At present, the ninja world does not possess much knowledge about the tailed beasts. All information of this kind is classified as top secret, and those who know it are limited to the high-level leadership of each village and a small number of elite jōnin.
Because of the damn ninja secrecy principles, ordinary ninja have absolutely no idea what tailed beasts actually are. In their understanding, those things are simply dangerous monsters.
Yes—at the moment, both ninja and ordinary civilians in the ninja world regard tailed beasts as nothing more than legendary yokai.
As for how long it takes for a tailed beast to revive after death, how that revival occurs, or whether the revival location follows any specific rules—those matters are secrets among secrets.
The only village estimated to possess relevant intelligence is Kirigakure. This bunch of bastards has an unusually twisted way of thinking; during their internal strife, they would even kill jinchūriki without hesitation.
Their village could practically be called the tailed-beast recycling hub of the ninja world, with rich experience in retrieval.
For example, if the One-Tail Shukaku were to die, it would only revive in the desert. By the same logic, the Three-Tails should only revive in places with vast bodies of water.
Half a year ago, after the Three-Tails died together with the Konoha kunoichi Nohara Rin, its residual chakra spread everywhere like the atmosphere. However, the main concentration was still in the open sea southeast of the Land of Fire.
There was not much of it within the borders of the Land of Fire, but Kirigakure did not dare to take that risk. What if, when the time came, the Three-Tails suddenly had a lapse in judgment and wanted to taste freshwater, choosing to revive within the territory of the Land of Fire instead?
Konoha having ideas or not isn't important. What matters is that we think you will have ideas.
My things showed up in your house, so you are guilty. As for why they showed up in your house—don't worry about that.
So, in order to eliminate even the slightest possibility, we must clean up completely the hidden danger that is drifting over the waters in the southeast of the Land of Fire.
...
In the vast forests along the southeast coast of the Land of Fire.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Eight ninja, as if flashing into view, suddenly appeared at the side of a pooled lake beneath a waterfall.
Makoto sensed the surrounding environment, and the Uchiha squad also had their Sharingan activated, searching the area for possible traces.
Although the Sharingan does not have the ability to see through things, when it comes to finding subtle traces, it is not weak at all. It can see things that ordinary ninja cannot discover.
Among the four of them, there were two pairs of three-tomoe and two pairs of two-tomoe—calling them an elite squad was not wrong at all.
"There are no abnormalities in this area!" After sensing for a moment, Makoto said to Kumomi.
After the Uchiha squad searched, Yashiro also said, "The most recent travel traces end here. Looks like the enemy deliberately left them to confuse us using clones."
Kumomi looked at the map and pointed upstream along the river. "Keep moving. Let's go take a look at the lake area upstream."
After confirming the next target location, the eight of them quickly left.
If they were only searching for a group of ninja who could hide their traces within this vast stretch of land in the southeast, that was a bit like looking for a needle in the sea.
However, the opponent's objective was far too obvious, which made matters much simpler. It was enough to conduct a sweep by following the waterways.
Around noon, the two teams stopped to eat and rest at a high point with an open field of view.
Ninja are not perpetual-motion machines. Chakra is limited, and with the need to respond to enemies that could appear at any moment, it is impossible to wait until chakra is completely depleted before recovering.
What they ate were ninja-specific portable rations such as hard biscuits. They were high in calories, nutritionally dense, and quick to replenish energy. When eaten together with water, they also provided a decent sense of fullness. During missions in the field, ninja generally could not light fires to cook, as doing so would expose their whereabouts.
As for soldier pills—unless it was a critical moment that urgently required chakra replenishment, no one liked eating that kind of thing.
Suddenly, Makoto raised his head and glanced at the sky. In the distance, a black speck rapidly grew larger as it approached—it was a messenger hawk trained by ninja. It could use chakra, possessed high intelligence, flew fast, and was capable of sustained flight for long periods.
Although wired telephones and radio-wave communication had already been invented in the world, they were inconvenient to use during ninja missions in the field.
Moreover, they were not safe. They were far too easy to intercept through corresponding means. Ninja trusted traditional methods of communication more, such as messenger hawks or summoning beasts.
Very soon, the messenger hawk landed on Kumomi's shoulder. After he took the intelligence written in Konoha cipher and glanced over it, he said, "There's progress. Terai's jōnin squad discovered traces that the enemy tried to conceal, but for safety reasons they didn't dare to stick too close behind."
Yashiro asked, "Do we go over and rendezvous with them?"
Kumomi spread out the map and pointed in a direction. "No need. As long as we confirm the enemy's traces, their next route is easy to guess. We'll approach from the flank—this way we can encounter them faster."
After confirming the objective, the eight of them set off again, accelerating the pursuit.
More than an hour later, Makoto stopped. "Found them. Numbers—around forty people. Moving northwest. Judging from the chakra fluctuations, a preliminary estimate puts all of them at chūnin level or above."
Chakra quantity cannot fully represent strength, but ninja with real ability generally do not have a small amount of chakra.
Kumomi opened the map again. "Northwest… there are quite a few lakes along the way. The largest one is Biwa Lake. These are very likely all part of their mission targets."
The Biwa Lake is the largest freshwater lake within the Land of Fire.
Yashiro said, "We must find a way to stall them—preferably force them to jump into an encirclement on their own."
Kumomi looked at his disciple. "Is there a way?"
"I'll try. If they prioritize the mission and are unwilling to proactively start a war with Konoha ninja, it might be possible."
After saying this, Makoto split off a shadow clone and chased after the group of Kirigakure ninja at top speed. Relying on his sensory ability to conceal his own special traits, he followed closely behind them.
The main group of eight maintained the original distance and continued the pursuit.
After sensing that the shadow clone had closed in on the enemy, Makoto immediately had everyone change direction, and then stopped using his chakra to conceal the team's trail.
The Kiri ninja's advance speed was not fast. Because they were operating in the enemy's rear, they had to be extremely cautious and could not leave behind traces that could be tracked.
"Hmm?"
At that moment, a Kiri ninja within the group—slightly overweight, wearing red goggles resembling diving goggles, with three blue markings tattooed on his face—suddenly stopped and let out a sound of doubt.
He seemed to be the leader of this team. The others followed his movement and halted. A companion beside him asked, "Chūkichi-sama, did you detect Konoha ninja again?"
"Yes. Right behind us, slightly to the side. Eight people in total."
At this point, another Kiri ninja with little patience said, "Only eight people? We might as well just kill them all."
Chūkichi was a person with a cautious nature but a short temper. He turned his head and stared at the companion who had spoken recklessly. "Bastard. If you dare have thoughts like that again, I'll kill you first.
"This is just a Konoha search team passing through. Avoid them and that's it. Don't create unnecessary complications. The mission—completing the mission—is our top priority.
"You'd better remember this. Whoever dares to sabotage the mission will die first at my hands!"
After that, no one dared to bristle anymore.
Regardless of strength, without Chūkichi's sensory concealment, all of them would die in the Land of Fire. Ninja who came out of Kirigakure were crazy, but they were not stupid.
After a brief pause, Chūkichi said, "Adjust direction and continue moving. Those Konoha guys are just passing through and haven't discovered us."
Chūkichi seemed extremely confident in his sensory abilities.
After they left, Makoto's shadow clone voluntarily dispelled itself.
In an instant, the original Makoto received the returned information. He stopped and said, "The maximum detection range of Kirigakure's sensory ninja is about six kilometers.
"At the same time, they are indeed unwilling to come into conflict with our search teams and will actively avoid Konoha ninja they encounter."
"So that's how it is?" Kumomi marked a position on the map and said, "Then we'll force them to move in the direction of Kusamugadani. Send the intelligence back."
"Yes!" The young ninja named Uchiha Inabi summoned four pitch-black crows. After tying the written intelligence to their legs, he dispelled one of the summons, while the remaining three flew off in different directions—toward the locations of the other three search teams.
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