Chapter 120

The assistant, who had been standing motionless behind him the entire time, walked around the table and handed my partner a small sealing scroll.

— A chunin vest and a hitae-ate from Iwagakure, — Ikki explained, both items being clean and undamaged. That's all for now, and if you have any more questions, ask Hizashi-san. Good luck.

After saying goodbye to Meido, the four of us followed the temporary commander out onto the street.

— Ready? — the Byakugan bearer turned to us.

Along with the others, I patted the pouches where we kept scrolls with supplies and extra weapons. Other (more valuable) scrolls were stored directly in our body seals. Activating his dojutsu, he carefully examined the three of us and turned to me.

— Nara-san, can you conceal your chakra even more?

— This is my current limit even with the cloak, — I shook my head.

Although my control was gradually improving, I was still far from the level of concealment achieved by someone like Ishi.

— Then we'll be more noticeable to good sensors than I had anticipated, — Hizashi shook his head.

— Of course, there is one option, — I thoughtfully rubbed my chin, — but then you can't count on instant readiness, and when using chakra, my level of concealment will return to its previous state.

— Right now, concealment is more important than combat power.

Shrugging, I reached under my clothing and, touching a small seal opposite the source, activated it. At that moment, the chakra flowing into the Keirakukei was blocked. This was a small preparation I had for such cases — if you can't hide using conventional methods and the cloak can't absorb all the chakra emitted through the Tenketsu, then it's best to eliminate the root cause. That is, block the flow of chakra into the Keirakukei, thereby reducing the pressure on the Tenketsu.

No pressure means no emission. The downside is the relatively small volume of available chakra, which will sooner or later be depleted through movement, leaving me with only the physical capabilities of my body. Of course, this type of blocking isn't perfect, and under sufficient stress, it will fail quickly, but for a while after that, I won't be in the best shape. At shinobi speeds, that's almost a guaranteed death. Another drawback is that sensory abilities are heavily dampened, so this seal can only be used when there is support to provide cover for the necessary time.

— Done.

— Then let's go.

Turning around, Hizashi started towards the camp gates, where a safe path was laid among the traps. We habitually fell into line behind him. In the middle were Rotaro and Tsume, and I brought up the rear. Since Hizashi had initially set a rather economical pace and the run to the border of the Land of Grass and the Land of Stone would take about an hour, I decided to try to get some information from our commander that might be useful later.

So, speeding up a bit, I overtook my partners and their dog and positioned myself next to Hizashi, earning a questioning look from him. More precisely, judging by the eyebrow raised by a millimeter, it was a questioning look — the white-eyed ones can rival stone with their impassive faces.

— Since we'll be fighting together soon, I'd like to know about your combat capabilities, Hizashi-san, — I explained, putting a bit of chakra into my vocal cords for better clarity.

Not wanting to miss a word, the others fell in behind us.

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