Following

It was fine, though. The road they had taken to get here was no longer passable, but that did not mean they could not return.

In truth, for shinobi, almost anywhere could be considered a road, especially now that they had a map.

According to the map, they would definitely need to pass through the Land of Wind from here. Once they left the Land of Wind,

they could quickly return to their destination by following the borderlines where each country met the Land of Fire.

And judging from the map, aside from one or two slightly difficult stretches, this was undoubtedly a shortcut.

In a small border town somewhere in the Land of Wind, Kakashi stood by the window.

He removed a letter from a bird resembling a pigeon, then released it back into the sky.

He then took the letter directly beneath the kerosene lamp and began reading it by the dim yellow light.

This was clearly a message sent from Konoha. After reading it, Kakashi frowned.

He obviously had many questions, but he also knew that the letter could not explain everything clearly. Someone would need to explain it to him in person

before he could truly understand the full story.

Still, that was fine for now. The general meaning and the next mission had already been established.

He only needed to tell Naruto and the others tomorrow.

To be honest, after being out for so long, Kakashi had no idea why, but the four from the Land of Wind who had been traveling with them, including Baki,

had created a truly awkward and tense relationship between the two sides because of Naruto and Gaara.

No matter how they tried to deal with it, those two were like magnets, their gazes locked together. No one could pull