Chapter 114: The Threshold of Tears
The border of the Land of Rain was not a line on a map; it was a physical weight. The moment Rimon crossed the invisible threshold, the sky didn't just turn grey—it fell. The air became a thick, oppressive soup of moisture and cold, and the sound of the constant downpour drowned out everything but the most violent movements.
Rimon stood on a jagged rock formation, his Vortex-Cloak adjusted to a "hydro-repellent" frequency. The rain didn't touch him; it curved around his body in a shimmering, invisible sphere, sliding off into the mud below. He looked like a hole in the world, a dry ghost in a drowning land.
Four miles ahead, Nawaki's team was moving through the marshlands.
They were struggling. The Leaf's training was elite, but the Rain was a different beast. It sapped the heat from the body and the morale from the soul. Through his specialized sensory goggles—another gift from his "Future Knowledge" combined with Uzumaki sealing—Rimon could see the heat signatures of the three Genin and their Jōnin commander.
Nawaki was in the lead, his chakra signature bright and restless, flickering like a candle in a gale. He was trying to prove himself, to show that a Senju didn't fear the mud. He didn't know that every step he took was being mapped by a dozen different factions.
"The Amegakure scouts have already spotted them," Rimon whispered to himself, his voice lost in the thunder. "And if they've seen them, Hanzo's internal security has too."
He tapped a seal on his wrist, activating a long-range communication link he'd established with his "Science Division" back in Uzushio. A faint, crackling voice filled his ear—Kushina, who was currently acting as his relay station while she trained under the elders.
"Rimon? You've reached the front?"
"I'm at the border," Rimon replied, his eyes never leaving the heat signatures. "Target is moving toward the 'Dead Zone' near the southern supply lines. The trap is being set. Is the extraction team in position?"
"They're waiting at the secondary rift point," Kushina's voice was tense. "But Rimon... the weather reports from our sensors are getting worse. This isn't just rain. Hanzo is using the weather to mask his own movements. If you lose visual, you might not be able to find Nawaki in time."
"I won't lose him," Rimon said. "I have his chakra signature locked into a Vibration Resonance Seal. Even if he sinks into the earth, I'll find him."
Rimon launched himself from the rock, his movement a blur. He wasn't following the road; he was moving parallel to it, staying in the dense, twisted forests of giant mushrooms and weeping trees.
He knew the "Script." In the original timeline, Nawaki would rush ahead, fall into an explosive trap, and be hollowed out before Tsunade could even reach him. It was a brutal, meaningless death designed to break the Senju's spirit.
But Rimon wasn't here to watch a tragedy. He was here to pull off a heist.
He landed on a massive, water-logged branch and looked down. Below him, a group of Amegakure shinobi—wearing their distinctive respirators—were silently pacing the Leaf team from the shadows. They weren't attacking yet. They were waiting for the "Big Show."
'Go on, Nawaki,' Rimon thought, his hand reaching for a specialized sealing scroll labeled [PROJECT: GHOST]. 'Run toward your 'glory.' I'll be right behind you to make sure you never reach it.'
The first explosion echoed in the distance—a muffled thump that vibrated through the mud.
The "Death Mission" had officially begun.