"Your ability makes you uniquely suited for this mission."
Orochimaru's voice was smooth, almost indulgent, as his golden eyes fixed on Lock. "You excel at concealment. So long as you avoid the gaze of a sensory ninja, not even Kumogakure's hounds will sniff you out. With others, you would only be slowed. Alone, you are the blade in the dark."
His thin smile made it clear he didn't care for the reluctance on Lock's face.
"Why?" Orochimaru asked, tilting his head. "Do you object?"
Lock stiffened. The answer was obvious. Against Jiraiya, he might grumble or resist, but Orochimaru was a serpent who coiled tight around any weakness. One wrong word could mean his end.
"No, Lord Orochimaru," Lock said quickly. "I'll carry out the mission exactly as ordered."
Orochimaru's smile curved wider. "Good. In fact, I requested you specifically. Others in Konoha can manage this kind of work—the Moonlight clan, for instance. But I believe you are superior to them."
Lock swallowed, biting back the urge to curse. Great. He just had to 'like me' this much, didn't he?
"Where do I even begin?" Lock asked instead. He had only arrived at the border days ago. He knew nothing about the terrain, let alone Kumogakure's hidden forces.
"You'll be briefed," Orochimaru replied, waving a pale hand. "For now, prepare yourself. This is not a task for the careless."
For the next two days, Lock remained close to Orochimaru, absorbing everything he could about the border conflict.
Konoha had long maintained troops along its frontiers. Surrounded by rival nations, each station was commanded by at least a jōnin. Yet half a year ago, one such border team had vanished. The squad sent to investigate them vanished as well.
When at last traces were found, the truth was grim: they had been ambushed, wiped out by shinobi from Kumogakure.
The loss of even one jōnin was severe—Konoha's jōnin were rare, one in a hundred among their ranks. The Third Hokage could not ignore such a blow. Soon, elite reinforcements were dispatched. The enemy was confirmed: Yunyin operatives moving in numbers across the frontier.
It had been nearly ten years since the Second Great Ninja War ended. Hiruzen Sarutobi, seasoned by countless battles, recognized the signs. Kumogakure was testing the Fire Country. Probing, waiting for weakness. Their purpose was unknown, but their intent was unmistakable.
So Konoha's response had been sharp. Orochimaru himself was sent to command the border. In the months since, skirmishes broke out often. Sometimes Yunyin struck openly; more often, they favored ambush and assassination. Even Orochimaru could not always anticipate them.
And though Konoha had the advantages of terrain, the balance of power teetered. For every strike, Yunyin answered in kind.
Jiraiya might have endured such a stalemate. But Orochimaru's pride was different—coiled and venomous. To sit passively behind walls was intolerable. Several times, he had attempted counterstrikes, only to meet well-prepared resistance. Each failure made his desire to strike back burn hotter.
And so he had requested specialists from the Hokage. Nara, Yamanaka, Hyūga, Aburame… and Lock.
Two nights later, Lock slipped out of the border camp under the cover of darkness. Alone, he crossed the river that marked the edge of Fire Country and entered the Land of Hot Water.
Orochimaru had confirmed that Kumogakure forces were massing there, but the details remained shadows: how many, where, and who commanded them. Lock was to uncover all of it.
Some assignment for an eleven-year-old chūnin, Lock thought grimly. One stealth trick, and suddenly I'm tossed behind enemy lines like a sacrificial pawn.
Still, Orochimaru had not sent him empty-handed. As part of his "support," he had handed Lock a scroll—an agreement with the snakes of Ryūchi Cave. Through it, Lock could summon lesser serpents to carry messages back to camp.
The weight of the scroll was heavy at his side. Ryūchi Cave… one of the Three Great Sage Lands, Lock mused. Jiraiya never even put me on the Mount Myōboku contract, and here I am with snakes in my pocket.
Not that he could summon anything formidable yet—only small messengers and scouts. But even that was more than he had expected.
The Land of Hot Water sprawled wide, and though not a great power, it was far from empty. Its forests, valleys, and steaming rivers offered countless places for shinobi to hide.
Lock stripped away the signs of his allegiance—forehead protector, vest, all tucked away. Dressed as an ordinary traveler, he activated his concealment technique and melted into the wilderness.
He didn't wander. Orochimaru had marked several areas of suspicion: remote villages with unusual traffic, trade routes where rumors of strangers lingered, stretches of forest where patrols had vanished. Those would be his starting points.
Konoha had caught a few Yunyin operatives earlier—nothing higher than a chūnin. But they had been tight-lipped, every one of them. Even under interrogation, no useful intelligence surfaced.
The Yamanaka assigned to their team had tried memory extraction, but his skill wasn't advanced enough. What little was gleaned hinted at larger forces deeper in the Land of Hot Water.
And so the task fell to Lock: to walk alone into enemy shadows, unseen and unheard, until truth revealed itself.
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