Land of Grass.
In the mountain forest, silent and deserted, it is already dusk, the sunset's fiery red glow reflects down, staining the forest red, as if draped in beautifully colorful rays.
Dressed in a ninja suit modified from a white kimono, with a moon-blue metal ring snugly around her neck, she runs through the forest, her long hair flying, pure white eyes staring straight ahead, quickly arriving at an open space and stopping.
Although her gaze is firmly locked on the position ahead, for Ayane, whose 'Byakugan' is already activated, her eyes have formed an all-around, dead-angle-free monitoring radar.
The targets that the Byakugan can see through are not only human bodies, but also the more crucial meridian system that flows Chakra. Unless one abandons the energy of Chakra, no matter what kind of existence it is, it cannot escape the observation of the Byakugan, and arrive here silently.
Of course, there are exceptions, such as special stealth jutsus that can obscure one's existence to evade the Byakugan's observation. However, Ayane has not seen such stealth jutsus many times to date.
But perhaps there are similar special talents in Konoha Anbu.
After all, ninja techniques vary greatly, and having secret techniques and ninja techniques aimed at countering 'Byakugan' as a Kekkeigenkai ability is reasonable.
No matter what, Konoha is also the most powerful representative among the Five Great Ninja Villages, and among these tens of thousands of ninjas, having some with special abilities is not surprising.
Therefore, for this operation, Ayane maintains a very high level of caution.
Like Konoha Anbu and Root, these special ninja departments specializing in absorbing special talents, not one member inside is anything but an elite mastering special secret techniques.
In Konoha, not every elite will be absorbed into Anbu or Root, but those who are selected to join are all exceptional.
"Five million ryo for a head seems a bit of a loss."
Ayane muttered softly as she arrived at the open space.
According to the standard head price in the Underground Black Market, the standard bounty for a Jonin indeed starts at about several million ryo. However, members within Root are special talents, and even if they are not Jonin, the abilities they possess must be outstanding in a certain field.
However, the bid price of thirty million ryo satisfies Ayane with the Hidden Rock Ninja's generosity.
"Konoha's movements have changed somewhat."
Normal Byakugan's observation distance is about one to two kilometers, and those who have honed their Byakugan to an advanced level can observe a radius of around five kilometers.
Ayane's Byakugan, having undergone much training, has already been honed to perfection; she can encompass a radius of ten kilometers as the core.
Calculating by area, the range that can be observed exceeds not just by a bit the distance that a Hyuga Clan Jonin can use Byakugan to observe.
Therefore, for Ayane, invading Konoha's patrol system swiftly is not a very challenging task.
Within her Byakugan's ten-kilometer observation radius, the movements and destinations of several patrol squads composed of dozens of Konoha Ninjas are all revealed to her eyes.
"Although there are some changes compared to before, many patterns have not transformed."
Ayane touched the tree bark beside her, seeing some inconspicuous strange symbols inscribed on it that seemed like meaningless scrawls.
"The method of code exchange has changed too."
Ayane used to be in the White Fang Squad and had contact with such codes, so she knows very well what the exchange codes for Konoha's patrol teams are.
"Creating so many changes in such a short time, is it to prevent information from being obtained by renegade ninjas like me?"
Indeed, the changed codes cause any misinterpretation of one symbol's meaning in an unknown new system, resulting in massive errors in intelligence.
"In such a short time, creating a new code system, the Sannin truly are formidable."
Even the often criticized shameless Sannin must not be underestimated.
From the beginning, Ayane did not underestimate Konoha's high-end combat power.
Ninjas who can become Jonin are all individuals who have fought their way out of piles of corpses and only then can be appointed as Jonin.
But doing this means little for a ninja with Byakugan like her.
She personally joined the former Konoha Jonin of the 'Vanguard Team'; the peak period of the White Fang Squad was when she joined, where she accumulated much unimaginable combat experience for outsiders.
Outsiders only sigh at the efficiency and success rate of the White Fang Squad's tasks, but few understand the task execution mode of the White Fang Squad.
This guerilla warfare is indeed the field suited for her.
◎
"What? All disappeared? It's been less than a day."
At the border of the Land of Fire and the Land of Grass, in the tent meeting room of the Konoha Camp, Jiraiya shows an expression of disbelief.
The new patrol squad mode was personally overseen by him; how could it be so fragile?
Even if the enemy possesses the Hyuga's Byakugan, they shouldn't have such a high-action efficiency.
Thinking retreating here would use the familiar environment for combat, hopefully gaining some advantage in patrol, but instead faced an even more challenging situation.
The patrol squad is annihilated.
Moreover, the time span is less than a day, with no corpses found, mysteriously vanishing from the forest.