Chapter 229: An S-Rank Mission

"Snow Country?"

Tonbo stared at Hiruzen in surprise.

"An S-rank confidential mission," the Hokage confirmed. "You will lead a team escorting Princess Kazahana Koyuki, who has lived abroad under the name Kazahana Fujikaze for more than a decade. Your objective is to eliminate the current ruler, Kazahana Dotō, and help Koyuki succeed him as ruler of Snow Country."

Tonbo needed a moment to absorb the order.

Should this not have been Kakashi's mission? Kakashi had operated in Snow more than a decade earlier and already knew the country. Sending Tonbo instead discarded experience that could not be reconstructed from reports.

"Only one Konoha team?" he asked. "That is nowhere near enough."

Tonbo's intelligence network had gathered more about Snow than outsiders usually knew. Unlike Wave Country, it maintained its own shinobi village, and those Snow-nin answered to Dotō. The country's isolation had kept it outside the great wars that ravaged the continent. It possessed heavy industry, advanced machinery, railways, and technology rivaled by few nations beyond the Land of Lightning.

Popular stories reduced Snow's forces to a few conspicuous shinobi. Tonbo knew better than to treat those stories as an order of battle. A state wealthy enough to maintain railways and specialized military equipment could field soldiers, guards, engineers, and reserves that never appeared in the tales he remembered. Even a perfect assassination would not make those institutions obey Koyuki the following morning.

Tonbo could probably kill Dotō. Killing one ruler and placing another securely on the throne were entirely different tasks. Four shinobi could not occupy a country.

Hiruzen smiled. "You will not be alone. Fire Country's Imperial Guard is sending a combat unit. Your team will gather intelligence and transfer it to them. Snow also contains an organized resistance that supports Koyuki's return. They have waited years for this opportunity."

Tonbo sighed. "Then I suppose it is a good chance to see more of the world."

He could not avoid thinking of Hiruzen's future. The world possessed an irritating corrective force. Remove one expected piece, and another event seemed ready to push history back toward the same destination.

*Lord Third, this may be fate. Rest in peace.*

"When do we leave?"

"Immediately. The sooner, the better."

"And my team?"

Hiruzen glanced at the door. "Come in."

Three figures entered: Fūma Shikun, Izuno Saiji, and Ueyama Riku. All had earned promotion during the previous year's internal Chūnin Exam.

Tonbo recognized them at once. While serving as chief examiner, he had given their group special combat-simulation training and spent some of his own money on secret medicines to help them recover. The experience had forced them to understand how close a real mission could bring them to death. Each had grown stronger because of it.

"Tonbo-sensei," Saiji said, "please take care of us on this mission."

Shikun and Riku greeted him as well. All three looked pleased to serve under him.

"I will be relying on you," Tonbo said.

They were sixteen and already chūnin, part of the village's dependable core. Their talent was respectable, although Tonbo privately doubted their presence would change his own combat decisions. The stated assignment was espionage: collect Snow's intelligence and deliver it to the Imperial Guard. They should not need to defeat a nation by themselves.

Shikun's experience with controlled weapons, Saiji's Cat Spirit Possession, and Riku's tagged tools gave the team several ways to scout without revealing Tonbo's own techniques. That made them useful even if none could match the opponents expected at the center of the operation. A successful intelligence team was measured by what it learned and delivered, not by how many enemies its captain could defeat alone.

Hiruzen explained the route, the rendezvous, Koyuki's cover identity, and the procedure for contacting the Fire Country unit. Once every member could repeat the necessary stages, Tonbo led them from the office.

"I hope nothing unexpected occurs," Hiruzen murmured after the door closed.

He did not doubt Tonbo's ability to complete the intelligence mission. The younger man was stronger than most Konoha shinobi and better at gathering information than almost anyone. Hiruzen feared the political consequences instead. If another great nation discovered Fire Country helping replace Snow's ruler, it might answer with force. Their legal justification would not stop a rival that already wanted war.

Outside, Tonbo formed the hand seals for the Shadow Clone Jutsu.

Smoke burst beside him, and a duplicate appeared.

The clone would handle the matters Tonbo could not leave unattended: Sakura and Ino's lessons, his developing counters to Urashiki, preparations for Orochimaru's approaching Konoha Crush, and an escape route for his family if fighting reached the village.

Shikun, Saiji, and Riku watched without asking questions. Their captain's private precautions did not alter their immediate mission. When Tonbo began moving, all three followed close behind.

Ayame was less quiet when he told her.

"Another mission? In the middle of the Chūnin Exam?"

Ichiraku had become busier with every group of visitors entering Konoha. Even the main shop struggled to serve the crowds, and now Tonbo would be gone again.

"I know. It is an urgent order, and I received no warning."

The timing frustrated him as well. He had not prepared for a journey across the sea. Research into Urashiki's weapons and tactics would now have to continue through a clone or inside Tonbo's own thoughts while he traveled, slowing work that might determine whether Konoha survived the Ōtsutsuki's eventual arrival.

"Tell Tenyu and the others to give their training methods to Konohamaru's group," he said. "When I return, I will train them together."

Two days earlier, Tenyu and Maki had asked to include Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon, and Jun in their exercises. Tonbo had not expected such generosity. The children had been rivals at the Academy and had only recently reconciled, yet now his own children wanted to help students outside their team.

Part of him remained suspicious of how suddenly that friendship had formed. He had already seen Tenyu turn kindness into strategy when competition was involved. Still, sharing the training method would help every child, whatever private victory his son imagined it might produce.

He would not discourage them. Teaching one child or several required the same basic preparation, and Tonbo wanted to see how far Konohamaru's talent could develop. He had planned to meet the group before the exam finals. The Snow mission forced him to postpone it.

Ayame nodded. "I will tell them. Come home as soon as the mission is finished."

Tonbo kissed her.

"Of course. My wife is waiting for me. Why would I stay away?"

The warmth of his family had become a deeper source of happiness than any successful ninjutsu. Building a home was the best choice he had made since arriving in this world. Without Ayame and the children, he might have become a rootless wanderer, using killing, money, or ambition as an excuse to continue from one day to the next—no better than Hidan or Kakuzu, and in some ways more pitiful than Pain.

He held her once more before stepping away.

"Remind Tenyu and Maki. When I finish, I will bring all of you something from Snow Country."

"Just return safely," Ayame said. "We do not need souvenirs."

Her eyes were red as Tonbo disappeared in a burst of smoke to rejoin his waiting team.