"Absolutely certain!" Kawaki said without hesitation, confidence radiating from his words. His enhanced sensory abilities had reached an exceptional level thanks to the Kāma seal and his training under Lord Seventh.
"Alright, then our team will split up," Yuhi Kurenai said, giving her approval. "Of the three of you, Kawaki will take the lead. Act according to your judgment depending on the situation."
She turned to him again. "Kawaki, how far away are they from here?"
"Roughly seven kilometers," he replied, narrowing his eyes in focus.
Yuhi Kurenai: Seven kilometers? Is that even possible?
Even the Byakugan of the Hyūga Clan had its limits—such an absurd range seemed implausible. For a moment, Kurenai wondered if her top student was overestimating his capabilities.
But his serious expression left no room for doubt.
Genjutsu: Tree Binding Death!
---
Outside Great Lake City
A spy trudged forward, exhaustion etched into his features after traveling through the night. But the moment he reached the outskirts of the city, his face lit up with hope.
Finally... I made it.
If he could just link up with the contact awaiting him, he'd successfully transmit critical intel back to Konoha. More importantly, he'd return alive.
He'd completed several years of deep-cover infiltration inside Sunagakure—no small feat. The sensitive intel he carried could shift the balance of diplomacy or war. He couldn't help but imagine the praise he might receive from Hokage-sama.
Maybe even a promotion to Tokubetsu Jōnin, he thought.
He knew he didn't have the raw talent to become a full Jōnin, but the accomplishments from his covert work might just get him there. After all, that was likely why he'd been sent to Suna in the first place.
Even the title of Tokubetsu Jōnin came with significant privileges—far better than a mere Chūnin.
He smiled faintly, already dreaming of that future, as he searched for the meeting location in the city.
---
Meanwhile, a Sunagakure ANBU unit trailed silently behind him.
"Heh… looks like the bet paid off," one whispered, crouched atop a roof. "He's definitely meeting someone here."
Judging movements and reading intent was standard for an experienced shinobi. From the moment the spy entered the city, his behavior gave him away—he had allies nearby.
---
At the designated inn
The spy finally reached the rendezvous point and knocked on the door.
His heart pounded. He'd arrived early—would the Konoha contact even be there yet?
To his relief, the door opened.
There stood Yuhi Kurenai, already dressed in her mission gear. Her sharp eyes met his with familiarity.
The spy's expression softened with relief. "Yuhi Kurenai-sama? I didn't expect you to be the one sent. Are you alone? I uncovered something huge from Sunagakure—"
"What? I'm not enough?" she teased lightly. "Never mind. Come in and let's talk first."
As she stepped aside to allow him in, her expression abruptly shifted.
Without warning, she vanished from sight with the Body Flicker Technique.
BOOM!
The wall behind her exploded into a hail of stone and dust. If she hadn't moved instantly, the detonation would've taken her out.
The spy wasn't as lucky.
Although he hadn't been the target, the force of the explosion sent him flying. He slammed against the far wall and crumpled to the ground, coughing up blood.
"Cough—what… what just happened?!"
Even though he had sensed the risk of being compromised, some part of him still clung to the hope that it wasn't his fault—that the enemy hadn't used him as bait.
But reality was cruel, and illusions don't protect against truth.
"Hehe, it wasn't in vain that we tailed you all this way. We really did catch a big fish—Yūhi Kurenai, a jōnin from Konohagakure, renowned for her genjutsu techniques. Once we capture you alive, we'll be able to extract a lot of intel."
"Meeting near the borders of the Land of Rain, huh? Are you trying to frame Iwagakure? If that were your goal, the Land of Birds would've made a better stage."
"Such sloppy tactics… should I say, typical of Konoha?"
Three figures emerged from the darkness one after another—three Suna-nin wearing the standard flak jackets of Sunagakure chūnin.
Despite Kurenai having just evaded their ambush, the trio showed no signs of frustration. Instead, mocking smirks crept onto their faces, the kind they wore when toying with weak prey.
"Just a jōnin. We've killed more than a few."
"Let's take her down together."
Two of the Sunagakure shinobi flanked Kurenai, cutting off her left and right escape paths, while the third—a puppeteer—deployed a puppet from behind, launching an assault.
Though Kurenai was famous for her genjutsu, the Sunagakure trio had no intention of engaging in close combat. The puppet would take the brunt of the clash, while the other two focused on ranged interference. They were clearly aiming to exhaust her.
Meanwhile, the Konoha operative who had been thrown aside earlier struggled to his feet, clutching a kunai as he prepared to return to the fight. If this enemy force was after Kurenai, then he was prepared to risk his life to buy her a chance at survival.
But the moment he stood, his knees buckled. He collapsed.
"Wha… what's going on? Poison? When…?"
The spy, who had been undercover in Sunagakure for years, immediately understood. He recognized the toxin—it was a non-lethal paralytic frequently used by Suna-nin. It wouldn't kill him, but it would sap his strength and render his body useless for hours.
The poison was weak, and could be purged naturally within a day or two. Chakra control could accelerate the process, but even then, it would take half a day at best.
And right now, half a day was too long.
"What a fool. After all that tracking, did you really think we wouldn't plant something on you?" sneered the puppet master.
Just then, the ground behind him erupted. A glowing red tree shot up, its radiant trunk twisting and extending. Before the puppeteer could react, dozens of branches coiled around him, pinning him to the bark.
Genjutsu: Tree Binding Death.
Kurenai's signature technique.
She emerged calmly from within the tree, her eyes cold. "Fools. You couldn't even tell this was just a diversion."
In the center of the enemy formation, Kurenai vanished into a flurry of cherry blossoms.
Illusion and reality blurred. Even knowing it was genjutsu, the puppeteer couldn't break free. He watched helplessly as Kurenai stepped out of the tree and pressed a kunai to his throat.
"So many cowards in one ambush. How tiresome."
In that moment, the puppeteer saw death reflected in her eyes. His body froze.
Kurenai raised her kunai for the killing blow—
Whoosh!
The sound of air being ripped apart rang out behind her.
"Gotcha."
Only one person could have waited until now to strike—a Sunagakure jōnin.
A humanoid puppet sliced through the air, blindingly fast. Even a jōnin would struggle to dodge such a sneak attack. And Kurenai, a genjutsu specialist, wasn't built for high-speed evasive maneuvers.
She twisted her body the moment she sensed the danger, but it wasn't enough. The elite jōnin's puppet, built for speed, was already upon her.
The puppet's blade was exceptionally sharp—and laced with poison. A mere scratch would suffice; unless one was a medical expert like Tsunade, proficient in detoxification, survival depended solely on willpower and physical endurance.
Yet even then, the afflicted would have to endure the deepening effects of the poison, a weakening body, and relentless follow-up attacks from other poisonous weapons.
Yuhi Kurenai did not evade the sneak attack. The poisoned blade grazed her waist and abdomen, leaving a deep wound and introducing the toxin into her system.
The Sand elite jonin smirked. So this was the genjutsu specialist renowned in Konoha? Pathetic. If she couldn't even avoid a sneak attack, her shinobi career would end here.
But his grin froze before it could fully form.
With a puff of smoke, Yuhi Kurenai exploded into white mist.
"A shadow clone? Impossible! I was watching her the entire time!" the Sand jonin's thoughts spun wildly. He was certain Kurenai had not formed a clone in front of him.
Could it have been genjutsu? No… I was hidden. There's no way she could've targeted me!
As panic set in, a dreadful realization dawned.
"Not good! Retreat!" he shouted, abandoning his teammates as he flickered away from the inn through the hole left by earlier ninjutsu.
But it was already too late.
"Gotcha."
Yuhi Kurenai had somehow appeared outside the building. Forming a seal with one hand, her eyes sparkled with satisfaction. At her feet lay a limp Konoha traitor—the true target of her mission.
Chakra flared in response to her seal, and the trap she'd laid earlier activated.
A rapid series of explosions erupted from the room, sending shockwaves through the inn.
She had planted explosive tags in advance.
Once she confirmed the Sand elite jonin was the real body, she used the chakra pre-attached to the tags to trigger them.
Gazing at the burning building and then at the spy at her feet, Kurenai exhaled softly. I could've detonated it earlier—right after he struck the shadow clone. That would've been more effective…
But the explosion would've likely killed the informant too. And he was her team's actual mission objective.
So she had gambled.
She didn't bother questioning the spy—if he'd wanted to talk, he would have blurted out his intel while panicking earlier. No need to play into his petty manipulations.
Turning away from him, Kurenai watched the inn with narrowed eyes.
"Tch. Still alive? What a waste of carefully arranged tags," she muttered, sensing lingering chakra through the smoke.
Indeed, the Sand jonin had survived. Although disheveled, he bore no visible wounds.
But his expression was grim.
The reason? While he had used three standard puppets to shield himself from the blast, preserving his own life, one puppet hadn't made it out.
His strongest one—the one that had landed the poisoned hit on Kurenai's shadow clone—was obliterated in the explosion.
For a puppeteer, power depends largely on the strength of their puppets. That elite puppet was his trump card, and a key reason he held the rank of elite jonin.
"Damn Konoha… damn Yuhi Kurenai… unforgivable!"
With a flick of his fingers, two more puppets emerged. The Sand jonin directed them toward Kurenai, ready to kill.