Still, my nearly nine kilometers wouldn't compare to Hyuga's thirteen. Of course, the farther away I got, the more my distance would grow, unlike the dojutsu that had already finished its development, but that advantage also allowed me to sense future opponents before they met. And what I sensed I didn't like very much - the chakra sources were powerful, clearly from experienced jonin, with enough pronounced dōton tendencies to be noticeable, and also a bit similar to each other.
To some imperceptible part, but it was this small detail that allowed one to assert that at least half of the approaching shinobi had spent quite some time together. Several years, if not a dozen or two. With each passing year, the rising quality of their sensorium made it possible to notice such subtle nuances, especially if you knew what to look at.
And a well-collaborated team is very bad in our case - they will probably try to divide and crush the teamwork. And there's practically nothing you can do about it - unlike the Willows, our five haven't even fought together once, let alone worked together as a team. Only myself and Hizashi are more or less aware of each other's abilities, as we've fought together.
The others... Sarutobi's in the dark, Kei's not bad at hand-to-hand combat, and I don't know anything about Hatake other than his unusual chakra and the blade he just printed. I can't even drill joint techniques with this team, primarily because the partner's elements aren't known, and the Hyuga don't develop them at all.
I sighed annoyingly, and then I dispersed the chakra in my body and nourished my skin, turning it into armor against various small weapons. Then I turned towards the arrival of unexpected guests and waited for the point on the horizon to grow into the silhouettes of people.
Contrary to expectation, not all of the Nukenin were heading our way - the last of the eleven began to lag behind, and then stopped altogether. Judging by the lack of confusion in the others, it was according to plan. I see, and this is our observer, who will gather information and if it gets hot and his comrades begin to lose, he will get out of here faster than the wind, but with already useful knowledge about the capabilities of each of our group and soon in the books of Iwagakure's search will appear new details in the personal lists, and who has the first reward for the head. Shit, again I'll have to hold back on using personal techniques, but I have enough minor surprises to take down any jonin.
Moving across the sand, the shinobi hardly disturb it, so unlike normal desert travelers, we don't leave any raised sand behind us even at high speeds. Because of this, it is a bit difficult to track the movement of even quite large groups among the dunes and barchans, especially when the air is already hot and began to distort the picture in the distance, visually increasing the distance.
So the djonin who appeared just a hundred meters away from us could have been caught off guard if I hadn't sensed their position and if Hyuga hadn't tracked their every step, pointing at them with the accuracy of a meter. Our enemies, however, were not expecting the surprise effect, apparently well aware of our sensor, so they did not attack at first, but stopped in the distance, allowing themselves to assess our ready group.
- Shiroi Kiba and the others are here, but there are no Genin," one of the Nukenin frowned, "and where did you put them?
I've got more interesting stuff on patreon (+ 200 chapter)
patreon.com/Chill76