Chapter 127: Operation Soft Launch (Part-2) [Five Rogues, Two Corpses, Zero Sound]

Chapter 127 - Operation Soft Launch (Part-2) [Five Rogues, Two Corpses, Zero Sound] It didn't take long for the two of them to reach the general mission location. Traveling without breaks, they moved through forests and over ridges, avoiding roads entirely. The Land of Frost, like the Land of Iron, was blanketed in thick snow. A stark white canvas stretched in all directions, snow-covered trees, frozen rivers, and rolling hills hidden beneath layers of frost. The landscape was beautiful but deceptive. Beneath that peaceful facade was their target. Clad in their standard black ANBU gear, the two of them would have stood out immediately in this winter terrain, so they halted in a shaded forest hollow. The trees still offered some cover, and the scattered shadows gave them a place to regroup before beginning their next move. Yoru broke the silence first. "Summon your butterflies. Have them locate the targets." Ren glanced at him, one brow rising behind his mask. "You know about the butterflies?" He wasn't too surprised, but still mildly annoyed. 'How does this man know everything?' Yoru replied flatly, "Hard not to. A sudden surge in butterfly activity like that doesn't go unnoticed. If someone with the right connections spotted it, they'd immediately know the butterfly summon was reactivated. And if they were smart, they'd assume it was someone from Konoha." Ren nodded slowly. That made sense. He summoned a slightly more powerful butterfly with a discreet hand seal and gave it a simple directive. "Cho did mention they had nearly 70% coverage during my mother's time," Ren said, watching the summoned butterfly prepare to depart. "If the network suddenly reactivates, it's bound to get noticed. I'll talk to her. Ask her to be more discreet when we operate outside the village." Yoru nodded in approval. "Do that. Right now, the activity is suppressed. But once you hit 40% reactivation, the village will start expecting you to share intel, especially with your current ANBU role. You should know, your mother's butterfly network used to be one of the four pillars of Konoha's intelligence system." Ren's eyes narrowed slightly. "Four pillars?" Yoru explained calmly, "Yes. There's the Agent Network, which reports to the Jonin Commander. Then Jiraiya's toad network, which spans internationally. The ANBU's own internal intel operations, which I oversee. And the fourth, your mother's butterflies. In terms of raw coverage and inconspicuous movement, her network was the strongest. After she died, that entire support pillar collapsed, and we've been trying to cover the gap ever since." Ren nodded again, thoughtful. 'So once the butterflies are fully active again, that support network will be re-established.' He didn't particularly mind. If they wanted to access butterfly intel, they'd have to go through him. That gave him control over what was shared and what was not, which gave him a tactical advantage. As the summoned butterfly took off, flitting away into the frozen forest, Ren turned back to Yoru. "Commander, do we know anything about the rogues that escaped? Or are we going in blind?" Yoru didn't answer with words this time. Instead, he tossed Ren a small black notebook, leather-bound, worn at the edges. The bingo book. Ren flipped through it and saw that several pages had been bookmarked. He stopped at the first one. Makiru, the Lightning Blade. Former Cloud Hunter-nin. High-level kenjutsu specialist. Known for precise, ambush-style assassinations. Master of Lightning Release, especially for speed enhancement and paralysis. Yuka the Wraith. A former Mist shinobi now hiding in the Land of Lightning. Genjutsu expert. Uses fog-based sensory disruption. Capable of concealing entire teams within perception-based jutsu. Kenkuro of the Iron Knuckles. Ex-Cloud shinobi. Pure taijutsu brawler. Reinforces his fists and arms with Earth Release. Known to suffer from an unstable chakra network, resulting in erratic bursts of strength and aggression. Shiba the Wall-Walker. Former Iwagakure ninja. Elite in stealth and mobility. Moves across terrain almost undetectable. Dual-dagger style. Reportedly unmatched among jonin for terrain infiltration. Renji the Leech. Rogue medical-nin. Abandoned the Hidden cloud years ago. Uses parasite-based healing. Extremely durable with a pseudo-regenerative body. Has been seen regrowing lost limbs over time using the life force of his opponents. Ren closed the book slowly, frowning. "Commander... are we sure these guys aren't trained together? This looks like a coordinated strike team. You've got a close-range dealer, a crowd controller, a tank, an assassin and a healer too. That's a full party setup. The only thing they are missing is probably a sensor which might have been the 6th member you mentioned, the one who had been killed." Yoru didn't respond right away. After a pause, he said, "Whether they are trained operatives or just a bunch of misfits thrown together, it doesn't matter. Our objective is the same, eliminate all of them." Ren raised an eyebrow. "Even if they're elite jonin-level as individuals and fighting as a team?" Yoru finally looked over at him. "Yes. That means more pressure. And more pressure means progress." Ren sighed inwardly. 'This guy really has a one-track mind when it comes to pushing my limits. He'd throw me into a pit of dragons if it meant mastering Hyperfocus faster.' Still, he couldn't deny he was excited. He hadn't had a chance to fight so many powerful opponents at once. The opportunity to test his skill against a real elite-level team, even under danger, was something he wouldn't pass up. Since the number of butterflies available in the frosty region was low, Ren had no choice but to wait. Nearly two hours passed before the butterfly he had sent finally returned, fluttering down silently beside him and transmitting the information it had gathered. Ren stood up and quickly relayed the findings to Yoru. "They've set up a full camp inside an abandoned outpost near the forest edge, roughly six kilometers from our current position. Flat terrain, little cover, but the camp sits on high ground. From what the butterfly saw, they've established a perimeter and posted watchers. It's like they know someone's coming and they're just waiting for it." Yoru gave a slow nod, his expression as unreadable as ever. "Expected. Do they seem organized?" Ren confirmed with a nod. "Very. They've been rotating shifts every few minutes and appear to have divided responsibilities among themselves. This isn't just a group of scattered fugitives, they're acting more like a coordinated platoon." "Then," Yoru said flatly, "you'll be fighting your first platoon." Ren blinked, but didn't respond. Before he could ask further, Yoru continued, "Any signs of the head ninja?" Ren shook his head. "The butterfly only saw five people, four men and a woman. Based on appearances and chakra signatures, they're most likely the targets listed in the bingo book. But no trace of the Kumo head ninja." "Then we proceed under the assumption that he isn't present. The rest of the mission falls to you," Yoru declared. "From this moment forward, you are the sole ANBU operative assigned. I will not intervene unless the head ninja arrives." With that, Yoru's figure vanished. Ren didn't bother searching for him, he knew it would be a waste of time. Instead, he turned to the butterfly still fluttering nearby. He gently rubbed its wings, whispering, "Well then, let's go, little friend. If this is going to be my debut performance, I might as well make it a bit spectacular." The butterfly darted ahead, and Ren followed. The terrain gradually shifted as they moved forward. The snow remained, but it grew patchier, stuck more to the treetops than the ground. The incline steepened subtly, rocks began to jut out from beneath the snow, and the trees grew taller and denser. Ren kept his pace steady, his eyes constantly scanning. According to the map, they were entering the border region of the Land of Frost. 'Makes sense,' Ren thought. 'Sparse population, low patrol activity, it's and ideal place to hide.' Roughly ten more minutes passed before the atmosphere changed again. A thin mist began to gather across the forest floor. At first, it was barely noticeable, but it soon thickened. A faint fog crept in, swirling unnaturally around the trees and clinging low to the ground. Ren slowed down. The fog continued to thicken, and suddenly, the butterfly stopped mid-flight. Its wings twitched erratically, and it dropped toward the ground. Ren caught it carefully in his hand, sighing softly. "I guess that's the limit of your tolerance." He sat briefly to heal the small summon, feeding a pulse of chakra into its tiny frame. As expected, the fog was laced with a low-grade toxin, nothing fatal, but enough to induce hallucinations and mild paralysis over time. It wouldn't have much effect on him, but to something as small as a butterfly, it was debilitating. Once healed, the butterfly vanished in a puff of smoke, and Ren pressed onward. Despite the growing toxicity, Ren moved through the mist without difficulty. Continuous strengthening of his body through yang chakra had made his immune system resistant to many types of poison. He had even tested various poisons from the ANBU archives during training and found he was fully immune to about 30% of them and highly resistant to another 20%. 'If I push further, I might achieve full immunity soon,' he thought, ducking beneath a branch and pushing forward. To improve his vision, he enhanced his eyes with chakra. The fog dispersed slightly in his vision, revealing clearer outlines of the terrain and trees. Though the chakra enhancement was nothing like Sharingan or the Byakugan it atleast allowed for a slightly better vision in thick fog or dark environment. He moved through the white silence with calculated precision until the butterfly's earlier direction finally made sense, a small rise in the terrain indicated he was nearing the reported camp. And then, he saw it. From the cover of a snow-dusted pine tree, Ren crouched and observed the outpost. Unlike the misty, fog-covered woods surrounding it, the area around the outpost was clear, suspiciously clear. A perimeter had been cleared, revealing the old wooden walls and stone foundation of the abandoned border camp. There wasn't a single trap in sight. 'No explosive tags, no hidden wires, no seal indicators, it's wide open,' he noted. 'Too clean.' He waited. Minutes passed. Then more. Still, he felt no immediate danger. But he wasn't about to walk into a potential trap just because the surface seemed calm. One of the targets, Kenkuro, was currently on patrol. The man fit the description from the bingo book perfectly: a hulking figure with broad shoulders, tan skin, and iron knuckles strapped to each hand. He didn't look like a shinobi so much as a street brawler. Every few minutes, he would stomp into the snow and release a burst of chakra, as if using it to shake the environment for disturbances. Ren watched silently. Then came Renji, the so-called "Leech." The rogue medical-nin was grotesque. His movements were twitchy, hunched, unnatural. Every few minutes, he scanned the area, sniffing the air like a predator. Despite his unsettling appearance, he had sharp awareness and highly attuned senses. Makiru, who appeared later, was clearly the leader. His posture was straighter, movements precise, and he spent more time checking the surroundings and giving brief, silent orders. His demeanor screamed experience, and his chakra level was the highest of the five, he was Level 78. For the next three hours, Ren remained in place, observing, gathering patterns. Shift changes occurred every 20 to 30 minutes. None of them stayed on patrol for more than a half-hour. Yuka never appeared outside the camp; likely she was controlling the poison-based fog from within. Shiba showed up once, flitting between rooftops with the grace of a true stealth specialist. All five were accounted for. Eventually, Ren leaned back against the tree trunk. 'The rest are solid elite jonin, between Level 70 and 75, but Makiru's the one I'll have to watch closely.' He exhaled quietly, eyes narrowing. 'But that Renji guy, even though he has the least level with level 73, there's something off about him. Something not normal.' Even though Makiru was the strongest in raw power, Renji gave off a different kind of threat. It wasn't in his level, it was in how he moved, how he acted, and how his chakra pulsed irregularly, as though his entire body was a living experiment. 'Too dangerous to leave him for later,' Ren decided. Even though he wanted to push himself, it wasn't to that extent that he would risk an uncertain element that could potentially result in death. He adjusted his mask, crouched lower, and waited. 'Let's deal with the experiment first, even though I am somewhat interested in his healing abilities, it isn't to the extent that I would let him live.' Renji's shift was due to begin again and that's when Ren would strike. ~~~ A short distance away from the clearing soon to erupt in chaos, stood Yoru, hidden perfectly in the shadows. Not a sound marked his presence. Not even a shift in the air. It was as if he wasn't there at all. At his feet lay two bodies, motionless and silent. They wore modified ANBU uniforms, similar in cut but bearing subtle differences in fabric and marking. Most telling of all were the tattoos on their shoulders: the emblem of Root. Yoru's gaze drifted over them for only a moment before he turned his eyes back toward the clearing, to the lone figure crouched in the trees, Ren, poised and waiting. A low murmur escaped him, no louder than a breath carried by the wind. "You won't succeed this time Danzo." His tone was quiet, not angry, not cold but extremely calm. But the atmosphere around him shifted dangerously, colder than the frost-covered forest that surrounded them. There was a pause, the briefest hesitation in thought. "And if Hiruzen keeps getting in the way..." He didn't finish the sentence. He didn't need to. The words were left hanging, unfinished, yet complete in implication. Then, like a shadow fading with the light, Yoru vanished once again, leaving behind only silence and the bodies cooling in the snow. ~~~~~ {Just who is Yoru and what is his beef with Danzo?} {Tbh, Yoru's role might just be even more important than Juichi or Utakata and for that I have to prepare a lot of things, if I keep developing Yoru like this and then not fulfil the expectations of him then I don't know what would happen.} {Anyway, this mission would include Ren's first group fight so I am quite excited to write them, hope it turns out well.} {If you want, you can support me on pat-reon.} { h t t p s : / / w w w . p a t r e o n . c o m / Z e e n o n } {You know what else, 200 stone = Extra Chapter} {STONES!!!!}