence in Roshi.
Team One completed their mission and only returned to the Land of Grass before sunset.
One particular culprit felt quite pleased with himself for successfully shifting the blame to someone nicknamed "the Gorilla."
That very night, he enthusiastically recounted his glorious exploits of the day to Mamba and Gerissen.
"So next, you two will continue operating in the Land of Earth, carrying out strategic maneuvers?" Mamba corrected himself quickly after the slip of the tongue and took a sip of wine to ease his embarrassment.
"Didn't we already create mutual suspicion between the Four-Tails and Iwagakure? Isn't that greatly advantageous to us?" Shen calmly refilled his empty cup.
Gerissen, however, looked somewhat worried. "Surely Iwagakure isn't foolish enough to miss this, right?"
Shen's lips curled slightly, but his confidence remained. "Whether they see through it or not, the gap between both sides has already become irreparable."
He raised his wine glass, his eyes half-lidded and his voice filled with temptation. "Mutual suspicion feeds on itself—it goes both ways. Even if the Tsuchikage himself suspects nothing, can the Four-Tails' jinchuriki really withstand the rumors and cold shoulders?"
Mamba shook his head and downed his cup again.
He was simply a pure ninja—he never had the kind of complicated, convoluted thoughts.
"The worst-case scenario for us would be the jinchuriki defecting from Iwagakure." Pausing, Shen tilted his head back and drank the contents of his cup in one gulp.
"The best-case scenario," he continued, "would be a Four-Tails rampage."
Mamba and Gerissen, shocked, stared at him with widened eyes.
At that moment, both found it hard to believe that the same calm, composed boy in front of them could speak such words—words that didn't remotely sound like something a mere thirteen-year-old would say.
"Don't be so surprised. If I were truly as simple-minded as you assume, there's no way I'd have become one of Konoha's upper ranks."
"Uh, we misjudged you," they both said in unison.
Both were deeply shaken by Shen's eerily mind-reading manner of communication—more deeply than ever before.
"Well then, let's end tonight's shocks here. I need to rest well because tomorrow I have to find a good spot in the Land of Earth." After speaking, Shen placed two unopened bottles of premium wine on the table.
Then, turning around, he exited the general commander's tent.
Mamba and Gerissen looked at each other first, then finally turned their eyes toward the two wine bottles on the table.
A moment later, both reached out simultaneously, grabbed the wine bottles, popped the seals, and poured the liquid straight into their mouths.
The following afternoon, Team One once again entered the Land of Earth.
Today's mission was different from yesterday's—no simple arson and escape.
This time, they were going full ninja—slipping in undetected and ambushing Rock-nin as they went.
"Target area secured," reported Nayou from the cliffside, updating the two below on the enemy's exact position.
With a mental map simulated in his mind, Shen declared, "Mission starts now," before speeding toward the hilly terrain ahead.
Nawaki, wearing a slightly unhappy expression, crouched halfway down and began gathering energy.
Several seconds later, he transformed into a brown, humanoid meteor, flying toward a cave at the foot of another mountain peak.
Four-Tails couldn't keep causing massive destruction for several days straight.
Therefore, it was crucial to interfere with the enemy's vision and lure most of the Rock-nin to one location.
Shen, wearing a black hood, quietly approached four or five Rock-nin who were on high alert.
In his opinion, Ninja were like assassins—if you killed all visible enemies, it was a perfect infiltration.
"We should still proceed with caution," Shen muttered. He had never achieved a flawless stealth record during his previous missions, and today, he would finally fulfill that unmet goal.
"One Sensor-type ninja… quite decent protection, huh?"
After roughly figuring out where the enemy's attention was focused, Shen pulled out a long, sharp arrow from his pendant.
He loaded it into his Sleeve Dart, aimed carefully for a moment, then tugged the trigger.
"Thud!" The chakra-conducting-blocking arrow struck the Sensor-type Rock-nin directly in the forehead.
Even in death, its face remained in a state of high alert.
The body slowly tilted back, lost its balance, but hit the ground with barely a sound—no one else even noticed.
Just before the body hit the ground, a small pair of hands gently caught it.
"It's time to show them what I'm really made of!" Hidden underground, Shen carefully placed the corpse and quickly pulled out a Kunai also capable of blocking chakra conduction.
A Kumogakure shinobi was about to turn back to check on his Sensor teammate when he caught sight of a strange black object through the corner of his eye.
Before he could shout, he found himself unable to make a single sound despite trying to open his mouth.
His eyes dropped—a pitch-black Kunai was buried in his throat.
Looking further down, he spotted two small hands tightly gripping both his feet.
In less than three seconds, Shen had eliminated the second target.
He silently pulled the body underground and turned his gaze toward the third shinobi, who was about to move.
Steps muffled, every sound minimized, Shen dashed forward and appeared right behind him.
His right hand swiftly covered the opponent's mouth, while his left wrist extended a silent, pitch-black Kunai.
As smoothly as a hot knife through butter, he carved a horizontal line across the enemy's throat before vanishing instantly.
Midway through the falling body's descent, Shen reappeared behind the fourth Rock-nin.
Instead of slicing the throat again, he simply stabbed his Chakra Channeling Blade straight into the enemy's back before letting go and jumping toward the final target.
A pitch-black Kunai extended from his left wrist, reflecting absolutely no light.
The Kumogakure shinobi with his head tilted suddenly sensed a faint breeze from behind. He might well be the jonin leading this squad—perhaps even its official Squad Leader.
Unfortunately for him, he encountered Shen, who possessed the Sharingan.
That pitch-black short blade pierced directly through his neck.
With a "plop," the body of the recently throat-slashed Kumogakure shinobi thudded to the ground.
Yet at this moment, such minor noise was no big deal.
For Shen, true infiltration meant wiping out enemies before they even became aware of his presence.
Using berserker tactics on enemy territory would only attract more enemies.
Though confident in his mastery of ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu, Shen knew that life was a one-shot game.
If he recklessly got himself killed, was there really any chance of being reborn again?
Shen, who was far away from Konoha at the moment, made it very clear that he had no intention of being revived through Kabuto's [Impure World Reincarnation].
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