After leaving Konoha, the Takeshi won't be able to use Third Hokage to collect points, but...Maybe he should avoid doing things like scaring Hayate and Yugao, they were so frightened at that time that the two of them probably felt that death was coming, and they even had the desire to sacrifice themselves for another.
Fortunately, neither of them took the initiative to give up on the other, otherwise things would've be really awkward to deal with.
Takeshi couldn't help but feel a little happy and regretful. 'Fortunately, he didn't cause too bad consequences, so there isn't much regret. Though I should be more cautious when the demon on my shoulder says something, things could've gone bad in that instance.' Takeshi thought to himself.
In the past, the medical kit and Takeshi were carried by Obito or Kakashi to save Rin's physical strength, but this time Rin deliberately practiced her own taijutsu and did not leave the task to them.
Fortunately, the caravan carried metal weapons such as kunai and shurikens, so it did not move fast, so the physical exertion was not bad.
Of course relative to their general mission travel speed, the current speed was also quite slow. It took a day to arrive at a relatively remote place in the Land of Fire's town. They didn't settle here.
Although it takes a long time to get to the next town after passing this town, they are all ninjas, samurai and businessmen who have endured hardships. It is also quite common for them to eat and sleep in the wild.
Ninja weapons like this needed be delivered as soon as possible, and no one can sleep peacefully in the until the handover of the Land of Grass. Instead of sleeping in the town, it would've be better to continue on the road.
Takeshi would've had no problem with this. He can manage himself just as well in the wild. From time to time, he uses Wild Lion's Mane Jutsu to tease Obito to earn points.
He has more than enough points for getting special cat food. The only problem is, he has to be extremely careful when eating it. Things like the food packages must not be seen by others, so Takeshi is very careful when eating. After eating, the food packaging has to be temporarily stuffed back into the storage space.
In addition to cat food, he also enjoyed special dried fish from the Uzushiogakure. This is an Discontinued-edition item!
Traveling like this was quite relatively fast and efficient. Except for the rest time for the horses, everyone basically kept on going without much rest.
It took them five days to get from Konoha to the town on the border of the Land of Fire. This town is still far from the real border, but there is no further food supply further forward inside Land of Fire.
For people that doesn't matter, but animals like horses are different. They need a lot of food to be able to handle hauling goods every day.
On the other hand, getting closer to the border means the danger is higher, so replenishing supplies here overnight is imperative.
The level of danger here is not high, so only one person is required to be on duty at night. In order to ensure that the team is in the best condition, Takeshi's team decided to have Kakashi, Takeshi and Obito take turns on night duty, so that the Minato Sensei can get enough rest.
The night was uneventful. The next day, they set out to go to the Land of Grass by following the old road through the border. Since the Kusagakure Village and Konoha have a good relationship and have always been allies, the caravans travelling to and from the Land of Fire and the Land of Grass have quite frequent.
What they followed was the trade route followed by most merchants in both countries. However recently, merchants all know that the border is not peaceful, and gradually there are no caravans traveling between the two countries. This they observed in person, as their caravans hardly encountered other caravans along the way.
"Takeshi, when we get to the border later, you first go ahead to explore the road and check the surroundings. Pay attention to hide yourself. If you encounter an enemy and you can't deal with it, run away. The main objective is you being alive and giving us a warning. Do you understand?"
"Meow~" The Takeshi meowed. He let out a sound, then licked his paws, looking ready to go. 'With my current strength, as long as I don't encounter a Jonin, I can basically handle it. Even if I encounter a Jonin, it doesn't matter.' At worst he will just run away, after Opening the first gate of the Eight Inner Gates, his speed can reach a level beyond the reach of ordinary Jonins in a short period of time, so it is not a big problem to escape and give a warning.
Of course, another reason why he agreed was that if he encountered an enemy ninja, he could tease and scare them and gain some points.
Nearly six thousand points is a lot, but compared to the ninjutsu, kekkei genkais and special abilities that he wants to acquire, it still feels quite meagre amount.
"Minato-sama, the main road by the border is ahead." Uehara Kazuhiro walked to Minato and whispered.
"I understand, everyone stands in accordance with the formation..."
"Yes!" Rin and Obito walked at the back of the caravan, while Kakashi and Minato stood in front to prevent enemies from sneaking in and launch sneak attacks.
Takeshi had already sneaked into the woods. Soon, he abit ahead of the caravan and was looking through the potential ambush areas within these woods.
There might be no enemy, but the possibility of the enemy having a hidden underneath cannot be ruled out. Iwagakure ninjas are good at Earth Release. For example, there is Earth Release: Underground Projection Fish Technique, this technique allows its user to silently emerge from an earthen surface, moving as a fish does underwater.
As or after they've emerged, users are often well-placed to performs assassinations or guerrilla attacks, or they could use that along with Earth Release Hidden Earth Dragon Jutsu for their attacks, they could launch this from a distance to create devastating damage. The enemy might've also hidden their scents, so Takeshi needs to be very careful.
(E/N: Inuzuka clan is well known clan that enemies villages are aware off, they would likely have tactics and methods to specifically deal with scents.)
Takeshi used a transformation jutsu to change the color of his fur into a dark brown color similar to that of the tree, as carefully patrolled the surrounding area by jumping over branches.
There are no enemies in these woods. However, abit ahead, there is a rock that looks suspicious - not because it looks strange, but because this is rock vaguely emiting chakra.
Yes, it does feel like chakra. It's a bit like a cat's intuition, but a little more reliable than intuition... Maybe it's my own newly awakened perception due to my body adapting to senjutsu?
Takeshi speculated in his mind, and then cautiously approached a rock, but after taking taking a few steps, he stopped. The chakra fluctuations had disappeared. 'It seems that the enemy is a sensor, and which makes sense. Without the ability to sense, it is difficult to accurately know what's going on outside the rock, but he is certain that they are indeed hiding around here and preparing to ambush them, and since it's earth release ninjutsu they must be the ninjas from the Iwagakure Village....'
Takeshi thought about it for a moment, and then returned from the forest to the caravan.
"Did you find anything?"
"Meow~ There is a ninja ambush. The opponent will likely move and change their position in the soil, so it is impossible to accurately lock the target, but I can determine that there was chakra fluctuations. " Takeshi reported, Then he glanced at Kakashi, indicating that he should get ready to show his strength.
Kakashi has trained in two chakra natures, and mastered ninjutsu's of, Lightning Release and Earth Release, and his eight ninja dogs all have the ability to cooperate with him when involving Earth Release. The soil is Kakashi's and his dogs playground.
"Kakashi, are you ready?" Minato looked over.
Kakashi nodded, forming seals with his hands and immediately preparing for the Summon jutsu. Eight dogs were summoned.
However, the clothing of these eight dogs is a bit strange. They are either wet or wearing bath towels. They look like they were on vacation and enjoying life.
"Kakashi, why call us...Huh? That damn cat!" Pakkun wanted to complain at first, but after looking around in front of him, he immediately hid behind his brothers to hide behind, this was same for all the dogs - the last encounter where Takeshi grew bigger and slapped down the big black dog Kuromaru of the Inuzuka clan really left a deep impression on them.
"Woof woof woof!" The eight dogs barked together, as if Takeshi was their enemy. Takeshi was silent for a moment, and then suddenly doubled in size: "Meow! lookg around you, you idiots, we are on a mission right now!"
"Woof?" Pakkun and the other seven dogs subconsciously retreated, then turned to look at Kakashi.
"..." Kakashi felt speechless, his eight dogs are actually afraid of one cat. 'You have completely disgraced the dog species. If I had known that dogs were so cowardly, I might as well had raised cats.'
Forget it, all the dogs yesterday were afraid of this cat... Besides, there is no point in arguing with these dogs. He sighed helplessly, then without saying a word, he drew out his only Kiba Blade and rushed forward.
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