Naruto - The Wind Calamity

Chapter 128 : Pre-Dawn Raid

The entire group exited the town of Niigata stealthily. Even if those rogue Kiri ninjas had any spies in the town, they wouldn't notice them leaving.

After leaving, they traveled at a fast speed. They cover the initial 30 kilometers very quickly. The Yugakure ninjas, who were looking down on the kids, had solemn faces. They were finding it difficult to keep up with them. It was a big blow to their pride.

Renjiro looked at their expressions and chuckled. In his experiences, it was always better for actions to do the talking than explaining with words.

They traveled the last 10 kilometers with caution. Hoka and Mieko used their Doujutsus to check for traps and enemies. Fujin didn't use his chakra field. If the enemy had any sensor, then they would sense Fujin's chakra field and give away their surprise factor. Hoka's Byakugan had no such disadvantage.

They reached close to 1 kilometer of the calculated spot, when Hoka said, "Stop!"

Everyone stopped and looked at him. Hoka moved towards the left as others followed him. After traveling about 100 meters, he stopped. Others stopped behind him. The area in front of Hoka was dyed red in blood!

Shunso asked, "Did they have a fight here?"
Tokuhei bent down and picked up a long hair from the blood. He observed it and said, "Unlikely. They were probably just hunting wild animals. Looks like they got a bear."

Fujin observed Tokuhei and thought, 'He's able to guess an animal just from a hair that is dyed in blood?'

Mieko activated her Sharingan and observed the surroundings. After some time, she said, "Found a trail!"

Renjiro said, "Good work. Take the lead. Also, keep an eye out for traps. Hoka, you keep an eye on traps too. And keep an eye for their base as well. Everyone else, don't make unnecessary noise or movements."

Everyone nodded. Tokuhei commented, "It's very handy to have both the Byakugan and Sharingan in the same squad."
Renjiro nodded. They proceeded ahead carefully.

Mieko's Sharingan observed every detail of the surroundings carefully. She picked up the slightest clues. She observed their trail perfectly. Surprisingly, they didn't encounter any traps.

As they kept walking, they left the forest and entered the beach! Mieko frowned. She said, "The trail leads into the sea!"

Renjiro and Tokuhei both frowned. If the base of the rogue Kiri nins was in the sea, then fighting them would get very tricky.

Shunso spoke, "I don't think that their base would be out in the sea. The nearest island from here is around 32 kilometers away. Traveling from that base would be very time-consuming."

Everyone looked at Shunso as he spoke. Shunso continued, "So either their base is nearby or every one of them is a strong Jounin who can travel at twice the speeds of a chunin!"

Tokuhei immediately shook his head, "There's no way that they are all Jounins. Kiri would be shaken if that many Jounins go rogue."

Renjiro said, "There are two possibilities. One is that they have a temporary base here and a permanent one on an island. Or, they just travel on shallow waters instead of moving through the forest to prevent any trail."

Tokuhei nodded and said, "Yes. I believe the 2nd one will be the case. They are rogue ninjas after all. They will be afraid of being hunted down."

Renjiro nodded. He too believed the same. He said, "Let's go back to the trees. We will move along the coast while Hoka checks for any possible bases."

Tokuhei agreed as he thought, 'The Hyuga can look up to 1000 meters. From the edge of the forest, he will be able to check for hundreds of meters into the sea. If their base is truly not here, then we will have no choice but to set up an ambush and wait for them.'