The Land of Fire was largely flat and expansive.
Its resources were exceptionally abundant.
It was said that long ago, Senju Hashirama had used Wood Release to forcibly create vast forests, laying the foundation for this land's prosperity.
As time passed, the gap between the Land of Fire and other nations would only continue to widen.
During the Third Great Ninja War, Konoha was able to fight one against four and still emerge victorious—not solely because of a once-in-a-generation genius like Minato Namikaze.
It was also due to resources and accumulated foundations far surpassing those of other villages.
Yuya and Might Duy traveled onward.
After leaving Konoha, most of what they passed through was forest.
Only after gradually moving farther away from the village did the scenery begin to change.
The forests thinned—
But they were still plentiful.
Compared to Iwagakure of the Land of Earth or Sunagakure of the Land of Wind, the environment was incomparably better.
The mission Yuya and Duy were executing was to track and reconnoiter a suspicious merchant caravan.
The caravan's movements were slightly abnormal, which was why Konoha had taken notice.
But suspicion alone wasn't enough to justify sending a large force.
Reconnaissance had to come first—to confirm its true identity.
Otherwise, if every suspicion led to full mobilization, the Land of Fire would fall into chaos.
Yuya and Duy weren't required to fight.
Their task was simply to follow and observe.
If they discovered anything suspicious, they were to report back immediately.
However—
Whether combat would actually occur was not something they could control.
If the caravan truly belonged to another village and concealed an assassination unit—
Then Yuya and Duy could be attacked at any moment.
That was precisely why this mission was special.
After careful consideration, it was still classified as C-rank, but its reward was comparable to a B-rank mission.
They continued traveling.
Several days later, the two arrived at a small town far from Konoha.
They changed into civilian clothing, disguising themselves as ordinary people.
According to the latest intelligence, the merchant caravan was currently staying in this town.
When Yuya and Duy arrived, they happened to catch the caravan just as it was preparing to depart.
Naturally, the two followed quietly.
All the while, they carefully observed the caravan.
At first glance, there were no obvious flaws.
Dozens of people, none of them showing anything unusual—
They all appeared to be ordinary civilians.
But after tailing them for some distance, Yuya gradually noticed something wrong.
"This caravan has a problem."
Yuya spoke softly, but his tone was decisive.
"Huh? Did you notice something?"
Might Duy looked at Yuya in confusion, unable to understand how Yuya could be so sure.
Duy was incredibly strong—
But when it came to reconnaissance and counter-surveillance, he was weak.
That was one of the reasons he had always remained a genin.
More importantly, almost no one knew his true strength.
"Did you notice?" Yuya said quietly, eyes fixed on the caravan ahead.
"Everyone in that caravan looks like an ordinary civilian."
"And that's suspicious?" Duy still didn't quite get it.
Yuya shook his head seriously.
"No. That's exactly why it's abnormal."
"The ninja world is in chaos right now—wars are breaking out everywhere."
"In this kind of era, how could a merchant caravan of this size travel without hiring shinobi escorts?"
The caravan ahead consisted of more than twenty people.
That was no small operation.
Yet they dared to move so boldly through unstable territory?
Precisely because everyone appeared ordinary—
The caravan was suspicious.
Duy might not excel at reconnaissance, but he wasn't stupid.
After Yuya explained it, he immediately understood.
"So you're saying…"
"That's right," Yuya replied firmly.
"If appearances are this clean, then reality is probably the opposite. This caravan is almost certainly hiding an elite shinobi unit."
What further confirmed Yuya's suspicion was the route.
The caravan wasn't even sticking to main roads—
It had veered onto side paths.
A caravan made up entirely of civilians daring to take side roads?
That only made it more suspicious.
"Damn… an elite shinobi unit sneaking into the Land of Fire. That's serious."
Duy inhaled sharply, his expression turning grave.
"Yeah. We don't know their objective," Yuya nodded,
"But our job is just to confirm their identity."
Duy nodded as well.
"Our mission is reconnaissance. At this point, we've basically completed it."
"But the problem is how we report it…"
He frowned.
"We can't just let them go. If they suddenly disappear or hide themselves, that's a huge problem."
"We need to keep following them."
After thinking for a moment, Duy said,
"How about this—Yuya, you go back alone and report to the village. I'll continue tracking them."
Yuya shook his head.
The corner of his mouth twitched slightly.
"There's no need."
"Huh? Why?"
"They've already noticed us."
"Oh… huh?!"
Duy yelped, nearly jumping on the spot.
Yuya could only sigh helplessly.
Duy was simply far too weak in reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance.
He had left too many traces while following.
Even though Yuya had been covering for him, they had still been exposed.
But that also meant—
The shinobi hidden in this caravan were far from ordinary.
At that very moment, the caravan ahead stopped.
Several figures turned around, their gazes turning cold.
Whoosh!!
A few people who looked like ordinary civilians suddenly burst forward—
Moving at speeds far beyond normal humans.
Their identities were completely exposed.
Just as Yuya had predicted—
The caravan concealed a highly trained shinobi unit specialized in disguise.
Out of the thirty-plus people in the caravan, some were indeed civilians.
But around ten of them were shinobi.
"What do we do?!"
Seeing them rush over, Duy immediately looked at Yuya.
From their movement speed, these were all elite chūnin.
A unit composed of elite chūnin—
Which meant their leader was almost certainly a jōnin.
"Yuya, how about I cover you while you retreat?"
There was no fear in Duy's eyes.
Only concern—for Yuya.
After all, his understanding of Yuya's strength was still stuck at the point before Yuya killed Uchiha Han.
By the time Yuya opened the Second Gate of the Eight Gates, Duy had already been away on missions.
"There's no need for that," Yuya replied calmly, stretching his body.
"Since they've come all this way…"
"…we might as well kill them all."
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