The Anbu's Pace

After Yichen joined Team 18, his pace of life became much faster than before. The Anbu carried out missions far more frequently than when he had been in Team Five.

Yichen began his first mission on the second day after joining Team 18. The mission was to patrol the border between the Land of Earth and the Land of Wind.

In peacetime, this kind of mission was relatively easy. Major nations like the Land of Earth had Ninja stationed along their borders.

The Anbu patrols merely added another layer of security. Team 18's patrol route was not fixed and was often decided on the spot by their captain, Purple Lightning, once they arrived.

Having no fixed patrol route also made the Anbu's movements more covert.

However, during peacetime, the nations had already signed peace agreements, so such blatant invasions were still rare.

Generally, there were two ways to enter another major nation to carry out a mission. One was an official mission, such as escorting a merchant caravan from the Land of Earth to the Land of Fire.

As long as the two nations had signed a peace treaty, the Land of Fire would not make things difficult for Ninjas carrying out such missions.

The other kind involved underhanded missions such as espionage and assassination. Under normal circumstances, those carrying out such missions would not wear Ninja attire and play at sneaking in under cover of night. Instead, they would disguise themselves, use transformations, and enter as Ordinary Persons.

Therefore, the focus of Yichen's group's mission was not actually to find enemies hiding their tracks, but to identify Ninjas from other nations posing as Ordinary Persons or Rogue Ninjas.

Previously, Team 18 rarely chose this kind of mission. They were a combat-oriented squad and generally took combat missions.

Moreover, Black Cat possessed some tracking ability, so they also accepted some pursuit and assassination missions.

But when Yichen introduced his abilities earlier, the Perception Ability he mentioned made the other three's eyes light up. This skill was excellent—it could save them a great deal of trouble during missions.

Thus, Team 18 accepted the patrol mission. As a newcomer, Yichen received quite a bit of consideration.

During the first stretch after leaving the village, everyone adjusted to Yichen's speed.

Later, seeing Yichen practice the Body Flicker Technique while traveling, Purple Lightning, an expert in this area, repeatedly guided him on its key points.

Unfortunately, they were in the middle of a mission, so Yichen did not dare squander too much Chakra. After practicing a dozen or so times, he stopped.

Once they reached the border, however, Team 18 seemed to have become idle.

They only needed to occasionally inspect the area around the border line, checking whether there were any travelers passing through.

Whenever they encountered travelers, Team 18 would have Yichen investigate with Sensory Ninjutsu. At the same time, Little Stone would teach Yichen how to tell whether there were spies among the travelers without using Sensory Ninjutsu.

Once the Anbu accepted this kind of patrol mission, it generally lasted for a month. If they found nothing unusual, they would return after that month.

If they discovered anything abnormal, a battle would likely break out. Afterward, whether they needed to continue the mission would be decided separately based on the squad's condition.

More than twenty days passed without Team 18 finding anything. Instead, Yichen's Body Flicker Technique improved by leaps and bounds under the guidance of Purple Lightning, an agile-type Jonin.

In just over a month, Yichen had already simplified the hand seals for this C-rank Ninjutsu down to two, and its Chakra consumption had fallen to 1.5C.

Most importantly, under Purple Lightning's guidance, Yichen could now form the seals once and use Body Flicker twice.

That was no small breakthrough. Achieving this step meant that he had truly grasped the basics of the Body Flicker Technique.

Back when Tana had learned the Body Flicker Technique, it had taken her around a year and a half to reach this point. Yichen clearly remembered the excited expression on her face at the time.

So I was this suited to training in the Body Flicker Technique? This was Yichen's second such realization after Sensory Ninjutsu.

But after carefully analyzing it, Yichen rejected that guess.

It was not that the Body Flicker Technique suited him. Rather, his current self was completely different from when he had first started learning Ninjutsu. He remembered that when he had first learned the Transformation Jutsu, he could only use it once a day.

But now, even if he reserved most of his Chakra for unexpected situations, he could still use it more than ten times a day.

And he had a Jonin highly proficient in this field to guide him. That was even rarer, allowing him to avoid many detours.

It reminded Yichen of when he had learned Earth Style: Earth Rising Spear and developed Water Style: Water Line Jutsu. Back then, his training had progressed rapidly precisely because someone had taught him.

In addition, Yichen's Chakra Control had already far surpassed what it used to be. The flow of Chakra that once required tremendous effort to control now moved as flexibly as his own limbs.

Furthermore, his repeated experiences learning Ninjutsu, simplifying Ninjutsu, and developing Ninjutsu had greatly improved his ability to learn new techniques.

Only with all these factors combined had Yichen managed to master the Body Flicker Technique in a mere twenty-odd days.

At the same time, this experience changed how Yichen viewed himself. Previously, limited by his scarce Chakra, Yichen had always believed that he learned new Ninjutsu too slowly. But in truth, his current Chakra was no longer all that scarce.

Combined with his exceptional control, perhaps he should consider learning several more Ninjutsu for self-defense?

After all, his methods of attack and defense were still far too limited.

Yichen's performance surprised all three of them. Though they had expected something, they had not thought Yichen would learn Ninjutsu so quickly. Little Stone in particular was envious. As a Sword Technique Ninja, if he could use the Body Flicker Technique well, his strength would improve tremendously.

Unfortunately, his talent for Ninjutsu was average. Although he had learned the Body Flicker Technique, he still could not use it in actual combat.

Shironeko also knew the Body Flicker Technique, but her fighting style did not suit it. Therefore, like Yichen, she had learned it purely to preserve her life.

Within Team 18, only their captain, Purple Lightning, had truly mastered the Body Flicker Technique. Yichen had seen Purple Lightning use it. She could already activate it with a single hand seal and could perform four consecutive Body Flickers afterward.

Compared to the experts in the original work, who could casually use Hand Seal Body Flicker, this was naturally nothing special. But across the entire Ninja world, it already placed her among the top few.

Today, Yichen used his senses as usual to inspect a merchant caravan passing through the border. But something unexpected appeared. The caravan had openly hired a Ninja squad as an escort, which meant there should only have been four Ninjas in the caravan, while the other several dozen people were Ordinary Persons.

Yet Yichen sensed eight Chakra fluctuations.

After carefully distinguishing them, Yichen said, "Captain, something is wrong. There are eight Ninjas in this caravan: one Jonin, four Chunin, and three Genin."

Upon hearing Yichen's report, the squad, which had been somewhat relaxed, immediately became tense.

Shironeko spoke first. "Eight Ninjas should mean two squads. One squad out in the open, led by a Chunin with three Genin. Another squad hidden in the shadows, with one Jonin leading three Chunin."

After pausing, Shironeko continued, "One Jonin leading three Chunin—without a doubt, they are Anbu like us. Captain, this looks like it will be a hard fight."

She looked at Purple Lightning and waited for her decision.

At that moment, Little Stone said, "No. We have indeed discovered their situation, but they do not know that. This is different from the situations we have faced before. We do not need to strike now. We can first gather some companions, then attack together with an absolute advantage in strength."

Shironeko froze, glanced at Yichen, and said, "Right. We are a full thousand meters away from them. They might not even know we exist."

Purple Lightning nodded. "Do not follow them yet, or we might be discovered. In a moment, I will go alone. Little Stone, take Shironeko and Yi with you. We will split up and contact the Anbu on both sides of our patrol area. Then we will return here to regroup before tracking them."

Everyone nodded. After the merchant caravan had traveled some distance away, Team 18 split into two groups and began moving.

Yichen's group was slower, so they headed to the patrol area of a nearby Anbu Squad. They quickly and smoothly made contact with the other side.

After all, as patrolling Anbu in neighboring areas, they frequently exchanged intelligence with one another. Meeting up was a common occurrence.

After receiving Yichen's group's notification, the other side did not hesitate and immediately joined Team 18.

By the time Yichen's group returned to their starting point, Captain Purple Lightning had already arrived ahead of them with another squad.

After the three squads gathered together, Purple Lightning acted as the temporary captain. With a call to Shironeko, Black Cat took the lead in tracking, and the twelve of them pursued the merchant caravan.

The merchant caravan was not traveling quickly. Since they did not know they had been exposed, that Anbu Squad had not yet left the caravan.

Before long, Yichen's group caught up with the caravan. After stopping, Yichen used Sensory Ninjutsu to confirm the Anbu Squad's positions once more.

Yichen said, "They are still there. Judging from their positions, the four members of that Anbu Squad are one Jonin with both Wind and Fire Release, one Chunin with Water Release, and two Chunin with Fire Release."

"The other squad should consist of one Chunin with Water Release. The three Genin have not yet developed any elemental transformations."

Yichen then described their positions as well.

Once everyone nodded to show they understood, Purple Lightning began assigning tasks.

Among Yichen's three squads, they had two Jonin and one Special Jonin.

The three of them would deal with the enemy Jonin, while the three members of Yichen's squad and the three members of another squad would deal with the remaining three Chunin from that Anbu Squad.

The three Chunin of the remaining squad would deal with the overt escort squad.

Once the assignments were complete, Purple Lightning directly gave the order to act.

After the order was given, the twelve people, divided into three action groups, launched their attack on the merchant caravan without the slightest hesitation.

As for whether they might accidentally harm civilians, no one cared about such things as Anbu.