Reconnaissance Ability

Yichen's claim that he had already arranged Matsutani Shinya's cultivation path was obviously false. Yichen himself had not even succeeded in cultivating Senjutsu, so it was almost impossible for him to pass them on to Matsutani Shinya.

Yichen simply hoped that Matsutani Shinya wouldn't lose his true nature.

However, Yichen did not intend to harm Matsutani Shinya. Although Yichen himself could not yet cultivate Senjutsu, he still had some insights. Judging from Matsutani Shinya's affinity with small animals, it was still worthwhile for him to work on this aspect in the future.

Once Matsutani Shinya has grown to a certain level, Yichen will naturally guide him onto the path of cultivating immortal Senjutsu. As for whether he will succeed, Yichen naturally cannot guarantee it.

After giving the three instructions, Yichen said to them, "I'm going out of the village tomorrow. Would you like to come with me?"

"I want to go! I want to go!" Ogura Saki was the first to cheer. She had successfully developed her new Ninjutsu and was looking for a suitable opportunity to practice.

Takuya and Matsutani Shinya had no objections. Being young, they both yearned for the outside world.

So the next day, after Yichen took on a mission to the capital for the Team Two shift, the four of them set off.

The mission Yichen accepted was still a relatively simple escort mission, but this time he was escorting officials instead of caravans. In the current Land of Earth, caravans were much safer when traveling.

The trade routes are patrolled by specialized ninjas, making them arguably the safest place in the Ninja World for business. As a result, many merchant caravans no longer hire ninjas for protection.

Unless it's a caravan far from the Land of Earth, the missions they issue often involve ninjas meeting up with the caravans at the Land of Earth border to save costs.

However, when officials travel long distances, they still habitually hire ninjas to accompany them. In Yichen's view, this is less about escorting and more about the prestige of the officials' travels.

However, these things had little to do with Yichen. As long as they paid him according to the rules, other matters were of little concern to Yichen. Yichen had no intention of cracking down on corrupt officials, nor did he have the idea of abolishing the Daimyo system like many of his predecessors who had transmigrated.

Yichen thought the model of the Daimyo managing the economy and the Kage being in charge of the military was quite good, as the two groups in the Ninja World basically did not interfere with each other at present.

Although the daimyo controls the budget of the ninja villages, they are not fools and know the importance of Iwa Village to their country, so they generally do not tamper with military spending. After all, the Daimyo of the Land of Wind are a minority.

Even though the Daimyo of the Land of Wind reduced his funding for the Sunagakure, he was still paying the bulk of it. It's just that the Sunagakure had just finished a war, and the reconstruction and recovery work that was originally expected to be funded by the Daimyo was facing difficulties. However, the normal military activities of the Sunagakure could still be maintained.

In short, Yichen was not an ambitious person and had little interest in abolishing the daimyo and seizing military and economic power in his own hands.

Yichen's pursuit is not in this aspect; Yichen desires is to achieve the sublimation of his own life.

On the way, Yichen took out two scrolls of B-rank Wind Release Ninjutsu and handed them to Ogura Saki.

This was what Yichen traded with the village using Ogura Saki's notes the day before. Of course, what the village gave Ogura Saki in return was only the right to exchange two B-rank Ninjutsu.

The Contribution Points required for the exchange were originally attributed to Yichen. However, Yichen already possessed these two Wind Release, so he did not need to contribute any points.

Of course, Yichen is now an advisor, and the village provides him with generous benefits, so he's not too worried about Contribution Points anymore. In fact Yichen doesn't even know how many contribution points he hasn't claimed yet.

Ogura Saki doesn't need to pay Yichen Contribution Points immediately. The Contribution Points she owes Yichen can be deducted slowly from her future mission earnings, and the price is much lower than the normal exchange rate.

This is one of the advantages of becoming Jonin disciple: the exchange of Ninjutsu can often be advanced by the Jonin teacher, and the price is often much lower.

Ogura Saki's strength is still very low. Under normal circumstances, Yichen, as her instructor, should not have given her B-rank Ninjutsu at this time, let alone two of them.

However, considering Ogura Saki's special circumstances, Yichen made an exception and gave him B-rank Ninjutsu ahead of schedule.

Throughout the journey, Ogura Saki kept pondering the contents of the scroll, appearing busy and fulfilled.

Meanwhile, Matsutani Shinya was also busy, using his special affinity with small animals to try and gather information about his surroundings.

Matsutani Shinya had never done anything like this before, let alone thought about it.

However, now that Matsutani Shinya has taken the initiative to investigate, it seems that Matsutani Shinya really wants to make some changes this time.

Yichen didn't have high expectations for Matsutani Shinya's investigation.

It's not that the method is bad, but Matsutani Shinya isn't proficient yet. This kind of exploration isn't systematic, and whether or not anything is found depends entirely on luck.

Moreover, Yichen was traveling with three disciples, so his vigilance was much higher than when he was traveling alone, and his S-rank Ninjutsu, Mind's Eye, was constantly on alert.

After his trip to the Land of Whirlpools, Yichen had become much more proficient in the Ninjutsu "Mind's Eye's Eye." In particular, the process of spending more than ten days examining the ground inch by inch around the outskirts of Uzushio Village had made Yichen's use of "Mind's Eye" increasingly refined.

Now, when Yichen is not engaged in combat and his energy is not excessively diverted, he is already able to effectively maintain vigilance within a radius of 200 meters.

With this layer of caution in place, Yichen didn't think Matsutani Shinya's reconnaissance would be of much use. However, it was rare for the little guy to be willing to take the initiative to think and do things, so Yichen was still very supportive.

Yichen also offered Matsutani Shinya a lot of advice based on his own ninja experience.

Finally, there was Takuya. His efforts truly surprised Yichen. Because of Yichen's presence, Takuya didn't have to worry about safety. So, he used the originally tedious travel time for Taijutsu training.

Takuya excels at speed, and this kind of travel is perfect for him to do Weighted Training Gear training.

Yichen looked at Zhuo Si, who was wearing Weighted Training Gear and running back and forth along the side of the team for training, Takuya felt quite emotional. If he had had that kind of determination when he was training his Taijutsu back then, his physical fitness would probably be a level higher now.

Of course, if Yichen really did that, his Ninjutsu skills would probably be delayed as well.

In stark contrast, it was actually Teacher Yichen who seemed to have been shirking his duties along the way.

Unfortunately, Yichen had to focus most of his attention on guarding his surroundings and dared not be too distracted by his cultivation.

Thus, the four of them, while cultivating, escorted a group of civilians without Chakra, slowly making their way towards the capital. The group's pace was not fast; after more than two days, they had not even reached the halfway point.

That day, Matsutani Shinya, suddenly Yichen said, "Teacher Yichen, there are several ninjas about two kilometers to our left and front."

"The animals' feedback was rather vague, but these people's attire doesn't seem to belong to our Iwa ninja. They might be wandering ninja."

Yichen was taken aback. Two kilometers! That's a really big distance. He hadn't expected Matsutani Shinya's reconnaissance range to be so large. And this probably wasn't even the limit.

However, since this was ultimately a good thing, Yichen didn't dwell on it. What truly puzzled Yichen was why there were wandering ninjas nearby.

Yichen and his Yichen escorted the official along a straight route; in other words, they were located near the line connecting Iwagakure and the capital of the Land of Earth.

This area is considered a high-frequency activity zone for Iwa ninja, so why would a wandering ninja appear here?

To put it another way, the wandering ninjas appearing here are either complete noobs who know nothing, or overconfident outsiders who are confident in their abilities.

Yichen leaned towards the latter, because the Land of Earth had been cracking down hard on wandering ninjas in recent years, forcing many of them to leave the Land of Earth.

Although the Land of Earth became more chaotic than before the war due to the outbreak of war, many wandering ninjas returned.

However, the Land of Earth was the first country to break free from the war, and so far, the Iwa ninja have already conducted a round of cleansing of the wandering ninjas who infiltrated the Land of Earth during the war.

Yichen, as a member of the High-ranking officials, was well aware of these matters.

Although Yichen wasn't foolish enough to believe that there were no more wandering ninjas in the Land of Earth, he was certain that their numbers were small, and among the fewest of all the countries in the entire Ninja World.

Even Konoha wouldn't spend too much effort and resources to clear out the wandering ninjas within the Land of Fire. It's simply not worth it.

Only in Iwa ninja does the daimyo have a special fund allocated to maintain trade relations.

These few remaining rogue ninjas who weren't eliminated by the Iwa ninja were either exceptionally skilled or extremely cautious.

These cunning old foxes generally wouldn't dare appear in such a dangerous place unless there was some huge profit worth the risk.

Yichen crouched down and used his Sensory Ninjutsu.

Yichen's investigation indeed led him to the location described by Matsutani Shinya, where seven ninjas were found.

"They're really tough nut to crack." According to Yichen's Sensory Ninjutsu, these seven ninjas were at least Chunin, with three of them even reaching Jonin.

This piqued Yichen's curiosity; this setup exceeded that of two Anbu Squad. Yichen strongly suspected that these were truly wandering ninjas. Perhaps they were actually spies from another country.

The three Jonin probably weren't after Yichen. After all, Yichen was Elite Jonin, and one of the top Elite Jonin.

Even if others are unaware of Yichen's true situation, they should still treat him with the same attitude they would show when dealing with a top-tier Elite Jonin.

Three Jonin leading five Chunin, if they coordinate well and launch a surprise attack, could certainly take down an Elite Jonin. But to do that deep inside enemy territory is a joke.

Yichen doesn't need to fight back; as long as he sends a signal, the nearby Iwa ninja will come to his aid.

Therefore, Yichen guessed that the strength of these ninjas' targets was far inferior to that of their group.

Because only by acting swiftly and decisively can they possibly escape safely.