Chapter 136

Understanding her wound turned out to be even faster — the clone cleaned the wound well and removed the poison. However, there was somehow too little poison. Most likely, the bulk of it was washed away by the rain during the fight, and only a very small amount of the already not very deadly poison affected my partner. Fortunately, good poison that doesn't wash off the blade immediately is quite expensive, and most of its users prefer to use cheaper alternatives that act quickly once they enter the bloodstream.

— All done with the hole, so you can rest now, — patting Tsume on the shoulder, I moved toward my futon. — Personally, that's exactly what I intend to do, since the captain will have to keep watch all this time.

— Given that we haven't had a proper rest after a hard day, I completely agree with you.

It seems I fell asleep even before my head touched the pillow roll.

***

— He's running!

Jumping out of bed, I didn't immediately grasp what was happening, but after pressing a couple of points on my head, I instantly woke up and realized that the commander had spotted our target.

— Finally, — Tsume, who had been nearby, jumped up.

— How far is the courier? — Ishii asked, rapidly gathering and packing his things.

I kept pace with him but first opened the entrance, letting the daylight in, and peeled the seals off the walls before sealing my bed in a travel scroll.

— How much time do we have to set up an ambush?

— The courier is eight kilometers northwest of us and is moving slightly off from our hideout toward the nearest post. At the current speed, we have four minutes to intercept him and about a couple of minutes to set up the ambush, — Hizashi replied, being the first to rush outside.

We followed him.

— Are you sure it's a courier? — I asked the jounin while running.

— Given the presence of scrolls in his backpack and the highly developed chakra channels in his legs compared to the rest of the Keirakueki? Undoubtedly!

— It seems the captured language forgot to mention that the courier might appear a bit earlier than the stated time, not later, — Tsume growled, falling a step behind us.

— Maybe, but the night attack even played into our hands then, — Rotaro shrugged, — otherwise, we wouldn't have made it here in time.

— And we'd have to wait for the next one or head home empty-handed, — I grimaced and turned to the jounin. — What's the plan?

— Standard — Ishii-san covers us with an illusion, you catch him, I disable his chakra, and Inuzuka-san provides backup in case of surprises.

Standard squad tactics when there's a Nara and a Hyuga.

— Here, — Hizashi stopped near a small thicket of bushes in a dip between a couple of very low hills, — he will appear from that side in about three minutes. Let's go.

Nodding, Rotaro began forming a long series of seals, while I stepped into the shadow of the bushes to make the task easier and reduce chakra consumption for the use of the jutsu. Digging into my pocket, I pulled out the required paper and handed it to the commander, then knelt and formed the concentration seal, channeling chakra into the slightly darkened shadow beneath me. Once my partner cast the illusion on us, the entire team positioned themselves to the side and slightly behind me to avoid obstructing the view and disrupting my technique.

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