The road along the border of the Land of Earth looked especially desolate beneath the morning mist.
It was a trade route connecting Iwagakure to the border towns. The road itself was packed dirt, with heavily weathered rock mountains and scattered thorn bushes lining both sides.
Occasionally, a few stubborn rock-grown trees could be seen. Their trunks were twisted, their branches sparse, swaying gently in the dry wind.
A rchant caravan made up of five wagons was slowly advancing along the road.
The wagons carried Iwagakure specialties such as ore, pottery, and dicinal herbs. Their destination was Shiko Town, a border settlent three days away.
The caravan owner was a plump middle-aged rchant nad Ishida. At the mont, he sat in the driver's seat of the lead wagon, constantly wiping sweat from his forehead, not from heat, but from nervousness.
This wasn't his first ti hiring ninja escorts.
But this squad was... unusual.
Ishida secretly glanced at the four people accompanying the caravan.
A black-haired boy who looked only eleven or twelve years old. He rarely spoke, spending most of his ti quietly observing his surroundings.
Behind the boy was a black-haired girl around the sa age. Her expression looked relaxed, but her eyes constantly swept across the rocky slopes on both sides, clearly on guard.
Then there was a blond boy, the tallest among them, but still just a kid!
Most outrageous of all was the little red-haired girl following closely behind the black-haired boy like a tiny tail.
There was curiosity in her eyes, along with a trace of nervousness. She looked around from ti to ti as though she were on a spring outing.
They looked professional enough, but their ages were right there in plain sight, making Ishida instinctively question whether they were actually reliable.
Kyoshin walked at the very front when he suddenly sensed sothing unusual.
The stretch of road ahead was far too suitable for an ambush.
He activated his Sharingan to observe the area and imdiately noticed sothing wrong.
Three people hiding behind a rock formation three hundred ters away. Their chakra fluctuations were faint, but carried clear hostility.
'Rogue ninja, or bandits?'
Kyoshin did not warn the others aloud.
This was the squad's first mission. He needed to see how Kurotsuchi, Deidara, and Karin perford.
Sure enough, ten seconds later, Karin gently tugged at the corner of Kyoshin's clothes.
Standing on tiptoe, she leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Big Brother Kyoshin, behind the rocky slope on the right, there are three people. Their chakra feels really fierce..."
Kyoshin nodded and quietly replied, "Tell Kurotsuchi."
Karin imdiately ran over to Kurotsuchi's side and whispered a few words.
Kurotsuchi's expression didn't change, but her footsteps shifted slightly as she adjusted her center of gravity toward the right side.
She gave Deidara a look. Deidara lightly nodded, his right hand quietly slipping into the clay pouch at his waist.
The entire process was natural and smooth, without drawing the caravan's attention.
Kyoshin nodded inwardly.
Karin's sensing abilities were sharp, Kurotsuchi's decisions were decisive, and Deidara's reactions were tily.
For their first coordination together, it was fairly good.
The caravan continued forward.
The road entered a narrow canyon.
Towering rock walls rose on both sides, and the path was only wide enough for two wagons side by side, a textbook ambush point.
Kurotsuchi stopped walking and raised her right hand.
The caravan imdiately halted.
"What's wrong?" Ishida asked nervously.
Kurotsuchi stared ahead. "Co out."
The shadows cast by the rock walls dimd the light, and the air carried the dusty scent of stone.
Five figures leapt out from a crevice in the left rock wall.
They wore ragged leather armor and carried various weapons, machetes, spears, and even a rusty crossbow.
Standard rogue ninja attire. At most, they were around genin level.
"Enemy attack!" Ishida shouted in panic.
Kurotsuchi charged straight at the foremost rogue ninja, her forearm and fist wrapped in stone.
The man had clearly underestimated her. After all, his opponent was just a little girl.
Then...
The dull thud of a rock-covered fist striking flesh echoed through the canyon.
The rogue ninja spat out a mouthful of sour fluid as his entire body flew backward, slamd into the rock wall, then slid down unconscious.
The other four rogue ninja froze for a mont before roaring as they rushed forward.
Ishida nervously turned toward the completely unmoving Kyoshin and couldn't help asking, "Why aren't you helping?"
Kyoshin shot him a dead-fish-eyed glance. "We have to give the others a chance to gain experience."
His leisurely attitude struck Ishida as strange, making him swallow nervously.
———
[On The Battlefield]
Deidara's excited voice rang out.
"Art is an explosion, hm!"
Five white clay spiders dropped from the rock wall above, landing precisely among the four rogue ninja.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The four rogue ninja collapsed one after another, all losing consciousness.
From start to finish, the battle lasted less than ten seconds.
The mbers of the caravan stared dumbfounded.
Ishida stood there with his mouth open, unable to speak for a long ti.
Kurotsuchi dusted off her hands and walked over to the unconscious rogue ninja to check their injuries.
After confirming there was no danger to their lives, she turned to Deidara and said, "Handle them. Tie them up and leave them by the roadside. We'll hand them over to the border guards when we co back."
"Got it, hm." Deidara jumped down from the rock wall and began tying up the rogue ninja with rope.
Kyoshin suddenly spoke up. "There's no need to make it so troubleso."
Several people turned to look at him.
He explained, "Escape techniques aren't hard to learn, and they're widespread."
"If they get away again, they'll just keep harming other people."
"And we don't have the ti to escort them sowhere for rehabilitation, so it's best to choose a simpler thod."
Kurotsuchi realized what he ant, and her heart tightened slightly.
She had graduated early and carried out missions before.
But most of them involved catching cats or walking dogs. Although she had experienced combat, she had never gotten blood on her hands.
Before Kurotsuchi could react, an explosion sounded in the distance.
"Hah!! This is my art! Hahaha! Hm!"
BOOM!!
The bodies of several rogue ninja exploded into pieces.
Kurotsuchi's expression didn't look very good, but overall she handled it alright.
Karin, however, reacted surprisingly well. She remained very calm, as though she were already used to such scenes.
Having wandered the shinobi world with her mother since childhood, Karin had seen far too many cruel sights.
"Deidara and Karin perford well," Kyoshin evaluated. "Kurotsuchi, don't get discouraged either."
"One of your teammates has experienced this since childhood."
"And the other one is a lunatic."
"In this regard, you really are still a beginner."
Kurotsuchi let out a long breath and nodded. "I'm fine. I'll get used to it."
Deidara clenched his fist and shouted angrily at Kyoshin, "Hey! Did you just call crazy? Hm!"
The caravan resud moving.
Kyoshin yawned and said to Deidara, "You heard wrong."
Deidara frowned.
"Hm?! How could I have heard wrong?! Hm! You said it, didn't you?!"
"No."
"But I clearly heard it! Hm!"
"I already told you, you heard wrong."
"Hm?! Hm!"
Kurotsuchi, Karin, "..."
The rest of the journey went relatively smoothly.
On the afternoon of the second day, the caravan arrived at Shiko Town.
It was a small town built against the mountains. Most of the buildings were made of stone, and the streets were narrow but clean.
When the townspeople saw the caravan arrive, they quickly gathered around to trade, and the place imdiately beca lively.
Ishida busied himself unloading goods and handling business, while Kyoshin's group of four rested at the town's only inn.
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