Naruto: Starting as the Third Hokage with Tears in His Eyes

Chapter 25 White Fang Unsheathed

The border of the Land of Wind, a crimson desert.

Unlike the suffocating humidity of the Land of Rain, this is the other extreme.

The scorching sun baked the earth, the air was distorted by the high temperature, and as far as the eye could see, there was no sign of life except for endless sand dunes.

A ninja squad, like ghosts, moved silently through this sea of ​​death.

They were all dressed in specially made cloaks that blended into the color of the sand, and wore identical animal masks on their faces, revealing only pairs of cold eyes.

Konoha's special assassination tactical unit – the Anbu.

In this unit, no one makes a sound; all communication is accomplished through a complex and efficient set of gestures.

They were like a group of silent death gods, leaving only the mournful sound of the wind blowing across the dunes wherever they went.

Leading the group was a tall, upright man.

He was also wearing the uniform of the Dark Division, with a white dog-face mask on his face, and striking short silver-white hair that fluttered slightly in the scorching wind.

Hatake Sakumo.

He stopped, raised one hand, and the entire unit instantly stopped, their movements perfectly synchronized, as if they were one person.

He crouched down, placed his palms on the scorching sand, and closed his eyes.

Chakra, like the most sophisticated radar, spread in all directions along the sand.

A moment later, he opened his eyes and made a few simple gestures to the squad leaders behind him.

"Three kilometers ahead, beneath the sand dunes, there are five chakra reactions."

"Scouts from the Sand Village."

Clear it.

A young ANBU member wearing a cat-face mask had a glint of eager anticipation in his eyes.

He was a genius among the new recruits to the Dark Division, with outstanding strength, but he was somewhat arrogant.

He gestured to Shuo Mao, requesting permission to lead the team to resolve the issue.

However, Sakumo Hatake only glanced at him and then shook his head.

Then, he made a gesture that stunned everyone.

"I'll go alone."

"You, remain where you are."

Before the masked ANBU member could react, Hatake Sakumo's figure vanished from the spot as if it had merged into the air.

There was no chakra fluctuation from the Body Flicker Technique, and not a sound whatsoever.

He just... disappeared.

The cat-faced ANBU member was startled. He considered himself to be among the top in his generation, but just now, he hadn't seen how his captain disappeared at all.

Subconsciously, he concentrated his chakra in his eyes, staring intently at the seemingly empty desert in front of him, trying to find the captain's whereabouts.

But no matter how hard he tried, he got nothing.

It was as if that person had never existed.

Time passed, second by second.

In the desert, there is only the sound of the wind.

five minutes.

ten minutes.

Just as the cat-faced operative was starting to get a little anxious, wondering if something had gone wrong.

Sakumo Hatake's figure, just as when he appeared, silently returned to the spot where he had been standing.

It was as if he had never left.

The white fang dagger in his hand was still safely sheathed, without even a speck of sand on it.

He made a simple gesture to everyone.

"Threat eliminated, proceed."

The cat-faced operative was filled with doubt, and he couldn't help but gesture and ask.

"Captain, have you... resolved it?"

Sakumo Hatake did not answer, but simply glanced at him with his calm eyes.

Then he raised his hand and pointed to the sand dune three kilometers ahead.

Just then, a gust of wind blew by.

The sand on the surface of that huge sand dune was blown away, revealing five bodies buried underneath.

The corpses of five Sand Village ninja.

Their faces still bore the expressions of vigilance during their patrol, but each of them had a thin, almost invisible line of blood on their neck.

One blow kills.

They weren't even given a chance to react or form hand seals.

The cat-faced operative, witnessing this scene, felt a chill run from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, and his back was instantly soaked with cold sweat.

He finally understood why the Hokage had entrusted this man with such an important task.

The other members of the Dark Guard, though all wearing masks, also had eyes filled with shock and awe.

They were the elite of the elite, and killing was as commonplace for them.

But they themselves knew they could never do what Sakumo Hatake did, transforming killing into a silent art.

The troops continued their advance, like phantoms in the desert, silently approaching their first objective.

An oasis marked with the name Kandal.

This is one of the most important supply transit points for Sunagakure on the front lines.

More than 300 Sand Village ninjas are stationed there, including several elite Jonin.

It was heavily guarded and impregnable.

Shuo Mao led his hundred-man force, lying in ambush behind a sand dune a few kilometers away from the oasis, quietly observing.

He unfolded a map, on which were detailed the troop deployment, patrol routes, and even the changing of the guard times at this transit station.

This intelligence was all Danzo's doing, obtained at the cost of countless lives.

Shuo Mao's gaze slowly moved across the map, finally settling on the center of the oasis, at a location marked with a water source.

A cold glint flashed in his eyes.

He knew that the ninjas of Sunagakure would mix a special kind of soldier's ration pill into their drinking water to conserve water resources and maintain their strength.

And he only needs to do one thing.

He took out a tiny scroll from his ninja tool bag and handed it to one of his teammates behind him.

That team member was an elite member of the Aburame clan.

Shuo Mao made several gestures towards him.

"Have your children take this to them."

The Aburame clan ninja took the scroll, opened it, glanced at it, and his body trembled almost imperceptibly.

What was sealed inside the scroll was neither an explosive tag nor a powerful ninjutsu.

It is a powder.

A colorless and odorless nerve relaxant personally formulated by Orochimaru, which, once dissolved in water, will produce terrifying effects after twelve hours.

The Aburame clan ninja nodded heavily to Sakumo.

He loosened his collar, and countless tiny parasites buzzed out, gathering up the powder and silently flying towards the oasis.

Night deepened.

Sakumo Hatake remained lying quietly on the sand dune, like a lifeless statue.

He was waiting.

Waiting for the moment of slaughter to arrive.

He looked up at the name circled in red on the map—Yasha, a Jonin of Sunagakure.

Then, facing all the shadowy figures behind him, he slowly made a throat-slitting gesture.

Their first goal was set.