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| - A little over ten months had passed since Sanhiro Kimza left Konohagakure and joined the Shinjiro Ten-Ja Group after being freed by Hazuko. In those months, the village remained unaware of the Kimza's whereabouts, but were slowly believing that he had abandoned the village and was not captured. Naruto Uzumaki, the Sixth Hokage, had recovered from the wounds inflicted onto him by Asura of the Four Guardian Beasts of Hell's Gates, but his chakra network was still debilitated by the curse seal cast upon it. For the time being, the role of village leader was passed to Otoshi Nagare as the Seventh Hokage Candidate. There had been many attempts to elect Otoshi as the full Seventh Hokage, but efforts by the village jōnin had kept Naruto in the full position. There was also reports that the once largely inactive Shinjiro group was making major moves against the Seven Great Nations and causing worry and distress. Kaede Meitochi and Art Uzūba, two members of Sanhiro's former team, were told by Otoshi to meet up with Gen Nakaido in the Hokage's office. After doing so, the three are introduced to Kenno Sagii, the sole survivor of Team Natsu's destruction at the hands of Ezemaru Kimza. Otoshi explained to them that since Kenno was finally fully recovered from his wounds, he would join Team Gen and complete the four-man squad format. Their first mission as a new team was to head to the Land of Boulders and find out the cause of a recent series of attacks near the capital city. Otoshi explains to them that this will be a possible S-ranked mission as Shinjiro might be involved. Before leaving, Gen requests to Kaede, Art, and Kenno that they meet him at the team's old training ground. Once there, Gen challenges the three to defeat him in order to gauge their strength. If they cannot fight up to his expectations, then he will request that another team take this mission instead. The three chūnin prepare for battle and attack Gen with their combined strength. Throughout the battle, Kaede and Art remember when they first took on Gen after becoming chūnin alongside Sanhiro, though they were unable to defeat him then. Kaede herself remembered the letter he left her and despite being downtrodden of his defection, becomed determined to save him. Kenno displays his usage of Water and Lightning Release and the three join forces to corner Gen, much to the jōnin's approval. Certain of the team's chances at success, he orders the three to meet him at the gate the next day so they could move out. As the group set out for their journey the next day, the team discussed the ramifications of the mission. Gen explained that the attacks on the capital city in the Land of Boulders were a distraction, as there were no signs of attackers once the defending shinobi got there. Instead, the city later found out that a few noble clan members had been kidnapped and the warehouses for the nation's famous chakra-compatible steel had been broken into and cleaned out. There was a chance that the attackers would return to steal more supplies, and that's where they would counterattack. During the journey, Kenno explained to the group that he was in rehabilitation after being injured after Ezemaru nearly ended his life, but he contributed in helping evacuees escape during the battle Asura's possessed soldiers. He was later restored to full fighting condition by Sakura. Upon reaching the capital city of the Land of Boulders, the group was greeted by the surrounding land scarred by battle. The leader of the defending force explained to them that while they didn't see who attacked this area, a few of their men were killed by an unseen enemy. This led Gen to believe that there could've been an enemy in the general area still. The group then returned to the capital city to formulate a plan to use against this unknown attacker. In their hotel room, Gen orders the group to split up and guard the households of the remaining noble clans whom members weren't kidnapped yet. While stationed at her reconnaissance point, Kaede is attacked by a man in a white robe. She is initially overpowered, but she manages to fight him off with deception and counterattacks. She contacts her teammates and explains what just happened. Gen and Kenno concur with her, stating another kidnapper attacked them and while Kenno's attacker escaped, Gen managed to disable his. Once the team gathers to Gen's position, the attacker is indeed revealed to be a member of Shinjiro. Gen tries to extract more information from the man, but he suddenly dies of mysterious circumstances, despite Kaede's attempts to heal him. Kaede reveals that she can track down the person who attacked her using the blood he was losing and a tracking device created by Sakura. The team chases the man to a secluded cave in the northwestern edge of the Land of Boulders. The save is initially sealed by a boulder, but Gen uses the Fire Release: Exploding Fireworks Technique to blow it apart. As the cave is large, the team splits up to cover extra ground. Kaede and Gen find out that the Shinjiro operatives were storing the chakra-compatible steel in one section. Kenno and Art also find the kidnapped clan members, unconscious from genjutsu. Both groups are confronted by the two remaining attackers, Taichi Itsuda and Zaraku. Art and Kenno fight against Zaraku while Gen and Kaede take on Taichi. Throughout the battle, it is confirmed that the two men, along with their fallen ally Kaiten, are also members of Shinjiro. Zaraku explains that they were stationed here by Number Nine of the Nine to cripple the Land of Boulders and extract information of their military from their clan members they kidnapped. Art wants to know who Number Nine is and what the Nine are, but Zaraku intensifies his attacks. Taichi is less talkative and instead tells his opponents that even if he falls, another more powerful Shinjiro operative will replace him. After a struggle, Kenno reveals his Storm Release kekkei genkai and impales Zaraku with a barrage of laser needles after he is caught of guard by Art. Taichi is in turn defeated by Kaede's Water Release: Pressure Sphere Technique, followed by being struck by Gen using a huge stone of earth. Taichi dies just as strangely as Kaiten did before, but Kaede and Gen are contacted by Art, whom tells them that Zaraku was willing to speak to them. Zaraku explains to them that he is beyond saving, but wanted them to know true fear before dying. He explains that he was only a subordinate of Number Nine of the Nine, a member of nine of the most powerful field agents in Shinjiro. When Gen further interrogates him, Zaraku stuns everyone by stating that Number Nine was a young man with deep forest green eyes and brown and blonde hair before dying. The group quickly infer that the person Zaraku was referring to is, in fact, their former comrade Sanhiro. Gen tells the group that if Sanhiro is that highly ranked in a terrorist group of this size and power, he was elevated to a criminal status of the highest notoriety. Meanwhile, Sanhiro is contacted by Number One of the Nine, who stated that the subordinates he stationed in the Land of Boulders were all killed. Number One states that while Shinjiro is now being battled against all over the world, they were far from defeat as long as the Nine were ready for combat. He is then given the mission to find and extract Guardian Beast chakra to implement to the newest recruits closest to his location. Sanhiro looks over to the Kazumogi Plateau in the distance and reveals that he was ready to set his plan into motion at long last before gathering his teammates and moving out.
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