Kazuo nodded at Kenji and the group started heading out of the ninja camp.

As they ran out of the camp, Kenji and Yaso started jumping onto the trees and hopping from one tree to the other.

This was an essential skill for all hidden leaf shinobi, it helped them immensely when they were in their own territory or when inside a forest when compared to ninjas from other great villages.

Kazuo looked at the backs of his two teammates before quickly jumping onto a tree branch.

Thankfully with the memories of this body, he could emulate and do whatever the past Kazuo had been able to.

As the group ran in a triangle formation with Kenji at the front, they started this patrolling route.

'The route that the group usually goes on is about four kilometers from the camp entrance and from there, we complete a full circle around the perimeter after which we are done for the day and return back to the camp' Kazuo thought as he followed behind his leader.

The first twenty or so minutes of the patrol went calmly as the group concentrated and kept their guard up against any signs of danger.

However, it seemed luck wasn't on Kazuo's side today as, at the twenty-first minute, something did happen.

Suddenly as they were hopping from tree to tree, Kenji stopped on a tree branch abruptly.

And in the tree branch where he had been about to jump to, tens of kunai had been embedded into merely a split second later.

"Enemy attack" Kenji quickly said as he raised his guard up even further.

Kazuo and Yaso stopped right behind him, each on a different tree branch as they started looking around for the attacker.

'It's an ambush, all three of us are civilian ninjas so we don't have any special methods of tracking, none of us are even sensors.' Kazuo quickly thought as he looked around the trees before he noticed something heading towards them.

"Explosive kunai!" Kazuo screamed before jumping away from the tree branch he was at currently.

Kenji quickly followed and jumped away from the location, however, Yaso was too slow in his reaction speed.

Kazuo saw the kunai with a paper tag attached to it fly directly to where Yaso was.

The paper tag had already started burning and when Yaso tried to escape and jump away, it was already too late.

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*BOOM*

With a loud booming sound, the explosive tag exploded, destroying everything in a five-meter radius, Yaso included.

Kazuo saw it clearly, the face of his teammate as the explosion hit and ripped his body apart, as half of his body was erased from the explosion, blood splattering everywhere.

'Fuck' Kazuo thought before he quickly turned to where the kunai had been launched from.

"North, fifteen degrees toward the south." Kazuo quickly shouted out the direction from where he had seen the kunai being thrown from.

Kenji nodded his head and quickly started running toward the location.

Kazuo looked at the man for a moment before shaking his head.

'What the fuck are you doing? We're only two people and you're just going to go head in first?' Kazuo thought to himself as thoughts of retreating alone immediately filled his head however he shook his head merely a moment later.

'I could be considered a deserter and killed immediately after'

Jumping from the tree branch, Kazuo quickly followed Kenji for a few hundred meters before he saw Kenji fall down to the grass below.

Joining him on the ground, the two found themselves in a small clearing inside the forest.

Looking around, Kazuo found nothing besides silence however that was a clear indicator that something was wrong.

'I can't hear anything, this is a genjutsu' Kazuo thought almost immediately.

Putting his hands together, Kazui quickly disrupted his chakra system however nothing happened, and the silence still remained.

'Is my chakra control too low?' Kazuo thought next as he looked at Kenji looking around for any sign of the attackers.

Taking out a kunai from his backpack, Kazuo pierced his leg slightly.

At that moment, he started hearing sounds once more, and there right before Kenji was a ninja.

Kenji didn't even notice the enemy who was right in front of him.

However, even Kazuo had been too late in releasing the genjutsu.

*Sslich*

Pain erupted from Kazuo's back and at the same time, he saw the ninja sever Kenji's head, it falling down to the ground together with his body whilst blood erupted into the air, almost like a water fountain.

He himself, saw the ground closing in as he fell down, turning his eyesight to the back he saw another ninja.

It was a kid, someone who couldn't be older and was maybe even younger than Kazuo himself.

He had a scared look on his face as he held a kunai in his hands which were trembling as he looked at Kazuo who had fallen onto the ground.

At this moment, another person appeared and started patting the young kid's shoulder.

"You did good Aoki," The man said, he was large with a muscular frame and short blond hair.

A cloud village symbol adorned his headband.

'This fucker, im his first kill aren't I?' Kazuo thought however he could even talk out loud as blood filled his mouth and throat.

"However next time you have to remember to finish the job, Aoki, this is war and all of these wretches are nothing but that, pieces of shit who deserve to die," The man said before taking out a short sword from his back and getting closer to Kazuo.

Grabbing Kazuos hair, he held him up before giving him a bloody smile.

"Any last words, tree hugger?" The man said as he held Kazuo up with one hand, whilst holding the short sword in the other.

Kazuo looked at him as immense hatred radiated from his eyes.

He was mad at the man, angered at the young ninja, and before all of that, he was furious at the whole situation, at having been reincarnated into this shitty world.

Opening his mouth, blood leaked out as it dripped down all the way to Kazuos chin.

"Your mother will miss me," Kazuo said before his expression turned into a smile and he spat onto the man's face.

This seemed to anger the cloud ninja as he raised his short sword and cleanly severed Kazuos head.

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