Mission Start

In the forests atop a mountain in the Land of Fire, four figures—one large and three small—leaped across the branches of towering trees.

Without a doubt, only ninjas could travel in such a manner.

This standard ninja squad was none other than Kawaki Aoba and his three teammates, currently en route from the Land of Fire to the Land of Wind.

While they could have taken the main roads to reach the Land of Wind, doing so would have required significant detours, wasting precious time and potentially alerting enemy ninjas to their movements. Thus, this standard ninja method of traveling in a straight line—climbing over every mountain and crossing every river—was the most correct choice for a mission.

Of course, that excluded C-rank escort missions.

As they traveled, their squad leader, Yuhi Shinku, explained the details of their mission to Kawaki Aoba and the others.

"Although the mission to retrieve the spy is only C-rank, we will be required to station ourselves on the border of the Land of Wind for an extended period afterward, so you must remain extremely cautious. Furthermore, to prevent intelligence leaks, we must not show ourselves in any towns while within the Land of Fire."

"Endure the hardship of this journey; once we reach the Land of Rivers, conditions should improve significantly. Also, once we arrive, remember your identities at all times. You must never do anything that would betray your cover..."

Perhaps because this was their first mission in another country, Yuhi Shinku spent the entire journey offering advice to his three disciples.

The Land of Rivers, mentioned by Yuhi Shinku, served as a buffer zone between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind. He recalled that at the start of the First Shinobi World War, the country had possessed a small ninja village, but it had somehow vanished during the wars between Konoha and Sunagakure.

Since then, the Land of Rivers had become chaotic, infested with bandits and rogue ninjas.

Fortunately, during the Second Shinobi World War, the Amekage Village in the neighboring Land of Rain had attracted the brunt of the conflict, sparing the Land of Rivers from becoming a battlefield like it had the first time and giving the small nation a chance to breathe.

Nevertheless, the country had been thoroughly infiltrated by both Konoha and Sunagakure. The only reason it still existed was that both great powers needed a buffer zone. The local nobility frequently issued missions to Konoha and Sunagakure to clear out bandits and rogue ninjas.

In short, the Land of Rivers was a melting pot of unsavory characters and utter chaos, but it was precisely this environment that made it easier for ninjas to conceal their identities.

Even if a strange rogue ninja appeared in a small border town, it would not attract much attention, as such occurrences were far too common to manage.

Yuhi Shinku detailed the intelligence regarding the Land of Rivers and its chaotic nature to the three of them.

By the time Kawaki Aoba and his teammates had a general impression of the Land of Rivers, the sun had begun to set.

After a full day of travel, the four of them had nearly reached the border of the Land of Fire. Their speed was more than ten times that of an ordinary person, yet even with the aid of chakra, Kawaki Aoba and his two companions were left with sore limbs and depleted stamina.

When they stopped to rest, Yuhi Kurenai, who had the weakest constitution, collapsed onto the ground without a care for her image, having no desire to get back up.

Of course, she only dared to be so bold after confirming that the surroundings were safe.

While Yuhi Kurenai lay exhausted, Kawaki Aoba and Sarutobi Asuma, though not quite as incapacitated, were too tired to move and leaned against separate trees to recover their strength.

Watching the three of them from the side, Yuhi Shinku remained silent, but he began grading the three youngsters in his mind.

This non-stop journey was indeed a burden for these three, who had only graduated from the Ninja Academy a year ago, but Yuhi Shinku had done it intentionally.

He had observed their performance throughout the journey. First was Sarutobi Asuma; the boy never forgot to watch for danger while traveling, and although there were occasional lapses toward the end, his performance was quite commendable.

Then there was his daughter, Yuhi Kurenai. Although his personal tutelage had allowed her to surpass her peers early on, she was still half a step behind Kawaki Aoba, who possessed immense talent, and Sarutobi Asuma, who had lacked neither resources nor training since childhood.

Moreover, Yuhi Kurenai's talent, like his own, was heavily skewed toward genjutsu. As a girl, her physical stamina was naturally inferior to the other two, but the fact that she had gritted her teeth to keep up and checked the perimeter before collapsing meant she was, at the very least, qualified.

As for Kawaki Aoba, he had truly exceeded Yuhi Shinku's expectations.

Yuhi Shinku had paid the most attention to Kawaki Aoba throughout the journey—he had little choice, given that the boy was blind.

Initially, Yuhi Shinku had intended to look after Kawaki Aoba, but as the boy's performance repeatedly shattered his expectations, he couldn't help but feel the urge to test him.

Who could have guessed that this test would result in such a massive surprise?

He remembered his daughter saying two days ago that Kawaki Aoba's performance in combat was like that of a normal ninja. At the time, Yuhi Shinku had assumed she was exaggerating, but now it seemed she had been conservative.

During the several bursts of speed after leaving Konoha, Kawaki Aoba had kept pace steadily without any reminders, his rhythm never faltering. The only explanation Yuhi Shinku could think of was sensory ninjutsu.

Later, when crossing those mountains, Kawaki Aoba had followed closely behind Yuhi Kurenai and Sarutobi Asuma, stepping only on the exact tree trunks they had used.

Yuhi Shinku knew perfectly well that sensory ninjutsu only detected living beings with chakra, yet Kawaki Aoba could even distinguish the tree trunks in the forest.

It seemed that, just as Kawaki Aoba had claimed, even without his eyes, he could clearly perceive the external environment through his other senses.

Such talent was truly...

Yuhi Shinku tried to find a word to describe Kawaki Aoba, but after much thought, "miracle" was the only one that fit.

Indeed, in the world of the Hokage, for someone to lose their eyes and still perform missions like a normal ninja, only a miracle could describe it.

And there was only one such miracle before his eyes.

After resting and eating some food, Yuhi Shinku decided that the squad would rest there for half the night.

They would soon leave the Land of Fire entirely. Once they entered the Land of Rivers, they could encounter emergencies at any moment, so it was essential for the three of them to maintain peak combat readiness.