"Whoosh, whoosh-"
Figures raced through the forest, one after another.
At dawn the next day...
"Jiraiya, have you still not found the target?" Orochimaru asked as he watched Jiraiya approach from a distance.
They had arrived here in the early hours of the morning, but apart from the haphazard wagon tracks on the ground, there had been no other clues.
Jiraiya shook his head. The area he had just scouted had yielded no useful information at all.
Orochimaru was puzzled as well. His gaze shifted to the wagon tracks on the ground.
"These tracks look as though they were made deliberately," he murmured.
"Dozens of wagon tracks crisscrossing one another, some deep, some shallow." Orochimaru looked at the deepest rut in the ground.
"This deep rut looks like it's meant to lead us somewhere!" His gaze followed the direction of the track.
That glance brought Dan Katō into view as he approached from a distance.
"Orochimaru, I found a clue!" An urgent voice came from ahead.
"Dan Katō, you found a clue?" Orochimaru asked thoughtfully.
Dan Katō stopped in front of Orochimaru and nodded.
"A kilometer east of here, there's a faint wagon track. Someone tried to cover it up, but they seem to have been in a hurry and didn't have time to erase it completely," Dan Katō said slowly.
"They probably left just before dawn!"
Hearing that they had found a clue, Mifune came over as well.
"You found a clue?" Mifune asked.
"Yes!" Dan Katō nodded, then repeated what he had just said.
"In that case, there's no time to lose. Let's move!" Jiraiya said.
The others nodded and headed onward.
As they left the area, Orochimaru cast a brief glance at the wagon tracks on the ground.
The direction matched.
Shortly after the group left,