Chapter Seventy-Nine: Turmoil

Within the Land of Fire’s borders, near the northwestern fortress encampment, a covert sentry post stood watch. The night sky above was clear, with sparse stars and a sliver of moonlight, and only a gentle breeze stirred—a serene, cloudless night.

It was not yet midnight, and a squad of Leaf Village shinobi had stopped here to rest. As was typical, this was a three-man ninja team: the captain, a seasoned Leaf chunin, stood guard, while his two subordinates—both genin—used the quiet to recover their chakra and mend their bodies.

This covert sentry post was strategically placed along a road leading directly to the northwestern fortress encampment. Patrol squads from the vicinity often paused here to take a brief respite from their rounds.

"Alert! Someone is advancing rapidly from the direction of the Land of Rain—it's a ninja, and they're moving fast!"

The vigilant Leaf chunin’s voice cut through the quiet, immediately rousing his resting teammates.

The two genin snapped from their rest, swiftly readying themselves for battle and fixing their gaze on the road stretching toward the Land of Rain.

In the distance, at the far end of the road, a solitary figure hurtled toward the sentry post at a breakneck pace, faint blue-green light flickering around him as he closed in.

A lone individual—not one of the nearby Leaf patrols. The way he moved—accompanied by those flashes of blue-green light—was striking, and the chakra he radiated far surpassed that of a chunin. This was, at the very least, a jōnin.

The tension in the Leaf squad was palpable. The captain’s hand hovered near his signal flare, ready to call for backup from nearby patrols at the first sign of trouble.

Their anxiety was understandable; this was a sensitive border region. The shinobi world’s tensions had been mounting lately, and enemy incursions by Sand, Stone, and Rain ninjas had become increasingly common here at night.

Though the invaders had been repelled each time, Leaf shinobi had not always escaped unscathed—some were wounded, others had fallen.

…

The striking figure, advancing like a gust of wind, was, of course, Kato Gofū, just returning from a mission in the Land of Rain.

He’d spent longer than expected on this assignment, and was running late—tonight, it seemed, he would miss his chance to catch up with his old friend, Sakumo Hatake.

On his return, he’d stopped by a small Rain ninja outpost he’d previously scouted, and, in passing, eliminated a Rain jōnin renowned for his mastery of Rain-style taijutsu—completing two additional objectives.

Dispatching this Rain jōnin proved unexpectedly troublesome. The man was indeed skilled in taijutsu, but he was also adept at genjutsu. His mental fortitude was formidable, his soul robust—perhaps heightened by the proximity to the border and ingrained vigilance.

The moment Kato Gofū’s soul clone invaded the Rain jōnin’s inner world, the man sensed something amiss and fought back with desperate ferocity. This was the first time Kato’s technique of soul-possession had encountered such intense resistance.

Though the enemy ultimately fell to the soul clone, his struggle alarmed the other Rain ninja in the small encampment.

Fortunately, the remaining Rain shinobi were mediocre at best and could offer little real assistance. To keep his identity hidden and complete his mission efficiently, Kato Gofū’s true body—concealed nearby—rushed to the camp as his soul clone wrestled with the jōnin.

With invisible, razor-sharp wind blades, combined with techniques to mask his presence and further accelerate his movements, he made short work of the others. The remaining Rain ninja, rattled by the sudden attack on their leader and unable to see their assailant, were left bewildered and afraid.

In the blink of an eye, before they could grasp what was happening, Kato silently dispatched them, his wind blades slicing throats cleanly and painlessly. They passed in peace, only bleeding after they’d already collapsed.

What followed was straightforward. With his true body’s help, the soul clone seized total control of the Rain jōnin. After extracting all useful intelligence, Kato finished him off, destroyed the bodies, erased any trace of his involvement, and left the outpost.

Regrettably, perhaps because the jōnin’s soul struggled so fiercely, no soul fragment was left behind after his death. Kato Gofū had been curious about the man’s hidden genjutsu; flashes of memory glimpsed during their soul struggle revealed a distinctive technique, one as unique to the Land of Rain as the Rain of a Thousand Needles—a jutsu that wove rainwater into its essence.

…

Kato Gofū raced back at full speed, and as he neared the covert sentry post, he sensed the Leaf ninja squad inside and immediately recognized them.

After a night of relentless exertion and high-stakes missions—especially after infiltrating Uchiha Madara’s lair near the Rain Village, coming face-to-face with the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and the Rinnegan—Kato was fatigued. Even though he’d only slain a White Zetsu clone, the ordeal had drained him.

His body could still endure, but his mind, after so long in a state of high alert, was reaching its limit. Reaching this sentry post meant the northwestern fortress encampment was not far—safety was nearly at hand. There was no further need to expend chakra concealing his presence.

Sensing the tension within the sentry—especially as the chunin’s hand hovered over the signal flare—Kato realized his sudden approach had startled them.

He recalled that, when he’d departed from the fortress earlier, a clerk had given him a password and an identity token.

Approaching to a safe distance from the post, Kato transmitted the code. After a brief wait and the correct response, he stepped inside.

Within, he found the three Leaf ninja exactly as he’d sensed: one chunin, two genin. The chunin’s expression relaxed the moment he saw Kato, clearly recognizing him. The two genin, however, remained tense—especially as Kato entered, bringing with him the dampness of rain and the strong scent of blood.

Kato didn’t recognize the two genin; they were likely recent academy graduates. The chunin, on the other hand, looked familiar—he’d probably seen him around the fortress during the day.

…

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