Arriving just in time

Xia Yan and Kakashi rested well for the night, then immediately set off.

Kakashi, however, looked at Xia Yan with some curiosity. When he had gotten up to take over the watch in the latter half of the night, he had clearly seen Xia Yan reading a Sealing Jutsu scroll.

Sealing Jutsu was by no means simple. Ordinary ninja rarely had a chance to obtain it, and its difficulty was unimaginable.

Kakashi could understand how Xia Yan had obtained Sealing Jutsu. After all, he was a veteran of the Anbu, so it was perfectly normal for him to acquire some uncommon things through his merits.

But Sealing Jutsu really was not easy to learn. Very few people could master it, and in every village, anyone who knew Sealing Jutsu was an elite.

Even if they lacked strength, they would be assigned to the Sealing Squad, where they would receive proper protection.

One only needed to look at the seals each village used to keep enemies from infiltrating to understand just how important these people were.

Although these seals proved somewhat inadequate against particularly powerful enemies, they could at least alert the village to an enemy's arrival.

"Captain, are you interested in Sealing Jutsu?" Kakashi asked with some curiosity as they traveled.

"You could say that." Xia Yan nodded. "I've actually always been quite interested in Sealing Jutsu. Unfortunately, there seems to be something lacking in my aptitude, but I have no intention of giving up."

"Is that so?" Kakashi pressed his lips together slightly, his thoughts unclear.

"All right, enough about that. Let's pick up the pace." Xia Yan smiled and shook his head. "Don't forget we still have a mission. It'll be trouble if we arrive too late."

At those words, Kakashi immediately fell silent. They did indeed have more important things to do, though he made a note of Xia Yan's intention to learn Sealing Jutsu.

For others, Sealing Jutsu might truly be difficult, with no way to learn even if they had the materials, but Kakashi was different.

The future Kakashi would actually be quite skilled in Sealing Jutsu. After Orochimaru placed a Cursed Seal on Sasuke, Kakashi was the first to seal it.

Kakashi had the foundation to become skilled in Sealing Jutsu. After all, his teacher was Minato Namikaze, and his teacher's wife was Kushina Uzumaki, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

The two traveled swiftly after setting out again, reaching the border of the Land of Fire after another day or so.

The Land of Fire covered a truly vast area, and even for ninja, spending several days traveling was perfectly normal.

Fortunately, they were not on an escort mission and did not need to consider how much a client could endure.

Nor were they part of a large force marching to the battlefield, where they would have to account for everyone's pace. The flexibility of traveling as a pair ensured their speed.

After arriving, however, they did not go straight to the garrison, choosing instead to inspect the surrounding area first.

The Anbu and the garrison ninja belonged to two separate systems. To avoid making the handover too troublesome, Anbu like Xia Yan generally did not approach them on their own initiative.

Of course, this was also for secrecy. It was difficult to judge whether the garrison ninja had been infiltrated.

If they had, exposing the Anbu's movements would put the mission at risk, and avoiding risks was what the Anbu should prioritize above all.

After making a brief circuit along the outer border and checking the observation posts relatively close to the base, Xia Yan nodded.

There were no problems with these observation posts, and their surroundings were very peaceful. Though their locations were the most dangerous, no one had come so far.

"Captain, things look pretty good here." Kakashi also scanned their surroundings before saying calmly, "But isn't there one observation post we haven't visited yet?"

"Yes, there is." Xia Yan nodded. "Let's go. Once we've inspected this observation post, we can take a short rest."

Each observation post occupied a different position, but all of them were arranged around the base, with open views that allowed them to observe their surroundings clearly.

If these positions came under attack, as long as the enemy was not too powerful or too numerous, they could fire signal flares to seek assistance.

But now that even the Anbu had been deployed, that could only mean the attacking enemies might well be numerous.

"Hmm?"

As they traveled, Xia Yan suddenly frowned. His sensory perception had picked up chakra fluctuations in the distance.

His sensory perception had always been strong, allowing him to detect many things with hardly any effort.

Moreover, these chakra fluctuations were intense, clearly indicating a battle. This made him realize that the observation post had probably already come under attack.

"Pick up the pace. Prepare for combat," Xia Yan said in the simplest terms. "We've got trouble. There should be quite a few enemies, too."

"Yes, Captain," Kakashi immediately replied without any doubt.

Clearly, he had long since noticed that Xia Yan possessed good sensory abilities. Though he did not know just how strong they were, they were absolutely worth trusting!

After Xia Yan gave the order, both of them immediately accelerated considerably, preparing their combat equipment as they traveled.

Before long, they could see with their own eyes more than a dozen ninja in Iwagakure red clothing attacking Konoha's ninja on an observation tower not far away.

"Iwa ninja?" Kakashi immediately frowned at the sight. "Are they deliberately posing as them to destroy the peace between Konoha and Iwagakure?"

"Obviously. Everyone can actually see through this sort of thing," Xia Yan said calmly. "Ultimately, it's still a matter of interests."

Interests?

Kakashi frowned. He did not quite understand Xia Yan's words, but there was no time for him to ask so many questions now.

They were drawing closer and closer, and the Konoha ninja stationed there were clearly beginning to buckle.

Just then, Xia Yan suddenly drew a kunai. In an instant, powerful Water Release chakra gathered over it.

The sight immediately made Kakashi raise his eyebrows. More and more Water Release chakra gathered over the kunai, beginning to compress and spin furiously!

The next moment, the chakra on the kunai settled down, but it seemed as though Xia Yan had directly altered the water's properties.

Pointed, sharp, and overwhelmingly oppressive, it practically struck Kakashi in the face, leaving even him astonished.

Has he reached an extremely high level in both Chakra Shape Transformation and Nature Transformation?

Kakashi thought to himself. The next moment, Xia Yan hurled the kunai with force, and it produced a fierce rasp as it tore through the air.

Whistling with an intense sense of pressure, it hurtled straight toward the chest of an enemy in the distance...