Telebird—one of the rare, domesticated nature beasts with limited intelligence but incredible talent for navigation and high-speed flight.
The average flight speed of the Telebirds was over 400 miles per hour. A meticulously raised one could even hit close to 600 miles per hour at its peak.
Coupled with their incredible navigation skills, Telebirds were practically divine messenger birds for the ninjas and samurai in the Shinobi continent.
The hidden ninja villages of the five major elemental nations, including Konoha of the Land of Fire, had dedicated facilities to breed and raise these birds. And if they ever found a family of Telebirds in the wild, they would immediately capture them.
Still, due to their incredible speed and almost instantaneous acceleration capabilities, the continent still had plenty of wild, uncaptured Telebirds.
So, finding one in the wild wasn't a big deal.
Due to this very reason, despite the sudden accelerated flight of the Telebird in the dead of night, the patrolling ninjas and samurai from Genzo's team were only slightly surprised and didn't pay much attention.
Paying attention now would be too late, anyway.
By the time they did, the Telebird had already turned into an inconspicuous black dot on the distant horizon. Not to mention, it was nighttime, making it even harder to notice the distant bird.
Some extremely vigilant ninjas went to the location from which the bird took off at high speed to see whether anyone was there.
But they found no one.
As a result, they could only speculate that some wild Telebird took flight, significantly diminishing the possibility of a spy because they didn't have Seimei's farsight ability.
After searching around for a few minutes, they returned to their posts and resumed regular patrol.
Of course, Seimei knew that they would find no one.
Because when Seimei scanned that place with his Tenseigan's farsight and X-ray vision abilities, he found no one either.
Whoever the spy is, he's incredibly clever. He must have commanded the Telebird to take flight a few minutes after he stealthily returned to the camp.
This guy is so cautious that he didn't even use clone-type Jutsu to avoid chakra detection.
After all, even if he dispelled the clone after the job was done, a good sensor could definitely detect the chakra residue. If that happened, the whole group's vigilance would rise to a whole new level. Genzo might even order an immediate investigation, increasing the possibility of exposure.
What's more, the spy knew that Hyuga Natsumi, a Byakugan-holder, was most likely asleep. Only then did he dare to make a move and release the Telebird.
I don't know who that bastard has sent the message to. But it certainly ain't good. For the next few days, we must stay alert.
Seimei thought inwardly with a solemn expression.
When he looked back at his team's tent, he saw Reina and Natsumi coming out of it with a demeanor full of vigilance.
Reina immediately asked, "What was that sound? What the heck happened?"
Seimei's expression relaxed. He smiled and replied, "Well, it's a Telebird."
Natsumi chimed in, "A Telebird? You mean there was a wild Telebird here?"
Seimei shook his head. "There was indeed a Telebird here. But I am afraid it's not a wild one."
As soon as he said that, both Reina's and Natsumi's expressions changed.
"It's not a good place to talk about it. Let's go inside the tent. It was your Sound-Locking Seal inscribed into it."
Reina said in a low voice and immediately dragged Seimei and Natsumi into the tent to discuss it in detail.
Once they were inside the tent, Reina asked, "Now, Seimei. Tell us, what did you see? Leave no detail untold."
Seimei agreed and immediately gave a detailed explanation of everything he had witnessed, as well as his speculations about the spy.
Reina took a deep breath as she finished listening.
Natsumi also subconsciously looked in the direction of the Telebird's departure. She almost activated her Byakugan, but ultimately she reined in her urge.
She knew it was useless. The bird must have gone way beyond her Byakugan's observable radius.
She thought for a moment before asking, "Seimei, are you sure about the message container on the Telebird's leg?"
Seimei looked at Natsumi and replied confidently, "Positive. My chakra sensing field is pretty accurate. And I happened to be using the Chakra Eye Technique, allowing me to clearly see and sense the message container bound to the flying Telebird's leg."
Hearing this, Reina quietly rolled her eyes while Natsumi's face showed visible signs of confusion.
Natsumi frowned and asked, "Chakra Eye Technique?"
To clear her doubts, Seimei patiently explained. "Although the Chakra Eye Jutsu is pretty dangerous to train, I have successfully cultivated it, allowing me to see in the dark, observe chakra, and gain an extended, crystal-clear visual range."
"Of course, its extended visual range or chakra observation capabilities can't hold a candle to your Byakugan. Its visual acuity is worse than even a newly awakened one-tomoe Sharingan. But for us ninjas without a dojutsu, it's still pretty neat."
This surprised Natsumi. She put a thoughtful expression on her face and said, "I see. It's indeed pretty good. No wonder you can observe the Telebird clearly despite the darkness of the night."
"I understand."
Another one was fooled successfully. Seimei mused.
On the other hand, Reina tried hard to keep her lips from twitching involuntarily. She mentally facepalmed and thought: No, Natsumi. You understand nothing.
Seimei warned, "Well, the point is that we must be very alert right now."
Reina nodded in affirmation.
Natsumi slowly asked, "Since a spy is hiding among us, does that mean we will probably encounter ambushes or sneak attacks in the upcoming days?"
Reina smirked. "Be more confident, Natsumi. No need to add 'probably.' We will definitely face an ambush in the upcoming days. In fact, there's a high probability of encountering hostile forces the very next day."
Natsumi sighed, "In the end, trouble still came knocking at our doors."
Seimei added, "We can do nothing about it. Since the message has already been sent, we need to stay alert from now on."
With that, Reina, Natsumi, and Seimei reorganized their plans for the rest of the mission.
They decided to employ all kinds of sensory ninjutsu in their arsenal. Seimei would keep his chakra field active. Natsumi would need to activate her Byakugan more frequently.
They planned to stick close to Shiraishi Genzo to protect him while keeping a close watch on the surroundings during the rest of their journey.
Reina thought of informing Genzo's hired ninjas about the possibility of an attack.
But after a brief moment of contemplation, she decided not to do it.
Although they knew that there was a spy, they didn't know exactly who it was.
What if the spy took some drastic measures to harm Genzo once they revealed their findings? If that happened, things would truly go haywire.
It was better to focus on Genzo, their client, for now.
Since they already knew about the possible ambush, they would just be more vigilant.
With Natsumi's Byakugan reconnaissance and Seimei's large-scale chakra sensory field, they could detect any incoming threat from miles away and prepare accordingly.
Not to mention, Seimei had the Tenseigan. He could sense and detect hostile elements way before Natsumi could. He would definitely find a way to alert them quickly.
Because of all those factors, Reina was relatively chill.
When they finished making the plan, it was already well past 12:20 AM.
Without further ado, Seimei decided to sleep and left the patrol for the remaining night to Reina and Natsumi, who had already slept and rested well.
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The next morning, the group continued their journey to the Land of Frost as usual.
Everything was calm. They had only encountered a group of D-rank chakra beasts on the way, which Genzo's hired samurai quickly dispatched.
The group quickly covered several tens of miles without an issue.
However, just when they were approaching an ice pass—a glacial valley that they needed to pass to cross the border of the Land of Frost safely—Seimei suddenly looked into the distance and narrowed his eyes.
"Hmm?"
Seimei hummed involuntarily as his eyes flashed with an ocean-blue glow for a brief moment.
Seeing Seimei's reaction, Reina and Natsumi immediately paused.
Reina asked, "Discovered anything?"
Seimei nodded. "Well, I detected several unusual chakra signatures about 1.6 miles away. A large group of people with a usually high volume of chakra is approaching our location."
Without even needing Reina's command, Natsumi immediately activated her Byakugan.
After a few seconds, she said, "A large group of more than 150 people is quickly approaching us. About 50 of them have a notable amount of chakra. Most of those 50 have Chunin-level chakra, and over 10 of those even have Jonin-level chakra."
"They are wearing the attire of mountain bandits and have rather burly frames."
"They are fast. Our entire caravan group can't possibly evade them."
Hearing the description, Reina sneered. "Bandits? Bandits, my foot."
"Alert Genzo and his guards. Tell them to prepare for combat. We have got company."
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