“Zabuza, you’re already a rogue ninja. Since that’s the case, why not join us?”

Within a forest in the Land of Waves, Hoshigaki Kisame fixed his cold gaze on Zabuza standing not far away.

Aside from him, Uchiha Obito and Uchiha Itachi stood silently at his side.

Although Itachi and Kisame had only just recovered—Itachi’s condition far from ideal—among them, they were the ones most familiar with Kiri’s rogue shinobi.

“Hmph. Why the hell should I join you lot?”

Zabuza seemed completely uninterested.

“But I didn’t expect you to actually side with them. So it was you who killed Kurosuki Raiga?”

“That’s right. I killed him.”

Kisame didn’t bother to deny it. His eyes lingered on the Kubikiribōchō strapped across Zabuza’s back, and he couldn’t help but chuckle.

“You’re even more outrageous than I am. You’ve staged a rebellion. And after Biwa Jūzō’s death, that blade should have remained in Kirigakure’s hands. Seems you still can’t let go of Kiri, can you?”

Zabuza stayed silent. After Jūzō’s death, the Kubikiribōchō had indeed fallen back into Kirigakure’s possession. It was during one of his infiltration missions into the village that he retrieved it.

Right now, he was still in the stage of gathering funds, temporarily working under Gato’s thumb. What he hadn’t expected was to be targeted by his “old colleagues.”

“I’m not interested in whatever business you’re caught up in. Best you don’t interfere with me either. Otherwise—”

Zabuza’s hand moved toward the great blade at his back, his cold eyes locked on the three before him. His words, however, only made Obito shake his head.

“You Kiri-nin are really amusing. None of you can ever walk away without a fight. Be it Biwa Jūzō, Kurosuki Raiga, or you—same story.”

“Oh? Kurosuki Raiga?”

At that name, Zabuza’s brow twitched. He was beginning to sense that these people were deliberately recruiting rogue Kiri-nin.

“Zabuza-sama.”

Just then, a masked figure appeared before them.

“We’ve found Tazuna. Gōzu and Meizu have already made their move. But it seems Tazuna has hired shinobi from Konohagakure.”

“Konohagakure…”

At the mention of Konoha, Zabuza’s fist clenched reflexively. Unpleasant memories surged up unbidden.

He hadn’t forgotten that day when he’d been choked by Jiraiya, Kakashi, and some brat, dragged all the way back to Kirigakure!

“Konoha?”

The expressions of Obito and the other two shifted as well. Could it really be that much of a coincidence?

After all these years, they had already formed a certain concept: running into “randomly spawned” Konoha shinobi outside the village… never led to anything good.

“I don’t have time to waste bickering with you.”

After a moment of silence, Zabuza finally spoke.

“I’m going to check out the situation. Do as you please.”

With that, he turned and strode off without a backward glance, leaving Obito, Kisame, and Itachi standing where they were.

“What now?”

Only after a long while did Kisame break the silence.

“Should we go take a look? But given our condition right now, things don’t look too good.”

“Indeed. We’ve only just recovered—hardly fit for battle. Besides, don’t you still have your own plans?”

Itachi’s voice was low, but his words made Obito frown. After some hesitation, he finally opened his mouth to speak.

“Let’s go check it out. I don’t believe it—there’s no way we’d run into those people every single time!”

“After all, even Orochimaru is still alive.”

...

“Kakashi-sensei!?”

Out of nowhere, two figures suddenly lunged straight at Kakashi, making Sakura—walking behind—let out a startled cry.

“What—?”

But in the very next instant, she saw a spray of blood burst from Kakashi’s body!

Her whole frame went rigid. It was the first time she had ever witnessed something so brutal.

She didn’t notice, however, that Sasuke and Naruto seemed to remain oddly calm.

The two Kiri-nin didn’t hesitate for a moment. They turned their attention toward Kitagawa Gen—but the instant their chains lashed out, the figure had already vanished.

“Where did he go?”

“Doesn’t matter. Finish the mission first!”

Startled at first, the two quickly regained their composure. As assassins trained by Kirigakure, they steadied themselves and swung their chains toward Tazuna.

“Damn…”

From the start, Sakura had felt that a mission like this wasn’t really suitable for fresh graduates.

Now it seemed her worries had been right!

Gritting her teeth, she planted herself in front of Tazuna to shield him. At the same time, Sasuke and Naruto also sprang into action.

“Kakashi-sensei, looks like aside from fooling Sakura and that old man, you didn’t trick anyone else.”

High up in a tree, Kakashi was quietly observing, but Kitagawa Gen’s voice reached his ear in no time.

“These brats nowadays… really not very likable.”

Kakashi muttered lazily, rubbing his chin as he went on: “But it’s us who got tricked by that old man. He never mentioned that shinobi would be involved.”

“The mission itself was suspicious from the start.”

Gen crouched at the side and nodded. The payment for Tazuna’s mission was meager, and its rank was only C—yet he expected a Jōnin to take part.

In Konoha, a mission like that would rarely be accepted. More often than not, it would sit on the board for a while before being sent back.

From his memory, this mission had only been taken because Naruto, fed up after more than a month of D-rank drudgery, made a fuss. In the end, Sarutobi Hiruzen had handed it to them. The source of this content ɪs novel⸺fire.net

But now things were different. Tazuna must have only just submitted the request when he happened to run into Kakashi, who was looking for a bit of practice.

“Kakashi-sensei, I’m starting to think you have issues with picking missions. Back then, the one we took was also your choice, and in the end—”

“Ahem, ahem!”

Before Gen could finish, Kakashi cut him off with a tactical cough.

“Those were just accidents. Besides, Naruto and Sasuke trained under Jiraiya-sama for so long. For them, a mission of this level isn’t too troublesome.”

“True, it’s not too troublesome. But this time, we can’t just let it slide. I don’t have any good feelings toward that old man.”

“So, what do you plan to do?”

“Just follow my lead later.”

“...?”

“Alright. Time to wrap this up.”

Gen didn’t explain further. He swept his eyes over the situation, then in a flash, his figure vanished from sight.

Sasuke and Naruto were holding their own well enough, but the Demon Brothers—even if they weren’t exceptional—were still shinobi hardened by Kirigakure’s brutal training, veterans of many missions.

The two sides were locked in a tense standoff, both looking somewhat battered. Even so, their performance wasn’t bad at all.

...

“These two brats aren’t simple. We need to speed things up.”

“Yeah. Kill the old man first!”

Gōzu and Meizu also felt something was off. After whispering a quick plan to each other, they launched another attack.

But just as they were about to move, the ground beneath them suddenly turned into mud. In the blink of an eye, both of them sank into it!

“What—!?”

Sasuke and Naruto only pressed their lips together at the sight, while Sakura and Tazuna’s eyes widened in shock.

“Gen-senpai… Kakashi-sensei?”

“Mm.”

Kitagawa Gen gave a slight nod, and Kakashi stepped out from the trees.

“Your vigilance is still lacking. These two had such pathetic disguises, and yet you didn’t suspect a thing.”

“Kakashi!?”

At the mention of that name, Gōzu and Meizu’s faces instantly changed. Their eyes shifted in disbelief toward Kitagawa Gen.

“Then you must be… the new generation’s White Fang of Konoha, the Silver Flash, the shinobi who wields purple lightning—Kitagawa Gen?”

“...Huh?”

Gen blinked. Was his title really that long?

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were all wide-eyed as well. The earlier battle had been terrifying, but now, hearing such a claim, their curiosity was impossible to contain.

Even Tazuna hadn’t expected it—that this young white-haired brat carried such a fearsome reputation!

“Though you just rattled off a bunch of ridiculous titles, I am indeed Kitagawa Gen.”

Gen rubbed his chin and nodded lightly, admitting it. The moment he did, Gōzu and Meizu’s faces turned deathly pale.

“Enough. Let’s cut the chatter. Your target is this old man, isn’t it?”

“Y-yes. Our orders were to kill this old man.”

Facing Gen, the brothers didn’t even think of hiding it. They answered without hesitation.

Their words immediately sent Tazuna into a panic.

From the start, he had deceived Konoha’s shinobi into protecting him, disguising the mission as a C-rank job because he couldn’t afford the proper pay.

He knew all too well that the difficulty of this task was far beyond what an ordinary squad could handle, but poverty had left him with no other choice.

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