24 Arrival of both Sides

The journey to border outposts took five days. On the fifth day, the entire traveling party stopped and assembled in front of Commander Daisuke. After a few minutes of discussions with five Anbus accompanying the traveling party, he addressed the genins.

"Alright, we are a few hours from the border. Now it's time to split up. We will divide you into five groups of twenty each and each group will follow me or the Anbu to the different outputs along the border."

"Now get some rest. We will be moving in an hour." Daisuke finished before dismissing everyone.

Kuhara yawned and fell on his bottom. He was spent but looking around so was everyone else other than Itsuki, who looked the same as ever.

"How the hell are you standing like nothing. Everyone is dead tired, even commander Daisuke is a little ruffed up. You on the other hand did not even break a sweat. What the hell man." Kuhara whined.

Itsuki gave him an amused smile, not saying anything. It was true he did not even break a sweat, but then again even without the strength of a hundred seal, his chakra far outstrip a genin and his chakra control is in the same league as likes of Tsunade since he was six. Tree hopping for five days straight was a walk in the park.

But not having a speck of mental fatigue, on the other hand, left him a little confused. He knew he had a ridiculous amount of yin chakra compared to Yang chakra, he was a scholar at heart after all. All the effort he put in his studies, medic training, bloodline, and chakra research, it was inevitable for his yin chakra to balloon, far outstripping his yang chakra reserves. If left alone they would have started to weaken his physical body considerably. For this reason, Itsuki has Yin and Yang seals on his palms, to continuously store yin and yang chakra after separating it, maintaining chakra balance in the body while showing his reserve to be small, simultaneously hiding his true chakra reserves as well as rapidly increasing his chakra capacity due to constant pressure on chakra coils to produce chakra without compromising control.

'But large yin chakra reserves does not mean better mind, at least not to this extent. I have not slept for five days straight and still don't feel any mental exhaustion. Even after pulling all-nighters at Hospital, I felt more fatigued than I am feeling now, a high-stakes situation where I could be attacked any time, being tailed by dozens of highly trained assassins who most likely had orders to kill me at the first chance they got.' Itsuki thought.

'But here I am, barely fatigued, despite being on edge and alert for five days straight, despite monitoring chakra fluctuation and challenging to discern emotions for more than fifty emotionally stunned Anbus nonstop. This is not normal. Was I wrong, could Yin chakra affect the mind as much as the mind affects it?'

Itsuki pondered on the dilemma without reaching any conclusion. He can think of some reasons but could not confirm which is true.

Regardless, Itsuki sat down on the bare ground and looked around. The surrounding them were shorter and the air was progressively getting colder. Contrary to the majority of the land of Fire, which enjoyed a warm tropical climate throughout the year, the Land of Hot springs where they were going was much colder, especially during winters.

"Hour is up," Daisuke yelled, prompting genins to get up. "Get up and wear your cloaks. It is going to be colder from here on out."

Groaning, everyone assembled into groups of twenty and stood in front of one of the five Anbus they were assigned to. After an obligatory count check, they were ready to move.

"Let's move out." and all five groups separated, moving to different outposts.

Itsuki and Kuhara were in the same group, moving north-east. Making a half tiger hand sign, Itsuki sensed the surroundings and groaned.

'Damn, all those ex-root are now tailing only this group.' Cursing to himself, he was barely able to hide his expression. Thankfully, Kuhara was too tired to notice anything.

Slowly over the course of the journey, forested plains gave way to shallow hills. Before nightfall, the group reached a small fort constructed on the slope of a hill, surrounded by tall pine trees on all sides.

Anbu leading them went ahead, and Itsuki felt multiple chakra pulses from him and from inside the fort. After the short exchange, the door to the fort was opened and the group entered.

The first thing Itsuki noticed was the samurai's patrolling the walls and front yard, each and every one of them sporting complete full body armor and armed to teeth. Each and every one of them moved in a uniform, practiced, and coordinated way borne of years of practice. Compared to them, twenty ninjas looked like sheep entering a den of lions.

A middle-aged samurai approached the group and eyed the Anbu warily before scanning the reserves standing behind the Anbu. Giving a quick look over their jackets, he narrowed his eyes.

"No chunin this time? Even the number of genins are lower than usual."

Anbu did not reply, handing samurai a scroll before vanishing in shunshin.

Itsuki expanded his senses and noticed the Anbu meeting up with hidden root agents. One by one, hidden ninjas started to shunshin out towards the border, spreading in web formation, as if searching for something.

"Now all of you listen up, you have six hours to sleep before you take up your patrol schedules. Your barracks are to the right, sleep while you can." Samurai said in a cold tone.

Reaching the barracks, Itsuki decided to meditate to alleviate his mental fatigue instead of sleeping, simultaneously keeping an eye on root ninjas.

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About 30 kilometers east of Border Outpost

Kumo force of about a hundred elite ninjas was garrisoned in a large and complex cave system. The entrance was covered with multiple seals blocking the usage of chakra to longe range sensors, as well as a thin layer of genjutsu, which was being maintained to cover any cave mouths as well as hide the posted ninjas.

Outside all genjutsu, two ninjas with Kumo headbands were standing, one with a thick cloth covering his eyes, kanji for 'unsee' drawn on it, sealing his vision. Another one was a tall, black-skinned white-haired man famous as Darui of black lightning, the right-hand man of Raikage.

The other man and his hands in the tiger seal. He stood still, focusing on sensing any chakra signature in the radius of tens of kilometers. He was an elite member of the sensing unit. Since his childhood, he had forgone his vision for his village, to develop his ability to sense chakra beyond any normal sensing technique.

While sensing, his chakra pinged and he got feedback of enemy numbers. With a troubled look on his face, he reported, "Captain, enemy forces are larger than anticipated. About fifty Anbu are patrolling the border in web formation along with twenty newly arrived genins."

Darui immediately lost his laid back attitude, "Looks like Konoha got wind of our movements. But if they are using web formation, they have no idea of our location but it is only a matter of time they will find us." He thought for a movement before giving orders, "Get ready to attack in three days. We will be using Blitzkrieg tactics to eliminate the entire Anbu force along with the outpost. Get the mercenary to eliminate any Anbu escaping from the opposite side. Not a single one is to be left alive."

Sensor ninja nodded before vanishing into the cave. Darui looked in the direction of the border, over the snowcapped mountains and muttered, "Damn."