Two Konoha Anbu battalions entered the Land of Waves, and within two months, their supplies were completely depleted.
Without military ration pills, foraging for food became difficult and increased the risk of exposure.
Without ninja tools, many Anbu operatives had to scavenge the battlefields, making them vulnerable to traps the enemy had rigged on abandoned tool pouches.
The Uzumaki ninjas had no such worries. Uzushiogakure had always protected the nobles of the Land of Whirlpools and could easily requisition supplies from them.
To properly pressure the enemy, they needed to cut off those supply lines. They had to make the nobles realize that aiding the Uzumaki ninjas was a dangerous, fatal mistake.
The noble mayor Yako was tasked with assassinating was the most steadfast supporter of Uzushiogakure in the area.
Yako didn't tell Matsudori where they were going or what they were going to do.
Anbu operatives only needed to execute orders; they didn't need to think.
With a simple change in role, Yako had become just another exploiter who disregarded the lives of his subordinates.
The two of them advanced toward the target town. They weren't focused on completing the mission quickly, only on avoiding rash moves and a tragic death."Matsudori, how old are you?"
"Captain Fox, I'm twelve years old."
He had just graduated and was lucky enough to become a Chunin only because the village had recently lowered the requirements.
Unsure of what else to say to his subordinate, Yako asked, "What is your dream?"
"My dream?" Matsudori said. "My dream is to be just like Lord White Fang—to build an impressive mission record in the Anbu and become the strongest ninja!"
Konoha's White Fang was an Anbu legend. He had constantly grown stronger through battle, honing his sword skills until he became a Kage-level ninja.
There were three paths for a Konoha ninja to learn ninjutsu.
The first was through family inheritance. Top-tier ninjutsu and secret techniques were like infectious diseases, transmitted only through birth, blood, and bodily fluids.
White Fang himself relied on a family-inherited sword art.
The second path was to earn the trust of an instructor or captain and have them pass down their jutsu. Finding a mentor with a compatible temperament was incredibly difficult and rare.
The third path was to join the Anbu and perform meritorious deeds for the village.
This route required luck—the luck to simply stay alive.
It was also the fairest path and formed one of the core foundations of an Anbu ninja's loyalty.
"Good luck, Matsudori. Sooner or later, you'll become a ninja like Lord White Fang," Yako said.
Arriving at the outskirts of the town, Yako carefully observed it from a distance through a telescope.
The settlement held about a thousand households and was surrounded by a wooden wall. Arrow towers stood every few dozen meters along the wall, manned by samurai trained by the mayor.
Ordinary samurai trained their bodies daily. Wielding longswords, they were capable enough that even a Genin would need a few moves to take one down.
The more advanced samurai could refine chakra to enhance their taijutsu, putting them on par with a typical Genin.
Anything beyond that level could only be trained by the Land of Iron.
These local samurai were paid a pittance, making them incredibly cheap muscle.
Yako and Matsudori found a blind spot in the guards' vision. Slipping past the patrols, they vaulted over the wall and entered the town.
The town was divided into an inner and outer ward.
The inner ward was where the noble mayor lived and handled official business.
A bustling nightlife was a luxury reserved for major cities like Kyoto. For defensive purposes, small towns enforced strict curfews.
The streets were entirely deserted, with everyone huddled away in their homes.
Ordinary people could just as easily be killed by rogue ninjas as they could by those from the hidden villages. The commoners rallied around the nobles, praying that their rulers and hired ninjas would bring them peace.
Yako and Matsudori successfully slipped toward the inner ward.
"Careful!"
A squad of samurai appeared from the flank. Yako immediately ducked into an alley.
Matsudori quickly followed.
A few trash cans lined the alleyway, and the two of them crouched out of sight behind separate ones.
Once the patrol had passed, Yako whispered, "Matsudori, be extremely careful from here on out. Look for weaknesses in their defenses and scale the inner wall."
Just like the outer perimeter, the inner ward was guarded by arrow towers and samurai.
After vaulting over the inner wall, they dropped flat to the ground and pressed themselves against the base of a nearby building, inching along the shadows.
Over ten minutes later, they finally reached the most brightly lit area.
The mayor's study lay just ahead.
Two silhouettes were cast against the study window, though it was impossible to tell which of them was the mayor.
Suddenly, the window burst open as someone dashed out.
It was an Uzumaki ninja!
The mayor was standing by the window. He had noticed the Uzumaki ninja abruptly stop speaking before smashing through the window to rush toward the corner of a nearby building.
Two more Uzumaki ninjas emerged from other locations, followed closely by a group of samurai sprinting over after hearing the commotion.
The whistling of kunai tearing through the air and the clanking of samurai armor made Matsudori incredibly tense.
Seeing his captain signal a retreat, he hastily ran toward the exit.
To think there was an entire Uzumaki squad stationed here!
Kunai thudded heavily into the surrounding wooden walls.
Unable to dodge in time, Matsudori took a kunai to the shoulder.
Another kunai pierced his foot.
He was just about to cry out to his captain for help when he saw Captain Fox take a hit and disperse into a puff of white smoke.
'What?'
'A shadow clone?'
'Since when?'
Matsudori suddenly remembered that while they were infiltrating the inner ward, the captain had vanished for a split second before hiding behind a different trash can.
He let out a miserable laugh, recalling the key points his instructor at the ninja academy had taught them about the Substitution Jutsu.
The Substitution Jutsu involved replacing oneself with a log disguised as the caster, hiding in the shadows, and waiting for the enemy to attack the decoy before launching a counter-ambush.
The key to the technique was finding or creating a moment where the enemy lost sight of you.
The Shadow Clone Technique could be considered an advanced form of substitution.
All of Captain Fox's wicked tactics meant for the enemy had been used entirely on him instead.
His life was no different from a shadow clone—just a tool used to deceive the enemy.
Matsudori looked toward the noble.
He had already guessed their mission was likely to assassinate the town's ruler.
Sure enough, through the window, he saw that Captain Fox had somehow bypassed the guards, slipping right behind the noble with a raised kunai.
To think Captain Fox possessed such brilliant infiltration skills.
The Uzumaki ninjas and samurai had all focused their attention squarely on Matsudori. The captain's timing was truly impeccable.
He and the noble mayor were going to die in the exact same second.
When he was first recruited into the Anbu, Matsudori had assumed the higher-ups recognized some special talent in him. He had thought he was destined for greatness.
After just a few months in the unit, he realized he was nothing more than a tool.
Just that morning, his captain had wished him luck, hoping he'd achieve his dream of becoming a ninja like White Fang.
Now, he was about to die a tragic death, purely by his captain's design, all for the sake of the mission.
'Is this the Anbu?'
An Uzumaki ninja walked over to Matsudori's corpse, leaning down to slice open his mask with a kunai.
Beneath the mask was a young face.
His features were twisted with a vicious resentment, though it was impossible to tell what he was cursing in his final moments.
The only order Yako had given Matsudori was to infiltrate the inner ward. He hadn't told the boy what they were doing, meaning Matsudori died knowing absolutely zero secrets.
Even if Uzushiogakure took the corpse back, they wouldn't be able to glean any useful intel from him.
"No! The mayor is dead!"
Hearing the samurai's shout, the Uzumaki ninja whipped his head around in horror. He saw the mayor slumped over the windowsill, a kunai buried deep into the back of his neck.
"Damn it!"
The Uzumaki ninja cursed. All the support they had just finished negotiating had vanished into thin air.