Sensory Ninjutsu!

Konoha Year 42, June 27.

After resting for nearly a week, Asuma went on another mission.

This time, it was an escort mission.

They were escorting a merchant caravan to the Land of Bears.

That meant Asuma and the others would have to pass through the Land of Rain and the Land of Birds.

Without a doubt, this mission would take quite some time.

At the caravan's pace, it would take at least ten days to half a month to travel from Konohagakure to the Land of Bears.

Moreover, they would need to escort the caravan back from the Land of Bears to the Land of Fire.

The round trip would probably take a month.

However, the payment for this mission was considerable.

Asuma would receive 100,000 ryō.

They still gathered at the village entrance.

This time, Asuma had a large scroll strapped to his back. But when he arrived at the village entrance, he found that the caravan was quite sizable.

Moreover, aside from their team, there were samurai guards as well.

That was hardly surprising. Ninja were expensive, after all; it was impossible to hire them as guards for every occasion.

For ordinary merchants, daimyō, and high-ranking officials, maintaining samurai was inevitable.

Besides.

Samurai were not necessarily incapable of using Chakra.

Before long, Yūhi Kurenai and Shizune arrived as well.

After the team assembled, they met the caravan's owner, a middle-aged man named Matsutomo Ren.

He was plump and always wore a gentle smile when facing Asuma and the others.

Yet the moment Asuma and the other three left, his gentle smile vanished, replaced by a stern expression.

It took them a full three and a half days to travel from Konoha to the border of the Land of Fire.

The journey was exceedingly leisurely.

Asuma simply lay atop one of the cargo wagons and studied Sensory Ninjutsu.

The scroll on his back was a Sealing Scroll containing copied ninjutsu materials.

They included Medical Ninjutsu, Fūinjutsu, and Sensory Ninjutsu.

For Asuma, Sensory Ninjutsu was what he urgently needed at the moment. That was why he had temporarily set aside his studies of Fūinjutsu and Medical Ninjutsu and focused first on Sensory Ninjutsu.

Whether it was Hatake Sakumo or Kurenai, who had already mastered Sensory Ninjutsu before him, both were people he could consult.

After three days, Asuma had gained a great deal.

At the very least, he had discovered that six of the twelve samurai in the group possessed Chakra.

At the same time, Asuma had gained a direction for the kind of Sensory Ninjutsu he needed.

"The ideal would be to master Magnet Release and sense through electromagnetic waves—a literal human radar."

Asuma sighed inwardly.

If he mastered Magnet Release, then with his understanding of radar principles, he believed it would not be too difficult to develop a Sensory Ninjutsu based on it.

But that path was clearly unsuitable for now.

"I'll deal with that after mastering Lightning Style and Earth Style... For now, I'll first come up with a Wind Style sensory ninjutsu."

The direction Asuma had chosen was to sense through wind.

Or, more fundamentally, through air.

Something similar to Pain's Rain Tiger Jutsu!

However, sensing through air would undoubtedly be far more difficult than using rainwater for the Rain Tiger Jutsu.

At the same time.

If he succeeded.

Then this Sensory Ninjutsu would be far more adaptable than the Rain Tiger Jutsu.

After all, there was air even beneath the sea.

Of course.

An idea was an idea, and a goal was a goal.

Asuma had no certainty that he could accomplish it.

So he would take it one step at a time.

Starting with wind.

And wind in nature was simply moving air.

For Asuma, infusing his Chakra into the wind was not difficult.

His Wind Release Chakra Nature Transformation was level 8, while his Chakra Control was level 10.

However, wind in nature was affected by temperature.

In other words.

On a broad scale, neither the direction nor speed of the wind could be controlled by people.

That limited the applications of this Sensory Ninjutsu.

"The prospects are broad, but for now, it's still inferior to the Second Hokage's Sensory Ninjutsu..."

At the campsite during a rest break, Asuma shook his head.

Just then, his Shadow Clone dispelled and its memories returned. Hatake Sakumo had summoned him for something.

He immediately composed himself, created another Shadow Clone to remain behind, and his real body vanished in a gust of wind.

Outside the camp, within the forest, Asuma found that Kurenai and Shizune had already arrived. They stood with Hatake Sakumo, gazing at the gloomy Land of Rain in the distance.

Beyond this forest lay the Land of Rain.

"Teacher Sakumo!"

Asuma greeted him.

Hatake Sakumo nodded, then said solemnly, "I am now officially informing you of this trip's hidden second mission."

Asuma and the other two all felt their hearts skip a beat.

A hidden mission?

So escorting the caravan had merely been a cover?

Asuma pondered for a moment, then said, "Teacher Sakumo, are we investigating the situations in Sunagakure and Iwagakure?"

Earlier, the Sand Ninja had struck Konoha's border defenses, only to later quiet down.

But that was already a sign of war.

Several years had passed since the Second Great Ninja War. The major ninja villages had gradually recovered their strength and were beginning to stir once more.

The Land of Rain was a battleground between four powers, while the Land of Birds was sandwiched between the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth.

The situation here was chaotic, and they could obtain plenty of intelligence by starting here.

"Anbu, and perhaps even Root, are probably already active in these two countries."

Asuma secretly guessed, and could not help thinking of the current Akatsuki Organization.

A naive ninja organization filled with a love for peace.

Once that sanctimonious bitch Danzo discovered Nagato's Rinnegan, he would move against the Akatsuki Organization, wouldn't he?

Asuma was thinking when Hatake Sakumo nodded. "That is indeed the case."

"However, our main task is not to investigate the Land of Rain and the Land of Birds. It is to secretly infiltrate the borders of the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth, and observe their border deployments."

Kurenai immediately said, "If the two countries begin moving personnel to their borders or stockpiling supplies, then it is highly likely they are preparing to launch a war."

"Correct!"

Hatake Sakumo nodded. "So next, Kurenai and Shizune, your task will be to remain with the caravan and cover my and Asuma's Shadow Clones."

Kurenai and Shizune exchanged glances, then nodded together. "Yes, Teacher Sakumo!"

They knew that, with their current strength, carrying out an infiltration mission would be highly dangerous.

Especially when they also needed to leave Shadow Clones behind as cover.

Their Shadow Clones could not last long.

Half an hour later, the group set off once more.

Asuma was no longer leisurely studying. Like everyone else, he put on a raincoat in advance.

After passing through the forest and entering the gloomy Land of Rain, the group's vigilance rose sharply.

Asuma, Kurenai, and Shizune spread out, scouting ahead and standing guard at a distance from the group.

"A southeast wind. Perfect—I can make use of it!"

Feeling the damp wind, Asuma began silently infusing his Chakra into the flowing air currents.