A Mission with No Progress

The first time Team Five left the Land of Earth for a mission, the three youngsters—now aware of the cruelty of the ninja world—felt more nervous than curious.

After leaving the border of the Land of Fire and entering the Land of the Falls, Team Five fell silent. Without Kitsuchi needing to say anything, the three of them unconsciously began communicating with hand signals.

They also traveled through the Land of the Falls with extreme caution, adamantly refusing to go out after nightfall.

They did not stay at inns or enter towns, purchasing supplies only from relatively remote villages.

This monotonous yet tense journey continued until they reached the vicinity of the underground black market in the Land of Fields. Following the records left by the mission's intelligence agent, they found a message the agent had left inside a tree hollow.

After all four had read the intelligence in turn, Kitsuchi signaled for Yichen to analyze it.

Having gone many days without speaking, Yichen felt a little unaccustomed to it. He gave a soft cough and said, "So far, the intelligence agent has not updated the information. Unless something happened to them, that means Aoyen has not returned to this underground Bounty Office."

"Then there are two possibilities. First, the mission Aoyen chose was not limited to the Land of Fields, but was a cross-border mission, so he would not need to return here to turn it in. Second, he has not completed the mission yet."

After sweeping his gaze across the other three, Yichen continued, "If it is the first possibility, there is nothing we can do."

"If it is the second, we will need to wait and search in this area. But this place is too close to the underground Bounty Office, and there will be many Rogue Ninjas coming and going."

"If we inspect every Ninja passing through here, conflict with them will be unavoidable. No matter how those conflicts turn out, our mission will definitely fail."

"So, for safety's sake, we can only choose a route Aoyen might take and lie in ambush. But if we do that, the chances of completing the mission will be very low."

After speaking, Yichen looked at the other three.

Kitsuchi and the others had no better ideas either.

Tana comforted them, "Aoyen is only a Chunin. The chances of him taking on a major cross-border mission are not high. We still have a good chance of catching him."

Yichen and Shinohara both nodded in agreement.

Yichen continued, "When Aoyen left the underground Bounty Office, he headed northeast. We will scout the terrain in that direction first, then decide on an ambush site based on the terrain."

The three nodded, then fell silent again. After resting in place for a while, the four set out northeast in a search formation.

Because they did not dare attract too much attention, Team Five's scouting pace was rather slow. It took them half a day to finish scouting the vast area northeast of the black market.

In the end, the four members of Team Five chose a small hill for their ambush.

From that position, Yichen's Sensory Ninjutsu could detect travelers several kilometers away.

Furthermore, the northeast side of the hill was a stretch of flat ground, allowing the four of them to see travelers heading toward the black market from far away.

After choosing their position, Kitsuchi, Tana, and Shinohara took turns standing watch and observing the movements in the distance.

Whenever the person on watch spotted something in the distance, they notified Yichen.

Then, when the travelers passed along the road several kilometers from the hill, Yichen would use Sensory Ninjutsu to determine whether there was a Jonin among them. If there was not, the four would move closer to observe.

In this way, Team Five waited on that hill for five consecutive days.

Over those five days, the four encountered three to four hundred groups of travelers. Their numbers varied greatly—some groups had only one or two people, while others had several hundred.

Yichen's detection revealed that at least twelve of them had Chakra Amounts at the Jonin level. Each time, Team Five kept far away from them.

There were more than a hundred Ninjas at the Chunin level, while Genin were comparatively scarce.

This completely overturned Yichen's understanding of small countries. So many Ninjas were active in these small nations. The ninja world really was dangerous.

Five days and over a hundred uses of Sensory Ninjutsu had left Yichen somewhat exhausted. Fortunately, each use required only a brief scan, so it did not consume much Chakra.

It did consume quite a bit of Mental Power, but fortunately, that was Yichen's specialty, so it did not cause him any harm.

According to the plan, Yichen and the others would continue waiting like this for ten days. If they found no trace of Aoyen within that time, Team Five would abandon the mission and return.

But while waiting today, Tana spotted a group of three approaching from the northeast.

As usual, after receiving the notice, Yichen waited until the three entered his sensing range before using Sensory Ninjutsu.

After sensing so many people over the past few days, Yichen had developed a strong ability to distinguish a Ninja's Chakra.

Ninjas who had not undergone Nature Transformation training gave Yichen a mild sensation.

Meanwhile, Ninjas who had learned various elemental transformations gave him distinctly different sensations.

After summarizing his observations, Yichen reached a conclusion: Water Release felt gentle, Fire Release felt warm, Earth Release felt heavy, Lightning Release caused a faint tingling sensation, and Wind Release felt slightly piercing.

Those like Kitsuchi, who had mastered multiple Nature Transformations, gave off several different sensations in his perception.

But this time, Yichen sensed one clearly Jonin-level Ninja with dual Water Release and Wind Release natures, primarily Water Release; one Taijutsu Ninja at the Genin and lower level with no elemental nature; and the remaining Ninja's Chakra gave Yichen an intensely cold feeling.

Yichen could not help probing several more times. But then something unexpected happened. That Ninja suddenly stopped walking, as though sensing something, and began mobilizing Chakra.

Yichen was startled and knew he had made a mistake. Once he came back to himself, his mind was perfectly clear. He immediately called to Kitsuchi and the others, "They discovered me. Fall back to the trap zone. We'll talk as we move."

The other three did not hesitate. They immediately got up and rushed toward the prepared trap area.

On the way, Yichen reported, "Three Ninjas. One Jonin with Water Release and Wind Release, primarily Water Release. One Genin and lower-level Taijutsu Ninja. And one Genin and lower-level... Ice Release Bloodline Limit Ninja."

Yichen had reached a conclusion about that frigid Chakra: Ice Release.

The three wore grave expressions upon hearing this. One Jonin was troublesome enough, and with a Bloodline Ninja added to the mix, the enemy was already stronger than their side.

Now that Team Five had actively scouted the other party, it could already be considered a provocation.

If the other side was not especially cautious and pursued them, getting through today would not be easy.

Just as they feared, Kitsuchi said, "They're already following us."

Yichen and the others stiffened, each of them accelerating. In the blink of an eye, the four entered their prearranged ambush zone, concealed themselves according to plan, and prepared for battle.

There was no reasoning with other Ninjas. Conflict meant battle. Ninjas generally had high offense and low defense. If one side held back in an attempt to reason while the other struck to kill, the outcome was obvious.

Thus, Ninjas had gradually developed a particular way of dealing with one another: avoid contact as much as possible upon meeting, but once contact was made, it was generally a fight to the death.

So although Yichen and the others were the ones who had provoked the matter, none of them tried any fancy explanations to clear up the misunderstanding.

After lying in ambush at their respective positions according to plan, the forest where Team Five was hiding became abnormally quiet.

The three pursuers were experienced as well. After stopping outside the trap zone, they hesitated and did not rashly enter.

The leading Jonin asked the Ice Release Ninja who had detected Yichen's sensing, "Yuki Kagami, can you tell roughly what level the Ninja you sensed was? Can you make an accurate judgment?"

Yuki Kagami was uncertain. After hesitating, he said, "Captain Kosaku, the other party should be a Chunin or a Special Jonin. They felt very unusual to me, but they did not seem particularly strong."

Imamura Kosaku turned to the remaining female Ninja and asked, "Oda, what do you think?"

Kono Oda considered it for a moment and said, "We cannot confirm their composition, but judging by the footprints, there should be four people: one adult Ninja and three children. The three children should be one or two years younger than Kagami and me."

"They should have been staying in this area for quite some time, probably carrying out a mission. Running into us was likely an accident."

"If that sensory Ninja is a powerful Chunin, then the other party is most likely one Chunin leading three Genin. But Kagami said they did not feel very strong, so I suspect they may have a Jonin Captain."

Imamura Kosaku's expression turned grave. He did not want to inexplicably face a Jonin whose capabilities he knew nothing about.

After a moment of silence, he asked Yuki Kagami, "Has your identity as a Bloodline Ninja been exposed?"

Yuki Kagami thought for a moment, then nodded. "It probably has. The other party hesitated noticeably after sensing my Chakra. I must have been exposed."

"Then we fight." Imamura Kosaku made his decision.

Their mission had not even begun. If they ignored Yichen's group and the identity of an Ice Release Bloodline Ninja spread, things would become dangerous from then on.

But if they simply gave up the mission, Imamura Kosaku was unwilling to accept that.

After struggling with the decision for a while, Imamura Kosaku still chose to fight. He felt a little regretful. Had he known, he should have filled the missing team member before taking this mission.

However, Imamura Kosaku was a Jonin after all. Once he made up his mind, he did not hesitate in the slightest. He formed hand seals with both hands and swiftly unleashed a B-rank Area of Effect Water Release Ninjutsu into the trap zone.

A water dragon over thirty meters long surged into the trap zone, raging wildly through the area without pattern.

Seeing the traps triggered throughout the area after the water dragon passed, yet not a single enemy appearing even after it dissipated, Imamura Kosaku and the other two grew even more solemn.

Their team had carried out no fewer missions than Team Five, and they had even suffered casualties among their comrades. Their experience therefore surpassed Yichen's group.

When Imamura Kosaku's Ninjutsu failed to force the enemy out, Yuki Kagami and Kono Oda did not relax in the slightest. Instead, they became even more vigilant.

When Team Five set up the traps, they had considered the possibility that the enemy might use Ninjutsu to sweep the area.

So the traps were divided into two parts: one on the surface and the other underground. This effectively prevented a single Area of Effect Ninjutsu from destroying every trap.

Meanwhile, all four members of Team Five had hidden inside holes dug in advance, successfully avoiding the water dragon's attack.

At that moment, Yichen had already activated Sensory Ninjutsu and began locking onto the three enemies.

At the same time, Yuki Kagami immediately issued another warning. "Careful. Their sensory Ninja is sensing us again. Every move we make should be within their perception."

Imamura Kosaku surveyed the area ahead as he asked, "Can you confirm their positions?"

Yuki Kagami shook his head. "No. Their Mental Power seems very strong. If my Kekkei Genkai had not enhanced my perception of Chakra, I would not have been able to detect them either."