Chapter Eighty: Intentions

“Lord Kato Mikaze!”

As Kato Mikaze drew closer to the squad of Leaf Village shinobi, a Chunin who recognized him called out in greeting.

“You know me?” Kato Mikaze replied, tossing over his identification token according to protocol—a token he had only just received from the administrative ninja at the northwest fortress camp earlier that day.

“I saw you in the camp while I was working this afternoon,” the Leaf Chunin answered as he verified the token.

“Are you heading back to the camp?” he continued.

“Yes,” Kato Mikaze replied. “I just finished a mission in the Land of Rain and hurried back. Is the camp’s night rule still the same as before? After midnight, nobody is allowed in or out?”

“That regulation does exist, but it doesn’t apply to you. You’re already a Jonin now. As long as your identity is verified, you can enter and exit the camp even after midnight,” the Chunin explained, handing back the checked token.

With the identity check cleared, Kato Mikaze took his token and prepared to leave the covert sentry point. He glanced over his shoulder at the two Genin who, only now, seemed to fully relax. One of his sharp, straight brows lifted slightly, and he spoke in a tone meant to guide his juniors:

“Your subordinates still need some training. Relax—I’m a Leaf shinobi, not an enemy. If you stay this tense the whole night, you’re going to wear yourselves out. Trust me, I know from experience.”

With those words, Kato Mikaze turned and departed from the sentry post, his presence once again marked by a dazzling style—pale green luminescence trailing him as he sped toward the nearby northwest fortress camp.

After Kato Mikaze left, the Leaf Chunin looked at his two teammates.

“It’s fine now—rest up and get yourselves together. And take it easy, didn’t you hear what the Lord said? Otherwise, you’ll be exhausted by the end of the night patrol.”

“Captain, was that Lord Kato Mikaze, who just got promoted to Jonin in the village?” one Genin asked. “He’s so fast! And he still has the scent of rain and blood all over him. Did he just come back from fighting enemy shinobi in the Land of Rain?”

“Is this the follow-up to the recent conflicts? Are we going to war?”

One Genin peppered his captain with questions, while the other nodded vigorously, his gaze full of anticipation, hoping for answers.

Hearing the word “war,” the Chunin looked at his two younger teammates, focusing on their youthful faces.

He didn’t answer directly, instead snapping, “Get some rest and focus on your own duties. Whether there’s going to be war or not, that’s something for the Hokage to worry about. You just think about how to patrol properly tonight!”

“Are we really going to war?” The Chunin watched his still-excited subordinates and silently asked himself a question he had no answer for.

…

Meanwhile, Kato Mikaze reached the northwest fortress camp just before midnight.

But though the hour wasn’t late enough yet, it was clearly not the right time to catch up with his old friend Sakumo Hatake. Kato Mikaze himself was exhausted, so he refrained from disturbing Sakumo, heading straight to the dormitory he had been assigned earlier that day.

Fortunately, the Jonin quarters had a simple shower facility. After washing off the blood and grime, Kato Mikaze finally went to sleep.

…

As Kato Mikaze prepared to rest, far away in the Land of Rain, at the ventilation shaft where he had previously hunted bugs, the shadowy figure of Black and White Zetsu stood beside the opening.

The rain had stopped. The moon, hidden by clouds for so long, now peered through the night sky, casting brilliant light that, together with reflections from pools of standing water below, illuminated the area around the shaft.

Black and White Zetsu was inspecting the vine plant at the entrance, already aware that the alarm had been triggered twice that day. The first alert yielded nothing—the vine sensed nothing unusual. The second alert, however, the plant reported a large, cold-blooded, soft-bodied creature passing through the shaft.

A White Zetsu clone had disappeared—vanished without a trace, dead or alive. Even the Gedo Statue sensed nothing, a clear sign the clone was gone for good.

After completing the ritual for Madara Uchiha that night, Black and White Zetsu noticed the anomaly during the daily report from his clones, then traced it back here. This was the last known location of the missing clone, so naturally, he had to investigate.

White Zetsu clones, in a sense, were an inexhaustible resource; losing a few was hardly a problem, and Black Zetsu himself had killed plenty. But if someone could slip right up to his doorstep without notice, that was no laughing matter.

“A large soft-bodied creature…a snake?” Black and White Zetsu muttered, standing by the shaft, holding a rain-soaked lotus leaf—the very one he recognized from the missing clone’s complaints about the relentless rain. That leaf had been used as a makeshift shield.

“What is this? Swallowed by a snake? That fool…can’t even handle basic surveillance!” White Zetsu grumbled.

‘Should I inform Madara Uchiha?...Forget it. I just ran myself ragged in the Land of Wind and almost ruined the Rinnegan. The Rinnegan is what matters most!’

‘Guarding the Rinnegan is my top priority now. It took a thousand years of effort to create—I can’t let Madara squander it.’

‘And the red-haired child—things are unstable in the Hidden Rain Village lately. I’d better keep a closer watch over there.’

The other half, Black Zetsu, listened in silence, pondering his own affairs. Seeing that White Zetsu had no intention of informing Madara suited him just fine, so he kept quiet.

…

The next morning, at the northwest fortress camp within the Land of Fire, Kato Mikaze was awakened punctually by his well-trained biological clock.

After a night’s rest, the fatigue from yesterday’s mission in the Land of Rain and the long journey had mostly faded. After a quick wash, Kato Mikaze left his dorm and headed to the mess hall for breakfast.

This was still a busy period for missions, with time at a premium, so his usual morning training was temporarily set aside. Especially since he planned to head to the Land of Wind today, where there were far more missions than in the Land of Rain—plenty of opportunities to stretch his limbs.

Kato Mikaze had chosen no fewer than eleven missions in the Land of Wind, nearly three times the number he had taken in the Land of Rain. As for the Land of Earth, he had only selected six missions, but those were all ranked A, demanding higher quality.

His plan was to meet his old friend Sakumo Hatake in camp today, then go tackle the Land of Wind missions, return to the northwest fortress camp for a day of rest, and finally move on to the last stop, the Land of Earth. After completing those missions, he would not return to the camp, but head straight back to the Leaf Village.

…

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