Night had already fallen, but Akebino and Kaguya still had not found where Team 7 was resting.
"Lord Akebino, I'm sorry..." Shiotani Masumi had been doing her best to sense their surroundings, but she had not found the enemy.
Although the Tide Valley Clan possessed Sensory Ninjutsu, it focused on sensing auras, and Masumi had not even mastered the basics. Otherwise, she would have seen through Akaseki's and Ranwu's Transformation Techniques earlier.
Akebino shook his head. "Finding those merchants was something, too. You've already done very well."
The true sensor in this Combined Squad from the Hidden Mist Village had been Meizawa. He had originally brought up the rear while they scouted, and had been the first to realize they were caught in Akaseki's Genjutsu. He had already escaped its range, only to be killed by Shiokawa, who was still under its influence.
Making Masumi serve as their sensor was asking her to do something beyond her abilities. Talented as she was, she was still young...
But that thought inevitably reminded Akebino of the Konoha Ninja he had fought the night before!
Was he eight? Nine? Surely no older than ten!
Minato was indeed only ten. And compared with the people of Kirigakure, where internal strife never ceased, everyone in Konoha looked as though they had never been bullied a day in their lives, making him seem even younger...
Kaguya had also told Akebino that the two brats who escaped her were about the same age—twelve at most!
Having such strength at that age was frightening enough. And of the three known enemies, one was a sealing specialist and another a sensor. Worse... that sensor was stronger than Meizawa.
When they first landed, Akebino had vaguely felt someone watching them and had told Meizawa to keep an eye out. But