Following Them All the Way

"Keep your distance at two kilometers and follow them."

Tsukimi formed a hand seal. A host of Shadow Ninjas emerged from the shadows. The Ninja Tribe was the most versatile of the nine armies: skilled at stealth, reconnaissance, and tracking, with even their housekeeping abilities maxed out. They could do just about anything.

Even Jade swore by them!

At a thought, the Ninja Tribe split into two squads. The smaller squad tracked the Sand Hidden supply convoy. The trucks would not move quickly, so Tsukimi and the others could keep up.

Most of the Shadow Ninjas joined the second squad. They fanned out ahead, searching both sides of the mountain road inch by inch—bushes, cracks in the rocks, ancient tree roots—for hidden traps or sensors that might endanger Tsukimi's group.

After coming this far, it would be a terrible waste if Rasa got an early warning and fled.

A little later, the Sand Hidden convoy finally left the valley. Dozens of trucks rumbled over the muddy ground. Two squads of Sand Hidden guards flanked the heavily protected convoy as it headed toward Mount Tenmoku, deep in the Land of Rivers.

Tsukimi and the others suppressed their Chakra signatures as much as they could, then followed under cover of the mountains and dense forest, keeping to the very edge of their two-kilometer range.

The deeper they went into the Land of Rivers, the thicker the forest grew. Ancient trees towered overhead, their branches intertwined. Fallen leaves covered the damp forest floor, and insects swarmed through the air. A strange smell of rust mingled with the cold, sour air, replacing its former freshness. The closer they came to Mount Tenmoku, the stronger it grew.

After roughly two hours, the Shadow Ninjas scouting ahead sent back a signal. The Sand Hidden convoy had stopped. Tsukimi raised a hand, and the three halted in the shadows. He took over a Shadow Ninja's vision and looked down at the road ahead from above.

Two Sand Hidden guards stepped out from the convoy with a wooden staff. They swept it slowly across a stretch of road that looked perfectly ordinary, as though moving something invisible aside. Their practiced motions flowed without a pause. Before long, the whole convoy started forward again.

Once the convoy had cleared the area, Tsukimi and the others hurried closer under cover of the trees. He sent the Shadow Ninjas to investigate, and their search revealed the deadly trap.

The bushes beside the road were filled with translucent threads, so fine they were nearly impossible to see. They blended into the forest shadows, stretched across the entire road, and were anchored firmly to tree trunks at both ends.

The threads were coated in a nerve toxin. A touch would let the poison seep through the skin and into the body, paralyzing its victim and leaving them unable to move for a time.

And the threads were more than a weapon. They were connected to a simple Chakra-triggered mechanism. Break one, and it would send an alarm to the Mount Tenmoku Base.

The Shadow Ninjas circled the area without touching the threads. After marking each part of the trap, they passed its location to Tsukimi.

"What a vicious setup. It's meant to catch anyone following them," Kurenai whispered, so close that her breath brushed Tsukimi's ear. "If we'd walked straight in, they would have spotted us."

It was devious, all right. Just what Tsukimi expected of Rasa.

The three abandoned the road and climbed the higher slope, bypassing the bushes before returning to the road and resuming their pursuit.

The convoy traveled another dozen or so kilometers before the Shadow Ninjas signaled that they had found another trap.

Several palm-sized miniature Puppets sat in cracks along the gray rock wall beside the road. Their shells matched the stone so closely that they were easy to miss. Tiny holes covered them, allowing them to detect nearby Chakra fluctuations.

The Puppets were not meant to attack. Their sole task was to watch the area. If they detected unfamiliar Chakra, they would immediately send an alarm to Mount Tenmoku.

Through a Shadow Ninja's eyes, Tsukimi saw the answer clearly. Every guard flanking the Sand Hidden convoy wore a peculiar black accessory that suppressed their Chakra signatures, letting them pass through safely.

Tsukimi was quietly relieved. Rasa had nearly caught them. If they had slipped into the convoy without those accessories, the Puppets would have detected all three of them as they passed the rock wall.

"Stay away from the rock wall. We'll take the high ground on the other side." Tsukimi gave the Shadow Ninjas their orders and quietly told Orochimaru and Kurenai. The three slipped into the forest opposite and skirted the sensor Puppets.

More alarms and traps appeared along the route: poison buried beneath fallen leaves, detection barriers wound around treetops. Each had been placed to catch infiltrators, often in the trickiest spots. Without the Shadow Ninjas scouting ahead, an ordinary reconnaissance squad would have triggered an alarm long before reaching Mount Tenmoku.

Kurenai gazed toward the distant convoy, her expression grave. "There's an ambush at nearly every point along this supply route. Rasa's experiment must have reached a critical stage. He can't afford any interference."

"All this security means we've hit a nerve," Tsukimi said with a shrug.

The more Rasa tries to keep us out, the more certain I am that we came to the right place.

Night gradually gave way to dawn. At last, the mountain road ended, and the vast bulk of Mount Tenmoku rose before them. By then, the smell of toxins and rust was unmistakable. Its sharp odor hung over the entire base.

Orochimaru stood motionless in the forest at the perimeter, his curiosity undimmed. Rasa's Living Puppet experiment held his full attention, and his golden, slit-pupiled eyes remained fixed on the mountain ahead.

Ahead of them, the convoy carried torches as it escorted the supply-laden trucks through the mist at the mountain's foot and deeper into Mount Tenmoku.