Even though the snowstorm was heavy, it couldn't block Kamishiro Hagoromo's line of sight. He could see Kakashi's figure running ahead of him.
Sometimes far away, sometimes close.
It was as if some unseen force was driving his footsteps... This force did indeed exist, and it could largely be boiled down to a single word—mission.
Analyzing Kakashi's deep-seated trauma would reveal just how significant that word was to him.
Right now, he and Kakashi were pursuing Zabuza and Terumi Mei. Earlier, it was as if the enemies had received a retreat signal, suddenly disengaging from their fights and pulling back.
Coupled with the fact that he had just taken a direct artillery-style blast from a Jinchuriki, there was no way to track the enemies movements, which caused their operation to fall into a passive state.
Naturally, the enemy wouldn't be careless enough to leave obvious tracks behind. As for the subtle ones, given the current weather, they would be covered up in an instant.
And neither of them possessed any means for ultra-long-range reconnaissance.
Therefore, their current direction of movement was purely based on calculating the highest probability.
Think about it: if that signal just now really meant "retreat," then the most logical direction for the enemy to head was toward the Land of Water.
The Land of Water was surrounded by the sea on all sides and located to the northeast of the former Land of Whirlpools. Thus, the two were currently running in that direction.
Although Kakashi still appeared calm on the surface, Hagoromo could actually sense a different kind of vibe coming from him. The reason wasn't hard to guess... Issuing a clear retreat signal likely meant the enemy had secured the Byakugan, which also meant the mission had failed.
In other words, every ninja participating in this operation had failed their mission, Kakashi naturally included.
As for himself, although he wasn't personally obsessed with high-rank mission success rates, if this were true, it would probably be his first failure in a high-rank mission.
"Speaking of which..." Kakashi suddenly spoke up, as if remembering something. "Where is the Kubikiribocho?"
He didn't turn his head, nor did his footsteps pause in the slightest. His voice merely betrayed a hint of genuine concern.
The reason he cared about something like the Kubikiribocho wasn't because it was a rare ninja tool, but because it had been lost on his watch. Out of a strong sense of responsibility, he wanted to recover it if possible.
"I snapped it into a bunch of pieces. It's probably useless now, right?" he replied. What use was a broken sword like that?
Unless there really was a ninja out there specializing in kitchen cleaver techniques.
Even though the Kubikiribocho was broken, it could actually regenerate through a certain method. Naturally, he wasn't privy to this specific piece of intel. In fact, even Kakashi didn't know about it; he just felt something was a bit off.
"Since it's famous enough to be one of the Ninja Swords, the Kubikiribocho being destroyed that easily feels... a little absurd."
Kakashi's thought process was simple. The Kubikiribocho had to have some unique trait. If it was just sharp, there was no way it would be ranked among the Seven Ninja Swords, right?
He felt exasperated. How could he say "that easily"? He put a lot of effort into breaking that sword; he even bruised his knee doing it.
"Besides, didn't I see you holding the broken half of the blade earlier?"
Yet right now, he was completely empty-handed.
"Well, I kind of got carried away just now and tossed it into a ditch somewhere..."
During his exchange with Terumi Mei, he had indeed casually chucked the Kubikiribocho. As for exactly where it landed, he hadn't bothered to memorize the location.
"If you really want to find it, just go back to that village."
"Though, that place has basically been turned into a lake now."
With an answer like that... what else could Kakashi say? Better just focus on the mission.
Soon, the two of them traversed across the island, but they didn't find any trace of the enemy along the way.
"Now, should we turn back and continue searching the island, or..."
As he spoke, Kakashi turned his gaze toward the open sea in front of them, his meaning self-evident.
The sea was far from calm. The wind and waves were much rougher now than when they arrived two days ago.
And due to the heavy snow, visibility was terrible.
"Keep moving forward."
He said. He didn't have any concrete logic for this judgment; it was purely based on intuition that the enemy had already fled out to sea.
Kakashi had no objections to his call... even if he did, he would have to table them for now.
And so, after two days, the two returned to the open ocean for the second time.
In truth, his intuition was pointing toward a much bleaker reality. He felt there was practically no point in continuing this mission. Even if they managed to catch up to Terumi Mei and Zabuza, would those two actually be carrying the Byakugan?
It was unlikely.
Even if they killed every single Hidden Mist ninja they caught up with, they probably still wouldn't recover the Byakugan.
Because of these thoughts, once they hit the water, he completely abandoned any wide-range horizontal sweeping, opting instead to sprint in a perfectly straight line toward the Land of Water.
Very quickly, they crossed the maximum search boundary designated for their mission. Then, he suddenly raised his right hand, signaling Kakashi to halt.
"What is it?" Kakashi asked. He hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary.
"Can you smell that? The scent of blood..."
Kakashi sniffed hard, but he couldn't smell a thing. This kind of freezing environment naturally took a toll on a ninja's sense of smell, dropping their sensitivity.
But his teammate's tone was dead certain, and he began pacing in a circle around the immediate area.
"Found it."
A moment later, he pointed at a specific patch of water.
The seawater there carried a faint, pale crimson tint. If you weren't looking closely, you'd miss it entirely.
With the prompt, Kakashi obviously understood what it was. Bloodstains.
Looking at the older boy, Kakashi found it a bit unbelievable. Right at that moment, the thought of raising a few ninja hounds took root in his mind.
He crouched down, scooped up a bit of the seawater with his hand, and rubbed his fingers together. He could feel the distinct viscosity of blood.
"If I remember correctly, there should have been Konoha scout ninjas stationed in this sector. Obviously, our people were taken out... and not too long ago."
The probability that this blood belonged to Konoha ninjas was extremely high.
"Pursue!"
Looking at it now, their earlier judgment regarding the direction might turn out to be correct. Unfortunately, they were a step too late.
The enemy had already used some unknown method to silently breach Konoha's reconnaissance net.
The situation was no longer under Konoha's control.
------------------------------------------
Stones are appreciated if you can spare any.
If you are enjoying the work, you can support it while reading advanced chapters ahead on Patreon!