Time slipped by, minute by minute.
The group pressed onward.
Finally, after they had gone about half an hour deep into the Land of Rivers, several Anbu ninja followed the information Itachi Squad had sent back earlier and found the coded markings they had left along the road.
"Woof~ woof~"
A few dog barks rang out.
The ninja whom Qian had previously suspected to be from the Inuzuka clan flashed forward and stopped beside a large tree.
At the base of the tree, a patch of black stain could be seen, as if something had corroded the earth.
In fact, that was exactly what had happened.
The black stain was nothing else but the mark left after an Anbu ninja committed suicide and his corpse dissolved into fluid that ate into the ground.
Clearly, an Anbu ninja had once ended his own life here.
Precisely because of that, the Inuzuka ninja's expression beneath his mask abruptly turned much more solemn.
Whoosh~
Yamato's figure appeared out of nowhere, followed by Qian and the others.
Yamato glanced at the traces at the scene, let out an almost imperceptible sigh, then reached his hand into the trunk beside him.
That was right—reached it inside.
Seeing this, everyone except a scant few revealed looks of surprise and confusion.
There was no other reason. During the process, Yamato had not performed any ninjutsu at all, yet his palm had simply merged with the tree. They could not help but think more about it.
However, Qian, who likewise possessed the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai, understood how he had done it.
So he did not find it surprising.
It was just that, judging from the way the other party displayed it so casually, he clearly had no intention of hiding it. Perhaps before long, rumors would spread