"Everyone, be careful and stay alert. We're about to enter another country, and who knows if there will be any rogue ninjas!"
Hiruzen issued the order, and everyone immediately perked up, watching their surroundings.
After bypassing the valley, the further they went in the direction of the Land of Wind, the greater the sandstorms became, and the fewer trees there were.
The Land of Wind had barren land, mostly yellow sand, with very little land suitable for growing crops.
Water sources were also scarce resources, mostly produced by oases.
Surviving in such a resource-poor country was not an easy task.
"Something's up ahead."
Kagami whispered to his companions.
"Behind that huge rock ahead, there's a chakra signature; it should be a ninja!"
Kagami's voice was very low; only his teammates could hear him.
The presence of a ninja with Sharingan in the team undoubtedly saved a lot of trouble.
However, everyone did not take any action, but continued to move forward.
Just as they were about to enter the enemy's attack range, Danzo suddenly formed hand seals at lightning speed!
"Wind Release - Vacuum Wave!"
A sharp wind blade was spat out from his mouth, easily cutting through the boulder!
Along with the ninja hiding behind the boulder.
The wind blade was extremely small; even after cutting open the boulder, it did not cause it to collapse.
When everyone walked behind the boulder, they found two headless corpses spurting blood.
Their heads were nowhere to be found.
Blood was splattered everywhere, but none of them showed any discomfort.
They had seen too many such scenes; even more cruel scenes, they had seen it all.
This was just child's play.
"Looks like they're not ninjas from the Sand Village; they're not wearing headbands or ninja outfits."
Hiruzen said indifferently.
Danzo nodded. "They should be rogue ninjas."
Every country had rogue ninjas, but the Sand Village had the most.
The village was too poor, and even with hard work, they couldn't earn much money, not even enough to support their families.
Some ninjas who were used to being wild naturally didn't want to suffer this kind of humiliation, so they took the risk.
They ambushed passing pedestrians on the border.
If they were lucky enough to encounter a wealthy merchant, one haul would be enough to last a lifetime.
Unfortunately, these two were obviously unlucky, running into Torifū and the others.
"These two are weak. I wonder if there will be stronger ones later."
Hearing Torifū's question, Danzo continued to analyze. "There probably will be."
"These weak ninjas are likely to be sent to test the waters and exhaust our stamina."
Then he added, "But it can't be ruled out that they're just two fools who want money more than their lives."
Torifū waved his hand; he was too lazy to pity such people. Doing this kind of risky business meant you had to be careful of getting your tongue cut off.
"Alright, let's move on, stay alert."
Everyone didn't linger too much, and left here to continue heading towards the Land of Wind.
After about an hour, they could no longer see trees around them, only endless yellow sand.
The sun scorched the earth, and the entire desert was like a giant oven, constantly baking Torifū and the others.
"Hiruzen-aniki, how long until we reach the Sand Village?"
Hiruzen took out the map and looked at it. "About a day and a half, but it's our first time here, so we're inevitably slower. Saying two days is more reliable."
Torifū nodded; he really underestimated the power of the desert. The sun was particularly vicious today.
If it weren't for the large amount of food and water stored in the space ring, everyone would have died long ago.
What Biwako's bento, what high-grade soldier pills—without water, they were all useless.
The water they filled up in the village they stayed in was already finished on the road, and now everyone was thirsty.
Seeing that everyone's condition was not very good, Torifū waved his hand and conjured up buckets of water.
Everyone was filled with doubt at this novel scene.
Immediately, Torifū brought out the prepared explanation, and everyone bought it, without too much suspicion.
Then, he used Ice Release to create some ice cubes and threw them into the water. The iced water allowed everyone to dissipate heat and cool down faster.
After this operation, the companions were considered to be full and had enough to drink, and their condition had almost recovered.
They didn't look as listless as before.
"Ah, I really don't know how the Aburame clan fought against Shukaku in this desert."
With energy, Hiruzen began to complain; how long had they been in the Land of Wind? And they couldn't take it anymore.
"Alright, alright, hurry up and get on the road after you've rested, don't waste time."
Under Koharu's urging, Hiruzen reluctantly got up and continued to set off.
At this time, Torifū began to quickly form hand seals. "Cloud Release - Cloud Clothing Technique."
Torifū spat out a large cloud of mist, turning it into clothes like vests, flying in front of everyone.
"Everyone, try them on; it should be much better."
Only then did everyone realize that when Torifū's clouds surrounded them, it was cool!
Immediately, they put on the clothes made of white clouds, which felt like cotton, but were cool.
After putting them on, they immediately felt that their whole body was cool and very comfortable.
"Ah, I'm alive again. Torifū is always so reliable, unlike some people."
Regarding Koharu's obvious sarcasm, Hiruzen chose to turn a blind eye. "As long as I have no shame, you can forget about kidnapping me emotionally."
"Alright! Keep moving!"
With this cloud coat, everyone's speed of movement was much faster, and they were not affected by the sun.
The maintenance of the coat relied entirely on Torifū's chakra, and the consumption was not large, lasting a whole day only consumed one-third of his chakra.
"Fire Release - Great Fireball Technique!"
Kagami and Naori released ninjutsu towards a sand dune in the distance at the same time.
The two fireballs merged together to form an extremely huge Great Fireball! Then it smashed on the sand dune, causing a violent explosion!
Immediately, four black shadows escaped from the sand dune, surrounding everyone.
Hiruzen immediately noticed the scratch on their foreheads, the symbol of a missing-nin.
"Missing-nin from Sunagakure."
Danzo said indifferently.
"You are people from Konoha. Do you want to start a war by coming to the Land of Wind!"
The leading ninja shouted loudly at everyone.
"No need to talk nonsense; kill them."
Danzo's tone was cold; obviously, he felt that it was useless to waste words with these fools.
Just kill them quickly. Then he launched an attack towards the leading ninja, and Hiruzen immediately followed!
A battle unfolded.
"Ice Release - Ice Assault!"
Torifū stomped his foot fiercely, and a row of sharp ice thorns attacked the enemy.
The man had obviously never seen such ninjutsu, and was flustered for a while.
"Wind Release - Wind Break!"
The man used a fan to fan out a strong wave of wind, blowing away all the ice thorns!
But the wind also stirred up sand and dust, and the visibility dropped sharply.
At this time! A crystal serpent came out from the sand and dust, firmly binding him!
"Crystal Release - Crystal Killing Constriction Array!"