After another day of training in Konoha, the two-day leave granted by Captain Touma finally ended. Uchiha Kazuhiko once again began executing new missions with his teammates.
Due to their outstanding performance in the last mission, Captain Touma had accepted a B-rank escort mission this time.
The content was to protect merchant Mr. Shikishima and his trade caravan on their return to the Land of Lightning.
The mission duration was approximately ten days.
After some simple travel preparations, Team Touma met up with Mr. Shikishima's caravan outside Konoha's main gate and met their employer a portly middle-aged merchant.
"Hello, Mr. Shikishima. I am the captain for this mission, Furukawa Touma. These are my subordinates: Uchiha Kazuhiko, Inuzuka Yū, and Ikemoto Kaori. Please rest assured, we will definitely ensure your safety."
After meeting, Captain Touma greeted the employer with a smile while introducing Uchiha Kazuhiko and the other two.
"Hello, Mr. Shikishima."
Uchiha Kazuhiko and the other two also politely greeted him after Captain Touma's introduction.
"Heh, Konoha truly is a place blessed with talented people, having so many excellent young ninja."
Mr. Shikishima didn't look down on them because of their age. After all, having traveled north and south for so many years, he was quite experienced and knew that many ninja who didn't look like much often possessed combat power far exceeding ordinary people.
Captain Touma smiled slightly and said modestly, "You flatter us, Mr. Shikishima. Kumogakure also has many young heroes. As for these three, they still have much room for improvement."
After exchanging a few pleasantries, Mr. Shikishima led the caravan in a grand procession on its way, and Team Touma's mission officially began.
Mr. Shikishima's caravan had ten carriages.
Apart from the one he rode in, the others were cargo wagons, fully loaded with specialties purchased from the Land of Fire, so the caravan's progress was relatively slow.
Under Captain Touma's arrangement, Inuzuka Yū, with her keen sense of smell and perception, was responsible for scouting ahead.
Captain Touma and Ikemoto Kaori stayed in the middle of the group, advancing with the caravan.
Uchiha Kazuhiko, with the strongest combat power, was responsible for guarding the rear.
Late April was the season of warm blossoms. The climate was warm, and the scenery pleasant.
Carrying out a mission outside the village in such an environment could be considered a very enjoyable thing.
The first day's journey ended quickly. The caravan stopped for rest in a small town in the Land of Fire.
"Kazuhiko, Yū, let's go shopping and grab some good food, how about it?"
As a girl, Ikemoto Kaori's pursuit of delicious food far exceeded that of Uchiha Kazuhiko and Inuzuka Yū.
After Captain Touma announced they would take turns resting, she immediately found the two and invited them.
"Sure! The rations at noon tasted terrible. I don't want to eat that stuff again tonight. Let's go, Jūmaro!"
Inuzuka Yū agreed with Ikemoto Kaori's proposal without hesitation.
Sniffing the air to identify the direction of the food street, she didn't wait for Uchiha Kazuhiko and the others, directly dashing off with Jūmaro.
"Alright, let's go."
Feeling Ikemoto Kaori's eager gaze on him, Uchiha Kazuhiko didn't refuse and nodded in agreement.
He caught up with Inuzuka Yū with her, and they went together to find a delicious dinner.
"You poor trash, get out of my way! If you dirty this young master's clothes, you couldn't pay for it even if you sold yourselves!"
Just as they arrived at the food street, they found a young man with a haughty expression, accompanied by a sycophantic lackey and several rogue ninja bodyguards, scolding the ordinary pedestrians on the road.
The ordinary people, seeing the expensive clothes the young man wore, although their eyes were full of dissatisfaction and disgust, still made way, allowing this obviously troublesome young master to pass first.
Although Uchiha Kazuhiko and the other two weren't afraid of these rogue ninja bodyguards, to avoid unnecessary trouble, they entered the food street from the other side, found a restaurant with a nice environment, and had a big meal.
After dinner, Uchiha Kazuhiko and the other two returned to the inn where the caravan was staying, took turns relieving Captain Touma on guard duty, and safely spent the first night.
Early the next morning, the caravan left the town and began the next leg of the journey.
About an hour later, Uchiha Kazuhiko, walking at the very rear of the group, heard the sound of horse neighing coming from behind. His eyes instantly sharpened, and he directly jumped onto the top of a tall tree nearby, looking towards the source of the sound.
He saw a group of over a dozen riders grand manner rushing towards the caravan's direction.
The leader was precisely the young master they had encountered on the food street yesterday.
Although he didn't know if the other party's target was their group, Uchiha Kazuhiko didn't hesitate.
He quickly caught up with the caravan and reported his discovery to Captain Touma and Mr. Shikishima.
After receiving the news from Uchiha Kazuhiko, Captain Touma immediately instructed the caravan to slow its pace to guard against this group whose intentions were still unknown.
Relying on the speed of their horses, the group behind soon appeared within sight of the caravan.
Under the wary watch of Uchiha Kazuhiko and the others, the young master only glanced briefly at the caravan before passing by like the wind, disappearing at the end of the road.
Confirming this group wasn't an attacking enemy, the caravan resumed its journey.
Uchiha Kazuhiko returned to the rear of the group and continued his guard duty.
To enhance the team's strength and to pass the boring travel time, Instructor Touma used the caravan's rest breaks to teach everyone the long-awaited Shadow Clone Technique and guided them to successfully master it.
After learning this super practical ninjutsu, Uchiha Kazuhiko created three shadow clones: one to guard the rear of the caravan, one to practice taijutsu in the wilderness, and one to continue developing advanced techniques for the Rasengan.
His main body sat on a cargo wagon, inscribing demonic seals at an extremely slow pace that didn't affect his combat power.
Perhaps intimidated by Konoha's formidable reputation within the Land of Fire, the caravan didn't encounter a single attack during the entire three days it took to reach the border of the Land of Fire.
They only met a few ninja teams from other countries also on missions. As there were no conflicts of interest, no fights broke out.
On the fourth day, the caravan left the Land of Fire and entered the territory of the Land of Hot Water.
The Land of Hot Water was a small country, situated between the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning.
Due to its beautiful natural environment and sightseeing resources, its tourism industry was quite developed.
Although it had a small ninja village called Yugakure, budget cuts by the Daimyo had caused Yugakure to gradually decline, earning it the nickname in the ninja world,
"the village that forgot war."
Because of this, the Land of Hot Water became the most active country for rogue ninja.
"Captain, another team of rogue ninja spotted five hundred meters ahead."
The caravan had only been traveling for one morning, and this was already the eighth time Inuzuka Yū's shadow clone had reported encountering rogue ninja.
"Just maintain vigilance."
Captain Touma was very familiar with the prevalence of rogue ninja within the Land of Hot Water and wasn't overly tense.
He merely instructed Inuzuka Yū to maintain normal vigilance and not proactively provoke the other party.
The caravan continued on its way.
After entering a dense forest, Uchiha Kazuhiko, who was meditating, suddenly opened his eyes because he felt a sense of impending danger.
Recalling his two training shadow clones, Uchiha Kazuhiko immediately jumped into a large tree, observing the surroundings of the caravan.
However, he found nothing unusual and could only suppress his unease, quietly opening the first two gates of the Eight Inner Gates to prepare for a possible crisis.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Just as the caravan was about to leave the dense forest, a dark cloud of shuriken and kunai blotted out the sky, flying towards the caravan.
A team of over a dozen rogue ninja appeared out of nowhere, surrounding the caravan.