The next day.
Outside Konoha Village.
A three-man squad waited at the village gates for their final member to arrive.
The team consisted of a chūnin squad leader and two genin.
“Dammit, this new guy is actually late.
Does he really think we’re beneath him?”
“I heard the new member of our team is the son of that traitor, Yagami Ichirō?”
“I heard that too.
Sigh…
I wonder what Lord Nara Shikaku was thinking.
The battlefield is dangerous.
We’re entrusting our lives to our teammates, so how can we allow the son of a traitor to join our squad and expect us to entrust our lives to him?”
“Exactly.
Who knows whether he’ll betray Konoha just like his father and get us killed?”
The squad leader, Kyōjirō, stopped them.
“Don’t say things like that where others can hear.
The village obviously has its reasons for doing this.
Yagami Yue is still a shinobi of Konoha, after all.
We should be more tolerant.”
“Captain, you’re way too kind.”
“Yeah.
The son of a traitor should be sent straight onto the battlefield as cannon fodder.”
“Enough.
We’re Konoha.
We must unite everyone we can!”
Kyōjirō maintained a stern expression on the surface.
But in his heart, he had already sentenced Yagami Yue to death.
He had been given a secret mission personally authorized by Elder Danzō:
Find an opportunity to kill Yagami Yue in secret and eliminate the threat before it could grow.
On the surface, Konoha absolutely had to maintain its image as a force of righteousness and unite everyone it could as it prepared to face the Third Shinobi World War.
Someone like Yagami Yue, whose father was a traitor and who had a high possibility of eventually turning against the village, had to be eliminated in secret.
No one could be allowed to discover the truth.
Just as the three were discussing this—
A young genin approached the gates of Konoha.
A sword hung at his waist.
His expression was cold and indifferent.
He looked like a block of ice, as though everyone around him owed him money.
“He’s here.”
The three of them immediately fell silent.
Yagami Yue walked directly up to the squad.
Without the slightest change in expression, he said,
“My name is Yagami Yue.”
Then he stopped talking.
Squad Leader Kyōjirō gave him a “kind” smile.
“Good.
Since you’re here, let’s get going.”
…
Land of Fire–Land of Wind Border
A watchtower-like outpost stood near the border.
The outpost had been hastily established a month earlier after war broke out between Konoha and Sunagakure.
Its assigned personnel consisted of:
1 jōnin, 5 chūnin, and 15 genin.
For three consecutive days, Yagami Yue had been ostracized by everyone.
Every day, he was sent out to gather intelligence.
Fortunately, he hadn’t encountered any Sunagakure shinobi.
On the fourth day—
Squad Leader Kyōjirō came to the basement.
His expression was solemn as he approached Yagami Yue.
“Yagami Yue, come with me.
We’ve discovered traces of Sunagakure shinobi near the front lines.
We’re going to investigate.”
“Yes.”
The two quickly gathered their equipment and departed.
“Captain, where are the other two members of the squad?
Why aren’t they coming with us?”
Yagami Yue sensed that something was wrong.
Normally, missions were carried out by squads.
A typical configuration consisted of one chūnin and three genin, providing greater combat strength.
“They had other urgent business and have already gone out with another squad leader.
Don’t ask questions.
Just follow orders.”
Kyōjirō’s expression was cold and emotionless.
“Is that so?”
Yagami Yue didn’t know why, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that danger was approaching.
Perhaps it was because he had inherited Zoro’s character template, but he seemed to have developed an almost beast-like intuition.
He quietly fell a little farther behind Kyōjirō, his hand resting on the hilt of Yukimi.
A faint killing intent began to emerge.
There was another question bothering him.
If this really was a trap, then who had given this chūnin the order?
The Third Hokage?
Or Danzō?
Yagami Yue felt that the Third Hokage was more likely.
Danzō was an extremely ruthless and shadowy man.
If he wanted to kill the son of a traitor, why go through all this trouble?
He could simply have had Root assassinate Yagami Yue outside the village.
Hiruzen, however, was different.
Hiruzen was someone who placed great importance on “light” and the “Will of Fire.”
Whenever he killed someone, he preferred to do so through circumstances that appeared “justified.”
Take Konoha’s White Fang, for example.
Sakumo Hatake had been an elite shinobi whose strength was said to rival that of a Hokage.
He was in his prime and had an immense reputation.
Yet he had ultimately been driven to death through a carefully engineered situation that left people unable to openly blame the Third Hokage.
Wasn’t that impressive?
Of course, all of this was merely Yagami Yue’s speculation.
…
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
The two raced rapidly through the trees.
After roughly half an hour, they arrived at a location about thirty li away.
A lake lay ahead of them.
“The lake ahead is where the traces of the Sunagakure shinobi were discovered.
Be careful…”
Kyōjirō’s eyes flashed with a cold glint.
“Let’s spread out and investigate separately.
Keep your guard up.”
“Understood.”
Yagami Yue nodded expressionlessly.
“You go left.
I’ll go right.”
“Okay.”
The two quickly separated at the lakeside.
Kyōjirō turned around and watched Yagami Yue’s figure disappear through the trees.
A cold smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
After waiting for a while, he turned around and pursued Yagami Yue.
“All traitors deserve to die!”
“Even the sons of traitors deserve to die!”