Zabuza's S.Adventures 27 (Patreon)

Commissioned by Kejmur

Zabuza’s S.Adventures
Chapter 27

-VB-

“Zabuza-san!”

I looked up to the caller and found my squad waiting for me in the tent after the meeting with the garrison commander.

“What?”

“How did the meeting go?” one of them asked casually.

“Unfavorably for us. We’re going out tomorrow to scout out the area for potential hostiles.”

Jinzo frowned. “Why send us out so quickly? This outpost is not undermanned,” he muttered.

“It’s probably because of me,” I replied with a shrug. “I could see it in the man’s eyes; he doesn’t like me because I’m from Kiri.”

Of all of them here, Jinzo was the most offended on my behalf. “What?! But you’ve done so much for us and Konoha already!”

That was true, but it didn’t matter to haters.

“Let the commander hate. It ain’t gonna change the fact that he hates me or is weaker than me.”

Others looked at each other warily, but Jinzo stared at him deferentially. I supposed that our fight against both ex-Kiri had solidified me in Jinzo’s mind.

That was good. Fighting besides a comrade who trusted you, like I did with Haku, made life easier.

“Rest well. We’ll be in for a long week.”

Some of my men groaned while others shrugged.

Such was life, after all.

That said…

“Let’s form some plans before we rest today. I don’t want to go out there with only well-known Konoha fighting formations in mind.” We weren’t a regular squad, which normally trains together and knows each other. Hell, most of these were chunin. Jounins like myself often don’t intermingle me due to the sheer difference in power and skill unless, of course, they knew each other beforehand.

As such, even a little bit of planning was necessary as well as information exchange to ensure that if something happened, they would be able to guess and work with each other when there was no other information to go off of.

Such as, oh I don’t know, being separated in the middle of an ambush. After all, that was how Yoshirama died. If I had known about claustrophobia, then I might have kept a closer eye on him.

The squad got together, some eager and some some obediently. This was good. No one wanted to die, after all.

“Let’s start with all of our specialties…”

-VB-

We left the outpost at the crack of dawn. Instead of moving at high pace tree-hopping, I ordered my squad to move through the undergrowth and made sure that the sensor was checking every half kilometer.

I also ordered them to not hack at any of the undergrowth as all ninjas were not only adept at finding such tracks but also because it would wear down on our tools.

And so, we began the slow and grudgingly thankless job of scouting.

Hopefully, my squad and I won’t encounter any enemies.

---

Scouting Report.
Momoichi Zabuza, Jounin **********

Day 1.

We covered the distance back to where the first burnt outpost was. No enemies were found, but we did find traces of large movement. Approximate location: ****.****

Day 2.

We made it back to the outpost. Nothing else was found on the way back.

Day 3.

We went back to the track that we found on day 1. It had been intentionally erased. There were signs of earth techniques. Not many kiri-nin were known for it, though a few did have it. I’m starting to think that there was collaboration between my ex-comrades and Cloud.

Day 4.

We found an abandoned base of operation. It was inside a cave on a small cliff covered by dense woodland. There were discarded ninja tools. There was not a single kiri-made weapon. All of them were Kumo. I knew this because Kiri had shit iron, so most of the steel were weaker, especially the mass produced kunai. The weapons we found were all heavy, which was a common characteristic of Lightning’s weapons. Fuck. This was no more than two kilometers from the burnt outpost. Approximate location: ****-4.****+9

Day 5.

While I was taking a leak, I found them.

---

The squad and I looked down at an encampment on the Lighting-side of the border.

And it was very clear to all of us that there were Kumo- and Kiri-nin, but it was a very divided camp. Neither side intermingled with one another, and I could see even from here the disdain each side held for each other.

But there were only two dozen ninjas there. If my squad and I got it right, then we could ambush them and kill them all.

I could, however, simply report back. We were on a scouting mission, after all. Engaging the enemy right off the bat was the same as attacking without gathering more information. For all I know, this could be a trap for the ease I found it.

However, my squad was amazed by how I found it, because all it took for me to find it was a trial of cut branches, the very thing I warned my squad about.

…

I caught their attention with a small hand gesture.

Then I signaled them.

‘Attack or report back?’

There were a few looks exchanged between each other before they all turned back to me and individually signalled back.

5 attacks. 2 retreats.

Attack, it was.

I gave them a quick and rough plan on how we were going to ambush them.

The first thing we did.

Everyone but I slept.

---

We encircled the camp in the night when most of their numbers were asleep.

Then I casted a weaker version of the Hidden Mist Technique. Unlike the original, this version lacked the chakra infusion into the mist, making it easier to disperse but also harder to notice it as being unnatural. On top of that, I did not cast it directly on the camp but in multiple locations east of the camp with water clones.

Then slowly, I expanded the mist towards the camp.

The ninjas in the camp saw it and dismissed it immediately, including the kiri-nin.

Good.

When the mist was thick enough to halve the crescent moon’s light… I struck.

I landed on my first victim, the lookout, with only my feet on his head, but having landed on him from straight up, it was enough to crush his head and neck into a mulch.

As his body fell with very few noise, I jumped again, this time targeting the kumo-nin commander’s tent.

I tore it apart very loudly.

“KIRI-NIN BETRAYED US! THE COMMANDER ARE DEAD!” I roared and then disappeared, replacing myself with a water clone henged like the dead lookout, whose body should be very far away and all traces of his death buried.

That immediately roused everyone up.

The kumo-nin saw the tent and the dead commander as did the kiri-nin.

They turned on each other immediately.

While this happened, I signalled for my squad to move in from the edge of the mist and kill any stragglers.

When the sun rose, the entire camp was dead and buried.

---

“You did what?” the garrison commander asked with a deadpan.

For my work in killing my ex-comrades and invaders, I was written up.

Fucking haters. I should kill this fucker.