Super Sensory Perception

"Wait!"

Shiraha, who had been heading toward the lookout post, suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" Uchiha Chiho looked at Shiraha in confusion and noticed that his expression had turned grim.

What's going on?

Shiraha felt a tightness in his chest as a sense of dread rose within him. Yet his Sixth Sense had remained active the entire time, and he had detected no unusual Energy Field nearby.

Under the pale moonlight, Shiraha looked at the lush trees ahead and the narrow path through the bushes. It felt like a vicious beast with its bloody maw wide open, ready to devour someone.

Shiraha struggled inwardly for a moment, then took several more steps forward. The uncomfortable feeling only grew stronger.

"Go! We're heading back the way we came!"

Gritting his teeth, Shiraha turned around at once.

"..." Uchiha Chiho stared blankly at Shiraha's decisively retreating figure.

They were not far from the outpost. Why was he suddenly turning back?

Uchiha Chiho glanced toward the watchtower, then looked at Shiraha's unwavering back. She lightly pressed her lips together and hurried after him.

"Is this the Super Sensory Perception described by the Sixth Sense?" Once they had moved away from the outpost, Shiraha's discomfort rapidly faded. He became increasingly certain that the area around the watchtower held great danger.

If he stubbornly kept going, he might charge straight in and throw his life away.

If they returned the way they came, any enemies they encountered would at least be known threats. Besides, White Fang, a top-tier powerhouse, was there.

In the bushes roughly fifteen hundred meters from Shiraha's previous location, a Sunagakure Jōnin squad was lying in ambush.

At that moment, Kosuke's puzzled voice rang out.

"Strange?!"

"What is it?"

"Why did those two ninjas suddenly turn back? Did they discover us? That's impossible, isn't it? From this far away, even the Byakugan shouldn't be able to see us, right?" Kosuke was somewhat dumbfounded.

His sensory ability allowed him to detect Chakra in one particular direction for a short time. If he focused with all his strength, his range should be even greater than that of an ordinary Byakugan.

As one of Sunagakure's foremost Sensor Ninjas, Kosuke had absolute confidence in his abilities. Those two ninjas definitely had not discovered them.

"Lord Akayu, what do we do now?"

"Change locations and hide again. If no one comes, we'll take the initiative and attack the outpost," Akayu said.

"Isn't that a little too risky?"

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. If we can't succeed in one strike, we'll retreat immediately. This mission was meant to create chaos in the first place. Hakusa, what do you think?" Akayu looked at his wife.

Hakusa pondered for a moment, then nodded. "I agree. The Three Ninja are still on the front lines, and the Third Hokage won't easily leave the village. Among Konoha's Jōnin, only White Fang is troublesome."

"Even if he's leading them, could he possibly defeat the two of us working together? If they have too many people, we'll avoid battle." Akayu's eyes were filled with powerful confidence. "Once chaos breaks out within the Land of Fire, Iwagakure will definitely send troops as agreed. When Konoha has to fight on two fronts, they'll surely collapse across the board."

"Let these Konoha ninjas see what Puppet Masters are capable of. Even without poison, they're no match for us!"

"Someone is coming from the other direction."

"Prepare for battle!"

"Yes!"

Meanwhile, not long after Shiraha and Uchiha Chiho returned the way they had come, they encountered White Fang and the others.

However, out of the original twelve people in three squads, only nine remained after regrouping.

The three Genin members of Squad 17 were nowhere to be seen.

"Shiraha, why did you come back?" Oshima Shuichi visibly breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing him.

"We ran halfway there and found that no one was pursuing us, so we thought we'd come back and see if there were any injured people who needed treatment."

Shiraha explained.

Other than White Fang, who was completely unscathed, everyone among the nine had suffered some injuries. In particular, Sakamoto Kouta, the guiding Jōnin of Squad 17, had blood continuously seeping through the bandages around his arm.

"Sakumo killed two enemy Jōnin, and the remaining enemies retreated. But we still don't know if there are other enemies," Oshima Shuichi briefly explained.

"No enemies have been found for the moment." Hyuga Toma and Hyuga Hideto had both activated their Byakugan to scout the area.

"The enemy managed to evade the Byakugan's observation. Clearly, they have a ninja with extremely powerful sensory abilities among them, so don't let your guard down," Oshima Shuichi said.

"Yes!"

"Rest here for a while first." Hatake Sakumo looked toward Sakamoto Kouta. "Kouta, your injuries aren't light. Let Shiraha treat you first."

"Yes." Shiraha took out his medical kit and treated and re-bandaged Sakamoto Kouta.

Everyone sat down where they were to rest.

Hatake Sakumo frowned. "Judging by the number of enemy corpses left along the way, your squad members should have escaped the pursuit.

This place is less than five kilometers from the outpost. Based on the usual time estimate, they should have reached the outpost long ago and notified the ninjas to come support us. But no one has arrived yet. Something is wrong."

They had only fought the enemy for a little over ten minutes. After he killed two Jōnin, the enemy had already scattered and fled. It should not have been a ploy to lure them in.

"Sakumo, are you saying the outpost might have been wiped out by the enemy?" Oshima Shuichi's face showed alarm.

It was not impossible. After all, even their elite squad had come under attack. If the enemy had another squad of roughly equal strength, together with a particularly capable Sensor Ninja, they had a chance of wiping out the outpost.

"No way?!" Sakamoto Kouta's expression changed. His students were all elites. If they had all died, the losses would be immense. But he had no time to grieve; they had to inform the village of the enemy's incursion as soon as possible.

This invasion was very likely the prelude to Iwagakure launching another war against Konoha.

This was extremely bad!

"You all recover your strength first. I'll scout ahead. If I haven't returned in ten minutes, come look for me," Hatake Sakumo said.

Of everyone present, only he was in perfect condition. Acting alone would be more dangerous, but it would also give him greater mobility.

If he had not needed to worry about the Genin being in danger earlier, he would not have let those other two Iwagakure Jōnin escape.

Even if the invading enemies were powerful, he could retreat without any reservations on his own.

"Sakumo, be careful!"

Sakamoto Kouta said gravely.

After Hatake Sakumo left, Shiraha finished treating Sakamoto Kouta.

He had not given Hatake Sakumo a Medical Scroll, because a ninja of his level would certainly be able to obtain a Mystical Palm Technique Scroll, even on this Rank B patrol mission.

Afterward, Shiraha took Healing Jutsu Scrolls from his Storage Scroll and distributed them to the others.

"Everyone, take two. I made plenty of these scrolls."

Everyone took the opportunity to rest, unsure whether they would encounter danger next.

PS: Thanks to reader Mo Zhouxu for the 1,500-point reward.