Meanwhile, in the mountain forest several hundred meters outside the clearing.
"Captain, move a little to the left. We've gone off course."
"Off course?"
"Yes. Based on the bearing Mr. Inoichi conveyed, we should head a little farther left."
The trees streaked rapidly backward around them as Shinoda Ichiro looked at the captain leading the way ahead and could not help speaking up to remind him.
As the sensory ninja in the squad, the one with the most direct access to Mr. Yamanaka Inoichi's location information, he knew very clearly that they had already strayed from their route.
What was going on? This was the first time he had seen the captain this anxious.
He was so anxious that he had even gone off course.
After that exchange with the captain, this thought could not help crossing his mind.
He had been teamed with this captain for quite some time and understood him rather well. Though the captain could not compare to those geniuses, and his strength was unremarkable—merely one of the most ordinary Jonin, with every ability sitting at the average line, no particular strengths and no glaring weaknesses—nor did he possess any extraordinary leadership ability, utterly incomparable to those renowned throughout the ninja world, he had always been calm. When carrying out missions, he was almost as precise as a machine.
Even missions that many famous figures could not complete perfectly were flawlessly completed in his hands.
Among all the Konoha Jonin who frequently went on missions, this captain was both highly reliable and quite well-known.
Something like going off course could never happen to a man who was as mechanically precise in both missions and daily life!
Clearly, the captain had lost his usual calm and his usual machine-like precision.
His captain was wavering.
And Esaki and