Pursuit

All along the way, Shikaki had been frowning in thought. After all, the pressure this time was indeed a little great. The other side had four additional genin. If they did not deal with them first, things would be troublesome; but if they dealt with them beforehand, they would alert the enemy and consume part of their Chakra.

Therefore, this mission was a fairly major problem for Shiro and the others. If they wanted to complete it with the fewest losses possible, it was indeed a challenge for Shikaki at this moment.

Yes, Shikaki was now looking for the method with the least loss. He had long since thought of dozens of ways to complete the mission, but all of them currently came with losses and had yet to reach the optimal plan in his mind.

"Shiro, I saw in the files yesterday that you have a Contract Scroll from Ryūchi Cave. Have you signed it?"

"I have. What do you need me to do?"

"Leave the intelligence reconnaissance to you. No problem?"

Shiro did not answer immediately. Instead, he first made an estimate. After all, he had only just signed the contract and was not yet very familiar with the snakes of Ryūchi Cave. He needed to think it over first, since the battlefield could not tolerate the slightest oversight.

Before long, Shiro had roughly sorted out the summoned beasts that could be useful at the time, though only some of them. There was simply too much information he had obtained from Ryūchi Cave, so he could only organize what was usable first.

After roughly estimating his Chakra consumption, Shiro answered, "No problem. And if I use Reinforcement Ninjutsu, my visual limit is approximately eight hundred meters, while the effective range of my bow is around three hundred meters!"

Shikaki and the other two looked at him in surprise. Although this did not match the range of the Byakugan, it was already sufficient for ordinary combat. Moreover, the files had only mentioned that Shiro was relatively outstanding in this regard; none of the three had expected him to be this outstanding!

Shikaki narrowed his eyes and said, "In that case, Taichi's combat strength can be fully freed up!"

"Shiro, what else are you good at? Tell me so I can compare it with the files!"

"No problem. At present, I'm relatively good at group battles, the one-against-many kind, as well as long-range sniping! My taijutsu is also decent, roughly at the level of a Chunin." (This referred to pure taijutsu Chunin. They existed, just not many of them, such as Master Chen.)

"Group battles?" Shikaki considered it for a while before asking, "Can you handle four genin at once? How much combat strength would you retain afterward?"

"As long as the intelligence is accurate, I can kill them instantly! But I won't have much Chakra left. Most of my taijutsu is built on Reinforcement Ninjutsu."

"Is that so? Then the plan is set! Master Nakamura will handle their Jonin! Taichi and I will hold back the three Chunin. Shiro will take care of the four genin. After eliminating them, Shiro will first assist me from range in killing one Chunin, then go support Taichi. That is the final battle plan. Any questions?"

"No!" x3

"Good. Then make haste. We still need to get there and make arrangements. We must ensure they divide their actions according to our final plan!"

Now that they knew Shiro's combat ability was somewhat stronger than the files indicated, the plan naturally needed to be changed as well!

The main reason for this change was that Taichi's combat strength had been freed up. Ever since their former teammate, Matsumoto Jiro, had died and Taichi had awakened the Sharingan because of it, Taichi had taken on reconnaissance and sensory duties. After all, what shinobi battles competed in was intelligence.

Sacrificing some combat strength in exchange for more detailed intelligence was completely worthwhile. But with Shiro joining them this time, they could free up Taichi's combat strength. After all, even with only a one-tomoe Sharingan, combined with Taichi's already proficient genjutsu, few Chunin could be considered his match!

Thus, upon learning Shiro's actual combat strength, Shikaki immediately discarded the previous plan. If Taichi were responsible for reconnaissance, he would consume a great deal of Chakra, which would heavily affect the battle.

After Shikaki finished devising the plan, the Nakamura Squad could finally advance at full speed.

Even so, by the time Shiro and the others arrived in the Land of Rivers, a week had already passed. Naturally, that group of rogue shinobi had left their original town. They were rogue shinobi, not bosses in a game who would obediently remain in place waiting to hand over experience.

They knew their own status, so they had constantly been fleeing and relocating. However, even with a Jonin among them, they still fell short of escaping Konoha's Intelligence Department.

Therefore, Konoha still had their approximate location under control. After obtaining the latest intelligence, Shiro and the others rushed over at the fastest speed.

Finally, two days later, Shiro and the others successfully caught up with them in a small town near the border of the Land of Rivers. However, they did not immediately attack. Instead, they first went into town, found an inn, and checked in to gather intelligence.

After all, in a direct confrontation, Shiro and the others were at a disadvantage. The enemy would not stupidly divide their forces according to Shikaki's plan, so Shikaki needed to gather more intelligence before formulating a plan.

This was to ensure the final plan could be carried out.

After arriving in their room at the inn, Shiro immediately bit his finger. After forming hand seals, he slammed his hand down.

"Summoning Technique!"

What Shiro summoned was a small snake specially tasked with gathering intelligence. It was tiny, less than half a meter long. It might not have been suitable for combat, but it was very convenient for reconnaissance.

Shiro first placed a technique on Gray Snake's head, linking his hearing with Gray Snake's, before sending it out.

Shiro had obtained this technique from Ryūchi Cave. It mostly contained ninjutsu meant to be performed together with the summoned beasts of Ryūchi Cave.

Unfortunately, Shiro had only learned this one technique during this period, but it was barely enough.

Before long, Shiro received information from Gray Snake through the ninjutsu he had just used. Once he learned that Gray Snake had found them, Shiro made a gesture, signaling Shikaki and the others to take notes.

He then formed hand seals to connect to Gray Snake's hearing. Since this technique did not require hand seals to maintain the connection, after linking to Gray Snake's hearing, Shiro simultaneously translated it for Shikaki and the others in sign language.

In a room at a nearby inn, four people sat around a table discussing matters. They were precisely the Jonin and Chunin among that group of rogue shinobi, though none of them wore forehead protectors.

That was perfectly normal. Once someone defected, it made no difference whether they wore one or not. Still, unless they were a big shot, it was best not to wear one. The Shinobi World had no shortage of small shinobi villages eager to curry favor with the Five Great Nations.

If you lacked the strength but still insisted on putting on airs, you could only call GG in advance.

But this group clearly knew their place, and none of them wore forehead protectors.

"Captain, how much longer will we have to live like this? Hiding and dodging every day... We've already left the Land of Fire. Is there any need to be this careful?" One of the tall Chunin complained.

Indeed, in order to evade Konoha's Intelligence Department during this period, they had spent every day hiding and dodging. They had barely had a single good day, so it was no wonder he complained like this.

"Endure it a little longer. Once we leave the Land of Rivers, Konoha won't trouble us for a while. Just endure it a little longer."

"Captain, are we continuing on the road next?"

"Yeah. We've already made it this far, so let's hurry. Once we leave the Land of Rivers, we'll be fine. As soon as those four return, we'll leave immediately!"

Although the other three were exhausted and wanted to rest here, they knew their captain was right. Konoha had many matters to deal with at present. As long as they left the Land of Rivers, Konoha would no longer have the energy to concern itself with them.

By then, as long as they kept a low profile and did not cause trouble, the village would stop caring about them after a few years. Unfortunately, they did not know that Shiro and the others had already caught up with them.