Nighttime, A Town on the Border of the Land of Fire, A Certain Inn

  "Whoosh~"

  The te autumn wind howled, masking the faint sound of footsteps nding lightly on the rooftop. Four shinobi appeared silently atop the building.

  They wore brown, streamlined jumpsuits with dark blue half-body armor, distinctive respirators, and headbands marked with the symbol of the Amegakure, which glimmered faintly uhe dim moonlight.

  The leader gestured, and the four split up, infiltrating the Inn from different angles.

  None of them noticed a small, pitch-bck shadow pressed tightly against the rooftop, blending seamlessly with the interpy of light and shadow.

  One of the long-haired shinobi scaled the wall and reached a window on the Inn’s top floor. Pressing his hand lightly against the gss, he pushed it open and slipped ihout making a sound.

  But as soon as his foot touched the floor, he saw a short Konoha shinobi standing at a distance, gring coldly at him.

  [A brat from Konoha.]

  He instinctively began f hand seals, only to hear the sound of something slig through the air from behind.

  [A shadow e? Or—]

  The long-haired shinobi raised his kunai to block the attack, his seasoned bat instincts allowing him to pinpoint the strike’s in from the sound. He effortlessly parried the attaing from behind, noting from its height that it likely matched the stature of the short Konoha shinobi before him.

  If that’s the case, attag the inal should suffibsp;

  Gathering chakra, he luoward the short Konoha shinobi with his kunai in hand.

  "Shing~"

  The small shinobi snapped his fingers, and four firansformed into senbon, pierg the air toward him.

  The long-haired shinobi swung his kunai repeatedly, defleg the projectiles, which were average in speed and power. [A straeique, but g strength.]

  Though unscathed, the slight pause in his movement filled him with unease as the short Konoha shinobi charged at him. ging direid-dash was difficult for both parties.

  If a csh was unavoidable, it was better to strike first!

  He reversed his grip on the kunai, sshing at the Konoha shinobi's neck. Being an adult, his reach was naturally—

  His oppo’s head fell off.

  The head aumbled to the ground, leaving only the body holding the kunai to collide with him. Shocked, he instinctively shifted his body, using his arm to block the attabsp;

  "Thud!"

  The kunai pierced his arm. Ign the pain, he kicked the headless body away, but before he could recover—

  "Bang!"

  The headless body dispersed into white smoke, and the sound of two kunai cutting through the air came from behind.

  [I’m done for!]

  "Thud!" X2

  His final thought flickered as the kunai brutally stabbed his abdomen and the back of his neck. The searing pain exceeded his threshold, plunging him into darkness.

  "Thud!"

  "One down."

  Link released the kunai, pushing the bloodied corpse off his back. He expressionlessly pulled out another kunai ahe room.

  His shadow had returo its two-dimensional form, slipping through walls and rooms to scout the hallway.

  He followed closely, quickly arriving at another battle se.

  "Bang!"

  A Amegakure shinobi was sent flying into a wall by Iris’s kick. Ami emerged from the shadows, driving her kunai into the shinobi’s temple, twisting it before pulling it out.

  Seeing Link arrive, Iris held up two fingers.

  [Four ehree down, one likely headed straight for the mert’s room.]

  Link nodded without a word, motioning for them to remain vigint before leaving.

  The hallway floor was littered with bodies—those of both Amegakure shinobi and the voy’s guards. For the shinobi, killing a few samurai or ronin was child’s py.

  Reag the hallway outside the mert’s room, Link found the voy leader, a samurai, leaning against the wall clutg his bleeding abdomen. Nearby, three samurai corpses y on the ground, bristling with senbon.

  Nara Ensui was seg a scroll in its holder, while the beheaded corpse of the Amegakure leader y at his feet.

  The three exged gnces without speaking. In the oppressive silehey returo their positions as the surviving samurai began ing up the battlefield.

  This wasn’t their first assassination attempt.

  Leaning against the wall, Link closed his eyes to recover his stamina and calm his mind, reviewing the earlier battle.

  There wasn’t much to review. Against ordinary shinobi with no trump cards, he could easily achieve instant kills.

  Even his weakest skill—taijutsu—became overwhelming with his shadow teiques. A two-on-one fight alongside his shadow was something even average Genin or in couldn’t handle.

  As for why he didn’t summon substitute, use shadow es to weaken the enemy, or call upon his Earth Release teiques—

  There was no need.

  Shinobi battles heavily relied on information. For him, the fewer teiques he exposed, the better.

  He had nine different ways to kill an oppo—nine! But when it came to real bat, simplicity, direess, and minimizing intel leakage were paramount.

  As the voy he border of the Land of Rivers, they had already faced three attacks: one by a group of ronin, one by defectors from the Kusagakure, and this test assault by Amegakure shinobi.

  The first two is were handled entirely by Iris and Ami without requiring intervention from him or Nara Ensui.

  Would stronger enemies await them in the Land of Rivers?

  Link didn’t know, but he suspected the ing days would leave little time for rest.

  Statio his designated post until dawook a soldier pill and prepared to depart.

  By m, the corpses and bloodstains in the Inn had been ed up, leaving little trace of the previous night’s age. Still, a faiallic st of blood lingered in the air. While the shinobi and samurai hahe killing, the voy’s civiliaasked with up and tending to the mert.

  After reuniting with Ami, Iris, and Nara Ensui, they prepared to leave, only to withe ht mert berating the pale-faced samurai leader:

  “You idiot…”

  Even though the man had risked his life to protect him, the mert’s only pint was that the night had disrupted his sleep.

  Two stily eed the mert’s room as he ranted.

  Link watched coldly, while Iris ched his fists in frustration, his indignation barely tained. Ami stopped him, saying nothing but casting a furious gre at the mert.

  Nara Ensui ighe se, signaling his team to follow the mert and his guards out of the Inn.

  This was the way of their world. Shinobi, who wielded the stro power, saw themselves as tools, perpetuating a cyorally ambiguous violender the shinobi system.