Among the group of staff members who had just returned to the research institute, there had to be someone who had stolen the two cards from the armory.
On the surface, Shiraishi remained calm, diligently memorizing the names and classifications of various medicines. In reality, his attention never left the people around him, his gaze quietly observing every movement.
Although they worked in the research institute, these people were not fundamentally different from him—most were genin who had graduated a few years earlier and had been assigned here for extended periods.
"Senior Kitajima, have some water."
Shiraishi respectfully handed over a cup. Kitajima, a genin with no sense of danger, gulped it down.
"Ah, that hits the spot," Kitajima said with a laugh. "Shiraishi, I didn't expect you to graduate so quickly as well."
"Yes. I just didn't expect my first mission to be here."
"Haha, this task is actually pretty good. We've done all kinds of missions before—even helping villagers look for lost pets."
Kitajima loved chatting. Back at the academy, he was known for boasting to younger students about his experiences. That was precisely why Shiraishi had chosen him—there was a good chance he would slip up and reveal something useful.
"Were you also doing a pet-search mission earlier?" Shiraishi asked casually.
"No. We were at the armory earlier, studying ninja tools—learning about different weapons and their combat applications. It's to avoid dying on the battlefield just because we don't recognize something."
As he spoke, Kitajima's tone grew subdued. He had graduated more than a year ago. Though full-scale war hadn't broken out, many of his classmates had already died on the borders—some without anyone even knowing how they were killed.
While Kitajima was distracted, a wisp of Shiraishi's gentle telekinetic force, woven together with chakra threads, slipped quietly into his mind.
Kitajima had been an average student and was still a genin. Manipulating him with telekinesis was effortless for Shiraishi.
Compared to high-speed movement, telekinesis developed far more smoothly. As Kitajima recalled his time at the armory, Shiraishi briefly skimmed fragments of those memories.
"Senior, I still have two bottles of water. Take them," Shiraishi said.
"Haha, thanks."
Moments later, having obtained the crucial memory fragments he needed, Shiraishi withdrew the illusory telekinetic intrusion and returned to his work area, continuing to study the medicines and their properties as if nothing had happened.
"Chiyuki, don't push yourself. Go rest properly."
Back in the work zone, Kitajima noticed his teammate Chiyuki looking unwell again and hurried over, concern written all over his face.
Chiyuki was the only girl on their team, and her health had always been poor—she seemed to suffer from a hereditary illness.
Upon closer inspection, she was strikingly beautiful, with silver hair cascading down her shoulders. But now her lips were dry and pale. Seeing this, Kitajima handed her the water Shiraishi had given him.
"Drink some water, then go rest over there."
"Thank you… Kitajima," Chiyuki said softly.
She drank with difficulty and forced a faint smile.
The supervising jōnin stepped over to examine her and, seeing how weak she was, gestured for her to head to the medical station.
The medical station wasn't far from the institute.
Chiyuki dragged her heavy steps forward, leaving the building little by little. Her once delicate face was etched with exhaustion, as if her body itself were cursed.
"Senior, this doesn't seem to be the way to the medical station."
Shiraishi's voice sounded gently from behind.
Chiyuki turned and smiled faintly. "Oh, Shiraishi. Are you feeling unwell too? Heading to the medical station?"
"…Yes."
Before Shiraishi could finish, a kunai shot out from Chiyuki's hand, followed immediately by a wind blade forming in her palm.
Though her body was weak, Chiyuki was a genin who had experienced real combat. Her instincts were sharp.
Despite Shiraishi's efforts to conceal himself, she trusted her intuition and struck decisively—attempting to kill the harmless-looking junior before her.
Chiyuki was originally from the Rain Village of the Land of Rivers. As a child, she had been sent to Sunagakure to lie dormant.
With the Third Shinobi World War approaching, the Rain Village leadership of the Land of Rivers had begun making moves, ordering her to steal a special manuscript.
At present, there were two Rain Villages in existence—one under Hanzō of the Land of Rain, and another in the Land of Rivers. Before Pain would one day unify them, the two villages operated independently yet maintained an alliance, constantly plotting and maneuvering.
That manuscript was said to be written by a Rain Village predecessor, recording numerous unique assassination techniques. Its most important "weapons" were precisely those two special cards—items of terrifying destructive potential.
As Chiyuki's wind blade sliced toward Shiraishi's neck, his figure blurred.
He evaded deftly, his silver blade thrusting forward at the same time.
Based on the memories extracted from Kitajima, Shiraishi had already concluded that this beautiful senior was the hidden spy within the village. With that realization, his blade grew faster, his attacks sharper and more relentless.
Chiyuki's frailty wasn't natural—it was the result of sealing the two special cards using a forbidden technique. And the water Shiraishi had given Kitajima had been laced with a specially prepared compound, improvised on the spot by dissolving a medical reagent into it.
He felt a trace of guilt toward Kitajima—but the instructors inside the institute would surely have an antidote.
Since Chiyuki was a traitor, then the poisoning of a senior and the theft of the cards would both be pinned on her.
Back in the institute, Kitajima's face turned deathly pale. He dropped to one knee as the supervising jōnin's expression hardened.
Kitajima had been poisoned—and it was a specialized assassination toxin from the Rain Village of the Land of Rivers.
"What happened?" the jōnin demanded.
Outside, Chiyuki looked at Shiraishi, her face bloodless. "You… poisoned Kitajima too?"
"Because I wasn't sure whether he'd give you that bottle of water."
In that instant, Chiyuki's eyes grew complex.
Her wind blades erupted into a dazzling flurry of slashes. Shiraishi was forced on the defensive as she severed his chakra threads and dismantled his traps with terrifying speed. Then she turned and fled back toward the institute.
Shiraishi had mixed multiple toxins into her water, but Chiyuki herself possessed basic medical-nin training. She could temporarily withstand the poison.
That fool, Kitajima…
At the instant she turned, the cards sealed within her body suddenly split free.
Under Shiraishi's chakra-thread control, they transformed into two streaks of cold light and shot forward. At the same time, the manuscript slipped from her grasp and fell to the ground.
On the brink of death, an image surfaced in Chiyuki's mind—
A rainy day.
She had been immersed in the rare rainfall of the desert…, and behind her, someone had been silently watching over her.
I'm sorry, Kitajima…
A thin line of blood appeared around her beautiful neck.
Then, blood sprayed violently, splattering across the ground.
Shiraishi watched everything in silence, his face devoid of emotion.
From the memory fragments he had seen, that senior of his was a blunt, straightforward man. And Chiyuki—she loved the rain. Even the few times it rained in Sunagakure each year, she would be visibly happier.
Based on those habits, Shiraishi had inferred her true origin: the Rain Village.
The Mist Village was also a possibility, but provoking Sunagakure at this moment would have been unwise. Among all suspects, the Rain Village stood out the most.
"Both bottles of water were poisoned," Shiraishi murmured softly, "but the dosage and origin were completely different."
The poison in Kitajima came from the Rain Village of the Land of Rivers. The one in Chiyuki's body originated from toxins developed under Hanzō of the Land of Rain.
Different sources—same conclusion.
From the moment Shiraishi sensed Chiyuki's anomaly, combined with subtle details gleaned during his conversation with Kitajima, this entire trap had already taken shape.
Blood splashed into the air.
The two cards passed straight through Shiraishi's body, leaving behind two horrifying wounds. Gritting his teeth, he seized both cards.
The lenses over his eyes activated. After the patterns of light faded, the cards dropped to the ground—
Reduced to nothing more than scrap metal.
In an era of chaos, only the strong survived.
If he failed to grow stronger quickly, then tragedies like this would become his future.
Within the memory fragments he had acquired lay visions of what was yet to come. That sense of urgency was what drove him to act without hesitation.
Soon, other ninja rushed toward the sound of battle.
Pale-faced and bleeding, Shiraishi pointed at Chiyuki's corpse.
"She… was a spy from another village."
No one would believe that a mere genin could destroy the cards' material.
And with Shiraishi himself wounded, no one could imagine that a genin had orchestrated—and completed—everything that had just happened.