Chapter 88: The Supply Station
Mokukaze and the others hadn't been arguing long when Shouhara and Meiko also arrived. With their arrival, the number of people bantering increased—but their target of choice was Ishiro.
After not seeing them for a while, Ishiro actually missed these two classmates who never saw eye-to-eye with him, so he enthusiastically engaged in the verbal sparring.
To their subordinates, this back-and-forth was a strange sight. It was only in moments like this that they were reminded that Ishiro and the others were still just twelve or thirteen years old.
Before long, all ten chūnin squads assigned to Ishiro had arrived.
Ishiro did a headcount, then said, "Hello everyone, I'm Ishiro, your squad captain from now on. Our mission is to establish a supply station at the border. The station's role is to ensure the safe handover of caravans traveling between the Earth and Rain countries. I'll explain the details once we arrive. For now—move out."
Ishiro led his 43 subordinates to the transfer station they had visited the day before. After a quick inspection, they departed with all the supplies.
In total, over thirty large carts were loaded with goods, pushed in rotation by more than sixty civilians. Ishiro assigned the ten chūnin squads to guard duties and headed toward a nearby town, where Hirosho's and Rain Country's caravans had just about finished their trade.
Seeing that Hirosho's caravan had expanded considerably—and noticing nearly ten new people by Hirosho's side—Ishiro smiled in satisfaction. Aside from Hirosho and the Rain caravan's leader, the others were all caravan heads who had joined after seeing Hirosho's success.
Seeing that the Earth Country's trade scale now clearly outmatched the Rain's, Ishiro nodded in approval. After adjusting the guard assignments, the caravan departed for the border.
Such a massive convoy naturally drew attention along the way. Ishiro didn't mind the curious civilians watching, and he even allowed caravan members to chat with them. In Ishiro's eyes, the wider the publicity, the better.
However, he took a completely different attitude toward a certain group: bandits and rogue ninja.
Thanks to his enhanced sensory ninjutsu, Ishiro could now detect chakra up to ten kilometers away—six kilometers with high accuracy, and full coverage within three kilometers.
Every so often, he'd pause to scan the surroundings. If he detected any trackers, he'd immediately dispatch a team to eliminate them. As captain, he no longer had to personally handle every encounter.
His sensory abilities let him precisely evaluate an enemy's strength and chakra traits. Thus, every squad he sent out successfully neutralized their targets and returned safely. While a few were lightly injured due to carelessness, none were seriously hurt.
Over time, Ishiro found himself oddly grateful to the enemy stalkers—they actually helped improve team cohesion.
Before even reaching the border, they had already taken out more than thirty trackers. In one instance, Ishiro personally led five squads, including Squad 7, and eliminated eleven enemy ninja.
That said, most of the thirty-plus attackers were weak genin or not even real ninja—just bandits who had learned basic chakra extraction.
But as the group reached a canyon, they finally encountered a tough obstacle. The terrain wasn't particularly treacherous—the mountains flanking the gorge were just over twenty meters high, and the path between them was five to six meters wide. Still, ever cautious, Ishiro didn't rush in. He performed a sensory scan first.
The results stunned him.
On both sides of the canyon, 57 ninja lay in ambush. Two of them had jōnin-level chakra. One emitted a heat and sting that told Ishiro he was a dual Fire-Wind nature jōnin. The other seemed to be a taijutsu-type with no elemental training.
This was bad.
The enemy had both greater numbers and more elite fighters. Ishiro wasn't confident he could win against two jōnin.
His own forces had better teamwork, being from a formal shinobi village—but that didn't make up for such a large disadvantage in strength. Even if they won, it would be a Pyrrhic victory.
But then Ishiro noticed something odd. The ambushers' positions were chaotic and lacked coordination.
He quickly realized: these 57 ninja weren't all on the same side.
That meant there was a chance.
Touching the ground with a finger, Ishiro carefully observed their movements. He didn't stop the convoy immediately.
They still had a bit of distance before reaching the canyon. Ishiro summoned his three main subordinates and gave them detailed instructions. Then he continued moving forward with the convoy.
After a short while, as they approached the canyon entrance, Ishiro received a confirming nod from Fu and the others. He scanned the enemy one more time to ensure they hadn't changed positions.
Then, without hesitation, he formed hand seals and cast Camouflage Technique.
Now fully invisible, he quickly snuck toward his target.
By the time Ishiro reached his destination, the convoy had just arrived at the canyon mouth. The ambushers, caught off guard, stared as the caravan suddenly came to a stop.
From the convoy, seven ninjutsu users emerged, unleashed a coordinated jutsu volley—mainly Wind and Earth Release attacks—on a specific area.
Screams rang out as the spells struck. Over a dozen enemies were hit, with five or six fleeing in panic and injury.
Ishiro smirked. That strike had targeted the largest but weakest group among the ambushers. Whether they died or ran, the number gap was closed significantly.
Now it was his turn.
Based on earlier sensory readings, Ishiro knew a taijutsu jōnin was hiding nearby. He was alone, likely a rogue acting independently. Ishiro avoided looking at him directly to prevent alerting him, then quietly formed hand seals and cast the only genjutsu he knew: Body Bind Technique.
He missed slightly—the target stiffened, but didn't freeze completely. This man was ruthless. Instead of trying to disrupt his chakra, he stabbed himself in the thigh to break the illusion.
But that was fine. Ishiro had planned for this.
As the jōnin freed himself from the genjutsu, a poisoned senbon shot from Ishiro's hidden shoe.
The jōnin reacted fast, twisting his body to avoid it, but Ishiro had predicted that too.
Even as the senbon missed, Ishiro was already casting his next jutsu—Mind-Body Disturbance Technique.
It hit perfectly.
Though the effect lasted only an instant, it was all Ishiro needed. He closed in, drew his blade, and sliced horizontally.
The jōnin's head separated cleanly from his shoulders.
Killing a jōnin this fast wasn't about sheer power—it was because Ishiro had seized the initiative. In the ninja world, high offense and low defense meant losing the first move was often fatal. Ishiro's edge lay in technique diversity—sensory jutsu for information, Camouflage for stealth, and exploiting the enemy's distraction during his team's ambush.
With the first kill secured, Ishiro immediately resumed sensory scanning to locate the second jōnin.
Only moments had passed since the attack began, but the canyon was already in chaos.
Apart from the group that had been annihilated by the ambush, seven or eight more had fled. Of the rest, many had begun attacking each other.
Because these ambushers hadn't known about one another, chaos erupted. Twenty or so were now fighting each other out of panic. Only about ten were actually targeting the convoy—and among them, Ishiro's squads had the upper hand.
So Ishiro ignored them and locked onto the final threat: the jōnin with elemental ninjutsu on the far side of the canyon.
That jōnin hadn't moved. The earlier clash had clearly alarmed him. Though Ishiro's fight had ended quickly, the chakra surge from the confrontation hadn't escaped his notice.
He concluded that at least two jōnin-level chakra signatures had flared up across the canyon. The burst came and went too quickly—making the hidden foe even more frightening. He guessed, correctly, that one of their own had already died.
Knowing his own strength wasn't top-tier among jōnin, he judged that if the enemy could kill a peer that quickly, he'd be next if he engaged.
He couldn't see Ishiro, but perhaps due to Ishiro's unconcealed killing intent, he seemed to sense being watched. He was clearly hesitating.
Ishiro, confirming he hadn't moved, ended his scan. He sealed the dead jōnin's body into a scroll.
Then, judging the battlefield conditions, he formed hand seals and began casting the B-rank Water Release: Violent Water Wave.
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