MTLNOVEL Chapter 191: Tracking
"Hokage-sama, all the enemies inside the Barrier have been either killed or captured." Shisui threw the person in his hand to the ground and said, "This person is their squad leader, the others have been handed over to Ibiki."
"Good work." Hearing Shisui's words, Minato temporarily stopped his thoughts and turned to look at Yamanaka Inoichi, "Inoichi."
"Understood." Inoichi tied up the Sky Ninja to ensure he couldn't resist, placed his hand on his forehead, and prepared to extract information.
Naruto also walked in and said, "Hokage-sama, all the wounded have been sent to the hospital, and the trapped personnel have been located by Shadow Clones. The Konoha Military Police Force and other ninjas without missions are helping."
Sensing the serious atmosphere, Naruto unusually didn't call him 'Dad,' but used a very formal address. At this moment, he was Uzumaki Naruto, a Special Jonin of Konoha.
"Well done." Minato praised. This kind of rescue efficiency, where one person is as good as hundreds, was truly important. If Minato had read Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he would probably exclaim, "A son should be like Naruto Zhongmou."
"Inoichi and Ibiki will need some time to interrogate for information. Just in case, I have already summoned Team 8. Next, Naruto will lead Team 8 to track the Sky Ninja.
Shisui, take the Shadow Guard with you. The actions after finding the Sky Ninja base are up to your own discretion."
Since Kushina was stationed in the Barrier Team, it was temporarily difficult for her to leave. The Chakra required to maintain such a large-scale defensive Barrier was not a small amount. Ordinary ninjas would need many people to cooperate and possibly even take shifts to maintain it for a long time, but with Kushina there, it was not a problem.
"Yes." Naruto and Shisui responded in unison and turned to leave.
Sure enough, the other five members of the Shadow Guard, Hinata, Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru were already waiting at the door.
Before anyone else could speak, Kiba anxiously shouted, "Let's go, Naruto, we're all ready!"
The Sky Ninja had only retreated a short time ago, but they were already on the edge of Naruto's sensing range, about to leave the small map area.
Naruto found a nearby Flying Thunder God mark and said, "Everyone, put your hands on me."
Nine people and a dog were a bit crowded, but Naruto was too lazy to make Shadow Clones, so he directly opened his arms and let them find a place to put their hands.
Everyone understood Naruto's meaning, the only difference was how many times they had experienced it. So they placed their hands, either skillfully or curiously, and even Akamaru put his paws on Naruto's feet.
After confirming that he hadn't forgotten Shino, Naruto changed the space in the next moment and arrived in a forest outside Konoha Village.
Without Naruto saying anything, everyone, whether human or dog, skillfully jumped onto the trees and spotted a group of flying objects in the sky with a slight observation.
They saw them imitating geese, flying in a V-formation for a while, and a straight line for a while.
"At their speed, if we chase on the ground, we will soon be left behind." Naruto wondered if he should let the six winged elders take them for a ride. After all, he still wanted to hide the fact that he could fly.
Shisui said, "Our mission is to find their lair, so we don't need to follow too closely. It's best to be able to hang back from a distance without being discovered."
Failing to hitch a ride, Naruto said, "Then just in case, Kiba and Akamaru, try to track their scent. Shino's bugs probably can't fly as fast as you, right?"
Long-distance tracking was still Kiba and Shino's specialty, but Shino had to put a bug on the enemy in advance. Naruto's sensing range was medium to close, while Hinata's Byakugan had an even smaller field of vision than Naruto's sensing, but she could observe more precisely.
Shino did not refute.
Kiba patted his chest confidently and said, "Leave it to me!"
Akamaru cooperated with a bark, "Woof!"
So the Sky Ninja flew in front, and the others chased behind. If the atmosphere wasn't wrong, Naruto would have wanted to sing "Rain Butterfly" – 'I chase after you / the wind blows gently, as long as you have no regrets / I will have no regrets either...'
The tracking wasn't a straight line from beginning to end. The Sky Ninja would fly for a while and then turn, probably guessing that Konoha might send people to pursue them.
However, this didn't have much impact on Team 8, a reconnaissance-specialized squad. It even allowed them to take the opportunity to make up for the distance they had been pulled away from.
The journey was long, and listening to Hayate Gekko's occasional coughs, Naruto finally couldn't help but ask, "Hayate-nii, can you hold on?"
Seeing Uzuki Yuugao look back at him with worry, Hayate Gekko first gave her a reassuring look, then replied, "Cough cough, it's nothing, just an old problem."
'Nothing my ass,' with your condition, your health code would probably turn yellow. Naruto looked at his somewhat pale face and asked, "Haven't you seen Tsunade-neechan about it?"
The Shadow Guards all knew about Hayate's condition and weren't too worried. Instead, they were a little curious about how the Hokage's family seniority was arranged. How come Kushina-sama and Naruto, mother and son, both call Tsunade-neechan, but the Hokage calls her Tsunade-senpai?
Hayate replied, "I have, cough cough. My lungs were injured before, leaving some aftereffects. Tsunade-sama couldn't do anything about it, but it doesn't affect my actions and combat."
Are you sure it's a lung problem and not a kidney problem? Naruto didn't ask this question, feeling that it might end their friendship. He just looked suspiciously back and forth between the Hollow Man Hayate and the purple-haired mature woman Yuugao.
Then Naruto secretly resolved that he must get injured less and exercise more in the future, and let his Shadow Clones do more of the dangerous things. It's so unsightly to look so weak at such a young age.
...
"Almost there! About three or four kilometers away." Naruto reminded. He sensed hundreds of people gathered together in the direction they were heading, probably the Sky Ninja's base.
"Prepare for battle!" Shisui ordered. The six Shadow Guards took out their mechanical wings and put them on their backs, to Kiba's envy—of course, they had to store them in scrolls to reduce their burden on long journeys. They weren't those Melon Heads.
It is said that Gan, Wen, Cui, and Rock Lee didn't take off their weights when participating in the Chunin Exams. They really weren't afraid of death.
The group stopped about a kilometer away and hid, seeing a huge mechanical Fortress in the distance.
"Hinata." Naruto whispered.
Hinata understood and veins popped out of the corners of her eyes: "Byakugan!"
Shino didn't wait for Naruto to call him and had already released some bugs. As a person with a very low presence, he was always thinking about what he should do, because he was always worried that he would be forgotten when tasks were assigned. This was a painful lesson from his father.
It was precisely because of long-term training that Shino's ability to judge the situation was very good. Therefore, Shino was confident enough to say that sentence in many situations—"I will not fail."
Although not everyone may remember it.
"Ah." Hinata exclaimed softly after observing for a while, then immediately covered her mouth.
Everyone looked at her with concern, and Naruto asked, "What's wrong? What did you see?"
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