Circling around it in a wide arc and returning to the road, I sometimes rushed past rare night stops consisting of a couple of carts or a pile of wagons around campfires, among whose guards I could clearly sense shinobi, some of whom even managed to detect my approach in time, although I was moving almost silently, and the rustling of my clothes and other small sounds were reliably muffled by the night life of the forest with the rustling of leaves in the wind. But since I ran past before they could react in any way, other than grabbing their weapons and warning their comrades, that was the end of it.
In general, despite the distance from the hidden village, sources of chakra flashed in and out of my senses, sometimes alone, sometimes in groups of three or four, and once, at the very edge of my perception, someone powerful, almost at Orochimaru's level, but unknown to me, flashed and disappeared.
Considering that, apart from my personal acquaintance with all the Konoha S, I remembered the signatures of those clan fighters and Anbu who were very close to or at that level, even if they didn't flash in public, it meant that one of the neighbors or nukenins had paid a visit.
At any other time, I would have satisfied my curiosity, but this time I had to refrain from unnecessary movements and conserve my strength. A few hours later, the road began to turn south, and I had to move back to the upper tracks, but a river should have been flowing relatively nearby, ending its course a few dozen kilometers from the coastal town, still in the Land of Fire, where traders hired barges to reach the main island of the country of Waves, where ships from Lightning and Water stopped.
It was, so to speak, the main transport hub for merchants who chose the waterway and moved further on to the countries of Tea or Sea across the Kanashi Ocean, or in the opposite direction. In the past, the island of Uzushio was located nearby, and the seal trade flourished in the region.
Even now, many old Uzumaki preservation seals are still in use, and maritime trade is thriving, except that shinobi are hired to replenish their chakra.
Closer to the river, the forest became smaller, and I had to jump to the ground and fight my way through thickets of bushes and windbreaks for a while, but I just covered myself with a layer of chakra and pushed forward, almost without slowing down, leaving behind a noticeable clearing and felled young trees, until I flew out onto the steep bank. Jumping onto the water's surface, I formed five hand seals.
"Suiton: Suikodan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Shark Projectile Technique)."
I've got more interesting stuff on patreon (+ 200 chapter)
patreon.com/Chill76