Day seven.
This marked the seventh day since Orochimaru's operation officially began—and also the seventh day since Hagoromo had infiltrated the Land of Water.
By now, the growing tension within the Land of Water was unmistakable.
For infiltration and intelligence-gathering missions, Konoha had already dispatched a sufficiently large number of shinobi. If, at this point, Kirigakure still hadn't noticed abnormalities within its territory, then it wouldn't deserve to be called one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
In that case, there'd be no point fighting a shinobi world war at all—they might as well surrender outright.
The activities of Konoha shinobi within the Land of Water were bound to leave traces. Kirigakure could not possibly be unaware.
Take Hagoromo himself, for example.
At the very beginning, he had silently eliminated an entire four-man patrol. He'd even been considerate enough to use a combination of genjutsu and Lightning Release, ensuring that no bloodstains or obvious traces were left at the scene. The bodies had been dealt with discreetly as well—sealed directly into scrolls and carried away, remarkably convenient.
If enemies later came to investigate, they would never find signs of battle in such a desolate place—let alone realize that an entire patrol had already been wiped out there.
But did that guarantee his movements would remain hidden?
Of course not.
No matter how meticulous his work was, there was one undeniable fact he couldn't erase:
A patrol had vanished without a trace.
Those shinobi followed fixed routes and were required to submit regular reports. When those reports failed to arrive on time, Kirigakure would inevitably realize something was wrong.
Confirming their deaths was only a matter of time.
Hagoromo's methods could only delay exposure—not prevent it.
By the time Kirigakure noticed the anomaly, launched an investigation, and confirmed that a patrol had been eliminated by unknown forces, the culprit—Hagoromo—would already be long gone.
And once Kirigakure factored in the activities of other Konoha shinobi—or, in the worst case, the possibility of captured operatives—it was inevitable that large-scale internal searches would begin.
Konoha had anticipated this.
The countermeasure was simple: every infiltration unit operated independently. Aside from their own teammates, no one knew who else was involved in the mission, nor the infiltration routes or operational areas of other units.
That way, even if the enemy captured one or two shinobi, they could at most confirm that Konoha was conducting infiltration operations. They would never be able to trace everyone down through a single line of intelligence.
So—
In such a tense environment, what was Hagoromo doing?
He was calmly acting as a spectator.
A literal one.
He was eating watermelon while casually glancing around, exactly as the phrase implied.
Over the past few days, he had encountered Kirigakure shinobi more than once. Thanks to his superb disguise skills, even when passing right by them, none had noticed anything amiss.
Not only that—under conditions where it was feasible—he'd gone a step further and eliminated yet another enemy patrol.
This time, however, it differed from the first.
He'd left a survivor.
And successfully extracted some intelligence.
The methods used during the interrogation were… less than civilized.
But the information was valuable.
He learned that Kirigakure's immediate plans were limited. With their large-scale supply depots destroyed, launching a counteroffensive against Konoha in the short term was unrealistic. Preparation would take time.
That said, the Mizukage could not simply allow Konoha to strike and withdraw unpunished. Retaliation was inevitable.
And the form that retaliation would take?
Ironically, it mirrored Konoha's own approach.
Kirigakure planned to dispatch elite shinobi to infiltrate the Land of Fire. The difference was that Kirigakure's priority lay in destruction and casualties—not intelligence gathering.
Yet the moment Hagoromo obtained this information, he realized it was likely to become obsolete.
The reason was simple.
Konoha had acted first.
Internal security outweighed everything else. With numerous Konoha shinobi already infiltrating the Land of Water, Kirigakure's top priority would naturally be to eliminate enemies within its own borders.
As for retaliation against Konoha—that would have to wait until things stabilized.
Whether Orochimaru's decision to initiate infiltration was a stroke of luck or a calculated move was unclear. But if it was the latter, then this was precisely what it meant to anticipate the enemy and seize the initiative.
Konoha's operatives were stirring the entire Land of Water from within.
At first glance, Kirigakure's reaction might seem excessive.
But was it really?
Small-unit shinobi operations were equivalent to special warfare. Kirigakure couldn't afford to ignore them.
Maintaining constant vigilance over enemy infiltrators consumed immense resources, but it forced the enemy into inaction.
Relax that vigilance even slightly, and those infiltrators could throw the entire country into chaos.
The combat potential of small elite teams was not to be underestimated. Left unchecked, they could alter the course of a war—or even carry out assassination missions.
After all, who was to say that some reckless lunatic wouldn't attempt to assassinate the Mizukage?
The precedent already existed.
The truth behind the Third Raikage's death had more or less been clarified. Although Kirigakure—an uninvolved third party—had yet to confirm the exact identity of the Konoha shinobi responsible, one thing was certain:
A Konoha ninja had assassinated the Raikage on the battlefield between Kumogakure and Iwagakure.
Given that context, it was no wonder Kirigakure felt uneasy.
To be honest, Kirigakure would've preferred Konoha to launch another thousand-man frontal assault—an open, head-on clash—rather than these shadowy infiltration operations.
Unfortunately for them, Konoha had no intention of granting that wish.
More often than not, a shinobi's missions were never clean or honorable to begin with.
When Hagoromo had previously carried out the Byakugan recovery mission against Kirigakure, it had been deep winter. Snow frequently fell even then.
Now, however, it was summer—and the climate felt distinctly uncomfortable.
Rainfall here rivaled that of the Land of Rain, but the climate differed. If the Land of Rain was cold and damp, then Kirigakure was hot and humid.
Near noon, Hagoromo sat openly beneath a roadside awning, holding—and chewing—a piece of fruit that was written as watermelon and read as watermelon.
He looked no different from an ordinary passerby.
The highest level of acting was deceiving even oneself, and more often than not, Hagoromo genuinely treated himself as a normal person.
There were few civilians on the road. Instead, Kirigakure shinobi occasionally passed by.
Hagoromo appeared listless, but in truth, his mind was racing.
A full week had passed—and he still hadn't achieved any tangible results.
Should he infiltrate deeper into Kirigakure to obtain higher-level intelligence?
He dismissed the idea almost immediately.
Not now.
Under such heightened security, entering Kirigakure itself would be—
Suicide.
Even the pre-mission briefing had explicitly advised against infiltrating the village.
As he pondered his next move, his gaze flicked sideways.
Another Kirigakure shinobi passed by.
Hagoromo lowered his head, pretending to focus on his watermelon, while his peripheral vision took in everything it needed.
A Mist ninja passing by wasn't the issue.
The issue was—
Someone was walking behind him.
That filled Hagoromo with deep confusion.
Why would that person be openly walking around in the Land of Water?
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