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The moment Tōji finished speaking, he noticed the corner of Neru's mouth twitch slightly…

This woman—she didn't want to fight herself, but she wouldn't speak up either. Absolutely speechless.

Kenji shrugged, as if the "turtle shell" on his back didn't hinder his movements at all. "You're right—almost forgot we had actual business. Let's go around. Stay sharp, everyone—they might have spotted us already."

Natchi said nothing. Ever since he'd been placed on the same squad as these two former classmates, he rarely had much to say.

Whether that was because he was simple-minded or something else, Tōji couldn't tell. He figured that if no one had been watching, he'd have sold Natchi out on their very first mission together.

But the longer they were together, the more Tōji found himself unwilling to abandon such an honest guy at critical moments.

The simple-minded had their own kind of luck, he supposed.

Whether Neru would sell them both out was another question—it hadn't happened yet, since they'd never faced a true squad-wipe crisis. But Tōji had a feeling that the only reason Neru had survived those months on the front lines was that she'd indirectly thrown her teammates under the bus before.

That said, Tōji believed Neru and he were alike—neither had actively betrayed a teammate. They just kept their hands clean.

If caught, they'd only be charged with "retreating in the face of the enemy," not "sabotaging comrades"…

Though both seemed like unpardonable offenses… probably just the difference between dying standing up and dying lying down when you were court-martialed.

Then again—it probably didn't count as retreating, since they always struck when the timing was right. Shinobi combat was all about timing, after all.

No one knew how much inner drama Tōji was playing out. Under Kenji's lead, they took a detour and continued toward the distress signal.

There were too few elite medical-nin, so low-level rescue squads like theirs—the ones that "couldn't handle the big stage"—were actually the real workhorses of battlefield support.

Since Iwa's invading forces were at least chūnin-level, with a high proportion of jōnin, Konoha squads almost never walked away from an encounter unscathed.

So unless a Konoha squad was completely wiped out, they'd have to respond to every fight in their sector.

"We're probably being tailed by that Iwa squad!" Kenji suddenly said as they moved.

But there was a hint of barely concealed excitement in his voice…

『Man, I know you're strong, but do you really think your three subordinates can handle the enemy's chūnin?』 Tōji had his doubts, but couldn't voice them—he even wondered if Kenji had lost his mind.

"Can we set up some traps or an ambush in time?" Natchi had become Kenji's best conversation partner in these situations.

Tōji and Neru, of course, were busy scheming in their own heads!

"Probably not much use—but we can head to the river nearby. Choosing a water source as our battlefield works in our favor!" Kenji's tone carried a clear sense of motivation.

Over seventy percent of Iwa-nin knew Earth Release. And both Kenji and Tōji had dual Earth-Water affinities… Konoha's Earth Release wouldn't have an advantage over Iwa's, and Water Release was usually weak against Earth. But near a water source, that disadvantage could be mitigated.

Any edge—no matter how small—was worth fighting for.

—That was the standard thinking for any proper shinobi.

So Kenji quickly led the squad toward a nearby river. Terrain advantage mattered!

"Right here!" Kenji's squad reached the riverbank.

There was some distance between the river and the treeline on either side. The water flowed at a decent pace but wasn't too rough—perfect for fighting on the surface.

All four of them stood in the open on the water, waiting.

At that moment, birds burst from the forest.

The enemy had arrived!