"We can't go to the Tiger Mountain camp."
Amidst the silence, one person spoke up.
His voice was muffled, as if his mouth was covered by something.
And indeed it was. The speaker was tall, wearing a red conical hat and red armor, with a red mask covering his mouth.
It was this mask that made his voice sound so muffled.
This person was none other than the leader of this seven-person team, an elite jonin of Iwagakure, the Five-Tails jinchuriki known as the "Steam Ninja" - Han.
Hearing Han's words, one of the team members agreed, "Indeed, we can't go to the Tiger Mountain camp.
Not only has it been occupied by Konoha ninja, making it easy for us to expose ourselves and cause unnecessary trouble if we go there, but also, that destination was just a guess by the headquarters.
What if those Konoha ninja aren't heading there? Wouldn't we be wasting our time?"
"In that case, let's intercept them on the way. Their direction of travel has been confirmed, and we can take a shortcut to stop them in advance," another person said.
The others thought about it and finally nodded in agreement.
"Also..."
However, one person added, "We need to inform the search teams immediately and have them move closer to us. We can't stop everyone with just the few of us."
Hearing his words, the Iwa ninja who had checked the intel earlier nodded, "Yamae, you're right. We need to get them here quickly!"
As he spoke, he took out a small piece of paper from his pocket, quickly wrote a long string of numbers on it, then rolled it up and stuffed it into the messenger hawk's leg pouch.
Then, he stroked the messenger hawk's back feathers, raised his arm, and said, "Go!"
Hearing this, the messenger hawk flapped its wings and shot into the sky like an arrow.
It circled overhead twice, let out a loud cry, and then flew off into the distance.
Afterward, the Iwa ninja discussed some details of their operation, adjusted their direction, and continued forward.
...
On the other side.
Seimei quickly returned to the main group after separating from Hyuga Hayato and found Nara Shikaku.
"Seimei, did something happen?"
Seeing Seimei rushing back, Nara Shikaku quickly asked.
"Not yet,"
Seimei shook his head.
However, hearing his words, Nara Shikaku didn't relax but became even more serious.
"What do you mean 'not yet'? Did you discover something?"
He looked at Seimei and asked.
"Yes."
Seimei nodded and then recounted his premonition and the occasional feeling of being watched over the past two days.
Hearing this, Nara Shikaku fell into deep thought. He didn't dismiss it just because it was Seimei's feeling.
This kind of sixth sense was very mysterious, sometimes allowing people to skip the process and see the result directly.
And the stronger the person, the more accurate this feeling was.
Was Seimei a strong person?
The answer was definitely yes.
Coupled with his three-tomoe Sharingan, Nara Shikaku didn't think this was Seimei's illusion.
If the gaze he sensed was real, it meant their movements were being monitored by an unknown enemy.
If this person was a ninja from another village, it wouldn't be a big deal, just an increased risk.
But if it was an Iwa ninja, then it was a big problem.
They hadn't encountered any large-scale encirclement in the past two days.
At first glance, this seemed to prove that Seimei's senses were wrong and there was no hidden enemy.
But thinking about it from another perspective, the reason the enemy hadn't surrounded them precisely, allowing them to break through layers of blockades, might be to lull them into a false sense of security and then deliver a fatal blow.
If that was the case, it meant the enemy was ready and could attack them at any time.
And two days was enough time for Iwagakure to prepare.
In other words, today was very likely the day Iwa would take action.
And this coincided with Seimei's vague premonition.
Various thoughts flashed through his mind, and in an instant, Nara Shikaku thought of a lot.
What could he say?
As expected of a Nara clan ninja, he had roughly deduced the whole situation based on the little information Seimei provided.
And after thinking about all this, Nara Shikaku broke out in a cold sweat and immediately called a meeting with several jonin who had decision-making power.
Once everyone was gathered, he didn't waste any time and immediately shared Seimei's premonition, his sense of an unknown enemy, and his own deductions.
Hearing this, the jonin all frowned.
It wasn't that they didn't believe Seimei. The ninja world was full of strange techniques and summoning animals, and it wasn't impossible for someone to hide nearby without being detected.
The key was, if Seimei's senses were correct and Nara Shikaku's deductions were accurate, their situation wasn't optimistic, and they had to make changes.
And this was the reason for their frowns.
Finally, one jonin spoke first, "So what do we do now? Stop moving forward and search for the hidden enemy?"
"No!"
"That won't work!"
Before he could finish, two other Konoha jonin rejected his suggestion.
One of them said, "Seimei-san must have already investigated after discovering the anomaly, right?"
"Yes."
Seimei nodded and confirmed, "That's right. After sensing someone watching us, I investigated several times but found nothing."
Hearing this, the person continued, "You all know Seimei-san's abilities, plus the Uchiha clan's Sharingan. If even he couldn't find anything, it's most likely a waste of time for us to continue investigating."
"Perhaps Aoyama-san could try," someone suddenly interrupted.
Hyuga Aoyama shook his head and denied the suggestion, "No, if this enemy truly exists and has been able to hide nearby for so long without being discovered, they're likely aware of our clan's Byakugan abilities.
In that case, they might only briefly approach us at specific times to gather information.
And we can't stay here forever, waiting for them to appear. So even I wouldn't be able to find them."
"Then what if we change our route and don't go to the Tiger Mountain camp? We could go somewhere else," another person suggested.
"No."
One person shook his head, "If we're truly being monitored, it doesn't matter where we go. As long as Iwagakure is ready, they'll attack us. We can't panic and change our plans."
"So what do we do next? Continue to the Tiger Mountain camp?"
"..."
Everyone spoke one after another, discussing their next move.
In the end, they unanimously decided to continue towards the Tiger Mountain camp.
However, they would increase their speed and send out more people to scout the surroundings, guarding against a sudden Iwa ambush.
In addition, they also informed their allies at the Tiger Mountain camp to move towards them, aiming for an earlier rendezvous.
Of course, they didn't give up on searching for the hidden enemy. Hyuga Aoyama was specifically responsible for this.
He and several other Hyuga clan ninja roamed around the group, occasionally activating their Byakugan to observe and search for any potential enemies.
Meanwhile, as various orders were issued, Seimei could clearly feel the change in the ninja's morale.
They were no longer lax as before; everyone had become extremely vigilant.
This pleased Seimei greatly.
(End of Chapter)