Chapter 3: Tentative Plan
Uchiha Kei didn't spare them even a glance, let alone a greeting, as he quickly sped out of the village.
It wasn't that he held any grudge against Minato, Kakashi, or the others—on the contrary, Kei actually admired them. But this particular mission left him in no mood for pleasantries.
Imai Kenta and Hyuga Ayaka felt the same. After giving one last glance toward Minato's squad, they silently followed Kei into the forest.
To draw Iwagakure's attention away from Minato's team, they had to split up. Sticking together would only interfere with the mission.
They sprinted through the woods, headed toward the mission objective. Sunlight filtered through the towering trees, casting broken shadows across the forest floor. Amid the interplay of light and shadow, three small figures dashed effortlessly from branch to branch, leaving fleeting afterimages behind them. In this dim light, their movements were barely noticeable—even the sharpest birds in the forest remained undisturbed.
Kei had already formed a strategy before departure: reach the destination as quickly as possible and stay hidden. With a member of the Hyuga clan on their team, they had a huge advantage—at the very least, they could scout enemy movements before making their next move.
Still, Kei understood how dangerous this mission was. He couldn't refuse it, but he had no intention of dying either. So he needed a plan.
After three days of traveling, the three of them finally crossed the border and entered the Land of Grass. However, under Kei's orders, they deliberately avoided the main Konoha forces stationed there.
This decision puzzled both Kenta and Ayaka, but as wartime shinobi, they had no choice but to obey their squad leader.
"Let's take a break." Once they reached a forest deep within the Grass Country, Kei finally stopped and sat down to rest. They needed to conserve their strength to face whatever battle might come next.
"Byakugan, activate."
Without waiting for instructions, Hyuga Ayaka activated her Byakugan and scanned their surroundings. She understood just how precarious their situation was. If she wanted to survive, she couldn't afford to let her guard down.
"No threats nearby," she reported quietly after a moment, deactivating her dojutsu.
Kei nodded. "Good. We've arrived in the target area. We'll be heading deeper soon, so now's the time to talk strategy. Let me ask you both—do you want to survive this?"
His blunt question caught both teammates off guard. Neither had expected Kei to be so direct.
They exchanged glances but wisely remained silent.
Anyone who'd graduated from the Ninja Academy and made it this far into the war without dying wasn't an idiot. Both of them understood the true nature of this mission—Konoha had sent them to serve as decoys to hold back Iwagakure forces. In other words, cannon fodder.
There were ways to stay alive. The smartest tactic was to linger along the border between Fire and Grass Country, engage in light skirmishes, and wait out the war. Both of them had likely thought of this.
But even if you thought it, or even did it, you could never say it aloud. That's how politics worked.
Kei's blunt question had just cut off their escape route. If they admitted what they were thinking, their careers would be over.
Kei remained silent, leaning casually against a tree with a faint smirk on his lips. Of course he knew what they were thinking. He'd spent days coming up with all kinds of plans—only to discard them all.
Maybe his teammates could coast through the war and survive by doing nothing. But as team leader, Kei didn't have that luxury. If he played it safe and returned to the village empty-handed, he'd be condemned for "delaying the mission." His name would be ruined.
He understood full well that even without their help, Iwagakure probably wouldn't last much longer. But not everyone saw the bigger picture like he did. The higher-ups in Konoha always needed a scapegoat to maintain their glorious image. If things went wrong, they'd pin the blame on someone—preferably someone from the Uchiha clan they already distrusted.
Kei wasn't about to volunteer as their fall guy. Nor would he let his teammates think they could get away with doing nothing.
Whether or not they truly meant to slack off, Kei had to kill that idea in its tracks. He didn't want to die, but he wanted even less to be the one blamed for others' failure.
"What's the matter?" Kei said with a mocking tone, reaching into his ninja pouch behind his back. "Is that such a hard question to answer?"
He was fully prepared to strike. If either of them dared say the wrong thing, he was ready to kill one and escape. He didn't think it would come to that—but he had to be cautious.
Finally, Ayaka and Kenta exchanged another look, and Ayaka gritted her teeth. "Captain… you know what this mission really is, don't you?"
"Of course I do," Kei replied with a smirk. "That's exactly why I'm asking you what you plan to do."
"We'll complete our mission," Kenta said with a smile that looked gentle but hid sharp intent. "But we should be smart about it. We've got the Byakugan—might as well use it to our advantage."
"Good idea," Kei said nonchalantly, lowering his guard.
As expected, they didn't dare act rashly. Attacking him would count as betrayal, and betraying Konoha was far worse than harboring doubts about a mission.
They also knew Kei wasn't someone to mess with. The three of them had survived countless missions and watched countless teammates die—there was a reason these three were still alive.
But now all three had the same silent thought: Great. We've run into someone just as cunning as we are.
With three seasoned tricksters in the same team, it was going to be a battle of wits—and will to survive.
"Alright then. We'll find a good spot and do our job," Kei said with a casual grin. "Kenta's right. Let's make full use of our Byakugan. Once we reach the target zone, we'll rely on Ayaka to help us scout."
"No problem," she replied. "But what's the next step after that?"
"Simple," Kei said. "Find an area with fewer enemies—and ambush them. There are other squads besides us, right?"
Ayaka and Kenta both gave a silent nod.
They got it now. This wasn't about completing the mission the way the higher-ups expected—it was about surviving it smartly.