Chapter 152: Chapter 152: Found You
The flames died down.
Kitahara Kaede stood on the charred wasteland, confirming that not even a scrap of cloth remained.
Three Root operatives and four Sunagakure patrols had been burned to ash.
He turned to head back toward the right-wing camp, but stopped after a few steps.
The mission center had a record of his movements; this area was his designated reconnaissance zone. If anyone discovered the traces left here and decided to investigate, the trail would lead straight back to him.
However, Danzo wouldn’t investigate.
His men hadn’t returned; he didn’t need an investigation to know who was responsible. But Danzo could never bring this matter into the light. Sending Root operatives to blend into a battlefield and assassinate shinobi from their own village was a secret he had to keep.
Sunagakure might notice the disappearance of their patrol, but they lacked clues. Such occurrences were far too common on a battlefield; at most, a sweep of the area would lead them to the conclusion that the patrol had encountered Konoha shinobi and been killed in action.
Kitahara Kaede breathed a sigh of relief and started walking again.
Then, he frowned.
To the southeast, someone was approaching rapidly. They were roughly a hundred meters away, and the distance was closing.
Kaede’s mind raced.
If he ran now, his back would be completely exposed, and given the opponent’s speed, catching him would be trivial. It was better to hide on the spot and identify the intruder. If necessary, he would eliminate the witness.
Without hesitation, he quickly stamped a series of footprints into the scorched earth, leading back toward the camp. He intentionally widened the stride and varied the depth of the prints to simulate a hurried retreat by someone who had been wounded.
Once finished, he leaped silently, landing on an old tree seven meters away with dense foliage. Pressing his body against the main trunk and keeping his breathing shallow, he merged into the shadows of the canopy.
A dozen breaths later, a figure shot out from the treeline to the southeast and landed at the edge of the clearing.
A black backless outfit.
Green hair tied in a bun.
Kitahara Kaede’s eyes narrowed.
’Pakura?’
No wonder the intelligence report stated she had disappeared from the center; she had come to the right wing. But why had she appeared in this specific area? Was it really such a coincidence?
Kaede didn’t move. In moments like this, any unnecessary movement could be fatal. He had absolute confidence in his concealment. Once she finished her investigation and left, it would be as if nothing had happened.
Below the tree, Pakura stood at the edge of the charred clearing, making no rush to enter. She stood still for a few seconds, her gaze slowly scanning the area.
The heavy scent of burning still lingered in the air. In the middle of the blackened wasteland, there was a distinct center of a Fire Release attack where the ground had been burned white.
She walked over.
Squatting down, she pinched a bit of black ash between her fingertips, smelled it, and rubbed it to feel the texture.
She stood back up.
Her gaze fell upon the trail of footprints leading toward the camp. She didn’t move, simply staring at them for a few seconds before frowning slightly.
Watching her reaction from above, Kaede’s heart rate accelerated. Was there something wrong with the footprints? He had specifically simulated the state of a hurried, injured retreat.
Pakura followed the prints for a few steps, stopping before the fourth one. She crouched, hovering her palm over the footprint without touching the ground, as if sensing something.
Kaede couldn’t tell what she was doing, but his sense of foreboding grew heavier.
Pakura withdrew her hand and stood up.
She turned around.
Those orange eyes slowly swept across the surrounding canopies.
"Come out," she said. Her voice wasn’t loud, but it rang clearly through the silent forest. "I know you’re still here."
Kaede remained motionless. His palm instinctively pressed tighter against the tree trunk, but he quickly relaxed.
Pakura’s gaze wasn’t focused on his specific tree. She was scanning the entire area, her eyes evenly gliding across every large tree that could potentially hide a person. If she had truly locked onto his position, she would have greeted him with a blast of Scorch Release already.
’Fine, it seems she’s learned her lesson after what happened last time.’
No one answered.
The forest fell silent for a few seconds. A breeze blew in from the west, rustling the leaves for a moment before dying down.
Pakura raised her right hand, and an orange-red sphere of light condensed in her palm. A wave of heat began to radiate outward.
"Still not coming out?" Her voice turned cold. "Then I’ll just burn this entire forest clean."
Kaede remained frozen. This spot wasn’t far from the camp; if Pakura actually started a fire here, the smoke would rise, and Konoha would send a squad to investigate within ten minutes. Given her skill and judgment, she wouldn’t do something so stupid as to expose her own position.
’She’s bluffing.’
The fireball lingered in Pakura’s palm for a while, causing the surrounding air to distort. Then, she let out a cold snort.
She closed her hand, and the fireball vanished. The heat wave receded.
Pakura gave the footprints on the ground one last deep look, then leaped in the opposite direction, disappearing into the depths of the dense forest in a few bounds.
Her presence faded. Eventually, there was no sound at all.
Kaede didn’t move. He remembered his experience at the inn all too clearly; he couldn’t be certain Pakura wouldn’t double back. He stayed pressed against the trunk, patiently waiting.
The surroundings were silent; even the rustling of the leaves had returned to normal.
After a considerable amount of time passed, Kaede slowly breathed a sigh of relief.
’She should be gone.’
Having been stiff for so long, his joints felt sore. He rolled his shoulders and slid silently down from the back of the tree.
The moment his feet hit the ground—
"Found you."
A figure dropped silently from the canopy above, hanging upside down. A pair of eyes stared directly into his.
Within them was anger, confirmation, and a flicker of something indefinable.
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