Naruto - The Wind Calamity

Chapter 69 : Schemes in the Darkness

Team Renjiro and the Merchants from the Land of Tea were traveling for the 13th day. Toshio said, "We should enter the Land of Tea by evening. We will need another 2 days to reach the port though."

Renjiro nodded and said, "Keep an eye out." The genins obeyed.

The group journeyed until noon when they came across an open field. They decided to take a break for lunch there. The field was about as big as a Football field. And it was surrounded by dense forests on one side, and a hill on the other. Fujin and Hoka checked whether the area was safe, and didn't find anyone.

While having lunch, Renjiro noticed something but didn't say anything. His students or the merchants didn't notice any change in his expressions. However, he was observing his students closely.

Fujin, while eating lunch, activated his chakra field out of habit.

When he did, he was shocked! Around 200 people had entered the forest and were around 600-900 meters away from them! They were moving rapidly towards them.

Unlike Renjiro, Fujin's change in expression was easily noticed by Hoka and Mieko. They became alert and looked at him.

Fujin said, "Around 200 bandits have surrounded us and are closing in. 150 in the forest and 50 on the hill."

Mieko scowled, "More bandits?"

Fujin looked at Renjiro and said, "Not just bandits. Around 50 have high chakra. With maybe a dozen Chunin level and 2 Jounin level chakras!"

That shocked Hoka and Mieko. They both looked at Renjiro. Renjiro was impressed with Fujin's alertness. He smiled and said, "Well, here's your B rank mission. Or was supposed to be. This looks more like rank A."

He then got serious and commanded, "Prepare to deal with the bandits and Genin-level attackers. I'll deal with the stronger ones. Don't worry about the goods. Give main priority to your and your teammates' lives. And then to the lives of the merchants."

The team nodded and got up. Seeing them get up, the merchants understood that there was an issue and got alert too. Toshio in particular became very worried. They all immediately got up and hid behind their carriages.

Two days earlier -

2 people stood and observed the open field in the middle of nowhere. Both of them were Jounins. One of them was Wagarashi Tomio, who was from the rival family of the Wasabi Family. The other was Tamanaha Norio, who was a rogue ninja from the Land of Rivers. He had a bounty of 5 million Ryo. 

Wagarashi Tomio said, “From the information that our spies sent, 5 escort teams were moving from Konoha toward Degarashi port. One of them will be passing through here. When they do, they are bound to rest here.”

Tamanaha Norio asked, “Who is escorting them?”

Wagarashi Tomio replied, “The weakest team. A Genin squad.”

Tamanaha Norio was surprised, and then began laughing arrogantly, “Just Genins? They’ll be dead in no time.”

Wagarashi Tomio was annoyed by his arrogance. He warned him, “Don’t underestimate them too much. They are led by Senju Renjiro, an Elite Jounin. The Senju clan has a strong relationship with the Wasabi family. So it’s a possibility that they are trying to sneak him in with this team.  Also, their genin team has a Byakugan user. So we will have to be very careful.”