It was a normal boring day for Yamanaka Hiroto. He had just finished patrolling and was wasting his time in the Patrol camp while chatting with Hyuga Jun. However, he suddenly stopped and spread his chakra field. It spread for 500 meters but he couldn't sense anything.
Hyuga Jun asked, "Did you sense something?"
Yamanaka Hiroto replied, "I can't sense anyone. But someone just sensed our camp. Check with your Byakugan."
Jun immediately activated his Byakugan.
Hiroto asked, "Who is it?"
A frown formed on Jun's face as he replied, "It's one of our ninjas. And he is carrying another who is very injured. He is around 1 kilometer to the east."
Fujin had roughly memorized the locations of Patrol camps from his previous missions. After arriving in the vicinity, he spread his chakra field to sense any ninjas in the vicinity. On sensing 7 ninjas in one place, Fujin flickered towards them.
In a minute, he appeared before Hiroto and Jun. Hiroto quickly said, "Identify yourself."
Fujin replied, "Suzuki Fujin. You can ask questions later. My teammate got very injured during the mission. Do you have a medic?"
Jun nodded and said, "Alright, follow me."
He quickly led Fujin into the camp and knocked on a door. He said, "Emiko, we have a very injured person. Come quickly."
Emiko immediately opened the door. She was the medical ninja in the camp. She was surprised when she saw Tamotsu's condition. She quickly laid him on a bed and began healing him.
While Emiko treated Tamotsu, Jun and Hiroto interrogated Fujin. They were suspicious of Fujin because Fujin didn't have a single injury on him despite his teammate being so injured. He asked for Fujin's ID number and other standard questions to confirm that Fujin was indeed a ninja from Konoha.
Finally, he asked, "Where is your remaining team?"
Fujin put up a sad face and said, "They are all dead."
Hiroto had expected such a result. He thought, 'I guess that he is safe because of the sacrifices of his teammates.'
He sighed and patted Fujin's shoulder and said, "It's fine. Sometimes missions go wrong."
Fujin nodded.
Emiko took around 20 minutes to heal Tamotsu. She left her room and approached Fujin and ask, "Are you injured as well?"
Fujin shook his head, "No, I am fine."
Emiko nodded and left to keep an eye on Tamotsu.
After an hour, Tamotsu gained consciousness. He quickly got up and sat up straight. However, his injuries made him grunt in pain. He looked around himself and was surprised that he was still alive.
Emiko stopped him from moving much and quickly asked him how he was feeling. Tamotsu answered her questions. When he was done, he asked, "How did I get here? And where are my teammates?"
The medical ninja sighed and said, "Your teammate Fujin brought you here. I'll call him."
She left the room to call Fujin. However, she was impressed by Tamotsu, 'Despite losing his left leg, his first thought was the wellbeing of his team.'
Meanwhile, Tamotsu was surprised that Fujin was able to escape along with him. However, recalling Tadashi and imagining the fates of Ryota and Katsumi, tears began rolling down his cheeks. He quickly wiped them off thinking, "I shouldn't appear weak in front of Fujin. I'll have lots of time to grieve for them later.'
Soon, Fujin arrived in the room where Tamotsu was resting. He could see the wetness in Tamotsu's eyes due to the tears he was holding back.
Tamotsu looked at Fujin and said, "I am glad that you are safe Fujin."
Fujin nodded and looked at his cut leg. He asked, "How are you?"
Tamotsu saw his sight and said sorrowfully, "I'll be fine."
After half a minute of silence, he asked, "Do you know what happened to Katsumi and Ryota?"
Fujin shook his head and answered, "No. I didn't see either of them after we split up. I only saw you and managed to barely escape."
Tamotsu was shivering on hearing Fujin's answer. With the last ray of hope, he asked, "You are a sensor. Did you sense them?"
Fujin sighed and replied, "No. I was attacked by a ninja called Darui. He was much stronger than me. We flickered many times during the fight and were a long distance away from where we were ambushed. So I couldn't sense them."
Tamotsu sighed and stayed silent for a few minutes. No one spoke. Finally, the sorrowful expression disappeared from Tamotsu's face and instead, he looked determined. He asked, "Fujin, how long have I been unconscious?"
Fujin was surprised to see the sudden change in attitude. He answered, "Around 10 hours. I reached this camp around an hour ago."
Tamotsu looked at his leg and said, "I'll be a burden if I come along with you. Fujin, run towards Konoha as fast as you can and inform Lord Hokage what happened."
He looked at Fujin and said with determination, "This is a very important mission for our village Fujin. I'll leave it in your hands."
Fujin realized, 'I see. He wants revenge. That said, knowing Hiruzen, it's highly unlikely that he will choose violence. Unfortunately, those 3 won't ever get justice. Though I guess, we already had our revenge as at least 9 of them are dead.'
Fujin said, "Alright. I'll go quickly. You take care of yourself Tamotsu."
Tamotsu nodded and said, "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."
Fujin could see that despite his determined expression, Tamotsu was having a hard time controlling his sorrow. He was holding back just to not demoralize Fujin.
Fujin immediately left. A few minutes later, Tamotsu broke down in tears.
Fujin rapidly moved across the Land of Fire. On the way, he couldn't help but sigh, 'Poor guy was trying so hard to control his tears. I wonder how many such instances occur daily in this world. How many squads meet their end due to a mission going wrong? I kinda had it lucky so far. Unfortunately, it looks like my luck ran out today.
I need better means to escape from such situations. This time I was lucky that Tamotsu crashed into my battlefield and Darui decided to not finish me off immediately and instead gave me the option to surrender. I didn't even have a chance to escape until then. I don't want to depend on luck next time as not everyone will be merciful like Darui.'
While moving, Fujin analyzed the options available to him. The first jutsu that came to his mind was obviously the Flying Thunder God. However, he rejected it, 'No, Hiruzen said that I'll have to be a Grandmaster at Fuinjutsu before being allowed to learn it. Right now I could barely even be considered a Master. Becoming Grandmaster will require a lot more time. Not to mention, I'll need the Jounin rank to be able to access the seals kept in Section A of the library.'
Fujin analyzed more but couldn't think of any idea other than the one he had at the back of his mind. Fujin sighed, 'I guess that's the only available option. Unfortunately, even that is very risky. I still need some time to be ready for it. That said, if Hiruzen decides against my well-being, I should take that risk. It might allow me to escape from Konoha very easily.'
While Fujin was moving at full speed through the forests in the land of Fire, a message was sent back to Kumogakure to the 4th Raikage. The coded scroll was decoded and the translated message was sent to A.
A opened the scroll and began reading. Soon, anger appeared on his face. He raised his arm and smashed his table into two while yelling, "What the hell are these guys doing?"
Mabui had seen A do such acts hundreds of times. She wasn't affected and calmly asked, "What happened, Lord Raikage?"
A handed her the scroll and said in disappointment, "They ambushed 5 Konoha ninjas with 58 ninjas and still lost 13 ninjas and had many more injured. Not to mention, they still let 2 Konoha ninjas escape!"
Mabui was surprised by what A said. She wondered, 'Which strong squad did they encounter to have such losses?'
She quickly checked the scroll to see who the Konoha ninjas were. She was surprised once again. She asked in confusion, "Who is Tamotsu?"
A looked at her and said, "It's your job to tell me."
She felt awkward hearing A's reply. She stopped reading the scroll, handed it back to A and quickly excused herself and checked their records.
Mabui returned after a few minutes and said, "Tamotsu is an Elite Chunin in Konoha. He was promoted to the Chunin rank after the 3rd Great Ninja War. But, his record isn't stellar enough to produce such a result."
A said, "It wasn't his doing. Hari said that a young ninja was able to hold his own against Darui and is an expert in Wind Manipulation. He was the main reason for the casualties. Find who this brat is as they didn't know his identity."
Mabui thought for a bit and said, "In the chunin exam that happened before the last one in Konoha, the champion was an orphan who specialized in Wind manipulation. It was when the Kiri rebels had participated in the Chunin exam. Other than him, I haven't heard of any young ninja who specializes in Wind Manipulation from Konoha."
A thought for a bit and instructed, "Find his name and pass it to the negotiators. Send the negotiators that we have prepared to Konoha and ask for heads of Tamotsu and that brat. Also, send a message to Darui and call him, C and Samui back. And, don't let this news leak."
Mabui nodded and left the office.
