"One person is complaining that the materials moved from the northern warehouse last night still aren't enough. Another replied, 'The general said to seal off the southwest, the main lane, and the well courtyard first. It must be completed before tonight.'"
"General?" Chizumi said. "Heidan?"
"They didn't ntion a na," Shino said. "But the way they said it sounded like they were referring to one specific person giving orders, not just a general title."
Chizumi stared at the village, his voice lowering slightly.
"Southwest, main lane, well courtyard."
He connected those three points in his mind and quickly realized this wasn't random reinforcent.
The southwest was the slope and forest where they had withdrawn last night. The main lane was the village's widest road and the best place to move troops. The well courtyard was the central point where the Allied advance team had suffered the worst blast—and the place they most wanted to reclaim a sense of control over.
"He isn't defending the village," Chizumi said. "He's defending against us using the village against him again."
Shino said flatly, "You did leave a deep impression on him yesterday."
Chizumi ignored that and only asked, "Can they go deeper?"
"Yes, but I'll need to change thods." Shino finally opened his eyes, the gaze behind his sunglasses cold in the morning fog. "Farther in, insects on their legs won't be enough. I need to get them to the rims of bowls, table legs, bandage seams, and armor clasps."
"What do you need to do?"
"Wait."
Chizumi looked at him.
Shino raised his hand. A black insect the size of a fingernail crawled onto the back of his finger and stopped silently.
"They're about to eat breakfast."
As if confirming his words, not long after, people in the village's main lane began distributing hot soup and dry rations. Quite a few people gathered around two temporary cooking pots, and the steam rising from them made half the alley look pale and hazy. After staying busy all night and through the morning, many Allied ninja started removing half their face coverings and leaning against walls with bowls in hand.
Once people stopped moving, openings multiplied.
The faint wingbeats inside Shino's sleeves suddenly grew denser, then quickly dispersed, like nearly invisible black sand flowing quietly along the ground, wall cracks, and collapsed beams into the village.
Chizumi didn't interrupt him. He simply continued watching every spot on his own.
He saw a partially collapsed side house west of the main lane. It had been temporarily cleared out, thick cloth spread across the floor, seemingly turned into a casualty station. Several people who looked like dical ninja were moving inside, and two covered iron buckets stood outside the door.
He also saw several almost invisible steel wires near the tall courtyards in the second row east, stretched in midair to form a faint net. Clearly, it was a warning line newly set up by the Land of Lightning.
Farther south, the well courtyard had the most people. Around the well that had been blown apart last night, they had now built a half-circle of thick wooden boards, with a new outer layer of stakes. Seven or eight people moved back and forth there. They didn't look like ordinary guards, but like they were surrounding sothing important.
Chizumi lowered his voice. "Is the well courtyard worth probing?"
Shino didn't answer imdiately.
After a while, he said, "Worth it. But not now."
"Why?"
"Because Heidan may be there."
Chizumi's gaze darkened slightly.
"You found him?"
"No face-on view. An insect clung to a wounded soldier's bandage and heard soone nearby say, 'The general just ca out of the well courtyard.' After that, the person lowered their voice and I couldn't hear clearly."
"Are there many wounded?"
"Many," Shino said calmly. "The well courtyard has always looked like one of their temporary command points. It was blasted that badly last night, so they're even more determined not to let go of it. It's like they're competing with soone."
"With themselves," Chizumi said.
Shino didn't answer, which counted as agreent.
A little while later, a short copper whistle sounded in the village.
The people who had been scattered around eating imdiately moved. So put down their bowls, so buckled their armor back on, and so hurried east. The well courtyard was even more obvious. Several people guarding the outer side turned inward at the sa ti, as if making way for soone.
Chizumi and Shino both lowered themselves.
The next instant, a group of people turned from the direction of the well courtyard into the main lane.
The person walking at the front was not Heidan, but two heavy guards. Behind them was the middle-aged man in gray-white armor who handled interrogations, and behind him was Heidan.
He was no longer wearing the dark outer robe that had looked dull in the firelight yesterday. He had changed into close-fitting black light armor, covered by a worn dark-gray cloak. There was a fresh crack at the edge of his right shoulder guard, likely left from last night's close pursuit. In daylight, the scar on his face looked deeper, like a dark red-brown line carved in with a blade. He didn't walk quickly, but the people who had been moving along the main lane instinctively cleared a straighter path when he appeared.
Chizumi's eyes fixed on him at once.
"I see him."
"Mm," Shino said in an extrely low voice. "Don't keep staring."
"I know."
But even knowing that, it was hard not to look.
Heidan stopped in an open space north of the main lane. It should have originally been a drying yard in front of soone's courtyard, but it had now been cleared out. A narrow table had been set there, along with several newly nailed wooden boards. Maps and marked slips of paper were clipped to the boards, and three people stood beside the table: a burly man who looked like he belonged to the Land of Earth's demolition unit, a sensory ninja from the Land of Lightning, and a tall, thin woman who seed to be from Sunagakure.
He was listening to reports.
They were too far away for Chizumi to hear, so he could only make out the speaking order. First, the burly man raised a hand and pointed at the northern entrance and east side, his gestures broad, probably talking about fortifications. Then the sensory ninja stepped half a pace forward, tapped several points on the wooden board, and raised his eyes to sweep around outside the village, clearly discussing the warning lines. Finally, the Suna woman spread out a scroll and pointed toward the south and west of the village.
Chizumi whispered, "He's reorganizing the defenses."
Shino seed not to be "looking" over there, but instead "listening" sowhere much closer. After a few breaths, he suddenly said, "He said the southwest and southern sentry points must be completely nailed down before tonight. He also said, 'That Konoha man withdrew from this side last night. There's no guarantee he won't co a second ti tonight.'"
Chizumi's mouth tugged faintly.
"He really holds a grudge."
Shino continued, "He also ntioned one term: 'water route.'"
Chizumi's gaze paused.
"What sentence?"
"'Before the northern warehouse supply line is reorganized, don't move the water route, and don't touch the southern pass. Nail this place down first.' That's roughly what he said."
Chizumi quickly processed that in his mind.
Don't move the water route. Don't touch the southern pass.
That ant at least for now, Heidan had not decided to use Guihua Village to directly pressure the southern pass. He wanted to stabilize Guihua Village first and turn it into a hard point that could move troops, grain, techniques, and intelligence.
That was important information.
But it wasn't enough yet.
Chizumi said quietly, "Did he ntion any other place nas?"
"One called Dusty Pass, but he said it very softly. Soone else replied, 'That side hasn't opened yet,' then the wind covered the rest. I couldn't hear all of it."
Dusty Pass.
Chizumi silently committed the na to mory.
Ahead, after listening to the reports, Heidan raised his hand and tapped three points on the map. His movents were small, but decisive. The gray-white armored middle-aged man beside him bent slightly, listened, then imdiately turned and left, as if to pass along orders.
Heidan himself didn't leave right away. He stood in front of the wooden board and looked at it for several more breaths. Then he suddenly turned his head and glanced toward the southwest.
Chizumi went completely still.
That glance ca from far away, and it might not have truly seen anything. But at this distance, in this environnt, being suddenly looked at by soone like that made the back of a person's neck instinctively turn cold.
Shino said softly, "Don't move."
Of course Chizumi didn't move. He even flattened his breathing almost completely.
Heidan looked for a while, but didn't walk this way. He only said sothing to the sensory ninja beside him. The man nodded and quickly went toward the western rooftops.
Only after Heidan's gaze fully shifted away did Chizumi exhale very lightly.
"Did he notice?"
"Doesn't seem like it," Shino said. "More like he habitually watches the southwest. He suffered one loss there, so his eyes keep going that way."
"What is the sensory ninja going there for?"
"To reinforce observation."
Chizumi gave a cold laugh.
"Looks like I really left an impression last night."
Shino said flatly, "That counts as a good thing."
"What's good about it?"
"It ans he has you on his mind."
Chizumi turned his head to look at him.
"That's a strange way to comfort soone."
"I wasn't comforting you."
"True."
Over at the main lane, Heidan didn't linger much longer. After giving his orders, he took the two guards toward a courtyard slightly west of the village center. That area had originally been built with tall houses and thick walls. It hadn't been hit by the main explosion last night, only one corner had collapsed. Now many people stood outside it, clearly indicating that it had been turned into a more central command post.
Chizumi imdiately said, "That place."
Shino did not object.
"We can reach it, but we have to circle around."
"From where?"
"The ruined chicken pen behind the collapsed wall."
Chizumi paused.
"You even know that?"
"My insects just passed through there," Shino said as casually as stating that dawn would co. "The original wooden fence collapsed. There's a very narrow gap underneath, enough for insects to enter. Not for people."
"Then we need to get closer."
"Another twenty steps will do."
"Lead the way."
The two slid farther down along the edge of the charred forest.
This ti, they moved even more slowly.
Ahead was no longer the village outskirts, but the true "living edge." One more step forward and they might be swept by rooftop eyes, or step into a chakra thread deliberately left uncleared by the enemy. Almost every step Chizumi took, he first checked the color of tree roots, wall corners, grass tips, and wet mud before setting his foot down. Shino was so quiet he almost had no presence at all, as if he were of the sa substance as the charred wood, broken walls, fog, and shadows.
The two finally stopped behind a half-collapsed stone wall.
A little over thirty steps beyond the wall was the tall courtyard Heidan was using as a foothold. The courtyard gate was open. The main room's door panels had been removed and turned into temporary tabletops, and several people were moving boxes. Three wind lamps, not yet fully extinguished, hung beneath the eaves of the side room, which ant people had been here all night.
Now that they were closer, fragnts of sound finally drifted over.
"…If talisman materials aren't enough, dismantle them from the northern warehouse!"
"…Seal this side first. Don't let those rats from last night sneak in again!"
"…Don't move the wounded at the well courtyard yet. The general said to leave them…"
"…The Water Release squad still hasn't all arrived? Didn't the Land of Lightning say before noon—"
The voices were ssy and fragnted.
Chizumi leaned his back against the cold, damp stone and tilted his head. "Which room can you get your insects into?"
Shino closed his eyes, as if determining the direction of the wind.
"Main room, east side room, rear storehouse. All possible."
"Which room is Heidan most likely in?"
"Main room now. Maybe not later." Shino paused. "Soone like him usually doesn't sit in one place for long."
"Last night, he chased us alone."
"So today, he will be more cautious."
Chizumi gave a quiet hum.
After a while, a new wooden box was carried into the courtyard. The box wasn't large, but it was carried with extre care. The seal on it was covered with cloth, only exposing a tiny bit of blue-white pattern at the corner.
When Chizumi saw that pattern, his brows moved faintly.
"Land of Lightning seal."
Shino had "seen" it too.
"And it's a refined-seal box," he said. "Not for ordinary soldier pills."
"What does it look like?"
"Array materials, or special ninja tools."
Chizumi watched the box being carried into the main room and whispered, "Find a way to listen there."
Shino didn't respond. The wingbeats inside his sleeve simply grew denser for an instant.
Soon, several clearer voices ca from the main room. Because half the door panels had been removed and the wind was blowing this way, scraps of conversation drifted over intermittently.
"…Damage last night was worse than reported."
"…That blast at the western well courtyard directly collapsed the entire stone layer underneath."
"…If we don't repair it before tonight, the sensory plates won't link up."
Then ca Heidan's voice.
It was colder than Chizumi rembered and a little hoarser, as though his throat still held the rasp left by smoke and fire.
"If you can't repair it, dismantle from elsewhere."
"But the northern warehouse—"
"I said dismantle it."
The room went silent for a mont.
Then another voice said hesitantly, "General, if we dismantle the northern warehouse's boards to repair the western well courtyard, then Dusty Pass…"
"Dusty Pass doesn't move today," Heidan said. "I've changed my mind."
Chizumi's gaze darkened.
Shino also lifted his chin slightly.
Inside the room, the man asked again, "Then the transfer the day after tomorrow—"
Heidan cut him off. "We'll discuss it the day after tomorrow. For now, secure this place first. That Konoha man didn't give up last night, and he won't today either. If you let get the ground under my feet blown up a second ti, I'll nail you to the well myself."
No one in the room dared answer that.
Listening from behind the wall, Chizumi suddenly gave a very soft laugh, barely more than breath.
Shino tilted his head. "What are you laughing at?"
"His temper is worse than I expected."
"If he could still have a good temper after being bombed by you, then he'd be too well-cultivated."
"That's true."
After that, neither of them spoke again and continued listening.
The sound of maps being turned ca from inside the main room several tis. Then the gray-white armored middle-aged man spoke.
"One more thing. The herb delivery man we caught this morning gave up the location of two old cellars. The one in the second row east connects underground. The one at the end of the southern lane was emptied too quickly. I suspect Konoha may have stopped people there before."
Heidan said coldly, "Then dig."
"Already sent people."
"Dig even if you find bones."
"Yes."
Chizumi's eyes darkened.
The one at the southern lane was one of their earlier pressure-wall points. Although they had tried to erase traces as much as possible when retreating, if the Allied Forces were determined to dig downward, they would inevitably uncover signs that shouldn't belong to "ordinary villagers."
It wasn't that he was afraid of exposing that Konoha had been here—that was already obvious.
He was afraid they would use those traces to reverse-engineer more of their placent logic and withdrawal routes.
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