Umino Keisuke was a very arrogant man, making no effort at all to hide his tracks.
Even Miwa Masayo could easily tell that there were five targets. One was a four-man squad, likely a special jōnin leading three genin, while the other was the puppeteer under the four-man squad's protection.
The four-man squad was probably configured like the one Uchiha Yu had wiped out before. Taking them down would not be troublesome.
But the puppeteer was no simple opponent. The traces he left behind proved that his taijutsu was strong, at least at the level of a full-fledged Sunagakure jōnin. Combined with two distinct but undoubtedly high-quality puppets, the puppeteer might possess combat strength equivalent to three jōnin. No wonder he was Ebizo's son.
Yet in Uchiha Yu's memories, Umino Keisuke had not left behind any reputation. Most likely, his luck had been bad, and he had been killed in the war before he could make a name for himself.
Uchiha Yu sneered. His luck truly was bad. He would not even make it to the war this time before he was finished.
The pursuit continued through the entire night. During the darkest hour before dawn, Uchiha Yu and Miwa Masayo caught up with the Sunagakure ninja and spotted the campfire they had lit on the opposite slope from afar.
The Sunagakure ninja had ignored two shinobi prohibitions. First, never light an open campfire in the middle of the night. Second, no more than two people could sit around a campfire.
Those prohibitions might have seemed unreasonable, even inhumane, but every single one had been bought with blood.
Once they were illuminated by the firelight, Uchiha Yu could gather enough intelligence with his Sharingan even from across the entire valley.
"The special jōnin of the four-man squad specializes in Wind