With Koji and Kuro joining back up after doing their best, we continued moving forward, trying and testing the team behind us. We employed every trick in the book as we ran; we even began to run in wide arcs to ensure we had the wind at our backs, always mindful to eliminate any chance for them to track us.
Yet, with keeping a relaxed pace, they managed to slightly close the gap between us, allowing them to enter into the range of my Byakugan once more—and proving that they had so way of tracking us.
"I can't figure it out, I just can't tell how they track us after all our efforts," I finally admitted defeat.
The wind bit at my cheeks as we moved, but my focus stayed locked behind us, my Byakugan adjusting for terrain shifts and chakra pulses. Still, nothing gave away their thod. No obvious sensory-type chakra usage. No visible hounds or animal scouts. No strange and unexplained uses of chakra. They just… kept coming. Quiet. Efficient. Relentless.
It hurt having to admit that I was beat. I had watched this world since it first got chakra. I had seen the Yuki clan erge from one woman, clearing snow until it ca to rule a large nation. I witnessed the Inuzuka clan beco a phenonon, watched their rise and fall, every mont of the ti, as the nine-tailed beasts lived and suffered. I saw ninjas becoming what they are today, every jutsu ever made—I saw it happen. Or I did for so of them.
I liked to think of myself as an expert on all things shinobi. So admitting that I couldn't see through these people hurt.
Koji glanced at from the side, his face still carrying the focus from his earlier run. "Could they have marked one of us? So kind of fūinjutsu?"
"I've been checking," I said, shaking my head slightly. "Nothing on or you. Nothing on Arata or Haruto either. No foreign chakra lingering."
"Then it's got to be scent," Arata said. "Even a clean team leaves trace molecules—sweat, skin, clothes, oils. And we're still human, no matter how many jutsu we throw around."
Haruto, breathing a little heavier than the rest of us, chid in. "We've cycled through clones, fakes, seals, terrain masking… It's not luck anymore. They know what they're doing."
"Which confirms it," I said, voice grim. "They're specialists."
"But I don't get how they could track our scents? Even Kuro and I wouldn't be able to track us after everything we just did," Koji said, and I shared his disbelief.
While Arata wasn't wrong to assu it was a possibility, the chance that soone could pull sothing like that off was just unbelievably small. The human nose just couldn't do it. Which is why the Inuzuka clan used their chakra-enhanced ninken—dogs trained and bred for it. Why the Abura Clan had entire insect species for tracking.
So… how could these people do it without anything like that and no chakra? It was maddening! Worse yet, they made it look so easy. It looked like they could see where we went, follow easy-to-see trails—yet we left nothing like that at all!
Every trick in the book, and it seed to achieve nothing.
"No matter how they do it, the truth is that they do, so what do we do in response?" Haruto asked.
"That's the real question, isn't it?" I mumbled as I jumped.
"Easy, we kill them! If they are dead, we won't have to worry about it," Koji said as his feet touched down.
"Well, you aren't wrong," I admitted.
"But they are likely sent to kill us, so it won't be easy to reverse that," Arata pointed out, leaping to the next branch without missing a beat.
I exhaled sharply, my breath steaming slightly in the cooler mountain air. "Then we either change the battlefield—or beco the ones doing the hunting."
Koji gave a toothy grin. "Finally speaking my language."
"Focus," I snapped. "We'll get our mont. But we don't do it on their terms. If they are handpicked to fight us, target our weaknesses, we must figure out how to deal with that."
I was all for killing them, but facing them recklessly would be foolish; it was likely we would be facing four Elite Jōnin, all while only having one——on our team. We would not be outnumbered, but as close to outmatched as we could be.
Suna had played their hand well. Had their team at least been five mbers strong, I wouldn't even bother trying to fight them. I would just retreat. All the damn way to Konoha if I had to.
I wasn't about to risk sothing like that for so stupid mission.
But doing that when there were only four of them… I couldn't get myself to do that. They read like an open book.
They even managed to figure out that I was in charge of the team. Because it was the only way this would work out like this.
Haruto and Arata are both civilians. They would never even think about giving up on a mission like that. Far too brainwashed into dying for the village. Koji is an Inuzuka; he, too, wouldn't run. They didn't run. Only a Hyūga genius would care more about themselves; only they would run if faced with too high a risk. Whoever was in charge at Suna knew what they were doing.
"Well, if they wanted to fight that badly, I would give it to them," I said. "We are fighting them. We end this before it becos a problem. So first—when, where, and how? They have everything planned, so what do we do? What do we think they will do, and how do we counter it?"
No one answered imdiately. Just the sound of wind rushing past us as we moved, our steps silent, our path avoiding every leaf and everything that could leave a trace. Just because we were fighting didn't an we stopped being stealthy.
"Sowhere remote," Arata finally said. "Where there's no civilian interference. We want freedom to use jutsu—big ones if needed."
"Sowhere terrain-favorable too," Haruto added. "Layers. Drops. Sowhere we can pre-load traps and limit how many of them can co at us at once."
"I agree with Arata. We should ensure that we can go wild without worry," I said, my voice steady despite the racing thoughts behind it. "But as for terrain… that's more difficult. We don't know their affinity… so any attempt could help them. But I guess water. Few in Suna are skilled in water nature, so that could give us an advantage."
"Then sowhere near a river bend?" Haruto offered. "I rember a gorge we crossed a few days ago. Narrow, sheer cliffs on both sides. A river at the bottom. Good elevation control."
"Too risky," I said, shaking my head. "Puppets could use the cliffs, attack us from too many directions. Better sowhere open."
"Open but not flat," Arata countered. "We still need cover. So place with broken ground, small rises, dead trees—anything we can use to shape their approach."
"There was a dried riverbed west of here," Koji offered. "No water anymore, but the banks are soft, the center sunken. Patchy growth. Good visibility. Enough terrain to hide tags."
"I want water," I said, shutting down his idea. Haruto was good at water style, and Arata's lightning style could be deadly when combined with that. "Maybe a lake? That way, we can dive into the water if we want to dodge. Not much cover, but that goes for our enemies as well."
Koji tilted his head, then nodded slowly. "There was one... back when we looped south to avoid that Suna patrol a week ago. Pretty big, like three rivers flowing into it, and a dozen more out. Likely one of the biggest ones without a town or city near it."
Arata perked up. "I rember that. Shallow on the north bank, marshy edges, but the south side was deep and clean. Plenty of room to maneuver, but not much hard cover. No settlents, just brush, stone, and water."
"That's the one," Koji confird. "We saw fish jumpin' when we passed it. Crystal clear, too—good visibility through the water."
I smiled faintly. "That'll work."
"Fighting on water is risky, though. Are you sure you want that?" Haruto asked.
"It's a calculated risk," I said. "But one that favors us more than it does them. Water gives Haruto the field, and it lets Arata amplify his lightning. As long as we're smart about spacing and movent, we can control the terrain."
Koji humd in agreent. "They try to split us, we pull them deeper into it. Anyone who can't stand on water properly will be at a disadvantage."
"Still," Arata added, "we should prepare for them to try exactly that—dividing us. If they've studied us, they'll aim to isolate and counter."
"We should try to avoid that, prepare traps. If we are smart about it, we might have as much as an hour to prepare the stage, so traps, and place objects to do substitution with. We can do much to make an advantage."
We continued to discuss and plan the coming fight as we made a wide turn and went towards the chosen location.
"Biggest problem will be getting there. It will take at least a few days, maybe as much as a week… and I'm not sure our guests will give us that," I gestured backward with my head.
Koji huffed lightly beside , his nostrils flaring. "I take it they are still there? No change?"
"Still behind us. No closer than before. Sa steady rhythm," I confird. "No overreaches. No signs of desperation."
"They're conserving energy like we are," Arata said. "They know this is a long ga."
"Which ans we can't count on wearing them down," I replied. "They'll sleep, eat, pace themselves. Just like we do."
Haruto nodded. "So it's not about outlasting them. It's about outplanning them."
"Exactly," I said. "They're good. But they're not all-knowing. If we're careful with signs, manage our chakra, and control our pace, we can lead them without alerting them."
"So we go for the lake?" Koji asked.
I gave a small nod. "Yes. No detours, no clever bait. We won't have the ti or energy to double back or fake a trail. We move directly—controlled, steady—and prepare as we go."
Arata glanced at . "That ans we'll need to use the ti wisely."
"My biggest worry is wasting resting ti. The best would be resting while they are, moving when they move… but to track that, we need to stay within my range of vision, which ans if they suddenly attack, we won't have much ti to react. Not to ntion, only I can see that," I said with a sigh.
"We'll manage," Koji said, not flippantly, but with quiet assurance. "You're not carrying this alone. If it cos to it, I'll pull double shifts. Kuro too."
"I can watch your back when you sleep," Haruto offered. "Just enough to keep us from being surprised. I won't spot an ambush like your Byakugan, but I can hear branches shift."
I sighed again. By then, it would be too late, but it was still kind of him. "We will make it work. We have to."
Necessity is the mother of learning or whatever, and we needed this to work, so we should find a way.
"If need be, I will watch at night, and Koji can carry during the day."
Koji smirked, not missing a beat. "If you're too tired to walk, I'll carry you. Gladly."
I gave him a sideways glance. "You'd do that just to feel in your arms."
He didn't even try to deny it. "Obviously. And I will get more energy if I get to sll you all day." He flashed those stupid teeth of his again.
"You are impossible," I said, shaking my head.
"Impossible? I'm irreplaceable. I've got charm, speed, stamina—"
"Especially stamina," Arata muttered dryly.
Koji's ears turned slightly pink, but his grin never wavered. "Exactly. And I'm a loyal ride, no chakra required. Just hang on tight and I'll get you where you need to go."
User Comments
0 comments from readers