Classified and Silenced

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Inside a cave in the Land of Birds, the four members of Team Eleven sat around a campfire, eating and chatting.

Three full days had passed since the ambush in the Land of Bears forest. Aside from Shisui, everyone in the team was injured, so Kakashi decided they would rest temporarily in the Land of Birds.

As for the final battle in the forest, Shisui and Guy had arrived in time and worked with Naoki to eliminate all the enemies.

After the battle, the four of them compared information and discovered that the ambushers included not only the four-man Hidden Stone beheading unit, but also twenty-four wandering shinobi from the Land of Bears.

The captain of the Hidden Stone beheading unit, Iwamata, had personally gone after Naoki. The other three beheading unit members had each led eight wandering shinobi from the Land of Bears to intercept the remaining three members of Team Eleven.

Iwamata was unquestionably an elite jonin. The other three beheading unit members were also jonin-level fighters, and the twenty-four wandering shinobi from the Land of Bears were all close to chunin level.

Gathered together, they formed a considerable force.

On top of that, the battle had begun with an ambush. For Team Eleven to wipe out the enemy entirely without losing a single member was an eye-catching result.

Among them, Shisui had the easiest time.

With the enhancement of the Mangekyo Sharingan, even his ordinary genjutsu had tremendous power. Even a jonin could fall if careless.

The beheading unit member sent to deal with Shisui had been caught directly in his genjutsu. He had not even managed to use his own ninjutsu before dying in confusion.

After losing their jonin commander, the remaining eight wandering shinobi were cut down by Shisui as easily as chopping vegetables. The process was so simple that the other three members of Team Eleven felt depressed just listening to it.

Kakashi's performance was slightly inferior to Shisui's.

Because his body had to bear a Sharingan that did not belong to him, Kakashi, despite his excellent talent, did not have much more chakra than others his age. Add in the heavy consumption of the A-rank ninjutsu Chidori, and feeling depleted after a fierce battle was unavoidable.

Guy's performance was normal.

After all, without using the Eight Gates, his still-developing body could not truly reach jonin level. Being surrounded by one jonin and eight wandering shinobi close to chunin level, simply surviving was already impressive.

Naoki's performance, in his own view, was neither good nor bad.

The main problem was the final clash. He had been completely deceived by Iwamata and thrown into danger. Iwamata's final self-destruction still made him feel lingering fear even now.

Kakashi shook his head and said bluntly, "There are not many people in the entire village with a record like yours."

Naoki asked curiously, "What, was Iwamata that famous?"

"Of course." Kakashi nodded, then continued, "As far as I know, the Hidden Stone has only seven beheading units in total. One of them was once surrounded by more than a hundred of our village's shinobi in the Land of Grass, and in the end, both sides were nearly wiped out."

Guy's face filled with disbelief. "More than a hundred of us surrounded four of them, and it still nearly ended in mutual destruction?"

Kakashi looked serious. "Yes. That battle was extremely brutal. Although the enemy was eliminated, only six or seven people on our side seem to have survived."

Shisui said grimly, "Several elite jonin from our Uchiha clan were killed by the Hidden Stone beheading units."

Guy looked dazed. "Then did we not just do something incredible? Wait. Counting the unit we took down, the Hidden Stone should only have five beheading units left, right?"

Kakashi shook his head. "No. Only three remain. Two more were wiped out by the Fourth Hokage."

Naoki muttered speechlessly, "No wonder Iwamata hated the Fourth so much."

During their fight, Iwamata had mentioned the Fourth more than once. Only now did Naoki understand where that resentment had come from.

Of the three beheading units the Hidden Stone had lost, one had been surrounded in the Land of Grass. The other two had died at the hands of the Fourth Hokage alone. Anyone in their position would hate the Fourth to the bone.

Kakashi said worriedly, "I am afraid the Hidden Stone will use this incident as an excuse."

Full from eating and drinking, Naoki leaned to the side. "What is there to worry about? We acted in self-defense. We could hardly tie our hands and let them slaughter us."

Guy scratched his head. "Right. Why did they attack us in the first place?"

Kakashi and Shisui both looked toward Naoki.

Naoki shrugged. "Do not look at me. I am not very clear either."

Perhaps Iwamata had possessed some special ability that let him vaguely sense something, which was why he had been so determined to remove Naoki for the Hidden Stone and prevent him from becoming Konoha's second Yellow Flash.

But how could Naoki possibly announce such a thing?

Once that spread, it would not only draw the Hidden Stone's attention and hostility, but also easily provoke suspicion from the village's higher-ups.

After all, Naoki had only been promoted from wartime chunin to special jonin a little over a month earlier. The speed of his improvement had already drawn attention. If word spread that even the captain of a Hidden Stone beheading unit had feared him deeply and wanted him dead at all costs, hiding the secret of the Tenseigan would become very difficult.

Even now, after learning how much weight the beheading units carried inside the Hidden Stone, Naoki had a headache.

He did not even know how he should explain killing Iwamata to the village. Under normal logic, a newly promoted special jonin should never be able to defeat an elite jonin who captained a beheading unit.

After everyone finished eating, Shisui offered, "I will take watch tonight."

Naoki naturally had no objection. He was the most seriously injured person in the team.

Guy smiled. "You take the first half of the night, and I will take the second."

After resting in the Land of Birds for several more days, Team Eleven set out again. This time, the journey went smoothly. They encountered no further trouble and returned safely to the village.

Because they were ANBU directly under the Hokage, Team Eleven went straight to the Hokage's Office after returning and reported the details of the Land of Demons mission to the Third Hokage.

When he heard that the demon Moryo possessed strength comparable to a Tailed Beast, the Third Hokage was quite surprised. When he then learned that Team Eleven had been ambushed by a Hidden Stone beheading unit in the Land of Bears, he fell directly into silence.

After pondering for a long time, the Third Hokage classified Team Eleven's Land of Demons mission and sealed it in the confidential archive, where only the Hokage could read it.

At the same time, he issued a silence order to every member of Team Eleven.

All information related to the demon Moryo and the ambush in the Land of Bears had to remain secret. They were not allowed to reveal it to anyone.

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