Chapter 138: A Bloodied Night

Chōji approached strategy through precedent.

"Graduating teams take photographs with their instructors," he said. "My father keeps old team pictures at home. Iruka-sensei might have one with his teacher."

Naruto stopped chewing the chestnut Chōji had given him. "So we visit Iruka-sensei and look at his pictures."

"We ask to visit," Tenyu corrected.

"That's what I said."

"You said look at his pictures."

"After he invites us inside."

The manual had not taught Naruto much directly, but its rules had followed him through the twins. Entering an instructor's home without permission would transform investigation into trespass. Iruka would identify him immediately, and being caught would prove nothing except that Naruto deserved another cleaning assignment.

Chōji nodded. "We can bring a gift. Adults let you stay longer if you visit politely."

"Food?"

"Food is usually correct."

They returned to Ichiraku to consult Ayame. She approved the visit for the following afternoon, when Iruka would be home, and prepared a sealed container of broth concentrate he had ordered before. The delivery gave them an honest reason to knock. It did not grant permission to search.

"You give him the container," Ayame said. "You ask your question. If he says no, you leave."

Naruto looked wounded. "This is an intelligence operation."

"Then gather information about what happens when you ignore the person feeding you."

Tōsei laughed into the stockpot.

Tenyu and Maki knew the photograph would reveal Tonbo. They could end the search immediately, but Naruto's growing team had given him an afternoon in which Shikamaru, Shino, and Chōji treated him as an ordinary classmate. Neither twin wanted to take that away too soon.

"Should we tell him tomorrow?" Maki whispered.

"If Iruka doesn't," Tenyu decided.

The choice felt fair. A game stopped being a game if the only people with the answer prevented anyone else from winning.

Naruto spent the evening assigning roles. Chōji would identify photographs. Tenyu would ask innocent questions because adults underestimated him. Maki would watch Iruka's expression. Naruto would lead the conversation and recognize the teacher before anyone else.

"What if the picture has several people?" Chōji asked.

"We compare ages and ask follow-up questions."

All three looked at Naruto.

"That was in the manual," he admitted.

He had learned something after all.

Chōji proposed writing the roles down, but Naruto disliked creating evidence Iruka could discover. Tenyu pointed out that forgetting the plan would be worse than revealing it. They compromised on a harmless delivery list: broth, greeting, question, photograph, thanks, departure. Maki drew small faces beside each step. The finished document looked nothing like covert intelligence and contained everything the team needed.

Naruto carried the list folded inside his jacket. For once, preparation felt less like an instructor's demand than a way to keep other people moving with him. He checked twice that Chōji knew the meeting time and walked him home before the approved route took the twins back to Ichiraku.

At Gale Valley, darkness changed the wind.

Rock cooled rapidly after sunset. Currents that had risen along warm walls began descending through narrow channels. The observation array registered the shift before the candidates noticed. Tonbo recalled two groups and allowed the third to continue only within the nearest route.

Ki approved the decision. "The first night causes more failures than the first day. They assume the valley remains the same opponent."

"An environment is never an opponent," Tonbo said. "It has no obligation to repeat itself."

The injured candidate slept inside the barrier while three others reviewed their mistakes. Tsuyoshi prepared warm food. Shikyō checked insect shelters. Atsushi maintained shorter Byakugan rotations to avoid exhaustion. Tonbo's clone continued measurements; the original preserved enough chakra for an immediate evacuation of all twelve.

No message arrived from the estate.

Tonbo had not expected ordinary contact while radio traffic remained restricted, yet the absence grew heavier as the agreed check time passed. He released two woven moths toward the southern route. The wind forced both low, lengthening the journey.

"Compromised communications?" Atsushi asked.

"Possibly. We continue the trial until evidence changes the mission. Prepare a full recall without announcing it."

Tonbo placed the medical station into transport order. Instruments that required minutes to seal remained open only if they could be abandoned. Food, blood-replacement fluids, blankets, and barrier anchors moved beside the exit. Tsuyoshi checked every candidate scent packet again; Shikyō withdrew insects from experiments and reassigned them to communications. A drill became readiness without giving fear time to spread.

Ki inspected each emergency pack. The candidates believed it was another drill. Their irritation made the disguise convincing.

Far to the south, the Hagoromo estate maintained its evening lights.

Household guards changed positions according to Kento's altered schedule. Noncombatants occupied buildings near underground exits. Ledgers had moved. Medical stores stood ready. Tonbo's warning had changed enough to save lives. It had not removed the infiltrators.

One collaborator opened a warehouse gate with a seal copied from a dead supervisor. Another disabled the primary radio relay while pretending to repair the route Kento had ordered checked. A third directed reserve guards toward a false fire near the workshops.

Shadows crossed the outer wall during the confusion.

The first wave avoided impressive targets. They cut the secondary alarm lines, poisoned two wells marked for firefighting, and killed runners between isolated posts. Only after the estate had been divided into small battles did the strike teams move toward council residences and archives. Their restraint made them more dangerous than bandits chasing visible wealth.

Grass rogues softened the ground beneath patrols. Amegakure shinobi used mist and concealed needles to separate defenders. Hired killers wore stolen household uniforms until they reached their assigned targets. The attackers did not move like a single army. They moved like several contracts sharing a timetable.

The first guard died beside a communications post before he understood the voice answering him did not belong to his partner.

An alarm seal flared.

The internal relay swallowed it.

Kento heard steel in the courtyard and left the council room before the doors opened. Two guards followed him through a service passage. One was loyal. The other waited until they reached the stairs and drew a blade.

Kento turned at the change in breathing. Wind Release struck the narrow corridor, throwing the traitor into stone before the blade completed its arc. The loyal guard sealed the passage behind them.

Another blast shook dust from the ceiling. The loyal guard received a broken radio transmission from the eastern dormitory: children moving, three injured, underground route intact. Kento ordered them to continue without waiting for him. Saving a group he could no longer see required trusting that the preparations had created choices beyond his personal command.

"The northern exit," Kento said. "We reach Gale Valley."

"The clan—"

"The candidates are the succession plan now. Move."

Behind them, fire crossed a roof. The pale tiles reflected red.

At the guest compound, Tonbo's planted insects carried a final written warning through the disabled network. A wounded guard found it beneath a windowsill and changed the evacuation direction before attackers sealed the covered service passage. The information saved people Tonbo would never know by name.

The attack Tonbo had delayed had finally begun.