Sunagakure Ninja Fortress

After Shintaro and the others had their fill of food and drink, they slept soundly in the cave.

The next morning, they heated up the leftover broth from the previous night. It was delightful to drink the delicious broth upon waking up.

Shintaro joked, "Luckily, I brought Kosuke with me on this mission."

Hayama and Duy also agreed. After all, when they went on missions in the village before, they mostly relied on food pills to satisfy their hunger.

Kosuke would always smile broadly when faced with everyone's praise.

After packing everything up, Kosuke carried the pot and continued following Shintaro westward.

The group followed the route indicated by the bandits the previous night and arrived at the mountain where the village was located within a few hours.

"The hut is on a gentle slope in the middle of the mountain." Shintaro observed the bandit hut from a distance with his Six Eyes.

Hayama asked, "Will we be considered enemies if we go straight there?"

Shintaro waved his hand and said, "Let's pretend we don't know there are Sunagakure ninjas inside."

Hayama still felt a bit uneasy but nodded.

Kosuke patted Hayama on the shoulder and said, "Even if there's an accident, we'll protect you."

Hayama suddenly felt comforted but realized he was the vice-captain, so he gripped the sword behind his waist and said, "I'll be the one protecting you."

Duy stood beside him and said seriously, "I will protect you with all my youthful vigor."

Shintaro turned with a smile on his face and said, "Rather than you, it's the Sunagakure ninjas who should be more worried right now."

The group relaxed and smiled, and the originally serious atmosphere dissipated.

Shintaro then said, "The team will immediately attack the mountain fortress directly, pretending it's a mission to eliminate the bandits to explore the number and strength of the Sunagakure ninjas inside. Remember to be careful not to escalate the situation."

"Yes, Captain." Hayama said, drawing his sword.

"Understood." Kosuke and Duy also nodded obediently.

"Let's go." Shintaro said, and everyone began running towards the mountain.

At the mountain fortress, a group of Sunagakure ninjas dressed as bandits were strengthening and building the fortress, aiming to turn it into a stronghold that could be used directly in the ninja war. The disguise as bandits was to avoid detection and leaking intelligence.

This place was located west of the Land of Rivers, very close to the Land of Wind, and the early stages of the Ninja War had not yet spread to Sunagakure Village, so the Sunagakure ninjas were quite relaxed.

The Sunagakure ninjas were slowly building their fortress.

A Sunagakure Special Jonin with a white cloth on his head shouted while helping push a transport truck carrying stones for construction, "Hurry up! Do you want to be scolded by that woman?"

The Sunagakure ninjas were immediately scared and quickened their movements.

It seemed that this Special Jonin was currently the highest commander of this fortress, and the woman they mentioned should be a higher-level leader.

*BOOM*

A loud noise interrupted the movements of all the Sunagakure ninjas, and the gate of the hut was blown up by a fireball.

The large burning wooden door broke apart and flew back more than ten meters, hitting the ground hard, causing splinters of wood and fire to fill the sky.

Black smoke billowed and swirled into the air.

"Enemy attack!" The Special Jonin immediately reacted and shouted, although he didn't yet know who the enemy was.

Outside the village, Shintaro had just completed a seal and spat out a fireball. Now he began forming another seal, ready to perform another ninjutsu.

Beside him, Kosuke threw four explosive tags and attached them to the wall, creating four large holes in the wall.

Hayama, wielding his sword, stepped forward and jumped into the air, swinging the sword in his hand.

A sharp airflow instantly cut through from his blade, slicing the already crumbling wall. A large section of the wall suddenly collapsed, stirring up dust on the ground.

Compared to ninjutsu users like Shintaro, Duy's destructive power against buildings was limited.

However, it didn't mean his power was weak.

Duy directly opened the [Hachimon], and the blood flow in his body increased rapidly, causing his skin to turn red, and green steam to rise from his body.

At this moment, many Sunagakure ninjas disguised as bandits gathered outside the hut. Duy rushed into the crowd, standing on the ground with his hands, spinning, and kicking hard.

"[Konoha Senpu]"

The Sunagakure ninjas were immediately dispersed, with people continuously being knocked away by Duy.

At this moment, Shintaro also completed his seal, and he appeared to be spitting fireballs into the air one by one while simultaneously throwing a large number of shuriken to combine with the fireballs.

A large number of burning shuriken were thrown from the sky, drawing perfect arcs and covering the Sunagakure ninjas in the village with weapons.

The Sunagakure Special Jonin was shocked by the sudden attack, and for a moment, he could only run around to avoid the falling burning shuriken.

Shintaro observed the area with his Six Eyes and confirmed that the entire fortress was filled with Sunagakure ninjas, numbering nearly fifty.

Most of them were mid-level Genin, and only one wearing a white cloth on his head was a Special Jonin, whose strength was comparable to Hayama.

Although the enemy was numerous, Shintaro was not panicked at all and continued to use area-of-effect attacks towards the crowd.

"[Katon: Gouka Mekkyaku]"

A surging sea of fire attacked the Sunagakure ninjas, causing them to suffer significant losses.

Many Sunagakure ninjas, burnt by the high-temperature flames, could only fall to the ground, writhing and howling.

"Are you Konoha ninjas? Why are you attacking us?!"

The Special Jonin held a kunai in front of Shintaro.

Shintaro replied, "Exterminating bandits is only natural."

The Special Jonin slapped his head, his face wrinkled, and he believed Shintaro's words, thinking it was just a misunderstanding.

"A misunderstanding! It's all a misunderstanding! I am Sato, a Special Jonin from Sunagakure, and here is my forehead protector!"

Sato took out his forehead protector and showed it to Shintaro.

Shintaro seemed hesitant and said, "Sunagakure ninja? Then why are you pretending to be bandits?"

"That's... that's a secret, so I can't tell you." Sato replied, "Anyway, it's all a misunderstanding, let's stop fighting each other!"

Shintaro nodded and instructed Hayama and the others to stop.

At the same time, he revealed his identity to Sato: "Chunin Konoha Uchiha Shintaro, leading a team to exterminate bandits. That ponytail guy is my vice-captain, Shirakumo Hayama, the one carrying the pot is Genin Maruboshi Kosuke, and the one wearing green tights is Genin Might Duy."

"Chunin... Genin?!"

Sato looked like he had just seen a ghost, shocked by the status of Shintaro and the others as Genin.

After all, the ninjutsu the other party had just used were all Jonin-level, and these four ninjas, who weren't even Special Jonin, were actually suppressing the Sunagakure ninjas in the entire fortress.

Sato was shocked and humiliated.

"Since it's a misunderstanding, let's leave it at that." Shintaro continued, "By the way, we still have a mission, which is to eliminate two rebel ninjas from Tanigakure Village. I don't know if you've seen them before. Here are their photos."

He handed the photos of the rebel ninjas to Sato.

Sato glanced at them and returned the photos, saying, "I haven't seen them before."

Shintaro looked at Sato, nodded, and said, "That's okay, goodbye then."

With that, he led the three of them and left the fortress.