"You think this is over?" Fujiwara whispered through bloodied lips. "Wind Eye is already coming."
Tsume's expression darkened. She tightened the wire binding his arms, causing the captured spy to groan before losing consciousness again.
"Whoever Wind Eye is, we'll deal with him after we return to Wildfire Outpost," she said. "Standing around in enemy territory while carrying a prisoner is asking for trouble."
Obito had already moved past Fujiwara and was inspecting the battlefield. The longer he looked, the quieter he became.
Three Hidden Rain chūnin lay dead among the scorched trees. The ground had been torn apart by ninjutsu, several boulders had shattered, and steam still drifted above the stream.
Only Ren and Kakashi stood among the destruction.
Tsume surveyed the battlefield with an experienced eye. She examined the Rain forehead protectors, the sword marks on the bodies, and the blackened trail left by the combined Fire and Wind Release attack.
"You two already finished all three of them?" she asked. Genuine astonishment entered her voice. "They weren't fresh academy graduates. Judging by their equipment and reactions, every one of them was an experienced chūnin."
"Kakashi handled one of them and helped me finish the last," Ren replied. "We also prepared an ambush before they arrived."
Kakashi shook his head. "The strategy was Ren's. His technique created the opening that decided the battle."
Obito looked from Kakashi to Ren.
Until a moment ago, he had been eager to boast about pursuing Fujiwara alone. Now those words remained trapped in his throat.
He had chased one enemy, fallen into a wire trap, and nearly allowed Fujiwara to escape. If Tsume and Kuromaru had not arrived, the battle could have ended very differently.
Ren and Kakashi, meanwhile, had confronted three chūnin and eliminated them before reinforcements arrived.
The comparison was painful.
Obito clenched his fists, but the frustration in his eyes was directed more at himself than anyone else. "Next time, I'll defeat my opponent before you two even arrive."
Kakashi glanced at his torn clothes. "Try avoiding the first trap before planning that far ahead."
"That trap only caught me because I was deliberately distracting him!"
"You were screaming for help."
"I was distracting him with my voice!"
Tsume laughed and slapped Kakashi on the shoulder. "Not bad, kid. I heard about Kakashi Hatake a few years ago, but seeing you fight is different."
Her attention shifted toward Ren. "And you're no ordinary genin either. Minato has trained both of you well. At this rate, the Yellow Flash may have some frightening successors."
Obito stopped arguing.
"The Yellow Flash?" he repeated. "Is that Minato-sensei's nickname?"
Tsume nodded. "You seriously didn't know?"
"I've never heard anyone call him that before." Obito crossed his arms and considered it. "How strong is Minato-sensei compared to Konoha's White Fang?"
The atmosphere froze.
Kakashi's head snapped toward him.
For the first time since entering the forest, the usual indifference disappeared from his visible eye. Something colder—and far more wounded—replaced it.
Obito immediately sensed the change, but he did not understand it. "What? I was only asking which one is stronger."
Kakashi's hand tightened around the sheath of the White Light Chakra Sabre. He stared at Obito for another moment before turning away.
"Ask someone else," he said.
Without waiting for the others, Kakashi began walking toward Wildfire Outpost.
Obito looked completely bewildered. "What's wrong with him now?"
Tsume's earlier smile had stiffened. "You really have a talent for stepping on the exact subject you shouldn't touch."
"But I only mentioned the White Fang."
"That's the problem," she muttered.
Obito turned to Ren. "Did I say something wrong?"
Ren sighed.
Kakashi's father was not a subject that could be explained casually in the middle of a forest, especially when Kakashi himself had never permitted them to discuss it.
"Ask Minato-sensei when he returns," Ren said. "If Kakashi wants to tell you himself, he will. Until then, don't bring up the White Fang around him."
Obito looked at Kakashi's retreating back. The confusion on his face gradually gave way to guilt.
"Fine," he murmured. "I didn't know."
The group began its return journey.
A light drizzle soon fell across the foothills. Rain tapped against the leaves and washed soot from the scorched trees, while Kuromaru repeatedly checked the surrounding air for unfamiliar scents.
Tsume remained at the rear with Fujiwara over her shoulder. Despite the spy's warning, no reinforcements appeared.
That did not make Ren feel any safer.
If Wind Eye was the commander of the Rain shinobi squad, he might already know that his subordinates had failed. If he was connected to Sunagakure's poison operation, the threat could be far greater than a few chūnin.
Ren glanced toward the pouch containing the Water Formation Wall scroll.
At least the pursuit had not been without rewards.
When they arrived at Wildfire Outpost, the camp was still under maximum alert. Guards occupied every watchtower, barrier teams monitored the walls, and the original warehouse had been emptied.
The medicine, weapons, and communication scrolls were now divided among several concealed storage points. Even if the enemy destroyed one, the camp would not lose everything.
Commander Akiyama personally met the returning team at the gate.
Tsume lowered Fujiwara to the ground and handed him to the interrogation unit. "He's alive, but don't loosen the restraints. He already escaped from the medical ward once."
Two Konoha shinobi seized the prisoner and dragged him toward a fortified building near the centre of the camp.
Akiyama watched them leave. "Did he reveal anything?"
"Only a name," Tsume answered. "Wind Eye. Fujiwara claimed this person is already on the way."
Akiyama's scarred face hardened. "I'll have the interrogation team learn everything he knows. Until Minato returns, no one enters or leaves the outpost without my direct permission."
Tsume then gave a complete account of the chase.
She described Fujiwara's escape, Obito's pursuit, the arrival of the Rain reinforcements, and how Ren and Kakashi had remained behind to intercept them. Kakashi also explained their ambush, although he carefully avoided revealing the true nature of Ren's modified Substitution Technique.
When Akiyama heard that two genin had eliminated three Hidden Rain chūnin, he stared at Ren and Kakashi in disbelief.
"Three chūnin?" he repeated. "You confirmed their ranks?"
Tsume nodded. "Their identification records were genuine. At least two had completed more than a dozen combat missions."
Akiyama released a slow breath. "Minato's students really are monsters."
Obito straightened proudly, as though the compliment included him in equal measure.
Akiyama continued, "I'll record every detail in the official mission report. All four of you helped expose the infiltrator, and Ren's warning may have prevented the destruction of our supplies. Konoha will be informed of your contributions."
Obito grinned. "Make sure you mention that I discovered the spy first."
Kakashi gave him a flat look. "You discovered him because you were avoiding training."
"The reason doesn't matter. What matters is the result!"
Rin, who had arrived with Hebiji, covered her mouth to conceal a laugh. Her worried expression softened when she saw that all three boys had returned safely.
After the report, Ren placed the recovered weapons and supplies on the table. He included the kunai, shuriken, Explosive Tags, swords, medicine, and military rations.
The only item he did not present was the Water Formation Wall scroll.
"Should these be transferred to the outpost's storage?" Ren asked. "Some of the equipment may be useful if the enemy attacks."
Akiyama inspected the pile before shaking his head. "You defeated the enemy, so the spoils belong to your team. Wildfire Outpost will not confiscate equipment earned in battle."
He pushed the items back toward Ren. "Divide them among yourselves. Consider it additional compensation for risking your lives."
The recovered supplies officially became the property of Team Minato.
Ren divided the kunai, shuriken, rations, and Explosive Tags between himself, Obito, and Rin. Kakashi showed no interest in ordinary equipment and declined his share without hesitation.
Obito accepted several Explosive Tags with great enthusiasm.
Kakashi immediately warned him not to attach them to anything inside the camp.
Once everything had been distributed, Ren returned to his temporary quarters. He claimed that the battle had exhausted him and that he needed to rest.
That was only partly a lie.
His chakra had been significantly depleted by repeated uses of Simulated Realm Instantaneous Transfer, but his real purpose was to examine the limited-time Encounter mission connected to Water Formation Wall.
Ren locked the door, sat cross-legged on the bed, and placed the scroll in front of him.
The familiar translucent interface appeared.
[Limited-Time Encounter: Water Formation Wall]
[Begin Encounter?]
Ren selected the confirmation option.
His surroundings faded.
The walls of the room dissolved into endless grey rain. The sound of countless droplets filled his ears, and cold mist rolled across a ruined battlefield.
Broken weapons protruded from the mud. Torn pieces of a ninjutsu scroll drifted through shallow puddles, their ink slowly washing away.
A young girl sat among the fragments.
She had long blue hair darkened by rain, and her arms were wrapped tightly around her knees. Her soaked clothes clung to her thin body, but she showed no sign of feeling the cold.
She looked less like a living person and more like something that had been abandoned after it was no longer useful.
Even when Ren approached, she did not lift her head.
The interface displayed a description before him.
[After defeating the Hidden Rain shinobi, you discovered a blue-haired girl sitting among the remains of a broken scroll. She does not react to your arrival. It appears she has been abandoned so many times that she no longer expects anyone to stay.]
Three responses appeared beneath the description.
[A: Stand up. Who gave you permission to sit there?]
[B: The rain is getting heavier. Come home with me before you get sick.]
[C: Say nothing and sit beside her.]
Ren stared at the choices.
"Why does obtaining a stolen ninjutsu begin like an encounter with a runaway girl?"
The system naturally offered no answer.
Still, Ren could understand the logic.
The three basic Academy techniques had been with him since the system first awakened, so they were portrayed as familiar childhood companions.
Great Fireball had entered his strategy list after he observed Obito's training. The technique appeared as a proud and passionate young lady encountered in the forest.
Hatake Swordsmanship was cold, demanding, and almost impossible to please—an untouchable flower growing at the summit of a mountain.
Water Formation Wall was different from all of them.
Ren had not learned it from a teacher or witnessed it through a companion. He had taken its scroll from the corpse of a defeated enemy.
To the system, she was a spoil of war whose previous owner had died.
Ren wondered how different this encounter would have been if he had learned Water Formation Wall from Hiruzen. Perhaps she would have appeared as a dignified student carrying the Hokage's teachings rather than an abandoned girl sitting in the rain.
After considering the options, Ren selected C.
His figure sat in the mud beside the blue-haired girl.
The rain continued falling.
[Water Formation Wall: …]
Ren waited.
[Ren: …]
Another long silence followed.
[Water Formation Wall: …]
Ren's eyebrow twitched. "Is the encounter frozen?"
He reached toward the rollback function. Before he could activate it, the text finally changed.
[Water Formation Wall: Aren't you going to give me an order?]
Ren paused.
[Ren: Why would I order you?]
The blue-haired girl slowly raised her head. Her eyes were grey-blue and strangely unfocused, resembling shallow puddles left after a storm.
[Water Formation Wall: You defeated my previous master. I belong to you now. I am your spoil of war, so you may use me however you wish.]
[Water Formation Wall: You do not need to sit beside me. You only need to tell me what to do.]
A new set of options appeared.
[A: Fine. Start by cleaning my shoes.]
[B: Then I order you to stand up and come home with me. Don't stay in the rain.]
[C: Remain silent and continue sitting beside her.]
Option A was clearly absurd.
Option C might trap them in another endless staring contest.
Ren chose B.
His figure stood and extended a hand toward her.
[Ren: Then this is my order. Stand up and come home with me. If you remain here, the rain will soak you through.]
The girl stared at his outstretched hand without accepting it.
[Water Formation Wall: Home?]
[Water Formation Wall: I do not understand. I am only a technique—a tool created to be used. Rain cannot make a tool sick, and abandonment cannot make a tool sad.]
[Water Formation Wall: You do not need to care about a tool's feelings.]
Ren fell silent.
She was not merely a runaway girl.
She was practically a ninjutsu version of Haku.
This affection system certainly possessed an impressive range of character types. Every new technique seemed to arrive with its own personality and emotional problems.
Ren maintained a serious expression.
[Ren: You are not merely a tool. You are a unique Water Formation Wall, and I will treat you with the same respect I give every technique that fights beside me.]
[Ren: If you are willing to trust me, take my hand. I will bring you home, and I will not discard you simply because I learn something stronger.]
The blue-haired girl's eyes finally moved.
She looked at Ren's hand for a long time before slowly placing her cold fingers against his palm.
[Water Formation Wall: …All right.]
The girl rose from the rain and followed Ren away from the ruined battlefield.
She remained silent, walking half a step behind him like an abandoned puppy afraid that any sudden movement might make its new owner change his mind.
When Ren looked forward, her lips moved soundlessly.
[Water Formation Wall: Will you throw me away too… just like all the others?]
A notification appeared.
[Water Formation Wall Favorability +1]
[Water Formation Wall has been added to the Strategy List!]
[Current Favorability: 1/100—Stranger]
Ren released the breath he had been holding.
He had successfully acquired the technique.
Even so, something about Water Formation Wall felt different from his other targets. Her personality was quieter and more fragile, but there was also something hidden beneath that emptiness—something the first encounter had not revealed.
Ren dismissed the concern.
It was only a ninjutsu, after all.
The system's functions were extremely basic. It did not even provide proper character illustrations, so there was no possibility of it suddenly producing some elaborate yandere scene or absurd harem gallery.
That would be ridiculous.
A clear chime sounded inside his mind.
[Ding! Ten eligible Strategy Targets detected.]
[Special unlock condition fulfilled.]
[New Function Unlocked: Bond Album!]
Ren's eyelids twitched.
He stared at the notification, suddenly remembering the thought he had entertained only a second earlier.
"A Bond Album?"
Another option appeared beneath it.
[Would you like to open the Bond Album now?]
Ren's exhaustion disappeared.
He selected Yes.
A translucent book materialized in front of him. Ten shadowed portraits appeared across its closed cover, and the pages began turning by themselves.
The first page opened.
Ren's curious smile instantly vanished.