The message was simple. No signatures. No diplomatic seals. Just a bck scroll, hand-delivered to Ken in the middle of training.

  Inside, a single line in Hiruzen’s careful script:

  “Intercept the cargo before it crosses into Grass Country. Use Unit K. No insignias. No survivors.”

  Ken folded the scroll and burned it on the spot.

  Another discreet mission—low profile, high stakes.

  And as usual, the truth was probably worse than the mission brief.

  Konoha, ANBU Staging Room – MidnightUnit K gathered in the low-lit chamber below the Hokage Tower. The air was thick with tension.

  Ken paced in front of the squad: Reina, Sai, and Tenzō. Daiki remained off rotation for now, still serving in local security with Sasuke under his watch.

  “This isn’t about rogue arms runners,” Ken said, voice low. “Intelligence suggests these shipments are funded by an unknown party within Fire Country’s bck market—possible links to Akatsuki undering operations.”

  Reina frowned. “So it’s internal corruption?”

  “Worse,” Ken replied. “Someone inside Konoha might be feeding intel directly to Pain’s network.”

  Tenzō’s posture stiffened. “Any names?”

  “Not yet. But if we follow the weapons... we follow the money.”

  Sai unrolled a scroll, showing a winding map through River Country’s bordernds.

  “Intercept point here,” he said. “Bridge crossing near Gyokuto Valley. Unreguted trade route—frequent movement between neutral traders and merc groups.”

  Ken nodded. “We strike fast. No survivors, no signatures. Leave a message.”

  River Country – Gyokuto Valley, Two Nights LaterThe stars were veiled by thin cloud cover. Mist clung to the valley like spiderwebs spun across the earth. The bridge crossing was old—stone, weather-worn, with deep grooves from years of cart wheels.

  A caravan rolled through quietly—six wagons, lightly guarded.

  Too lightly.

  Ken crouched in the treeline, eyes fring red with his Sharingan.

  “Something’s wrong,” he muttered.

  Reina beside him whispered, “It’s a decoy.”

  Ken nodded. “Two guard wagons. Four empty. Where’s the real cargo?”

  Tenzō tapped the ground. “Underground. Hidden compartments. Movement below.”

  Sai’s ink falcons confirmed it—chakra signatures, heavily masked, twenty feet beneath the second cart.

  Ken’s tone shifted.

  “Split and encircle. I want them neutralized before they even understand who hit them.”

  The strike was silent.

  Ken descended like a shadow, severing the throat of the rear scout before the man could blink. Reina hit the front cart with senbon to paralyze the driver, while Tenzō erupted roots from the ground, smming into the wheels and locking the entire caravan in pce.

  Sai’s ink lions burst from above, pinning hidden operatives as they scrambled from the earth.

  Ken drove a wind bde straight through the wagon’s underside—revealing dozens of forged Konoha weapons, marked with real leaf insignias.

  His jaw clenched.

  “These aren’t counterfeits.”

  Tenzō knelt beside the stash. “These were made in Konoha’s foundry. Recent.”

  Reina’s face darkened. “Someone’s selling us out.”

  That’s when the whisper came.

  Not a voice.

  A feeling.

  Ken’s eyes snapped left.

  From the tree line, peeling out from a thick, dark root—

  Zetsu emerged.

  The half-bck, half-white creature melded seamlessly from the forest floor like fungus uncurling from shadow.

  “Well done,” White Zetsu said cheerfully. “You’re getting faster. It’s annoying.”

  Ken didn’t draw his weapon. Not yet.

  He simply asked, “So. Is Orochimaru gone?”

  Zetsu blinked. The bck half remained quiet. The white smirked.

  Amused. “He’s gone rogue, yes. Left the organization. Too loud. Too self-serving.”

  Ken’s expression remained unreadable. Internally, his thoughts spun.

  So Orochimaru left Akatsuki already… good. That arc remains on track. That means Sasuke is still bound to his fate.

  Zetsu continued, eyes gleaming. “But Pain knew it would happen. Everyone who joins us thinks they can twist the pn to their liking. But only he sees the whole picture.”

  Ken’s tone dropped.

  “You’re watching the story unfold. Just like I am.”

  Zetsu tilted his head.

  Ken took one step forward.

  “And you? Still pying the long game? Whispering in ears that should’ve been left alone?”

  Bck Zetsu hissed, voice deep and bitter. “I pnt seeds. I do not beg for understanding.”

  Ken clenched his fist. “And now you’re pnting them in Konoha?”

  Zetsu grinned wider.

  “You should ask your own merchants why so many of them owe favors to shadow cns.”

  And then—

  It sank back into the ground.

  Gone.

  Like a bad dream.

  Ken stood still for a moment, eyes glowing faintly gold-red. The forest seemed colder.

  Then he turned to the others.

  “We burn the shipment,” he ordered. “All of it.”

  “But—” Reina started.

  Ken’s voice was like steel. “Every st bde. If these were ours once, they die now.”

  Tenzō nodded grimly, forming seals. The earth cracked, swallowing the wagons in roots. Reina tossed explosive tags, and Sai inked a seal to melt metal.

  Minutes ter, the only thing left was scorched dirt and a single message carved into a broken bde:

  "Traitors don’t get warnings."

  Konoha – Hokage Tower, Hours LaterKen stood before Hiruzen, scroll in hand.

  “They’re using our supply lines. Our merchants. Someone in Fire Country is selling intel or materials to Akatsuki.”

  Hiruzen took a long breath. “How certain are you?”

  Ken pced the scroll down.

  Zetsu’s name was written inside.

  “Certain enough that ignoring it means letting them rot us from within.”

  Hiruzen’s eyes darkened.

  “I’ll have Intelligence begin screening contracts—quietly. No one outside this room learns of Zetsu’s presence.”

  “And the smuggled weapons?”

  “Publicly—bandits. Privately… sabotage. Either way, well done.”

  Ken bowed once and turned to leave.

  At the doorway, Hiruzen said softly, “You’re seeing more now. Reading the threads.”

  Ken paused, his voice low.

  “I have to. Because they already are.”