Chapter 33: Everything for Konoha

Rain Village.

A young man wrapped in a tattered dark blue oilskin raincoat slowly walked forward in the jungle of heavy rain and steel pipes.

He held the outer edge of the hood of the raincoat tightly and buried his head low, as if he was staring at the tip of his shoes to determine the next step, and he was not looking at the road at all.

Between heavy breathing, a white mist would spray out from under the hood, mixing with the cold and dim environment around, and it was no different from most people in this area who were under the lead-black sky all year round.

They didn't dare to look up. Because looking up could be the difference between life and death.

As for the reason, it has to do with those guys standing on high places.

Those people wore ninja forehead guards with four vertical lines on their heads, wearing white tight-fitting one-piece diving suits, and were drenched in the rain. They stood motionless on the top of the huge drainage pipes like factory chimneys like white wax statues.

Each of these people has a gloomy and sharp look in their eyes, like a hungry osprey, staring at every figure on the road, and the lower half of their faces are covered by a huge and heavy breathing mask, which makes them look mysterious and indifferent.

These are the most mysterious rain ninjas in the ninja world.

They are known for their cruelty, regardless of the cost, and their narrow-mindedness of revenge.

Unlike other ninja villages that defend the country, serve the daimyo, and accept employment to make a living, the rain ninjas have only one master, that is, the demigod of the ninja world, Hanzo, who once defeated the three ninjas of Konoha alone.

But rather than saying that these people in white are ninjas, it is more appropriate to say that they are Hanzo's personal bodyguards. And ordinary people below, as long as they dare to show the slightest interest in Hanzo's hiding place in the high place, they will be killed by thunder on the spot by these rain ninjas.

The boy just walked around a corner and was startled by the pink water flowing to his feet. His legs weakened and fell to the ground.

Then, he saw a few meters away, a white-clad Rain Ninja was pulling out a ninja flying sickle from a pedestrian's throat, washing the blood on it in the rain.

The latter was staring at the person with a pair of extremely alert eyes, and did not relax his vigilance just because the other party was a child. Among the assassins who had assassinated Hanzo, there were also unarmed children.

Under the fierce gaze, even in such humid weather, the boy's throat made a hoarse groan that was more common in the desert, and his buttocks and limbs were parallel, retreating quickly like a short-legged spider.

"... As timid as a water flea."

The Rain Ninja saw his performance, and the vigilance in his eyes gradually disappeared. He kicked the body into the gutter on the side of the road with disdain, and a sinister voice came from under the mask.

"Don't look up at the sky, kid, or you'll end up like him."

After saying that, the Rain Ninja ignored the boy and quickly jumped onto the nearest building. He and another man in white disappeared into the hazy rain scene, leaving the boy holding his chest as if he had survived a disaster.

However, if you look closely, the cowardly boy's eyes actually showed a barely detectable red light. He kept scanning the surroundings until he was sure that no one was watching him. Then he accelerated his pace, like a running black panther that found a rare prey. He suddenly jumped into a deep and dilapidated narrow alley nearby and rushed directly to the end of this one-way street.

There was a small gray door there, with some dirty words insulting the Rain Ninja painted with various colors of paint, but covered with a bright red dye that exuded a unique smell.

The boy walked to the front of the small door and knocked twice at the upper left corner and lower left corner of the door, and then knocked on the movable handle five times.

After a while, a pleasant click sounded from the door, and it opened automatically, revealing the dark and gloomy space inside.

The boy stayed at the door for a few seconds, but he didn't see anyone appear, nor did he hear any movement, so he could only step in.

The door suddenly closed, and at the same time, hundreds of sharp and sharp sounds of cracking the air tore through the darkness, followed by the sound of flesh entering and the screams that stopped abruptly.

"Turn on the light!"

A rough voice sounded, and then the pale yellow light turned on. The boy who had just entered the door had been pierced into a porcupine by hundreds of toothpick-thick thousand blades, and there was no sound at all.

The tall young man who had just spoken had his eyes widened, and immediately walked over to check the specific situation. But as soon as he walked to the side of the boy, the other party's body began to melt and deform, gradually turning into a pool of transparent water, and hundreds of thousand blades also scattered all over the ground and rolled around.

"Water clone?!"

He reacted immediately, turned around and saw his female companion hiding in the corner of the room, her arm twisted, and she stood up in pain.

The boy in the raincoat was pressing a sharp kunai against her vest, his dark eyes revealing a cold vigilance, which was frightening.

"..."The sturdy man and the woman wearing the Rain Ninja forehead protector looked at each other.

After an awkward silence, the boy was the first to ask: "You two, are you Shen and Chou seniors?"

His voice was still calm, but his hands did not show any sign of relaxation. If he did not get the answer he wanted, these two people would die in a few seconds.

This is a small enclosed space that is convenient for shuriken and kunai to eject. He has more than a dozen ways to get rid of the two without attracting the attention of the Rain Ninja.

"I am Shen."

The sturdy man faced the boy and stuck out his tongue, revealing the "Tongue Trouble Root Seal" on it.

This is a unique curse seal that only members of the Konoha Anbu Team Gen have. As long as they say something related to a certain person, they will immediately be paralyzed and unable to move. Unless they are proficient in sealing techniques, they cannot be forged or lifted.

When the young man saw the curse seal, he let go of his hand.

Unexpectedly, the woman had just gained freedom and immediately kicked her back. The young man crossed his arms to block the attack. Halfway back, the six-shot shuriken had already slipped out of his fingers.

"Wait a minute, I'm just testing your quality!"

Seeing that the boy was about to fight back, the woman immediately stood up and stuck out her tongue to confirm her identity.

"I didn't expect that the village would send such a young kid here. We are very uneasy."

"You almost killed me just now."

The boy slowly took off the hood of his raincoat, revealing his mid-length hair that was tangled in locks due to moisture, and his slightly mature face with tear troughs. It was Itachi Uchiha who was here for his last mission before joining ANBU.

"The most common technique used by rain ninjas is the Senbon Strike, which covers all directions like a strong rain shower. If you can't even deal with the simple trap just now, you won't be able to complete any tasks here, and there is no point in living. ”

There was no apology on the woman's face, and she spread her hands carelessly.

Itachi was speechless. Before coming, he knew that he would be working with a real root ninja this time. He had already guessed what he might encounter, but he didn't expect to face such a dangerous test without even meeting him.

At the same time, he also had a new estimate of the difficulty of this mission.

"Please forgive me for worrying. Recently, Yu Nin has been very strict in checking people. Sometimes he will break in and kill someone without even asking. This trap was not originally prepared for you."

The burly Shen passed over the female ninja and faced Itachi and asked: "I would like to ask, how many days did you spend in Amegakure Village from Konoha this time?"

"It only took a day and a half to get from Konoha to the border of Rain Country."

Itachi paused, "But it took four days to get from the border of the Land of Rain to the Hidden Rain Village."

The road from Itachi to the Rain Hidden Village was full of obstacles and wars. Everywhere was the Rain ninja suppressing the rebellion, as well as the rebel organizations that sprung up everywhere.

If he hadn't memorized the map with shortcuts before leaving Konoha, it might have taken him longer to enter the Amegakure Village.

"The map the village gave me shows that many of the secret roads are occupied by the rebel organizations of the Rain Country. I am not allowed to reopen the second half of the route."

"Thank you for your hard work... you took two more days than when we came here two years ago."

The man codenamed Shen thought for a while and came to a conclusion, "It seems that the rebellion situation within the Kingdom of Rain is about to be completely out of the control of Sanshouyu Hanzo."

"As the leader of a country's ninjas, with the title of demigod, he only dares to hide in a high tower and live in seclusion. He keeps all his most elite forces by his side as bodyguards and loses control of the country. Is it so strange? of."

Angrily, Chou spoke ill of the demigod of the ninja world, then walked up to Itachi and stretched out a hand: "Raincoat."

"Thanks……"

Itachi took off his raincoat and handed it to her. Inside, he was wearing ordinary civilian clothes from the Land of Rain.

"Hmph, you are not tall and you look quite mature, but...have we met somewhere?"

The female ninja pinched her chin and rolled her eyes, "You are not an ANBU yet, don't you have your own name? Or maybe you have received an order and cannot say it out."

"Sorry, I forgot."

Uchiha Itachi rarely touched the back of his head.

"I am Uchiha Itachi. I came to the Land of Rain this time to cooperate with the two seniors and bring back confidential information related to Sansho Hanzo."

"Aha, I just said that I always feel like I have seen you somewhere."

Chou suddenly clapped his hands and said loudly: "Uchiha, Sharingan, you are the kid who ruined our mission with that... Shunshen Shisui last time! I still remember what the short-haired guy said. ——”

Chou pinched his face, squeezed out two lines that looked like tear troughs on both sides of his nose, and then imitated Uchiha Shisui's expression and voice three years ago, and said in a loud voice: "Ninjas maintain peace in the dark. The nameless people, but the order maintained by violence and weapon coercion is not true peace at all, and I will never recognize this kind of peace!"

Then she looked at the embarrassed Itachi, then at Shen who was holding back a smile with his lips pursed, and asked in a cheerful voice, "That's what he said at that time, right?"

Itachi nodded awkwardly.

He didn't expect that there was such a living treasure among the root ninjas.

In fact, Itachi had already guessed their identities when he heard their voices.

After he had just opened the Sharingan when he was eight years old, Shisui took him to participate in a jounin exercise, but unexpectedly encountered a scene where the root ninja was chasing the ANBU ninja and asked for a list of suspected traitors.

At that time, in order to protect the Anbu, Shisui fought alongside him and fought against the root ninja. And this female ninja, codenamed Shou, was Itachi's opponent at the time. She was proficient in the use of ninja tools and was better at shuriken than many Uchiha, but she was still defeated by his two Magatama Sharingan.

And this Shen was a ninja who fought with Shisui and carried a big sword, but he was quickly defeated by Shisui.

In general, it is not surprising that these two people are sent to the closed-off Rain Village as spies because of their limited frontal combat capabilities. After all, their fighting style mainly relies on weapons, which is very similar to the Rain Ninja, and they rarely use things like escape techniques.

"Okay, Chou. Since Itachi is here, he will be our teammate in the next mission. Don't embarrass him with the past. After all, everyone has a young and naive time, cough cough cough..."

Shen frowned and coughed for a while, interrupting Chou's teasing of Itachi.

"But it's good this way. He has fought with us and is familiar with our fighting style. If there is a conflict with the Rain Ninja later, it will be much easier to take care of each other and cooperate."

Then he stretched out his hand to Itachi, "Before you set off, the people from the Root should have given you a scroll with specific tasks written on it."

"Well, it is said that three people need to seal it at the same time to open it."

Itachi took out a palm-wide scroll from behind his waist and placed it on the table in the room.

The three of them looked solemn, and they formed different hand seals at the same time. The black seal on the scroll disappeared by itself, and then slowly unfolded, revealing the handwriting inside that looked like a secret code.

"Oh, investigate the specific location of the black pepper fish venom sac transplantation experiment conducted by Yuyin, and then steal all the experimental data?"

Chou raised his head, looked at Itachi's face carefully, and raised a slight sneer, "Does the person who gave you this task really want you to go back alive?"

"Don't talk nonsense."

Shen's heavy hand pressed heavily on Chu's shoulder, and then pointed to the room inside to Itachi, "There is a bathroom in that direction, you go and take a shower first, and then dry yourself. I'll find a Yuyin uniform of the right size. Without further ado, we will start the action immediately when we change shifts with Yunin tonight."

"Yes. Thank you for your help."

Itachi nodded, and turned to enter the room. It was not until the sound of the bathroom door being pulled shut and water dripping on the ground came from inside that the two people outside the room exchanged glances.

"The real mission, isn't it for us to kill him?" Chou used a thousand-blade to roll up his hair, a hint of coldness in his eyes, and his voice was very low.

"No need to guess, just take a look and you will know, it shouldn't be that simple, ahem..."

Shen bit his finger and stained the edge of the scroll with blood, then re-engraved the seal, the handwriting on the scroll crawled like an earthworm, and the ink gradually merged into another message.

After reading it, the two fell silent at the same time.

After a few seconds, Shen covered his mouth and said, "It seems that the other side has known my physical condition. This is my last mission."

"'Whether the mission is successful or not, Shen must sacrifice himself in front of Uchiha Itachi. If the situation allows, let Uchiha Itachi kill Shen himself.'"

Chou read out the words above, his face was not ugly, but he sighed a little unconvinced: "It seems that in his eyes, this kid will be a much more important chess piece than us in the future. He even has to use this method to deepen his sense of identity with the root...

"Don't worry," Chou and Shen's eyes gradually overlapped, "I should be there to accompany you soon. We have to perform well in this last scene."

"Everything for Konoha."

Shen nodded gratefully and did not reject the other party's kindness.

Chou smiled and repeated: "Everything for Konoha, and for the roots of Konoha."