The Mission Begins

In the forests of a mountain in the Land of Fire, four figures—one large and three small—leaped from branch to branch.

There was no doubt about it: only ninjas could travel this way.

This standard ninja squad was none other than Kawaki Aoba and his three companions. They were on their way from the Land of Fire to the Land of Wind.

They could have taken the main road to reach the Land of Wind, but that would have meant a much longer detour and wasted a lot of time. It might also have allowed enemy ninjas to gather information about them in advance. So, when carrying out a mission, the standard ninja method of traveling in a straight line—crossing mountains when they came to them and walking on water when they encountered it—was the best choice.

Of course, that didn't apply to C-rank escort missions.

As they traveled, their Jonin leader, Yuhi Shinku, explained the mission to Kawaki Aoba and the other two.

"Although the mission to retrieve the spy is only C-rank, after that we'll need to be stationed at the border of the Land of Wind for a long time, so we must be extremely careful. Also, to prevent information from leaking, we can't show ourselves in any town in the Land of Fire.

"This part of the journey will be tiring, but things should get a lot easier once we reach the Land of Rivers. And when we get there, remember your identities. Don't do anything that would be out of character for you..."

Perhaps because this was their first mission in another country, Yuhi Shinku spent the whole journey reminding his three students of what they needed to know.

The Land of Rivers that Yuhi Shinku had mentioned was the buffer zone between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind. As far as Kawaki Aoba could remember, there had been a small hidden ninja village in that country at the start of the First Shinobi World War, but somehow, it had disappeared during the war between Konoha and Sunagakure.

After that, the Land of Rivers had fallen into chaos, with bandits and rogue ninjas running rampant.

Fortunately, during the Second Shinobi World War, Amegakure in the neighboring Land of Rain had drawn most of the fighting to itself. The Land of Rivers hadn't become a battlefield like it had during the First Shinobi World War, giving the small country a chance to recover.

Even so, the country had been thoroughly infiltrated by Konoha and Sunagakure. One major reason it still existed was that both villages needed a buffer zone. The nobles there regularly issued missions to Konoha and Sunagakure to clear out bandits and rogue ninjas.

In short, the Land of Rivers was a place where all sorts of people mingled, and it was extremely chaotic. But that was precisely what made it easier for ninjas to conceal their identities.

Even unfamiliar rogue ninjas could appear in small border towns without drawing much attention. Such things happened all the time, and there was no way to keep track of them all.

Yuhi Shinku gave the three of them a detailed account of the information he had about the Land of Rivers and the chaos there.

By the time Kawaki Aoba and the others had gained a general idea of the country, the sun was setting.

After a full day of travel, the four of them were close to reaching the border of the Land of Fire from Konoha. They had moved more than ten times faster than an ordinary person, but even with Chakra bolstering them, Kawaki Aoba and the others were already weak in the limbs and had used up most of their strength.

When they stopped to rest, Yuhi Kurenai, the least physically fit of them, didn't bother to maintain appearances. She simply collapsed onto the ground, with no desire to get back up.

Of course, she only dared to do that after confirming that the area around them was safe.

Yuhi Kurenai was exhausted and sprawled on the ground. Kawaki Aoba and Sarutobi Asuma weren't quite as spent, but they also didn't feel like moving. Each leaned against a tree to recover.

Watching the three of them, Yuhi Shinku said nothing, but silently began grading them.

Traveling without a break was certainly a strain for the three youngsters, who had graduated from the Ninja Academy only a year ago. But Yuhi Shinku had done it on purpose.

He had been observing their performance the entire way. First was Sarutobi Asuma. Even while traveling, the young boy had stayed alert to the dangers around him. Though he'd let his guard down a little toward the end, his performance had still been quite good.

Then there was his daughter, Yuhi Kurenai. Thanks to his training from an early age, she had surpassed the average ninja of her age long ago. But compared with Kawaki Aoba, who was exceptionally talented, and Sarutobi Asuma, a genius who had never lacked resources or training, she was still a little behind.

Besides, like her father, most of Yuhi Kurenai's talent lay in genjutsu. And because she was a girl, her stamina was naturally inferior to the other two's. She had gritted her teeth and kept going until now, and even before lying down, she had remembered to check that their surroundings were safe. Well, he'd consider her to have passed.

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

Throughout the journey, Yuhi Shinku had paid the most attention to Kawaki Aoba. He couldn't help it—Kawaki Aoba was blind now.

At first, Yuhi Shinku had thought about looking after Kawaki Aoba. But as Kawaki Aoba's performance repeatedly pushed past the limits of what Yuhi Shinku thought possible, he couldn't help but feel tempted to test him.

But who could have expected that Kawaki Aoba would surprise him so much?

A couple of days ago, Yuhi Shinku had heard his daughter say that Kawaki Aoba had fought like a normal ninja. At the time, he'd thought she was exaggerating. Now, it seemed she hadn't exaggerated at all. If anything, she'd understated it.

When they'd sped up several times after leaving Konoha, Kawaki Aoba had kept pace steadily without being told, never losing his rhythm. The only explanation Yuhi Shinku could think of for such a performance was Sensory Ninjutsu.

Later, when they crossed those mountains, Kawaki Aoba had stayed right behind Yuhi Kurenai and Sarutobi Asuma, stepping only on the branches the two of them had already used.

Yuhi Shinku knew perfectly well that Sensory Ninjutsu only detected living beings with Chakra inside them. Yet Kawaki Aoba could even distinguish the branches in the forest.

It seemed Kawaki Aoba had been telling the truth: even without his eyes, he could still clearly perceive his surroundings using his other senses.

That kind of talent was truly...

Yuhi Shinku tried to think of a word to describe Kawaki Aoba, but after turning it over in his mind, he could only come up with one: a miracle.

That was right. In the world of the Hokage, only a miracle could describe someone who had lost both eyes yet could still carry out missions like a normal ninja.

And there was only one such miracle—the one standing right before him.

After they had rested for a while and eaten something, Yuhi Shinku decided that the four of them would rest here for half the night.

Before long, they would be leaving the Land of Fire for good. Once they entered the Land of Rivers, they could encounter an unexpected situation at any moment, so it was essential to keep all three members of the squad at full strength.