Deep within the central forests of the Land of Lightning.
The air was damp and cold, as if the atmosphere itself had solidified.
A small squad of shinobi moved silently through the mountain woods.
All seven wore no forehead protectors, making their affiliation impossible to discern.
At the front walked a young man with an obvious disability.
He wore a black cloak, but half his face was wrapped in bandages.
The right sleeve of his robe hung empty, flapping with each leap he made.
His remaining left hand rested on the hilt of the ninja blade at his waist.
One glance was enough to know: this was an elite squad.
Even while moving, the seven maintained perfect formation, each fully alert and watching a different direction.
This was the Special Tactical Unit, personally led by Shimura Danzō, tasked with sabotaging Kumogakure's logistics.
They had infiltrated the Land of Lightning all the way from the Land of Frost.
And of course, the one-armed leader needed no introduction—
Shimura Danzō, disciple of the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama.
"Swoosh!"
Suddenly, as Danzō raised his left hand, the entire squad halted in unison, turning their attention to one man.
"Otsu—what do you sense?"
The man referred to as Otsu was named UtataneIchiro, a jōnin of the Utatane Clan and the squad's sole sensory-type shinobi.
Because they were behind enemy lines on a covert mission, Danzō had forbidden the use of real names.
Throughout the operation, they were to address each other only as "Kō, Otsu, Hei, Tei, Bo, Ki, Kō."
Ichiro formed the Ram seal with both hands and sensed carefully with closed eyes.
But with every passing second, his expression grew uglier.
"I sense an enormous amount of chakra… The enemy numbers are unknown, but possibly several hundred."
"Several hundred?"
Danzō frowned deeply.
That was far beyond the scale of a normal logistics unit.
Could their infiltration have already been exposed?
More importantly—after the rebellion of Kinkaku and Ginkaku, how could Kumogakure still have the manpower to field such a force?
There was no time to think.
Danzō signaled the unit, and they quickly relocated.
Moments later, the seven appeared at the top of a tall cliff nearby.
Danzō's one-armed silhouette stood beneath the shadow of a tree.
His remaining left eye was sharp as a hawk's as he stared down at the column of troops winding through the valley below.
"Captain… at this scale… at least two full-strength companies."
Beside him, another jōnin—Shimura Yuki of the same clan—spoke in a low voice, tinged with subtle tremor.
This wasn't a logistics unit at all.
It was unmistakably reinforcements being sent by Kumogakure to the front, transporting supplies along the way.
Danzō's fingers subconsciously rubbed the hilt of his blade.
It seemed the pressure Senju Mori exerted on the main battlefield was far greater than he expected—
so great that the Third Raikage was forced to mobilize a force like this.
Danzō remained calm.
Attacking such a massive force would be suicidal.
"Reinforcements…"
His voice was hoarse, like sandpaper scraping metal.
His fingers continued to trace the hilt unconsciously.
"Objective changed."
After a brief moment of thought, Danzō turned sharply, his gaze sweeping over the six jōnin behind him.
"We'll bypass them. Continue toward Kumogakure."
The squad moved through the forest in tense silence, slipping deeper into the Land of Lightning like specters.
They were hunters—
silent, patient, and methodical—
weaving through the mountains and ravines surrounding Kumogakure, scouting, searching for the prey capable of carrying Danzō's ambitions.
After several hours of searching, they skirted around a heavily guarded supply depot.
Suddenly, Utatane Ichiro froze in place.
His face instantly turned pale.
"Captain!"
He pointed toward a secluded gorge surrounded by steep rock walls, a place seemingly cut off from the world.
"Over there… inside that gorge… there's a presence—an enormous chakra, terrifyingly vast… chaotic… and filled with hatred!"
"Unrai Gorge…"
Danzō repeated the name—one he had extracted earlier through genjutsu interrogation.
The cold, predatory gleam in his lone eye suddenly twisted into something almost deranged.
So the greatest prey… had been waiting here all along.
He hesitated hardly a second.
The lips that had been tense from operating deep behind enemy lines curved ever so slightly.
"Prepare for action."
"Yes, sir!"
…
Unrai Gorge was not special—at least not originally.
It used to be just another one of the countless ordinary gorges surrounding Kumogakure.
Barren mountains.
A still, deep pool.
Shrouded in fog and rarely touched by human presence.
That was all.
Until—
it became the holding place of the Eight-Tails' jinchūriki.
Kumogakure's sealing techniques were never very advanced.
Ever since the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, distributed the tailed beasts, the previous two Raikage had repeatedly attempted to create a controllable living weapon of war—
and failed every time.
To prevent the rampaging Eight-Tails from destroying the village, they were forced to isolate the jinchūriki in this hidden gorge.
The sheer rock walls formed a natural cage.
But to Utatane Ichiro's sensory ability, the tailed beast chakra leaking from within was like a blazing beacon, guiding their group unerringly.
Danzō's squad moved like phantoms in the night.
They silently eliminated the guards stationed at the entrance and within the gorge itself.
Just as he predicted, the ones left on watch were merely an ordinary ANBU team from Kumogakure.
Overwhelmed by the squad's superior strength and a meticulously prepared ambush, they fell without even managing a proper resistance.
Staring at the uniforms of the fallen ANBU, a cold glint flickered in Danzō's remaining eye.
"Put on their uniforms."
Moments later, seven "Kumogakure ANBU," each wearing a mask, escorted a small figure hidden entirely within a large cloak as they departed Unrai Gorge and headed toward Kumogakure not far away.
Beneath the hood of the cloak was a pale young face—
haunted, frightened, and numb.
…
Kumogakure had no village-wide barrier formation.
To the people living there, the surrounding perilous mountains and deep gorges were the strongest natural defense anyone could ask for.
The entire village was like a fortress rooted deep into the mountainous terrain.
Buildings—including the iconic Raikage Building—clung to the steep cliffs like eagle nests.
At the village entrance, two bored chūnin guards lounged against a rock wall—
until they noticed an ANBU squad approaching with a prisoner.
"By order, we are transferring the 'vessel' to the Barrier Corps for reinforcement inspection."
The ANBU captain at the front spoke coldly and decisively, leaving no room for questioning.
He didn't even wait for the guards to respond before he marched straight into the village.
The rest of the ANBU followed without a glance, as if the two guards were beneath their notice.
Their indifferent arrogance made the chūnin swallow their questions.
Annoyed but uncertain, they could only watch as the squad slipped into the patchwork shadows of the village.
Beneath the folds of his cloak, Danzō quietly removed his hand from the hilt of his blade.
Without realizing it, those two Kumogakure guards—thanks to their obedience—had just saved their own lives.