After a short rest, Shimizu led the team onward once more.
However, instead of immediately advancing deep into the Land of Earth, he first conducted reconnaissance along the border between the Land of Grass and the Land of Fire.
According to Root's intelligence, many of Iwagakure's wartime deployments prepared for the invasion of the Land of Fire had still not been fully dismantled.
For example, one thousand meters ahead of them stood an Iwagakure camp positioned directly along the border between the two nations, beside a massive canyon.
Originally, this camp had merely served as a small logistics station for storing and transferring supplies. It possessed little strategic value.
But now, something about it was suspicious.
"Looks like there are quite a few people there," Amane muttered uncertainly.
Although the five of them occupied high ground, the distance made it difficult to observe clearly. They could only vaguely make out the constant movement of personnel within the camp.
"I've already identified eight battalions," Satomi reported, her Byakugan fully activated.
Even so, because of the distance, she still could not fully cover the entire camp with her vision.
But eight battalions alone already exceeded Root's estimated numbers by a significant margin.
"According to Root's information, this place was supposed to have been abandoned after the ceasefire," Shimizu said quietly. "At some point, though, Iwagakure stationed troops here again."
Even he could not understand Iwagakure's true intentions.
After the battle at Kannabi Bridge, Iwagakure had effectively lost the ability to launch another large-scale war against Konoha.
After all, without the ability to transport supplies across the canyon, how could they possibly sustain a campaign?
"Should we move closer?" Satomi asked while looking toward Shimizu.
From what they could see, every watchtower was staffed by two Iwa shinobi, while hidden sentries were scattered throughout the forest perimeter. The camp's level of alertness was nearly equivalent to wartime conditions.
And inside, there were definitely more than a full legion of Iwa ninja stationed there.
A tiger's den indeed…
Root had only discovered the abnormality here by chance, but even they had failed to determine why Iwagakure had reactivated this camp.
At such a sensitive time—while Kumogakure was waging full-scale war against Konoha—failing to uncover Iwagakure's true intentions would leave Konoha unable to focus entirely on the northern front.
So merely observing from afar was not enough.
They had to infiltrate.
After all, one could not capture a tiger cub without entering the tiger's den.
Shimizu glanced at the darkening sky.
"We'll be spotted too easily during the day. Once it gets deep into the night, we move in."
"Rest and conserve your strength first."
...
Finally, deep into the night, the group began their infiltration.
With the near-cheating reconnaissance capabilities of the Byakugan, the team flawlessly bypassed every Iwa sentry post and successfully reached the outer perimeter of the camp.
"Roughly two legions worth of forces," Satomi finally confirmed.
In other words, just over seven hundred and twenty shinobi.
That was no small force.
Why were they stationed here under such heavy alert?
"What exactly are they planning?"
"Satomi, Shisui, and I will infiltrate," Shimizu ordered quietly. "Amane and Megumi will stay outside and set traps in preparation for extraction if necessary."
"Yes, sir."
Unfortunately, after spending an entire hour searching through the camp, the three infiltrators found nothing useful.
They searched nearly every corner of the base, including the offices of several commanding officers, yet discovered no suspicious intelligence whatsoever.
Every piece of evidence pointed toward complete normalcy.
So these two Iwa legions were here for a vacation?
Shimizu absolutely refused to believe that.
In fact, the more normal everything appeared, the more suspicious it became.
Yet despite that instinct, he had no clues to follow.
"…Withdraw," he finally ordered.
The group retreated safely without exposing themselves, but just like Root before them, they returned completely empty-handed.
As a result, everyone's doubts only deepened.
There was definitely something wrong with Iwagakure.
Konoha was not imagining things.
The problem was that none of them could figure out Iwa's true objective.
"Honestly, the camp's defenses felt surprisingly lax," Shisui remarked after they regrouped.
"So you're saying they aren't actually afraid of Konoha sending people to investigate?" Amane immediately followed Shisui's line of thought.
The camp sat directly on the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Grass. It was only a matter of time before Konoha discovered it had been reactivated.
How could the defenses be this careless?
"Or maybe the camp itself is just bait," Megumi suggested, letting her imagination run freely. "Something meant to draw our attention."
"That's possible." Shimizu nodded slightly. "Next, we'll head deeper into the Land of Earth and investigate the camp Minato's forces attacked before."
He had already chosen their next target.
…
After Kumogakure launched its full-scale invasion, Konoha had been forced to transfer much of the military strength originally stationed along the borders to the northern front.
Kumogakure's military power was simply too overwhelming.
Konoha had no choice but to commit nearly all of its strength to resisting them.
As a result, the northern border of the Land of Fire had become crowded with a massive army numbering in the tens of thousands of shinobi.
But this also created another problem.
Konoha's other borders had been left dangerously undermanned.
If an enemy struck from behind at a time like this…
Konoha would have no way to defend itself.
That was the real reason the Konoha Elders had taken Iwagakure's unusual movements so seriously.
June 26th, Konoha Year 46.
Southwestern border of the Land of Fire.
Under Might Duy's leadership, a four-man squad consisting of Might Guy, Shiranui Genma, and Ebisu was carrying out their usual patrol mission.
The two green-clad figures at the front remained overflowing with energy.
The two boys trailing behind them, however, looked utterly exhausted.
"Youths!" Duy shouted loudly in his green jumpsuit. "The end of our journey lies just ahead! We're almost back at camp!"
"YES!" Guy responded enthusiastically.
Under Duy's leadership, the squad had departed from camp, completed their reconnaissance route, and returned in less than half a day.
Normally, a patrol covering this kind of distance would require nearly an entire day.
"I seriously can't walk anymore…" Ebisu groaned as he pulled off his dark sunglasses and collapsed onto the ground without caring about appearances anymore.
"Captain Duy…"
"May I make a suggestion?"
"Youth!" Duy's eyes sparkled. "Do you wish to learn taijutsu from me?"
No… absolutely not… Ebisu only dared mutter that in his heart.
Even though Duy was officially only a genin, the man possessed terrifying physical strength.
"Couldn't we learn after returning to the village?" Ebisu said weakly. "Genma and I aren't taijutsu specialists… we simply can't keep up with your speed."
And this was only the first day.
Were they expected to endure this every single day from now on?
Ebisu shuddered violently.
He did not dare imagine such a future.
At this rate, his youthful life might truly wither away at the age of fourteen.
"Ahahahaha!" Duy laughed heartily, flashing a brilliant white smile. "Youth, don't you think running is the very essence of life?"
"Life burns brightest through running!" Guy shouted while pumping his fist into the air.
"Joining this squad may have been the worst decision of my life…" the fifteen-year-old Genma muttered helplessly while pressing a hand against his forehead.
Duy looked at the two young shinobi who had recently joined his team.
It seemed they had already reached their limit.
Although he fully intended to strengthen their taijutsu abilities, there was no need to rush things immediately.
"Very well," Duy declared cheerfully. "Then we shall rest for a while."
Ebisu and Genma finally let out relieved sighs.
"And tomorrow—we continue our youthful training!"
"…"
The two boys practically died on the spot.
While resting, Ebisu quietly leaned closer to Guy and whispered, "Hey… why is your father's taijutsu so ridiculously strong?"
"Because he's amazing, obviously," Guy replied proudly.
"But just how strong is he?"
Even Genma subtly leaned closer to listen.
Guy recalled the battle scenes etched into his memory.
"If we're only talking about speed…" he said after some thought, "then I think Father might actually be faster than Uzuki-senpai."
The two boys immediately shouted in unison:
"No way!"
Faster than "Shunshin no Shimizu"?!
Did Guy even understand how terrifying Shimizu Uzuki's speed was?
They had personally witnessed Uzuki-senpai in battle before.
"Something's happened at the camp," Duy suddenly said, his expression turning serious.
In the distance, thick black smoke rose from the direction of the Konoha encampment.
The camp was on fire!