The two-day break passed in the blink of an eye.
Apart from his daily physical training and sealing technique studies, Sora spent most of his time silently monitoring the movements of those two Root bases through his distant shadow clones.
However, Yamato's figure never appeared.
'It seems Danzo's control over him is stricter than I imagined, or he is currently on a mission not near these bases.'
Sora analyzed internally, not feeling too anxious.
Hunting requires patience, especially for a key experimental subject under an old fox like Danzo. He had long been mentally prepared for a long wait.
That morning, an Anbu ninja appeared at the orphanage on time, conveying the latest orders from the Hokage.
Unsurprisingly, a new mission had arrived.
Sora followed the Anbu to the Hokage's office and listened quietly to Sarutobi Hiruzen's brief mission summary.
Mission Content: Infiltrate the Land of Water, investigate Kirigakure's recent activities, assess its war intentions and internal situation.
Mission Rank: S-rank.
Mission Duration: Two months.
'Another S-rank reconnaissance mission... After the Land of Wind, now the Land of Water?' Sora understood inwardly.
He had just brought back intel from the Land of Wind. Konoha obviously wouldn't let a "sharp blade" like him sit idle, immediately deploying him to monitor the next potential threat.
The Third Great Ninja War seemed like Konoha versus four, but in reality, there were also numerous conflicts and distrust among the great nations themselves.
Suna had just been beaten down. Iwa and Kumo were still in a stalemate with Konoha. At this moment, the most restless and capable of stirring up trouble was undoubtedly Kirigakure, isolated overseas and with its strength relatively intact.
Based on Sora's memory, at this point in time, Kirigakure, under the leadership of the Third Mizukage, was on one hand playing the internal consumption game of the "Village of the Bloody Mist", and on the other hand, was planning or had already begun to take advantage of the Land of Wind's recent defeat to launch a sneak attack.
Hiruzen sending him to investigate now was undoubtedly to confirm Kirigakure's true intentions and whether it would pose a direct threat to Konoha.
'Investigating Kirigakure... shouldn't be too difficult either.' Sora quickly formulated a plan in his mind.
Kirigakure was isolated overseas, with a closed environment and extreme xenophobia. Infiltration difficulty was indeed higher than the Land of Wind.
But for him, who could fly, the vast sea was merely an open road, and Kirigakure's so-called natural barriers were meaningless.
His expression unchanged, Sora accepted the mission scroll and responded solemnly:
"Yes, I will complete the mission."
Without further ado, after Hiruzen's simple, perfunctory words of encouragement like "be careful," Sora bowed and left the office.
...
After accepting the mission, Sora did not depart immediately.
He first went to the village's ninja tool shop to replenish some standard supplies like soldier pills and smoke bombs, putting on a proper show of preparing for a long-term mission.
Afterwards, he once again quietly approached the vicinity of those two Root bases near the Forest of Death and the lower reaches of the Nakano River.
Confirming the surroundings were safe, Sora dispelled the two shadow clones he had left earlier.
A large amount of memories and fatigue instantly flooded back into his main body, causing Sora's face to pale slightly, but he quickly recovered.
'As expected, nothing was found.'
Quickly scanning through the clones' memories from the past two days, apart from confirming that Root members did regularly come and go from these bases, there was no sighting of any target matching Yamato's description.
This further confirmed Sora's guess. Yamato was either strictly confined deep within a base, or simply not in either of the two bases he had discovered.
Danzo's secret hideouts were probably more numerous than even a fox knew.
'It seems this will be a protracted battle.'
Sora hesitated no longer and formed hand seals.
This time, he mobilized almost ninety percent of the chakra within his body!
A massive amount of chakra surged out, forming two shadow clones beside him far more solid and substantial than the previous ones!
'So much chakra gone all at once... Feels like my body has been hollowed out.'
Feeling an unprecedented sense of "weakness" within him, Sora couldn't help but mock himself.
This feeling of significant chakra depletion was somewhat novel for him, accustomed to fighting with the full burst of the "Eight Gates," but that was all.
His strongest trump card was the Azure Dragon Fruit and his formidable physical techniques.
While Sora's total chakra pool was small, thanks to the robust vitality brought by the Azure Dragon Fruit, his chakra recovery speed far exceeded that of an ordinary person.
Even with his chakra nearly depleted now, it would be enough to recover to a safe level by the time he reached the Land of Water.
Moreover, the chakra required to open the "Eight Gates" was not much.
'This is sufficient.'
Sora nodded to the two chakra-rich shadow clones.
The clones understood, once again silently blending into their previous hiding spots, like the most patient hunters continuing their long vigil.
'I hope there will be some results.'
Sora took one last look in the direction of the Root bases and turned to leave.
...
The journey to the Land of Water was long.
Sora was in no hurry. While traveling, he split his focus to maintain the two shadow clones far away in Konoha, while also slowly recovering his main body's chakra.
Several days later, having disguised himself as an ordinary traveling merchant, Sora arrived at the eastern coast of the Land of Fire, preparing to find a boat to cross the sea to the Land of Water. By then, his chakra had mostly recovered, about seventy to eighty percent.
Standing on the coast, looking at the endless, mist-shrouded sea ahead, Sora could feel a chilling, murderous aura there, completely different from the Land of Fire.
That was the Land of Water, the Village of the Bloody Mist shrouded in thick fog.
'Well then, let me see what Kirigakure is really like right now.'
Sora pressed down on the straw hat on his head and walked towards an ordinary fishing village dock.
...
Land of Water, a tavern in a coastal island town.
Sora, wearing an inconspicuous grey traveling outfit, sat alone in a corner, a cup of sake before him.
The tavern was noisy, filled with the clamor of fishermen, wandering ninja, and small merchants.
Sora appeared to be resting with his eyes closed, but in reality, his ears twitched slightly, taking in all the conversations around him.
He had been here for two days, gathering scattered pieces of intelligence through taverns, black markets, and other channels.
Such as changes in Kirigakure's recent mission frequency, signs of mobilization of some ninja units, and so on.
Overall, Kirigakure's internal atmosphere seemed to be one of eerie tension, while external vigilance had clearly increased.
'At this point in time, Kirigakure should be preparing for, or has already begun, a sneak attack on the Land of Wind, taking advantage of Suna's recent defeat and weakness to bite off a piece of the pie.'
'This is good news for me. The pressure of the reconnaissance mission is much lighter.'
Just as Sora was organizing this information, the tavern door opened and a figure walked in.
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