On the way back, the three girls chatted away among themselves. Although Nan was the youngest, her kind nature kept her from feeling any generation gap with the others. She simply spoke less, so she mostly listened.
As the teacher leading them, he did not stop their conversation. After all, bonds between people were formed little by little like this. Besides, he was not worried about safety. They were within the Land of Water, and with a Middle Ninja like him present, it seemed perfectly safe no matter how one looked at it.
Just as they thought they were completely safe, a discordant voice interrupted their pleasant conversation.
"Yo, you girls seem to be having a good time chatting!"
Then, a man dressed in black appeared in the three girls' field of vision. Most of his face was covered by a mask, but his forehead protector revealed that he was a ninja.
The moment Nan saw the forehead protector, a frightened expression appeared on her face. The other two students showed no reaction, but it was not because they were unafraid. They believed that with their teacher present, nothing could go wrong. However, they did not notice the bead of sweat running down their teacher's forehead. Otherwise, they might have realized how bad the situation truly was.
Naturally, they noticed Nan's change and assumed she was scared. Neither of them looked at her mockingly. After all, Nan was so young, so they understood. Wanting to give her strength, they each took the hands of the girl much younger than themselves, offering her warmth in the hope of driving away the fear in her heart.
But Nan pulled them behind her instead, catching the two girls off guard with her strength.
Then the two girls heard Nan, who stood in front