Arriving

The three of them traveled through the forest, and it had already been a day since they separated from Morino No's squad.

At this moment, Hyuga Riko was at the front, Uchiha Yu was in the middle, and Haku was at the rear, covering their backs. The three moved forward in a triangular formation.

As they advanced, perhaps because it was their first mission outside the village, no one spoke. Each person remained highly focused.

This was especially true for Hyuga Riko at the very front, who was responsible for scouting and clearing the path. Perhaps it was out of a desire not to perform poorly in front of Haku and Uchiha Yu. When they initially set out, his Byakugan was constantly active. However, maintaining the Byakugan was extremely taxing on chakra and spirit. Now, he would activate it briefly to observe his surroundings before closing it, then activate it again after a distance to observe.

Uchiha Yu was about 20 meters behind and to the right of Hyuga Riko, a distance that could be covered quickly with a Body Flicker Jutsu. His left hand was positioned closest to his shuriken, ready to be thrown at any moment.

Haku was about 30 meters behind and to the left of Riko. With Haku's Taijutsu skills, he could also support Hyuga Riko and Uchiha Yu within one second.

"There's a lake ahead. According to the map, we should be close to the border after crossing this lake! The Land of Grass isn't far beyond that. The outpost should be about an hour away!"

Before Hyuga Riko, who was in front, could finish speaking, he heard a "bang" from behind him.

"Ambush!" Uchiha Yu immediately moved closer to Hyuga Riko, shuriken already in hand, his eyes scanning their surroundings.

"Huh? Where's the enemy?" Hyuga Riko, activating his Byakugan, stated that he couldn't see any sign of the enemy.

"Huh? Where's Haku?" Uchiha Yu wondered why Haku hadn't moved closer. Based on the sound just now, this attack shouldn't have harmed Haku. Had he gone to pursue the enemy?

"Um... I don't think we were attacked..." Hyuga Riko tugged at Uchiha Yu, saying hesitantly. "Haku, he seems to be in the water."

"What? In the water? What's Haku doing in the water? Is he hiding to ambush the enemy?" Yu hadn't quite grasped the situation yet.

"Pfft! Cough, cough!" Haku emerged from the water. "Why is there a lake here?"

Uchiha Yu, still a bit slow to react, asked Hyuga Riko beside him, "So, the sound just now, you're saying it was Haku falling into the water?"

"Well, I haven't practiced walking on water," Haku's somewhat embarrassed voice came from below Uchiha Yu and Hyuga Riko's feet.

When he heard Hyuga Riko mention the lake, Haku got excited and unconsciously increased the chakra infused into his feet. Then, he stepped onto the water's surface, and combined with the impact of his jump, a tall column of water erupted with a "bang," and he himself fell into the water with a "plop." Ah, I used too much chakra, and not only did I not stand on the water, but I also made such a huge commotion! Haku thought to himself.

Haku could only offer a wry smile. He instantly felt he had embarrassed himself greatly. Yu had trained with him all this time, and he hadn't seen her practice walking on water either, so why could she stand on the water's surface so smoothly?

Duy's teachings to him had always been focused on Taijutsu, which led to his chakra control being rather crude. He had practiced tree climbing before and succeeded without much effort, so he assumed walking on water would be similar and hadn't practiced it. This time, he had truly embarrassed himself.

"Um, let's hurry and set off. We should be quite a bit faster than Morino No's squad, and we should be able to gain a relative advantage in securing the mission," Hyuga Riko said, trying to change the subject as he looked at the embarrassed Haku.

"Yeah, let's go," Uchiha Yu also said.

Seeing Uchiha Yu and Hyuga Riko turn and walk away without saying much more, Haku retracted his desire to say a few more words.

But then he immediately wondered why they hadn't waited for him. Hey! Don't just leave me here! he could only shout inwardly, lacking the face to actually say it out loud.

Watching Uchiha Yu and Hyuga Riko get further and further away, Haku gave up on any further thoughts and could only swim vigorously in the water. As he swam, he secretly thought that he needed to increase his fine chakra control training in the future; he was at too much of a disadvantage in areas requiring fine chakra control.

Haku was secretly relieved that only Uchiha Yu and Hyuga Riko had witnessed his blunder, and they wouldn't go around telling others. However, in the forest behind him, Orochimaru, who had been tracking them, narrowed his eyes.

"Haku, your chakra control is problematic. You use too much overt, powerful Taijutsu. It seems we'll need to add some chakra control training later," Haku didn't know that this incident was accidentally revealed by Orochimaru during an Impure World Reincarnation experiment. The First Hokage overheard it, and later, the legend of the ninja world's number one person not being able to walk on water and falling into a lake spread through the Pure Land of the ninja world.