The shinobi world — the Land of Rain.
This region could be described as one of the most chaotic places in existence, whether in times of peace or war.
Leaving peacetime aside, during the Second and Third Shinobi World Wars, this land was a complete mess—a dumping ground for overlapping conflicts.
If one were to rank countries by how often they had been embroiled in warfare, the Land of Rain would almost certainly win by a landslide. Geography alone doomed it to that fate.
The Land of Rain's surrounding powers were extremely complicated.
Among the great nations, it bordered the Land of Wind, the Land of Earth, and the Land of Fire. Amegakure, the Hidden Rain Village, could not afford to offend any of them—yet somehow, it kept provoking them anyway.
As for smaller nations, the Land of Rain bordered the Land of Birds, the Land of Rivers, and the Land of Grass. These countries were no match for Amegakure at all—especially the Land of Rivers, which didn't even possess a ninja village.
And yet, whenever a great nation attacked the Land of Rain, these smaller countries loved to jump in as well…
Objectively speaking, although Amegakure was classified as a minor ninja village, under the leadership of Hanzō of the Salamander, its overall strength surpassed that of every other small village. Among all shinobi forces in the world, only the Five Great Hidden Villages stood clearly above it.
Amegakure could easily overwhelm other minor villages, yet it remained far inferior to the Five Great Nations—stronger than the weak, weaker than the strong.
Hanzō was a ninja who possessed both power and ambition. He was deeply dissatisfied with both his own position and Amegakure's standing in the shinobi world.
His and Amegakure's repeated involvement in the Second and Third Shinobi World Wars could be seen as an attempt to reach the level of an "Kage", to elevate Amegakure to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Five Great Villages.
But that goal was nearly impossible.
The Five Kage stood at the very pinnacle of nearly one hundred thousand shinobi worldwide. A leader of a minor village could never truly be acknowledged as a Kage. Even if someone foolish enough proclaimed themselves one, not only would the Five Great Nations refuse to recognize them—most likely, even their own village wouldn't accept it.
What Hanzō sought was extraordinarily difficult. He failed in the Second Shinobi World War, and judging by the current state of affairs, he was close to failing again in the Third.
The Border Between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain
Rain fell endlessly.
The atmosphere was anything but pleasant—not just because of tension, but because the Land of Rain was cursed with torrential downpours every few days.
Deep within a forest stood a massive tree. From the outside, it appeared no different from the surrounding trees, aside from its age and thickness.
In reality, the tree was hollow.
It served as a hidden base.
At this moment, three Konoha ninja were inside.
Then the camouflage covering the entrance was lifted, and a fourth ninja entered the tree hollow.
They were one of Konoha's reconnaissance squads—temporarily referred to as Team Hagoromo.
This was the seventh day since Hagoromo and his teammates had arrived at the front lines.
"Just as expected—no real danger. The trap was triggered by nothing more than a wild rabbit."
Asuma stepped into the tree hollow, carefully resealing the entrance camouflage before speaking.
As he talked, he casually lifted the gray rabbit in his hand.
It was plump.
Their next meal would be an improvement, at least.
The interior of the tree hollow was fairly spacious and extremely well hidden. Once discovered, it had naturally become one of their operational bases.
In the end, Team Hagoromo was carrying out reconnaissance duties exactly as the Hokage had ordered.
Even though none of them were specialized reconnaissance ninja, and even though all they could rely on were their own legs, this mission was not something they could refuse.
That said, it wasn't as though they had zero reconnaissance capability.
Among the four, Hagoromo possessed some mid-range detection ability. However, when it came to long-distance reconnaissance, he was nearly useless. Even summoning a flying creature wouldn't help much.
His eyesight had limits, and with the Land of Rain's constant downpours, visibility was abysmal.
Yamashiro Aoba had some long-range scouting ability as well—but he relied on summoning jutsus too, which made the results unreliable.
As a result, to ensure the quality of their reconnaissance, the squad had no choice but to repeatedly patrol their assigned area.
Reconnaissance—and especially infiltration reconnaissance—was among the most dangerous missions imaginable. In conventional warfare, scouts were always elite soldiers.
Shinobi reconnaissance units were no different. Those capable of scouting were also required to possess sufficient combat power.
That was why the Hyūga Clan was the ideal choice for such missions. Their Byakugan allowed long-range vision and penetration, and on top of that, they were formidable fighters.
But Team Hagoromo consisted of:
Yūhi Kurenai, a genjutsu-focused genin
Yamashiro Aoba, a newly promoted chūnin
Sarutobi Asuma, another newly promoted chūnin
And Hagoromo himself, the most recently promoted chūnin—and squad leader
For them, reconnaissance missions were extremely dangerous.
Perhaps one day they would all reach jōnin-level strength—but right now, they were still young shinobi.
The fact that the Third Hokage was willing to send his own son on such a mission, conducting close-border reconnaissance near enemy territory, spoke volumes about his resolve in this war.
If he was prepared to fight to the death, then his son was no exception.
Inside the tree hollow, part of Team Hagoromo's supplies were stored—food, medicine, ninja tools, and other necessities. After each reconnaissance run, they would return to bases like this to rest.
Several such supply points existed throughout their operational area. To prevent losing everything if one base was discovered, supplies were distributed among multiple locations.
Outside, the rain continued to pour relentlessly. The sound of raindrops striking leaves, bark, mud, and water echoed unceasingly.
The temperature was low.
A small fire burned inside the tree hollow. The smoke was carefully treated and diluted, drifting out through narrow gaps and dissolving into the storm. Unless someone came extremely close, discovery was impossible.
And if anyone did approach that closely, the squad's perimeter alarms—or Hagoromo's own sensory abilities—would detect them immediately.
The rabbit Asuma had caught earlier had merely wandered into one of their traps.
Otherwise, during a mission like this, would Asuma really have the leisure to go hunting?
Go back to Mars already. Ninja life clearly isn't for you.
"Check your equipment. Put out the fire. We're moving out immediately."
Hagoromo ignored Asuma and his rabbit, emphasizing that the mission was about to begin.
Today's task was especially dangerous.
According to the mission plan, they would first move parallel to the border. Then, at a suitable location, they would make a sharp ninety-degree turn and rapidly cut into the Land of Rain.
They wouldn't penetrate deeply—
But they would be crossing into enemy territory.
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