The moment he stepped outside, a glaring white light greeted him, forcing Kyoichi to squint his eyes.
It was August.
The blazing sun hung high in the sky, unleashing its seemingly endless torrent of sweltering heat without restraint. If this were the sparsely vegetated Iwagakure, the roads would probably be hot enough to fry an egg. Fortunately, this was the Land of Grass—a nation rich in forests and greenery!
A cool breeze drifting from the mountains dispersed the suffocating heat, making the summer just bearable enough not to feel like torture.
Soon after, the group—now fully prepared—departed the small village nestled deep in the woods. Their figures quickly disappeared into the vast, dense forest.
"Enkō, now would be a good time to explain—what exactly is the mission?"
Kyoichi looked around.
Besides Enkō, who was serving as the team leader, two other jōnin had been assigned to this mission.
One was a burly man with a square face, looking more like a walking boulder than a shinobi. His name was Dani, and he possessed a highly practical secret technique—his strength was nothing to scoff at. The other had slightly crossed eyes and carried a long sword on his back—Magari. He was known for his incredible speed and vicious swordsmanship, having already taken the lives of many Konoha shinobi.
Though neither of them were top-tier powerhouses in Iwagakure's jōnin circle, both were solid mainstays of its military strength.
Then there was Enkō himself.
A trusted agent of the Tsuchikage's faction—he was none other than the right-hand man of Ōnoki-sama's son, Kitsuchi.
This lineup...
To be honest, it gave Kyoichi a sense of unease.
There was something strangely familiar about it—as if he'd seen this combination somewhere before.
"It's a patrol mission."
"Patrol? To guard against Konoha shinobi?"
"No shit. Who else would it be?"
"Then what's the patrol range?"
Kyoichi ignored Enkō's foul attitude and pressed for more information about the mission.
"Kannabi Bridge."
Enkō answered straightforwardly, "We received intel recently that Konoha shinobi might be planning to sever our supply lines. Of all the nodes along that line, Kannabi Bridge is the most critical. So Kitsuchi-sama sent us to reinforce it. Until the next wave of reinforcements from the village arrives, we're to ensure the bridge remains under our control."
Though his real plan was to use the Koeda clan's jōnin as cannon fodder, the fact remained—Kyoichi was a jōnin. Even cannon fodder had to be used wisely. You couldn't just toss them aside like trash. At the very least, he had to be given the necessary intel. Besides, even if he didn't explain now, it would become obvious once they reached their destination.
There was no reason to hide it.
"…Kannabi Bridge?"
Kyoichi's eye twitched.
Now that name rang loud and clear.
The hazy memory that had been lingering at the edge of his consciousness suddenly crystallized. No wonder Enkō, Dani, and Magari felt so familiar—this was the infamous Kannabi Bridge death squad!
Every single one of these guys died in the Battle of Kannabi Bridge, becoming stepping stones for the Yellow Flash and his disciples to rise to fame.
Well—except for one of the Yellow Flash's rather unfortunate disciples. That guy didn't rise to glory… instead, he took a one-way trip into darkness and laid the groundwork for the Fourth Great Ninja War.
Wait a minute—
Wasn't he part of this "Kannabi Bridge death squad" now too?
Didn't that mean… he'd also have to face the terror of the Yellow Flash?
The Yellow Flash—Konoha's lightning storm who slaughtered Iwa shinobi to the point where the village leadership had to issue an order: "If you encounter the Yellow Flash of Konoha, you may abandon the mission immediately and retreat—no punishment will follow."
Yeah, this was starting to feel like a lot of pressure.
When he'd volunteered for this compulsory mission, Kyoichi had mentally prepared for all kinds of dangerous scenarios—even considered the possibility of a suicide mission deep into the Land of Fire's territory. But guarding Kannabi Bridge… somehow felt even more dangerous than that.
After all—
With all of Konoha's next-gen elites deployed to the frontlines, the interior of the Land of Fire might actually be poorly defended, guarded only by a few elderly veterans.
Then again…
That might not hold true anymore.
He had already disrupted many things just by being here—a butterfly flapping its wings. In his memory, the Kannabi Bridge death squad only had Enkō, Dani, and Magari. But now that he was part of it too, the composition had changed. That meant the Konoha strike team tasked with blowing up the bridge might also change…
With that in mind, Kyoichi asked,
"Enkō, do we know who Konoha's sending to sever our supply line?"
"If we knew the full details of Konoha's military operations, we'd already be marching through the Land of Fire. Why the hell would we still be playing cat and mouse in the Land of Grass?" Enkō snapped back. "Just getting confirmation that they plan to cut off the supply line nearly killed our intel division."
"And another thing, Kyoichi—shut the hell up! What you need to do now is follow my orders and stop yapping like a clueless brat. Don't even think about pulling any reckless crap. If you don't care about your own life, that's your problem—but if there's even a shred of decency left in you, then think about the people you left back in the village."
And with that,
Enkō issued one final warning.
"Understood."
Kyoichi's face went deadpan. His voice was cold, emotionless, like he'd buried everything deep inside. It looked like he was seething with rage but was forcing himself to stay silent for the sake of his clan—enduring the humiliation, bottling it all up.
Seeing this,
Enkō let out a smug chuckle.
He couldn't care less whether Kyoichi was secretly cursing him to death or imagining a thousand ways to kill him.
As long as the Koeda clan's women, children, and elders were in Iwa, he didn't fear their jōnin acting out. If they didn't want the entire clan to be wiped out, they'd follow orders. Just like the two other clans that had conspired in the coup attempt—their jōnin were all conveniently used up in the war.
The Koeda clan would be no different.
And even if Kyoichi really did lose his head to youthful arrogance… Enkō, Dani, and Magari were more than enough to handle one greenhorn jōnin.
At the end of the day—
Kyoichi was just a fifteen-year-old kid who'd only been promoted to jōnin less than a year ago.
Any one of the three could suppress him with ease.
The rest of the journey passed in silence, without incident. Before long, the group of four arrived at Kannabi Bridge. However, they didn't take up a position directly on or around the bridge—that would've made them sitting ducks, easy targets for any enemy silently creeping through the shadows.
After circling the area,
They selected a cave roughly two kilometers southeast of the bridge, nestled in the dense forest, to serve as a temporary base.
And with that—
The mission to defend Kannabi Bridge officially began.