Red Nara

The mission I had chosen was simple enough to deliver a valuable, but not urgent, shipment from Konoha to some merchant in the Land of Hot Springs. This allowed me to not only take a couple days to prepare, but also to give enough time for all concerned to make plans. Including direct elimination, which I'm clearly prepared for.

Considering the surveillance I'd taken off the very next day after taking the courier assignment at the Hokage's tower, this wasn't another paranoid attack. I was a little concerned about the straightforwardness of the alleged malevolent, but then I looked at the situation from an outsider's point of view and calmed down a bit - it's unlikely that the person who sent them could have guessed that the victim would be able to detect Anbu's surveillance.

Still, they're trained for stealth and silent assassinations, not for their killing techniques or the size of their source. Without knowing my full capabilities, that's an easy mistake to make.

That's why when I checked in early in the morning at the gate, I had with me a solid supply of seals for all occasions, three prison scrolls of my own making for ten people and a scroll for corpses. There were pre-made clones hiding in my shadow, and a last chance scroll resting in a hidden vest pocket.

Enough to fend off a few teams. As I accelerated through the lane around Konoha, I ignored the road and took off in a few jumps to the crowns of the huge trees, heading up the upper paths. Since, having a weaker team didn't slow things down, it was possible to maintain a solid pace of movement, rushing straight towards the desired section of the Ho no Kuni border and bypassing the various settlements.

All the same, the various comforts of civilization are sealed and taken with them, guaranteeing a pleasant overnight stay in any area, and ready food for ten days is available in the food scroll, so there is no point in hunting and then cooking.

Monotonously hopping from branch to branch, it wasn't until closer to noon that I perked up - a barely perceptible source appeared at the very edge of my sensory senses. I might not have noticed it, but to move along the branches at a height of several dozen meters from the ground, even the toughest and most agile shinobi has to use chakra, which is impossible to hide.

Having made sure for a couple of hours that the hanging "tail" is held securely at a distance of seven or eight kilometers behind and is not going to fall at all, when landing on another branch, I gestured the command "watch" and "here", after which one of the clones slipped from my shadow into the shade of the foliage. Leaving the observer behind, I jumped onward. Now let's see what frame decided to follow me, and whether he was alone in his endeavor to move along the same route.

Somewhere around three in the afternoon I stopped for lunch near a small stream of clear water and noted with satisfaction that the unknown shinobi also slowed down and paused a few seconds later.

So really behind me, and a sensor as well, albeit with a smaller radius, assuming it kept at the very edge of its sensitivity. After eating a bowl of soup and roast meat and potatoes, I sealed the pot and pots of food along with the washed dishes, then focused and created a kage bunshin with minimal chakra, dispelling it immediately.

The abandoned watcher got the message and a couple moments later his memories came back to me. It took me a minute to sort through the clone's sensations and memories, and then I frowned in puzzlement as the information I'd received was a bit jarring. It wasn't what I'd expected.

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