Two shadows leaped among the trees dozens of meters high, flickering several times, already crossing over a hundred meters.
Logan glanced up at the sky, which was fragmented by the dense branches and leaves. The sunlight was struggling to squeeze through, and he brushed past several slender beams of light.
Time had passed by like this for a long time, and at least an hour had passed since they started their journey like this.
Amegakure is located in the heart of the continent, but has a strange weather of heavy rains all year round. Bordering six nations and situated among the three Great Ninja Villages, life there is actually quite difficult.
In this land that has been ravaged in constant war, this geographical location has not become a prosperous hub, but rather has become a chaotic area filled with all kinds of individuals, merchants, Missing-nin, Samurai, political prisoners, evil thrived unchecked on this soil perpetually soaked by rain.
The journey for Logan and Itachi to Amegakure wasn't too distant, but it still required them to cross over half of the Land of Fire. If they didn't march at a fast pace, even with the average speed of a Jonin, it would still take two days and nights.
Currently, Logan was leading the way, both of them wearing masks and dressed in ANBU attires. As they leaped out of the forest and the scenery brightened up, Logan couldn't help but look back at Itachi behind him.
'We've been traveling at a steady pace for an hour, why isn't this guy saying anything?'
Logan inwardly criticized. Although it was common for Ninja to act cautiously and speak less during missions, they still had a considerable distance to go before reaching the border of the Land of Fire. It would be awkward if they both just kept quiet and focused on running. It's not like they were in a race.
Logan then thought, 'This won't do. It seemed that someone with Itachi's personality wouldn't talk nonsense with strangers for no reason. I could only rely on myself to save the atmosphere."
"Cough."
"Hey, that Uchiha Itachi... is it okay if I call you Itachi?"
"Of course, there's no problem, Hattori-senpai." Itachi diverted his attention to Logan when he lightly coughed, but his face was hidden behind the mask was unclear, and his tone remained unchanged.
"Alright then, Itachi, did you have lunch before we left at noon?"
Itachi: "..."
He doesn't know if it was his imagination, but after Logan finished speaking, he felt as if the body of the Uchiha genius behind him seemed to tremble slightly.
"I had already eaten at home, Hattori-senpai..." Itachi controlled his pace and followed behind Logan steadily.
Although he is extremely talented, his age is still a flaw, and his stamina and strength were somewhat lacking, well, relatively.
After hesitating for a moment, Itachi continued, "Logan-senpai... Did you not have lunch?"
"I did." Logan said matter-of-factly. He had successfully opened up the conversation, and felt quite pleased with himself.
Hearing this, Itachi's eyelids twitched, and a relatively rare emotion arose in his heart, which is the feeling of being owed by the senior in front of him, "I see."
What else could he say?
'What a topic terminator.' Logan commented on Itachi in his heart, but little did he know that his own small talk skills weren't that great either.
"By the way, you don't need to call me senpai. There's not much age difference between us. Just call me Hattori in normal times."
Itachi, who is young but had the manners and etiquette of a big clan, didn't fully agree with this, but just as he was about to say, 'Is that appropriate?' as he was used to say, his eyes met Logan, who looks back. After seeing the kind look in his eyes, for some reason, the words he was about to say changed unconsciously.
"Well… Alright."
Itachi paused for a few seconds before adding, "But only during normal times."
'During the mission period, we still had to maintain a strict hierarchical relationship.' Logan nodded, feeling that it wasn't that hard to talk to Itachi after all.
But maybe, it was also because they hadn't experienced too many cruel things yet.
After this brief exchange, although it was quite unproductive, the awkwardness between the two had diminished significantly. Logan felt that his goal had been achieved, so after a few more words, he focused on rushing forward.
With the almost unchanged scenery constantly being left behind, Itachi looked at Logan's back in the dark long robe with some doubts, and his gaze from before appeared in his mind.
'It's strange, that look is not like looking at a junior stranger, but rather... like they had known each other for a long time, yet not quite.'
'He's an interesting person.' Itachi thought with a smile.
…
As the sun gradually slanted towards the west and shadows shifted, Logan and Itachi took a break midway through their journey before continuing on their way.
Along the way, they passed many villages and occasionally, towns. When the mountains were tinged with red light and the broad sunset slowly descended, Logan and Itachi arrived at their planned destination, a bustling city called Inazama.
'It's a lot more prosperous here.'
Walking on the main road outside the city, Logan looked at the towering city walls. In the evening, dense crowds of people kept coming and going. A few years ago, when he passed by here on a mission, it wasn't like this.
Logan couldn't help but sighed at the development of the Land of Fire during peacetime.
The two then took off their somewhat conspicuous masks. Except for the forehead protectors they wore, they looked no different from anyone else. Relying on the tokens issued by the village, they entered the city without any problems.
Inazama City happened to be on their route, so they would rest here tonight. However, the next night they would have to camp in the wilderness.
For missions like theirs, there was a certain amount of expense reimbursement for travel. Logan had been a Ninja for many years and hadn't spent much, so he had quite a bit of savings. But since it was covered by public funds, he naturally didn't hesitate to spend it.
After they finished arranging for two high-standard inn rooms, the streets were already lit up with lights and the hustle and bustling with night markets.
"Itachi, do you want to go for a walk at night? It's rare to visit a big city like this." Logan is not very accustomed to being the leader this time.
Although he had always performed excellently in the past, he had little experience in leadership. During this brief free time they had, Logan thought for a moment and asked according to the habits left by modern society.
"No need, I'm planning to train for a while and then rest. We still have to travel tomorrow night." Itachi had changed into lighter clothes and was about to go downstairs with a ninja tool bag.
"Oh, I see." Logan was stunned for a moment and nodded.
Itachi walked away towards the outskirts of the city, as ordinary people's curfew could not stop them, two experienced Ninjas.
Watching Itachi's figure disappear, Logan felt slightly embarrassed about being rejected, but he quickly recovered and was inspired by it, 'During the early stage of the mission, they never skip their daily training. Many people only see success but not the sweat, even if the other party is a genius.'
Logan thought about his troublesome transmigration problem, 'We might encounter Akatsuki's people this time...'
Logan, who was not in the mood to go shopping, simply jumped onto the roof of the inn without changing his clothes, then left in the opposite direction from Itachi.
Alone in the open space outside the city, he trained, throwing shurikens and performing basic Three Body Technique... After a while, Logan began to focus on strengthening the Nature Transformation of his Chakra, as he wanted to develop a new Jutsu.
When Logan returned to the inn, covered in sweat and bathed in the moonlight, he happened to encounter Itachi, who had also returned from training.
The other party was still panting slightly, and he just emerged from the darkness and jumped onto the roof. gave Logan a strange look, and the two of them looked somewhat identical.
Standing at one end of the roof, Logan paused for a moment before finally blurting out, "Hey."
Itachi was silent for a few seconds, his lips moved, and he finally spoke awkwardly.
"Hey."