Escort Mission (Third Watch)

"Great!" the three of them cheered in unison.

However, once they reached the hot spring pool, Uchiha Matsuri and the others felt that something was wrong.

Jiraiya, who had suggested the hot spring, hadn't entered the water. Instead, he was running toward the women's bath with an excited look on his face, crouching in a corner and giggling to himself.

"Minato, was Master Jiraiya always like this?" Uchiha Matsuri asked, his face covered in black lines.

Come to think of it, why did this scene feel so familiar?

"You should be asking yourself that. You've been following Master Jiraiya since you were a child." Kiba Inuzuka curled his lip, looking at the lecherous Jiraiya in the distance with disdain.

With that, the three of them left the hot spring and walked up to the excited Jiraiya.

"Master Jiraiya!"

Under the trio's forceful dragging, Jiraiya reluctantly left the women's bath.

Half an hour later.

On the main street.

Uchiha Matsuri and his two companions walked in front, laughing as they went. Behind them was a melancholy Jiraiya.

Just moments ago, Jiraiya had been complaining about the three of them ruining his good time. However, his complaints were met only with the synchronized contempt of Uchiha Matsuri and the others.

The four of them strolled along and soon arrived in front of a merchant firm called "Fujino Company."

Jiraiya pulled an iron square plate from his robes and handed it to a servant at the entrance. After taking the plate, the servant immediately went inside the firm.

A few minutes later, a middle-aged man with a fleshy face and large ears walked out.

"Are you the ninjas from Konoha?" The man sized up the four people before him and took a deep drag from his cigarette.

"That we are," Jiraiya said respectfully.

"Just the four of you? Can you protect the entire caravan?" The man curled his lip in disdain.

"Don't underestimate us!" Kiba Inuzuka flared up instantly. "The four of us are more than enough for a mission like this."

"Hahaha, let's hope so." The man sneered and crushed his cigarette butt.

"Follow me." Without another word, the man left them with that instruction and headed toward the outskirts of the city.

Jiraiya and the others followed the man to a secluded forest outside the city.

After checking the cargo to ensure the quantity was correct, the man climbed into the lead carriage and ordered through the canvas cover, "Let's move out!"

On the road, three carriages moved along at a leisurely pace, with five servants standing at the front and along the sides. Team 5, responsible for the caravan's safety, trailed at the very back.

"Hey, Minato, who is this guy? He's so arrogant," Kiba Inuzuka whispered, clutching his ninja dog in dissatisfaction.

"They say he's the steward of this company, named Koji Moriya. He's the type who bullies the weak and fears the strong," Jiraiya answered first. "If he makes any unreasonable demands later, don't go provoking him."

"Understood," the three replied helplessly in unison.

Uchiha Matsuri shared a similar opinion of Koji Moriya, so he naturally agreed with Jiraiya's advice.

The caravan moved slowly along the road.

Two days had passed, and the caravan had yet to encounter any attackers. Kiba Inuzuka, who had been full of interest at first, gradually lost his fighting spirit during the dull and tedious journey.

"This is so boring. No one has even attacked yet."

Kiba Inuzuka complained out of boredom.

"Kiba, looking at you, it's as if you're dying for someone to attack the caravan," Jiraiya said, speechless.

"Hehehe, if anyone dares to attack, just watch as Ono and I beat them to a pulp," Kiba Inuzuka gestured, then chuckled.

Hearing Kiba Inuzuka's bold claim, Uchiha Matsuri couldn't help but retort, "You're too confident. You might be the one getting beaten to a pulp instead."

"What did you say?!" Seeing Uchiha Matsuri's disdain, Kiba Inuzuka flew into a rage, raising his fist to strike. Fortunately, Minato Namikaze stepped in to block him, preventing a fight.

After being held back by Minato Namikaze, Kiba Inuzuka hugged his ninja dog and provoked Uchiha Matsuri, "Hmph! Don't think that just because you're from the Uchiha Clan, you have the right to look down on others. Our Inuzuka Clan is very powerful too!"

Seeing that Uchiha Matsuri ignored him, Kiba Inuzuka felt slighted again. "Hey, hey! Did you hear me? If you can't beat the enemy later and come begging for my help, I won't assist you."

"Got it." Uchiha Matsuri couldn't be bothered to bicker with Kiba Inuzuka and walked ahead after dropping that single sentence.

"Damn it." Kiba Inuzuka stomped his feet in anger.

"This is such a headache." Seeing the discord in his team again, Jiraiya couldn't help but sigh.

Minato Namikaze and Kiba Inuzuka already clashed frequently, and now Kiba Inuzuka was at odds with Uchiha Matsuri as well.

It was fortunate that Uchiha Matsuri and Minato Namikaze got along reasonably well; otherwise, if all three of them were ignoring each other, just handling their conflicts would be enough to drive Jiraiya to his wits' end.

"Jiraiya, you guys are so noisy!" Koji Moriya poked his head out of the carriage at some point.

"Mr. Moriya, I apologize for disturbing your rest." Even though he disliked Koji Moriya, Jiraiya still apologized respectfully.

"Hmph, I don't care how your team fights, as long as you deliver my goods safely to the Land of Earth," Koji Moriya said irritably.

"Yes."

Half a day passed, and it was dusk. As the sky grew dark, everyone's vision began to blur. With several miles still to go before the next village, the caravan had to pick up the pace to reach it by nightfall.

"Wait," Kiba Inuzuka said suddenly, breaking the silent atmosphere.

"What's wrong?" Jiraiya asked curiously.

"Three hundred meters to the northwest, I smell over a hundred people. It looks like they're lying in ambush on both sides of the road," Kiba Inuzuka said, frowning.

"Woof, woof." Ono, held in Kiba Inuzuka's arms, barked in agreement.

"Bandits or ninja?" Jiraiya asked.

"I don't smell any chakra. They should just be ordinary bandits," Kiba Inuzuka replied cautiously.

That makes things easier, Uchiha Matsuri thought to himself. When he first heard that over a hundred people were lying in wait, his heart had tightened for a split second.

Uchiha Matsuri could never forget the painful memories of Scarlet Valley. Although the average strength of the Sabaku Clan ninja at the time was only at the chunin level, there were simply too many of them.

No matter how powerful a ninja is, you cannot hold your own if tens of thousands of ninja are fighting you alone. In the original story, wasn't that exactly how the Third Raikage, who possessed the strongest spear and the strongest shield, was worn down to his death?

However, a hundred ordinary people and a hundred ninja were two different things. Because ordinary people lacked chakra, the gap in combat power between them and a ninja, in terms of hand-to-hand combat and weapon proficiency, was significant.