Minato had left Konoha during the second week after the dinner at his apartment.
The details of his assignment were classified, but no one needed to ask why the village had suddenly deployed one of its most talented jōnin.
The situation along the southwestern border was deteriorating.
Rumors claimed that Sunagakure's main puppet forces had entered the conflict. Entire divisions of puppet masters were striking the Land of Fire's defensive positions, poisoning supply routes and overwhelming isolated outposts.
Every day, more shinobi left through Konoha's gates.
Not all of them returned.
The shadow of war had begun to stretch across the village, and even the missions assigned to newly graduated genin were becoming more serious.
Konoha had not yet entered the nightmare of fighting on four fronts. The village still possessed enough manpower to protect its most important positions.
However, the Land of Fire was enormous.
Its borders touched the Land of Rain, the Land of Rivers, the Land of Grass, and the Land of Hot Water. Even with numerous outposts, Konoha could not completely seal every road, forest, and mountain pass.
When war approached, criminals always became more active.
Missing-nin crossed borders under the cover of chaos. Enemy spies disguised themselves as merchants and refugees. Bandit groups attacked weakened settlements, while rogue shinobi targeted the caravans carrying food, medicine, and weapons toward the front lines.
As a result, the missions given to Konoha's genin teams began to change.
They patrolled the territory surrounding the village, investigated suspicious travelers, eliminated bandit gangs, and protected the roads used by military supply convoys.
The missions were dangerous, but Konoha had taken precautions.
Each team received signal flares before leaving the village. Other shinobi units operated within approximately ten kilometers, allowing any team facing a superior enemy to immediately request reinforcements.
Team Minato had never used one of its flares.
With Kakashi and Ren on the same team, most enemies did not survive long enough to force them into retreat. Kakashi usually fought beside Obito, while Ren worked with Rin.
Unless the opposition included a jōnin-level shinobi, the outcome was rarely in doubt.
The only real question was how seriously Ren intended to fight.
Recently, the answer had been: not very seriously.
He deliberately avoided relying on his strongest and most familiar techniques. Instead, he used each mission as practical training for Phoenix Sage Fire, Dragon Fire, and Hatake Swordsmanship.
Real combat offered something ordinary practice could not.
Targets moved unpredictably. Enemies fought back. Fear, terrain, and exhaustion forced Ren to adjust each technique under pressure.
Unfortunately, most of the bandits and criminals they encountered were too weak to provide meaningful resistance. Many could not use chakra, let alone ninjutsu.
The battles often ended before Ren could push himself.
Phoenix Sage Fire and Dragon Fire were both left dissatisfied, complaining through the Gala System that their opportunities had ended too quickly.
Once Ren returned to Konoha, he still had to perform additional practice to collect the remaining favorability gains.
After eliminating the bandits at Black Wind Mountain, Team Minato escorted the rescued civilians to the nearest town.
The local officials received the captives and began identifying their families. Team Minato rested long enough to replenish its supplies before beginning the journey back to Konoha.
They reached the village without incident.
Kakashi headed to the Mission Hall to submit the report and turn over the recovered evidence. Rin went directly to Konoha Hospital, where the Medical Corps needed every available pair of hands.
Obito returned to the Uchiha compound after loudly announcing that he intended to eat enough ramen to recover all the chakra he had used.
Ren went alone to the southern training grounds.
Even without Minato, the four continued their special training.
The frequency and intensity had decreased because of their growing mission load, and they no longer trained together every day. Kakashi supervised whenever possible, but each member had also begun focusing on individual weaknesses.
Ren did not know exactly how far Kakashi and Obito had progressed.
His own training had entered a more dangerous stage.
He had mastered ordinary water-walking long ago. Standing on a calm lake no longer challenged his chakra control, so he had moved on to rapidly flowing rivers.
Now he was attempting something even harder.
Waterfall walking.
The Naka River waterfall stood ahead of him.
A massive curtain of water plunged from the cliff, crashing into the pool below with enough force to shake the surrounding air. Mist drifted through the gorge, coating the nearby rocks and trees in cold moisture.
The waterfall was several dozen meters high.
From below, it resembled a silver dragon descending from the sky.
Ren removed his jacket and shoes, placing them safely beneath a tree. He kept his trousers and equipment pouch, ensuring that his kunai and emergency supplies remained within reach.
Waterfall walking was far more difficult than ordinary tree or water walking.
To remain on the cliff, Ren needed to maintain chakra against the rock beneath his feet. At the same time, he had to endure the constant impact of the descending water.
Too little chakra, and he would lose his footing.
Too much, and the unstable output would push him away from the cliff.
He also had to adjust continuously as the pressure of the falling water shifted around his body.
The exercise was dangerous enough that most genin should never attempt it alone.
Ren possessed two emergency measures.
If he lost control, he could escape with the Substitution Technique. If that failed, his perfected Transformation Technique allowed him to assume the body of a bird and avoid crashing into the rocks below.
He looked up at the waterfall.
Then he ran forward.
The instant Ren entered the falling water, an enormous impact struck his shoulders and head.
It felt as though a heavy hand had slammed him toward the ground.
Cold water blinded him.
He forced chakra into his feet and took three steps up the cliff.
One.
Two.
Three.
His concentration slipped.
The water tore him away from the rock.
Ren fell backward, twisting in the air as the waterfall dragged him toward the pool.
"Substitution!"
His body vanished.
A wooden log appeared in his place and was immediately swallowed by the current.
Ren reappeared on a wet rock beside the pool.
He remained there for several seconds, breathing steadily while the numbness faded from his shoulders.
Then he tried again.
His second attempt lasted five seconds.
The third reached eight.
Time passed.
Ren gradually learned to distribute the impact instead of resisting it directly. He angled his body, allowed part of the water to flow over his shoulders, and adjusted the chakra beneath his feet in response to each change in pressure.
Eventually, he managed to remain beneath the waterfall.
He began taking small steps sideways.
When that became stable, he attempted to turn.
Every improvement was minor, but each one brought him closer to complete control.
Ren had just fallen from the waterfall again when a faint sensation touched the edge of his awareness.
It was not a sound.
It was the feeling of being watched.
Ren landed in the shallow water and instinctively turned toward the forest.
Mist drifted between the trees.
For a fraction of a second, something pale appeared inside the undergrowth.
A mask.
Then it vanished.
Ren's muscles tightened.
Swish!
A kunai tore through the mist.
Ren twisted aside.
Cold metal passed less than an inch from his cheek, close enough for him to feel the air split against his skin.
The kunai struck the cliff behind him with a sharp metallic tap before the waterfall swept it into the pool.
"Who's there?"
Ren flipped backward and landed on a protruding rock. He lowered his center of gravity, one hand reaching toward his equipment pouch.
The weapon had come from the trees to the right of the waterfall.
That was also where he had seen the white mask.
The forest appeared empty.
Only swaying branches and drifting mist answered him.
Ren did not relax.
The attacker had thrown the kunai directly at his head.
That was not a warning.
A sudden gust disturbed the fog.
Ren's pupils contracted.
The mist ahead of him exploded outward.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
A violent blast of wind roared from the forest.
It ripped leaves from the trees and carved a widening path through the mist. The pressure struck the surface of the pool, forcing the water apart in a broad fan as though an invisible siege weapon were charging toward Ren.
He could have countered Wind Release with fire.
However, unleashing a powerful Fire Release technique beside a waterfall would generate an enormous amount of steam and immediately destroy his visibility.
More importantly, the entire gorge was filled with water.
Ren formed several hand seals.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
The Gala System reacted instantly.
[Water Formation Wall: Master, has my moment finally arrived? Leave everything to me! I will protect you!]
[Water Formation Wall favorability +2!]
Chakra surged through Ren's body.
Instead of creating water from within himself, he seized control of the enormous natural supply surrounding him.
The pool churned.
Part of the waterfall twisted away from the cliff, drawn by Ren's chakra.
A thick wall of water erupted around him, forming a curved barrier just before the wind struck.
BOOM!
The gorge shook.
The Water Formation Wall warped beneath the impact. Its surface twisted violently, spraying thousands of droplets into the air.
The wind tore away its outer layers.
But the barrier held.
Ren narrowed his eyes and peered through the churning water.
The wall had blocked the technique, but it had also filled the gorge with additional mist. The attacker remained concealed within the trees.
No footsteps.
No breathing.
Not even the rustling of disturbed leaves.
Whoever had attacked him was skilled.
Ren had only begun searching for a chakra signature when the pool below him changed.
Several whirlpools appeared beneath the surface.
His eyes widened.
The attacker had already begun another technique.
"Water Release: Water Fang Bullet!"
Compressed streams of water erupted from the pool.
They twisted like serpents, spinning at tremendous speed as they converged on Ren from several directions. Their sharpened tips pierced the air with a shrill whistle.
The attack used the river itself, granting it both speed and power.
Ren abandoned the damaged Water Formation Wall and leapt upward.
Two water drills passed beneath him.
A third curved toward his spine.
This time, Ren formed a different sequence of seals.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
A massive orange-red fireball burst from his mouth.
It expanded to nearly eight meters across, colliding head-on with the incoming Water Fang Bullets.
Fire and water met.
The gorge erupted.
HISSSSS!
Scalding steam exploded across the battlefield.
The water drills lost their shape inside the flames, while the Great Fireball rapidly weakened as its heat was consumed.
Within seconds, a dense white cloud swallowed the waterfall, the forest, and the pool.
Ren landed on the water's surface.
He had deliberately limited the Great Fireball's temperature.
Several hundred degrees were sufficient to neutralize the Water Fang Bullets and generate the concealment he needed. There was no reason to reveal the true intensity of his Fire Release.
He still did not know the attacker's identity.
A foreign spy would have no reason to test him alone so close to Konoha.
An ordinary missing-nin would not wear a white animal mask.
There was a far more likely answer.
Someone inside the village had become interested in him.
Ren remained completely still within the steam, listening for movement.
If he could not locate the enemy, he would not waste time searching.
The Great Fireball had created a blind spot large enough for him to retreat, report the attack, and return with reinforcements.
He silently reached for a smoke bomb with one hand while preparing the Substitution Technique with the other.
Then a faint ripple passed through the water behind him.
Ren's eyes turned cold.
The masked shinobi had not retreated.
They were already inside the steam.
And if Ren's suspicion was correct, the person hunting him had not crossed Konoha's walls from the outside.
The attack had come from one of the village's own shadows.