Note: Snake Squad = Hebi Squad from now
The reason Ye Zi hadn't assigned Kotoe a mission was simple, but he couldn't say it out loud.
Kotoe was an Edo Tensei body, and her vessel wasn't even a clone made from Hashirama's cells. Her strength was less than half of what it had been at her peak, and she couldn't even defeat some of the stronger members of Hebi Squad.
"Why didn't you give me a mission? I can't die in my current state, so I could be of greater use," Kotoe protested, following closely behind Ye Zi, clearly displeased.
Ye Zi suddenly stopped in the passageway, prompting Kotoe to halt as well.
"This mission is meant to test Hebi Squad's combat capabilities. You'll stay at the base and wait for updates," Ye Zi said without turning back.
Kotoe refused to back down. "Even if that's the case, can't I at least come along?"
"No. Don't follow me. Stay here," Ye Zi rejected her outright without offering any further explanation. Then, he turned and walked toward the base's exit.
His tone was firm and left no room for argument. Kotoe was momentarily stunned, watching his departing figure. She couldn't bring herself to step forward and follow him anymore.
Only when Ye Zi disappeared around the corner of the passageway did she withdraw her gaze. Her expression became slightly complex. She sensed that something had changed about Ye Zi, but she couldn't quite put it into words.
.....
Outside the Base
The squads had assembled.
Ye Zi looked at the seven teams that had been formed. Raising his arm, he brought his index and middle fingers together and made a swift slicing motion to the right. His voice was steady and commanding:
"Scatter."
Sixty-eight Hebi Squad members vanished in silence, dispersing in different directions.
Only Shin and Karin remained at the exit with Ye Zi.
"You two should go as well," Ye Zi said, glancing at Karin, who still seemed somewhat unaccustomed to the situation. Then, addressing Shin, he added, "Protect her."
Karin's eyes flickered, a faint light glinting within them.
Shin remained composed. "Understood. Let's go, Karin."
With that, he moved toward the rocky cliffs.
Karin hesitated for a brief moment, glancing at Ye Zi's emotionless face before hurrying after Shin.
At the cliffside, Shin leaped onto a protruding rock and continued ascending with a few agile jumps. He intentionally slowed his pace to match Karin's speed.
Karin's small frame flitted through the air like a bird, though her movements were slightly clumsy. Still, she managed to climb up the rock face.
Ye Zi watched as everyone disappeared beyond the reach of his sensory perception.
Every single one of them was a ninja. They might not have experienced real combat before, but their mindset and beliefs were already deeply ingrained.
Without a doubt, this would be a standard battle between shinobi. The intelligence operatives they were hunting weren't weak. On the contrary, they were highly skilled in combat tactics.
Deception, ambushes, poison. These were techniques they had mastered. Their specialty wasn't direct confrontation but assassination after gathering intelligence.
But this time, instead of preying on unsuspecting targets, these intelligence agents had become the hunted.
Ye Zi looked forward to the results. He also anticipated the detailed battle reports each squad leader would compile afterward.
He hoped that the mission would be completed without any casualties. Though he had confidence in Hebi Squad's strength, battle always carried risks.
Hiss...
A clone embedded with the Byakugan emerged from the ground beside Ye Zi, revealing only its upper body.
"Let's go," Ye Zi murmured, glancing at the surrounding waterfalls before his body sank into the earth and vanished.
The Byakugan clone followed suit, disappearing into the ground without a word.
.....
The Land of Waterfalls
The country was famous for its numerous waterfalls, but it also had mountains, plains, and forests, though these were relatively small in scale. The only area that could truly be called a forest was Aoki Forest, but trees were scattered throughout other regions, forming various wooded areas.
One such grove lay along the path the squads had to take after leaving the base.
When Takigakure had still been active, this forested area had been a key point of surveillance.
In the Tranquil Forest, a palm-sized toad hopped along the ground, eventually landing on a moss-covered rock. Its gaze remained fixed in a particular direction.
Swish, swish, swish!
Figures flickered through the sparse forest, moving swiftly and skillfully.
The toad appeared completely ordinary, no different from any common toad found in nature. Its presence didn't attract the slightest attention.
These figures were members of Hebi Squad.
Most of them had to pass through this wooded area before they could split up into their respective squads.
The toad's eyes followed the movements of the shinobi as they leaped through the trees, but no one noticed its gaze.
Once all of Hebi Squad had passed through, the toad remained perched on the rock.
If anyone had paid close attention, they would have realized that something was off about it.
It looked like an ordinary toad, with nothing unusual about its eyes or body.
But inside, it was far from ordinary.
Jiraiya, one of the Three Legendary Sannin of Konoha, was hidden within this seemingly ordinary toad, sharing its vision and hearing.
This was his Toad Stealth Jutsu, a technique specifically designed for gathering intelligence. By hiding inside the toad, he could completely suppress his chakra and presence, making him undetectable.
"No forehead protectors… Those are Sharingan, aren't they? Every single one of them has it, and they're all three-tomoe."
The scene Jiraiya witnessed through the toad's vision left him utterly shocked.
In an instant, he recalled the attack on Konoha led by Ye Zi a year ago.
After the battle, the Uchiha Clan had gathered the bodies of their fallen, but the Sharingan were all missing.
That connection made Jiraiya's heart skip a beat.
After being transplanted, the Sharingan normally remained active unless the user had exceptional compatibility, like Ye Zi, whose high concentration of Hashirama's cells allowed him to freely manipulate its form.
Apart from him, Shin, due to his unique physique, could also activate and deactivate his Sharingan at will. However, the members of Hebi Squad lacked this ability. Once transplanted, their Sharingan remained permanently active.
Thanks to the influence of Hashirama's cells, their chakra wasn't excessively drained despite their eyes always being open.
Jiraiya's mind reeled at the sight of so many Sharingan users in Hebi Squad, unable to suppress his shock.
His presence here was, in fact, a stroke of luck.
Initially, his target had been the Land of Rain, where he had been searching for any traces of Ye Zi. But no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find a single clue about Ye Zi's whereabouts. Orochimaru was also nowhere to be found.
It was as if both of them had vanished from the ninja world, something that struck Jiraiya as deeply suspicious.
Then, one day, he noticed something unusual.
A lone individual, a woman, had been purchasing ninja tools in bulk across the Land of Fire.
She worked alone and operated with extreme discretion, using Transformation Jutsu, disguises, and splitting her purchases into multiple transactions. But it was precisely this excessive secrecy that caught Jiraiya's attention.
Having nothing better to do, Jiraiya decided to tail this woman. That decision led him all the way to the Land of Waterfalls.
At first, he suspected that Takigakure was behind these purchases, amassing ninja tools in preparation for some major operation.
Since he had already found his way here, he wasn't going to waste the opportunity. Even though Takigakure and Konoha rarely had any dealings with one another, the fact that a village that typically avoided war was stockpiling weapons piqued his curiosity.
When it came to gathering intelligence, Jiraiya was always cautious.
He didn't follow the woman too closely or attempt to capture her immediately. Instead, he employed a wait-and-see approach, preferring to observe from a distance before making his move.
And it was during this patient observation that he noticed something strange.
Despite spending an extended period watching Takigakure, he never saw a single shinobi from the village.
Even if Takigakure rarely got involved in conflicts, it was inconceivable that not one of its ninja had been seen traveling in or out of the village.
Jiraiya exercised patience, resisting the urge to act impulsively.
And today, when he saw Hebi Squad, every single one of them with transplanted Sharingan, a chilling realization crept over him.
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