In the lush forest, three figures moved like ghosts among the treetops, the leader of which was a ninja wearing an owl mask.
"Maintain distance, ten kilometers." The leader of the Owl Squad lowered his voice, his eyes flashing coldly beneath his mask. "The target is heading towards Tanzaku Town."
The two team members behind him nodded silently. They were extremely confident in their tracking skills—at this distance, even Jiraiya, one of the Sannin, wouldn't be able to detect them. Moreover, they had deliberately circled downwind to avoid their scent being detected.
"Danzo's order is to control the Jinchūriki..."
The three accelerated again, gliding silently through the forest like true owls.
An open space ahead
"Ah--I'm exhausted!" Naruto sprawled out on the grass. "Pervy Sage, where are we going? We've been walking all day!"
Jiraiya sat cross-legged by the campfire, flipping through a sample copy of "Icha Icha Paradise": "What's the rush? The path of training is long." He glanced up at Karin, who was cooking Karin, "Red-haired girl, is the soup ready yet?"
Karin didn't even look up, her glasses reflecting the Kakkō: "If you call me 'Red-haired Girl' again, I'll put laxatives in your bowl."
Naruto burst into laughter, Jiraiya to be smacked on the head by Jiraiya: "What are you laughing at! You haven't finished your Chakra control practice for today!"
"Ouch, ouch, ouch..." Naruto rubbed his head and sat up, then suddenly lowered his voice, "Speaking of which... what about those little tagalongs following us?"
Karin's hand, which was stirring the soup, paused slightly, and her eyes behind her glasses narrowed. "Still following, about nine kilometers away, Chakra signature unchanged."
Jiraiya casually turned a page. "Oh? It seems Danzo values us quite a bit..."
"You Pervy Sage, you knew all along?" Naruto's eyes widened.
"Idiot, you think the title of the Sannin is just for show?" Jiraiya closed the book. "I've been following them since we left the village."
Karin adjusted her glasses. "Their tracking techniques are indeed impressive... An ordinary Jonin probably wouldn't have been able to detect them."
"So what do we do now?" Naruto rubbed his hands together, eager for a fight.
"You idiot." Jiraiya tapped him on the head. "This is a good opportunity to teach you your first lesson—how to gracefully flick your tail."
Jiraiya casually picked up three twigs and stuck them in the ground. "Let's assume this is the tracker." He then picked up a stone and placed it opposite him. "This is us."
He gathered Chakra at his fingertips, drawing a curved line on the ground. "The conventional thinking is to accelerate away or set up an ambush for a counterattack, but a true master..."
"They'll lose track of it themselves." Karin suddenly interjected, a glint of light flashing in her eyes, "Using a triple misdirection of environment, psychology, and Chakra."
Jiraiya gave her an approving look. "As expected of a sensory ninja from the Uzumaki Clan. Naruto, watch closely!"
He swiftly formed hand seals, creating three Shadow Clones. Each clone began releasing Chakra fluctuations completely identical to his original body.
"First, there's the Chakra disguise," Jiraiya explained. "Advanced tracking techniques primarily rely on sensing Chakra, so..."
The three clones rushed off in different directions, while the main body's Chakra suddenly "disappeared"—or rather, merged into Natural Energy.
"The wondrous uses of Senjutsu Chakra." Jiraiya raised an eyebrow smugly. "Next is the utilization of the environment."
He gestured for Naruto to look around: to the left was a rushing river, in front was a steep cliff, and to the right was a dense thicket of bushes.
"Trackers instinctively choose the easiest route." Jiraiya pointed to the river, "So we..."
"Deliberately taking the most difficult path?" Naruto scratched his head.
"Wrong." Karin couldn't help but interject, "It's to create a false impression so they think we took the easy path, but actually..."
Jiraiya laughed heartily, "Smart! Naruto, take note!"
"The Chakra reaction is scattered!" A member of the Owl Squad suddenly stopped, "In four directions!"
The captain frowned. "Clone Technique? No... each Chakra..."
He quickly analyzed the terrain: the Chakra was strongest in the direction of the river and weakest in the direction of the rock face—a normal person would choose to go along the river.
"Number two, follow the river; number three, go to the bushes." The captain decisively gave the order. "I'll personally follow the rock face."
Ten minutes later, the captain on the rock wall suddenly sensed something was wrong— the Chakra traces ahead were too deliberate, like...
"You've been tricked!"
He turned around abruptly and saw a Toad squatting on a rock, a note dangling from its mouth:
"Don't be discouraged if you lose track of them. I suggest you go back to the village and practice more. --Jiraiya"
By the stream...
"Haha! Did you see that Toad's expression?" Naruto laughed so hard he almost fell over. "Pervy Sage, you're so mean!"
The three of them were leisurely soaking in the stream, completely washing away all traces of their former scent. Jiraiya stroked his white hair smugly. "That's called psychological warfare, kid."
On the misty mountain path, Jiraiya and his two companions appeared and disappeared in the thin fog. Naruto walked along, excitedly demonstrating the tactics they had used to evade their pursuers the day before.
"--And then, you Pervy Sage, that Toad Summoning Technique was so cool!" Naruto hopped backwards, "Next time I'll use that trick on those Anbu!"
"Idiot." Karin pushed up her glasses. "You think everyone can use Senjutsu Chakra to conceal their presence?"
Jiraiya stroked his white hair, a smug look on his face. "That's the importance of experience, kid." He suddenly stopped and pointed to a faintly visible hot spring town in the distance, "See that? 'Rainbow Spring' on the border of the Land of Hot Water. We'll rest there tonight."
"A hot spring?!" Naruto's eyes instantly turned into stars. "Great! I can soak in it—ooh!"
A karate chop struck him precisely on the back of the head.
"Don't be too happy yet." Jiraiya said sternly, "Before we arrive, you two must complete today's training."
He took out two scrolls from his pocket and tossed them to the two of them. Naruto caught them in a flurry and found that they were titled "Basic Chakra Nature Transformation," while Karin received "Advanced Application of Sensory Ninjutsu."
"Karin, your task is to sense all Chakra reactions within a five-kilometer radius and accurately classify them," Jiraiya said seriously. "Naruto, you continue practicing Wind Chakra nature transformations."
Karin immediately formed hand seals and closed her eyes, her brows furrowing slightly beneath her glasses. "Two kilometers to the northwest are ordinary villagers... three and a half kilometers to the southeast are wandering ninjas... wait, this Chakra..."
She suddenly opened her eyes wide. "It's the same abnormal Chakra I sensed yesterday afternoon, the same one from the Sound Ninja! He's moving rapidly, in the direction of --"
"The Land of Hot Water?" Jiraiya stroked his chin. "Interesting... Looks like we've chosen the right destination."
Naruto couldn't wait to try out his wind-attribute transformation; the airflow gathered on his Kunai whipped up the surrounding leaves. "Pervy Sage! Watch this—"
"Stop!" Jiraiya grabbed his wrist. "Wind Release isn't about brute force; it's about sensing the 'sharpness' of Chakra." He conjured a thin, cicada-wing-like wind blade at his fingertips, "Like this."
The leaf was silently cut in half, the cut surface as smooth as a mirror.
Karin stared in disbelief. "This is the power of the Sannin..."
"Hehe, no big deal~" Jiraiya was about to continue boasting when suddenly his expression hardened. "Someone's approaching! Hide!"
The three of them instantly disappeared into the bushes by the roadside. A moment later, a caravan of merchants slowly passed by, the carriage bearing the hot spring emblem of the Land of Hot Water.
"What a scare..." Naruto was about to breathe a sigh of relief when Karin quickly covered his mouth.
"No!" she whispered, "Chakra is emanating from under the carriage... it's Transformation Technique!"
A glint of light flashed in Jiraiya's eyes. "Looks like we're not the only ones playing hide-and-seek..."
Meanwhile, in the council hall of the Land of Iron, Tsunade was frowning as she read a newly delivered confidential document.
Shizune whispered a report from the side, "Lord Jiraiya has already left the village with Naruto and Karin."
"That old lecher is actually quite reliable..." Tsunade snorted lightly, incinerating the secret document with Chakra. She looked up at the other four Kage who were entering, "Everyone, today we'll continue our discussion of the Alliance rules."
The Raikage sat down casually, the lightning patterns on his arms shimmering in the sunlight. "Let's talk about the Tailed Beast control first. Since we're going to unite against the Akatsuki, the safety of the Jinchūriki must be our top priority."
"The Eight-Tails Jinchuriki of Kumogakure is much freer than we are. "Mei Terumi smiled knowingly. "The Six-Tails Jinchuriki of Kirigakure is still missing, which is a relief."
Ōnoki floated on his seat, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his old eyes. "I've already strengthened the defenses of the Five-Tails Jinchuriki in Iwagakure. But what about Konoha..." He looked at Tsunade, "Letting the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki out to train like this, aren't you afraid of being targeted by the Akatsuki?"
Tsunade confidently tapped the table. "With Jiraiya accompanying us, safety isn't a problem. On the contrary, it's certain people..." She meaningfully scanned the room, "Don't try anything funny."
The atmosphere in the meeting room immediately became tense.
"Ahem... Mifune intervened at the opportune moment, "Regarding the specific deployment of the joint defense network, please review this proposal..."