An hour after they started their search, they finally found something.
Not far from the crossroads, tucked between thinning trees, stood a rough-looking cabin thrown together from mismatched wood. A handful of men drifted in and out of it, armed and alert.
Naruto was the first to say it out loud. "They're all ninja."
He wasn't wrong. Even without Naruto's comment, Sasuke could tell with Nano's assistance, the chakra in their bodies was higher than that of normal people.
Sakura had been right. This wasn't just bandits.
"From the amount of chakra they have, I don't think they're jonin level," Naruto said quietly. "I count at least twenty outside, and more inside."
Currently, they were all standing on a large branch, looking at the cabin from a distance. They were close enough to see them, but far away to avoid detection.
"I recognize a few of their faces from the bingo book," Sakura murmured, her eyes narrowed. "They're rogue ninja from the Hidden Village of Steam."
Kakashi nodded and frowned.
"I believe I know who they are, a small group of rogue ninja who formed a mercenary group known as the Death Steam. They are pretty well known for being money hungry and fame seeking. The question is, what are they doing here?"
Sasuke frowned as well. Having inserted the bingo book in his mind, he was well aware of who they were. He didn't believe this was their main base of operations, since they were known to work in the Land of Stone. There was no way to know what their objective was here, or why they were blocking trade between the villages.
"So should… we attack?" Sakura asked, uncertainty slipping into her voice.
Kakashi studied the cabin for a long moment, then exhaled slowly.
"Yes. Rogue ninja are still rogue ninja. Mercenary or not, they're wanted men. We'll keep one alive for questioning. The rest…" His visible eye narrowed slightly. "Don't hesitate."
He turned back to them.
"The moment you hesitate out there," he said, "you die. Can you handle taking a life?"
The words settled on them like a weight. No one spoke.
Naruto broke the silence first with a sigh. "I can do it. It wouldn't be my first time. Not sure about the others, though."
Sasuke and Sakura both glanced at him. For some reason, Naruto's voice sounded distant and cold in a way that didn't fit his usual bravado.
'When?' Sasuke could not help but ponder on it a little bit, before he killed the thought.
Did it really matter?
He met Kakashi's gaze and gave a firm nod. Sakura hesitated, her fingers tightening slightly at her sides, but she nodded as well.
Seeing their resolve, Kakashi looked back toward the cabin. "Good. Here's the plan."
"I'll take the inside and secure someone we can interrogate. You three handle the ones outside." His tone was calm, almost casual. "I trust you to pull it off."
He gave them a lazy wave. "Well, see ya later then."
A moment later, his form blurred and vanished in a Body Flicker, leaving the three of them alone on the branch.
Sasuke sighed and drew his sword.
"Since they outnumber us, we should thin them out before going in," Sakura said. "We use surprise to take as many as possible in the first strike. Any ideas?"
Sasuke already had several jutsu in mind that could accomplish exactly that. He was confident he could handle them all alone if he had to. But he wasn't alone, and there was no reason to ignore what his teammates might bring to the table.
Naruto smiled, pulled out a kunai, and showed it to them. It wasn't an ordinary kunai, it was covered in strange markings.
Sasuke and Sakura both raised an eyebrow.
Naruto, noticing the looks, cleared his throat.
"I call these thunder kunai," he said, a hint of pride slipping into his voice. "My own creation. If you channel a little chakra into them before you throw, they'll explode a few seconds after impact. Stronger than paper bombs, so don't stand anywhere near when they go off. We can use them as ranged projectiles to take out the crowded area first before we go in. I only had time to make four of them, so each one of you take one."
Sakura was the first to pick one up and examine it.
"I have been meaning to ask, but where did you learn to use seals like this?"
Naruto shrugged, eyes sliding away. "Uh… here and there. You pick it up after enough practice, y'know?"
Sasuke inspected his own kunai. The seal-work looked complex, and layered. Honestly, he too was interested in learning how to make seals. It was something he had found strangely fascinating in the vision he had seen, how even the tailed beasts, mighty creatures, could be sealed.
Seals could take years to master, even for those with talent. But with Nano, the path would definitely be shorter for him.
"We each take three angle and fire the kunai to do as much damage as possible, then we go in," he finished.
They nodded before they separated and rushed to their chosen points.
'Nano, activate life signal detector.'
[Understood.]
Suddenly, his vision became blurry for a second before he could see again.
But unlike his normal vision, things were different.
He could see the outlines of every mercenary, even through trees and walls, glowing against the background. The life signals of those inside where quickly fading away, meaning Kakashi had already started.
He quickly found a place where people on his side were gathered.
"Gah! You have to be cheating! How else would I lose four times in a row?!" one of the men shouted, slamming a pile of cards onto the box they were using as a makeshift table. The five men surrounding him laughed, while his opponent pretended to sniff the air.
"What's this? Is that bitchiness I smell? Come on, admit it you're a bitch, right? if not one more game!"
The other men exploded in laughter when they heard this.
Sasuke looked at them before he threw the kunai.
It landed right on the makeshift table.
At that, they all turned to look where the kunai had come from.
"Oi, what the hell—?"
"Who's there?!"
They were instantly on guard, leaping to their feet with hands reaching for their weapons, but they never got the chance to draw them. Before they could react, the world flashed white for a split second, followed by a deafening explosion that killed all seven men instantly.
The remaining mercenaries instantly went on guard
Shouts erupted from the camp.
"Shit! We're under atta—"
The man never finished. His head separated from his body in a clean arc as Sasuke stepped in, sword already sheathed in motion. The severed head rolled away across the dirt. Sasuke's gaze followed it. He waited for his stomach to turn, for his hands to shake, for anything but nothing happened. He felt strangely calm about having ended a life.
A few seconds later, he heard explosions go off in the distance.
It seemed his teammates were also moving.
He snapped back to his senses when he picked up on a rapidly approaching projectile, and he moved his body to the side, avoiding it.
The thrower clicked his tongue in irritation, then his eyes widened when he caught sight of Sasuke's forehead protector.
"Damn it, a Leaf ninja—"
Sasuke blurred forward, closing the distance in a heartbeat, his blade already coming down.
[Warning: Chakra detected underground.]
He pushed off the ground immediately, leaping back just as the earth beneath him erupted.
A man burst out of the soil with a curse, reaching for where Sasuke had stood. "I almost had him…"
The first ninja regrouped beside him, both of them now eyeing Sasuke warily.
"Why are they here?" the second hissed. "Did the plan fail?"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly at that but got back into position before attacking. Now wasn't the time to interrogate them, Kakashi had said he would handle that. What mattered right now were the opponents in front of him. They drew their kunai, ready to block his strike and counterattack.
He smiled.
[Fire Release, Great Fireball Technique.] He sent the mental command to Nano as he inhaled and exhaled a roaring ball of flame.
The fireball erupted point-blank. The first man had no time to react; flames swallowed him whole, his scream cut off almost instantly. The second managed to hurl himself aside, barely escaping the main blast.
"How-"
Before he could regain his footing, Sasuke was already upon him, plunging his sword into the man's heart. Blood filled the mercenary's mouth as he choked on a final breath. His body went limp, sliding off the blade. Sasuke flicked his sword to clear the blood and turned toward the direction he had heard the other explosions.
When he arrived at the scene, he found Sakura staring at a corpse, a bloodied kunai trembling in her hands. She didn't look to be in the best condition, there was a cut on her arm and several bruises marking her skin. A few seconds later, Naruto appeared, completely unscathed, as if he hadn't fought at all.
Naruto gave him a side glance as he walked toward Sakura, extending his hand.
"Hey. You alright?"
She slapped his hand away a bit harder than necessary, her eyes flicking to him and Naruto before walking away from the corpse..
"I'm fine," she said, her voice trembling.
Naruto frowned at her, then shrugged and stepped back, giving her space.
"Alright, it looks like you all did a great job," a familiar voice drawled. "Though the explosions might've been a bit much. You're ninja, remember? Stealth is kind of our thing."
They turned to see Kakashi leaning casually against a stack of crates. Beside him, a man lay bound tightly in rope, seemingly asleep.
He looked around at the chaos before he sighed.
"I'm sure you all understand now what it truly means to be a ninja. You probably thought ninja were noble heroes who protect others and whatnot, while that's partly true, never forget that at our core, we are still killers."
He looked at them, his eye staying a bit longer on Sakura.
He sighed and walked toward them while dragging the man.
"Although it's earlier than most, I think it's better if you guys get used to it now rather than later, so you understand exactly what you signed up for."
Then, as if a switch flipped, he clapped his hands lightly.
"Anyway! We're almost done here. All that's left is to ask our friend a few questions, then we can head back and report."
He dragged the bound man forward and knelt beside him, raising one hand. Lightning flickered to life along his finger.
'Nano, analyze.'
[Understood.]
Kakashi pushed the glowing finger into the man's shoulder. which shook him awake as he screamed in agony.
"W-what—what happened?!"
Kakashi's eye curved cheerfully. "Good, you're awake. Mind answering a few questions for us?"
The man stared at the four of them in confusion, until he noticed their headbands..
"I am not saying anything to you-"
His words dissolved into another scream as Kakashi's hand tightened on his shoulder and a fresh surge of electricity raced through his body.
Kakashi tilted his head slightly. "Maybe it was my tone," he mused. He leaned in until they were eye to eye, his voice dropping into a colder one.
"I don't think it's in your best interest to refuse."