Rain soaked the leafless branches of Training Ground Zero—the ANBU-exclusive facility hidden behind Konoha’s outer wall. Beneath the canopy of carved trees, five shinobi knelt in a half-circle, masks down, uniforms dark, and silence thick as steel wire.

  At the center stood Ken, now officially listed in the Hokage’s private command ledger as:

  Squad Designation: Unit KLeader: Ken Uchiha (Jinchūriki-Css Operator)Purpose: High-threat response, jinchūriki asset stabilization, infiltration and counter-assassinationOversight: ANBU Commander Ryou / Hokage Sarutobi

  To the outside world, they didn’t exist.

  To Ken, they were the only team he could trust.

  Reina Kato stood to his right—quiet, sharp-eyed, her chakra threads hidden under her gloves. Medical tags hidden along her belt. A kunoichi trained in precision over power.

  Sai was across from her, already expressionless, his ink brush poised as if this were a briefing and a mission at once. Even in silence, his body seemed designed to vanish if not watched carefully.

  Tenzō, also known as Yamato, remained the most composed—his hands calmly tucked into his sleeves, Wood Release chakra faintly pulsing beneath the surface. A former Root operative who had more reason than anyone to doubt… yet followed orders exactly.

  And Daiki, Ken’s father, stood at his son’s left—stoic and unreadable. He was no longer officially Uchiha, but his chakra presence still burned with old pride and scarred trust. He’d said yes to the assignment with only two words:

  “Someone has to.”

  Ken’s voice cut through the mist like a drawn bde.

  “We’ve received our first deployment. Border convoy, Fire Country’s west trade route.”

  A scroll unfolded from Sai’s pouch with practiced fluidity, projecting a map across a dry patch of moss.

  Ken continued.

  “Two caravans. Burned. Twelve guards dead. Three missing. Confirmed evidence of chakra-based piercing techniques consistent with Sunagakure weapon users. No survivors. Mission codename: Ash Echo.”

  Reina’s brow furrowed. “This wasn’t just an attack.”

  Tenzō agreed. “It was a signal.”

  Ken nodded. “A challenge. And we’re answering it.”

  He pointed to the ridgeline above the caravan site.

  “We leave in thirty minutes. No insignia. We go in silent.”

  Fire Country Border – Two Hours LaterSmoke still rose in slow curls from the half-buried convoy. Wagons overturned. Horses split open. Soot painted the bark of nearby trees like fingerprints pressed into a corpse.

  Ken knelt by the wreckage of a merchant cart.

  Burn pattern clean. No residue. It wasn’t Fire Release.

  Wind pressure.

  He stood. “Chakra bdes.”

  Daiki pointed to one of the metal bolts sticking from a shattered wheel. “Sand bcksmith design. Lightweight ironwood core. Definitely not mercenary-grade.”

  Yamato checked the soil. “No dragging. The bodies fell where they stood. Hit fast. Surgical strike.”

  Reina walked up, holding a singed strip of cloth.

  An emblem, half burned—but unmistakable.

  The red sash of Suna’s elite Border Guard.

  Sai frowned. “They didn’t even try to hide it.”

  Ken looked toward the western hills.

  “They wanted us to come.”

  Deeper Into the Trees – 800 meters from the siteThe trap was elegant.

  A field of kunai buried in the dirt, each tagged with a faint sealing script—intended not to kill, but to trap movement. Contain. Stagger.

  Ken raised a hand, motioning for a stop.

  “Ambush pattern A7. Defensive arc.”

  The squad split, vanishing into the surrounding brush.

  Five seconds passed.

  Then the first attack came.

  A gust of air, sharp enough to slice bark off trees, bsted from above—Suna shinobi dropping in from the cliff’s edge.

  But Ken was already moving.

  He slipped through the wind like smoke, Sharingan spinning. A bde swept past his shoulder.

  He ducked.

  Slid in.

  Palm to throat.

  The Suna nin dropped without a sound.

  Sai’s ink serpent coiled behind another, exploding in a bst of bck ink.

  Tenzō’s wood spike pierced a third clean through the thigh—non-lethal, but enough.

  Daiki intercepted a sword strike with a Sharingan dodge, parrying with brutal precision.

  In less than twenty seconds, four attackers were down.

  The fifth tried to run.

  Reina appeared in front of him.

  Her senbon hit the nerve clusters under his arm.

  He colpsed, twitching.

  Ken crouched beside him.

  Pulled his mask down.

  “You were expecting someone,” he said.

  The shinobi grunted, blood bubbling at the edge of his mouth.

  “You… stole our beast.”

  Ken’s voice dropped. “And your people stole from ours. We’re even.”

  “No.” The shinobi smiled, weakly. “We want him back.”

  “Not happening.”

  The Suna-nin coughed once more… then his heart stopped.

  Ken checked his wrist.

  Poison bead impnt.

  He stood, eyes narrowing.

  “They knew we’d come. But they weren’t trying to win. Just… measure us.”

  Sai agreed. “Probing tactics. They're testing our response time, not trying to recim anything yet.”

  Daiki looked up. “Which means next time, they hit harder.”

  Yamato stepped forward. “Permission to leave a marker?”

  Ken nodded.

  Sai drew a simple emblem in the sand—an ink falcon across a shattered hourgss.

  A warning to those who would return.

  Back in Konoha – Hokage TowerHiruzen received the report with tight lips and a furrowed brow.

  “They tested you,” he said to Ken ter that evening.

  Ken nodded. “We responded.”

  “They’ll escate.”

  Ken didn’t flinch. “So will we.”

  Behind them, Tsunade walked in, arms folded.

  “And when they stop pying games and send someone serious?”

  Ken looked at her. “Then I’ll remind them that the beast they want isn’t the one in the sand anymore.”