Escaping the Mist Ninja starts with backstabbing your teacher.

Chapter 285 There will always be someone who can't resist trying to cross the line.

The mountains in the land of rivers are not high, but they stretch endlessly, and a very thin layer of mist floats among the forests.

The air was filled with the scent of mountain soil and old leaves. Obito led Itachi through a dense forest and finally stopped in front of a ravine hidden by huge rocks and vines.

The cave entrance is hidden in the corner between two stone walls, and is extremely narrow, allowing only one person to pass sideways.

They went inside. The cave was very quiet, with only the faint sound of the wind blowing in from the higher rock crevices.

The stone steps beneath your feet extend downwards, and there are only a few dim lights at intervals on the stone walls on both sides, making the entire cave resemble an ant nest hidden underground.

The secret base was hidden inside the mountain. The dome was high and spacious, with a few lamps flickering, their light illuminating only a slightly flat rocky area in the center.

Standing on the stone platform was Pain, his short orange hair resembling an unburnt flame in the dim light.

Xiao Nan stood beneath the stone platform, several sheets of white paper pasted on her sleeves, as quiet as if asleep.

"I've brought the person." Obito stopped a few steps away, his voice not loud, but it made the air in the cave slightly heavy.

Payne slowly opened his eyes. His Rinnegan glowed with a faint purple light in the darkness. He was so still that he didn't seem to be looking at a person, but rather at whether an object was suitable for use.

"Can you follow orders and complete tasks?"

Itachi removed his hood, tilted his head back, and met his gaze without flinching: "Yes."

Before Pain could speak again, he had already drawn a kunai with his right hand and taken the Konoha headband from behind his waist with his left.

The headband gleamed with a faint, cold light in his palm, the swirling patterns of Konoha still clearly visible.

He pressed the kunai against the center of the pattern and, in front of Payne and Konan, made a horizontal cut.

The sound of metal cracking was extremely short, like a string snapping from a very deep place.

The emblem of Konoha was severed in two by that straight cut, and it was no longer a complete village.

"From this moment on, I am no longer a Konoha ninja." Itachi's voice wasn't loud, but everyone in the cave could hear it clearly. "I am a rogue ninja."

Payne stared at the torn headband, his eyes devoid of any emotion. It was as if he were confirming a decision, or tacitly agreeing to an exchange.

Then, he raised his hand, picked up something very small from the edge of the platform, and casually tossed it down.

Itachi reached out and caught it, opening his palm to reveal a ring. The metal felt cool to the touch, and the ring face was engraved with a single character: Zhu.

"This is your code name," Payne said. "Every member of Akatsuki has one."

"When there are no missions, stay here. Xiao Nan will tell you the rules here." After saying that, he closed his eyes again, as if he had never been disturbed.

Obito turned and walked out of the cave. Itachi put his headband back on and slowly put the ring on the ring finger of his left hand.

As he passed by Xiao Nan, two pieces of white paper twirled gently in the air near his sleeve and then stuck back to her hand.

Xiao Nan didn't say anything, only glancing at the platform after they had walked away.

The mountain wind blew in from the cave entrance, causing the mist to disperse into the forest.

Obito stopped outside the cave without turning around: "Your first task is to stay here and get used to it."

The weasel's gaze was calm, its black eyes fixed on the outside. A bird's cry rang out from afar in the mountains, then fell silent again.

He stood at the cave entrance, like a sword already sheathed, hidden in the shadows.

Inside, Payne did not immediately return to the darkness.

He remained standing on the stone platform, his Rinnegan half-open. Konan took a few steps closer, stopped below the platform, and lowered her voice.

"Another one," Konan said. "I never expected that person would bring him to join the Akatsuki."

"The Uchiha clan was wiped out just a few days ago; it seems their purpose is not simple—"

"The last one was Kisame Hoshigaki, and this time it's Itachi Uchiha. How should we assign them?"

"That's why the masked man wants him," Payne's voice descended from above. "A person wouldn't come if they didn't have a clear purpose."

"He's after the masked man, or us, or Izumi River."

"After all, that video has already circulated throughout the ninja world, and the culprit is obvious."

Xiao Nan frowned slightly: "Indeed!"

"And when he scratched his headband with the kunai, his heartbeat didn't even change." Payne's gaze fell into the distance, where the shadowy rock pillars in the cave seemed to become silent faces.

"Being able to keep such composure at this age isn't something he was born with; he's used to hiding things, to the point that even he himself doesn't think he has them."

"Then should we keep him?"

"We need a knife like that," Payne said. "Whether it will turn around and hurt the person wielding it in the future or not, right now we need someone who can carry out the mission."

"He can indeed follow orders, at least until he kills the person he really wants to kill, he will be very obedient."

Xiao Nan paused for a moment and didn't press the matter further; she understood Payne.

He never trusted any newcomers, but he never attacked before they showed their fangs.

Leaving Itachi behind serves both as a response to the masked man and as a way to wait and see who this sword will strike first.

"I will arrange a partner for Itachi," Konan said.

Payne didn't turn around: "Who?"

"Juzo Biwa," Konan said. "He's a rogue ninja from Kirigakure, whom we recruited ourselves. It's also a way to test him."

"If he teams up with Itachi, Juzo will be the first to know if anything goes wrong."

Payne gave a soft "hmm" and said nothing more.

The repercussions of what Izumi Taketori did are still spreading, and whether it will achieve its intended effect remains to be seen.

His goal is to collect the tailed beasts, become a deterrent to the ninja world, and promote peace.

Hidden Cloud Village, Raikage Building.

The Fourth Raikage, Ai, stood by the office window, arms crossed, gazing at the layered mountains outside.

The morning light crossed the mountain ridge, casting his shadow wide and heavy on the wall.

-

Several newly delivered intelligence reports were spread out on the table. He had already read the top few lines three times, and his brows furrowed deeper with each reading.

"What about the other ninja villages?" he asked.

Mabui stood at the door, holding a notepad in her hands, her tone restrained: "The Mizukage has not given a public response as the Hidden Mist is under lockdown."

"Sunagakure says the domestic situation is unstable and it is not advisable to send troops abroad."

"Iwagakure Onoki has ordered increased border surveillance, but will not mobilize large numbers of troops for the time being."

"From Konoha's perspective, the Third Hokage just finished a press conference, stating that the video content is authentic, but the threat is not directed at any country."

"They're all cowards," the Raikage muttered under his breath, then turned and walked to the map, pointing his finger at a winding mountain ridge in the northeast of the Land of Fire.

"That bastard Izumikawa blew up the Uchiha clan's territory and then brazenly posted the video."

"It's been so many years since the ninja world has seen something this arrogant. Now Konoha doesn't dare to pursue, Iwagakure doesn't dare to make a move, and Kirigakure and Sunagakure are playing dead."

"Alright, if they dare not move, I, Yunyin, will."

"Lord Raikage, if we act rashly and the enemy really has a second bomb, Kumogakure will become the second Uchiha clan's territory," Mabui warned.

"So I won't fight him." Raikage raised his eyes, his gaze fierce. "I'll gather intelligence on him and send an elite squad eastward along the border of the Land of Fire to find out if he has any retreat routes, supplies, or communication points."

"I need to know where this person is hiding, and at the same time, I want the intelligence team to continue attacking that anonymous platform."

"The chakra battery didn't just appear out of thin air; someone has to run errands for it."

"We'll expose those people one by one. I don't believe he can hide forever."

He picked up a pen, drew an arrow on the border map extending towards the Land of Fire, and then slammed it heavily on the table.

"Kumakuya isn't afraid of ghosts, he just likes to scare people with fear? I'd like to see if a Kumogakure ninja will break his legs from being scared by a video."

"Send an advance team first." He paused for a moment, "Equipped only with personal weapons, and without carrying any ninja tools for mass destruction."

"If we really run into Izumi, we shouldn't initiate a battle, but rather send back intelligence first. But what if we find that he's alone, and within our reach—"

He didn't say anything more, but just sneered and tapped the words "border of the Land of Fire" with his finger.

Soon, several orders were quietly issued within the Hidden Cloud Village.

A four-person team left the Land of Thunder after sunrise and headed toward the northeastern border of the Land of Fire.

They were dressed in the attire of the Hidden Cloud Guard, their cuffs concealing their headbands, and silently traversed the mountain path, like the tentacles of a giant beast reaching out first.

The Cloud Village squad advanced quickly; they wore no village insignia, only the Cloud Village's lightning pattern hidden inside their sleeves.

They moved along the shadows of the mountain ridges and dense forests toward the northeastern border of the Land of Fire.

Mabui arranged a very clean route for them, almost completely bypassing all Konoha patrols and sensory outposts along the border of the Land of Fire.

Clearly, the Cloud Village intelligence team had studied the patrol patterns around Konoha for a long time, but Izumi didn't need to look at the maps in Mabui's hands.

The nodes of the Eight Thousand Spears system detected the chakra fluctuations of the Cloud Village team shortly after they left the border of the Land of Lightning.

The team consisted of one Jonin and three Chunin, moving at a uniform pace and spread out in formation. They did not carry large ninja tools or heavy supplies, making them a standard intelligence advance team.

The nameless man synchronized the message to Izumi's personal terminal, adding an analysis: "The Cloud Village team is about 120 miles from the border of the Land of Fire."

"At their current pace, they should be able to enter the Land of Fire by tomorrow evening."

"Konoha hasn't noticed anything yet. What are your plans?"

"If we let them in, the deterrent effect will only exist on screen." Izumi smiled, gently brushing the sealing scroll from his sleeve, and took out a chakra battery, holding it in his palm.

Yunyin wanted to test him, so he let this small team see a bit of the "boundary" with their own eyes.

He wasn't prepared to kill those four people, nor did he want to drop a second bomb for the time being.

Deterrence is not indiscriminate killing, but getting the survivors to carry the message back.

He had Wuming check the supply lines and the best mountain areas along the route the team might pass through, and then gave her a coordinate.

It was a deserted mountain cliff near the northeastern border of the Land of Fire, with a wide view overlooking the entire mountain road.

As long as the Cloud Village team continues along the current route, they will definitely pass through that direction.

He stood up, put on a gray coat, and gently tore a rift in the Divine Might Space in front of him.

Yunyin wanted to see if he was truly capable, so he stood where they could see him clearly.

so----

"The answer is simple: just drop one in their path."

"By the way, film the new video, especially from the perspective of the Cloud Ninja advancing."

As soon as he finished speaking, an anonymous voice came through the communicator, carrying a hint of lightheartedness after being amused: "Received."

"I will switch the shooting link to the Cloud Village team's built-in chakra recorder and add two more tracking perspectives from the Eight Thousand Spears node."

"Make sure that the entire platform can clearly see the moment they are startled."

Izumikawa didn't say anything more. He raised his hand, and his Kamui Sharingan rotated slightly, silently tearing open a spatial rift.

He stepped into it, and when he reappeared, he had arrived at the outer mountainous area on the northeastern border of the Land of Fire.

The night wind swept across the mountain ridge, carrying the scent of rocks, soil, and wild grass.

He immediately spotted the Cloud Hidden Squad advancing along the mountain path; their formation was loose, but their speed was not slow.

He didn't approach, but stood at the top of the cliff, took out a silver sphere from his sleeve, and gently held it in his palm.

A faint ring of patterns appeared on the surface of the small firecracker, indicating that the seal had not been broken and the chakra had begun to awaken.

The fluctuation wasn't violent, but it was like an undercurrent in the deep sea, heavy and long, spreading silently in all directions.

The four Cloud Ninja on the mountain path stopped almost simultaneously. The leader suddenly raised his hand, and the four of them instantly lowered their center of gravity.

The undisguised fluctuations of chakra immediately alerted them, their alertness written all over their tense backs.

There was a new kind of cold and massive "presence" in the wind that didn't belong to the mountains and fields.

They looked up at the cliff top, where, under the moonlight, a glimmer of silver light was falling, shimmering like a breath.

The gradually increasing chakra fluctuations and the intense sense of threat caused their expressions to change drastically.

"Run!"

The captain immediately gave the order, and the four figures turned and fled frantically.

In the final moment of its descent, that silver light actually stopped all fluctuations.

Like the briefest, most eerie moment of calm on the sea before a storm.

The next instant, it felt as if the earth had been gripped tightly from below by something indescribable.

The sea of ​​trees was silent for a moment, and then the entire hill seemed to be pushed open from the inside.

The four members of the Cloud Village ran with all their might towards the direction away from the bottom of the cliff, with Shinobu barely touching the ground when he was at full speed.

But the shockwave was faster and more relentless than they could perceive.

The white light expanded silently, like a sun forcibly pressed into a valley.

The trees, rocks, and soil layers it envelops do not shatter, but simply disappear.

First came an almost inaudible tremor, like the entire sky being torn open and then instantly closed again.

Immediately afterwards, a deafening roar suddenly erupted.

The sound was so loud it didn't sound like a "sound" anymore; it was more like an invisible giant fist smashing into a person's head.

The heat wave swept outwards from the point of explosion, tearing up entire layers of rock, with huge boulders scattered like grain chaff in the impact.

The cliffs, ridges, and trees that had stood beside the path were all instantly erased into long depressions.

The mountain burst open from the center, like a hollowed-out sandcastle.

Half a mountain was torn apart, disintegrated, and collapsed downwards in the flames, only to be immediately ripped into nothingness by an even more intense beam of light.

Rocks rained down into the distance, and several plumes of smoke swirled into inverted cones, shooting straight up into the reddened night sky.

When the light faded, the valley no longer resembled a valley.

A huge circular crater stretches across the mountains, its edges smooth and charred, as if a giant had scooped a piece of the earth away with a red-hot iron spoon.

Where the small firecracker landed, nothing was left.

There were no trees, no weeds, no pebbles, only the scorching air twisting silently.

The four members of the Cloud Hidden Squad lay sprawled further away, blood seeping from their ears, their consciousness seemingly shattered by a giant hand.

They were not dead, but all that remained was the most primal trembling.

They struggled to look up, and the erased valley seemed like a "gift" that had been casually given away.