Naruto: Modern Science in Naruto

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The heavy snow couldn't block Haori's vision. He could see Kakashi running in front of him.

Sometimes far, sometimes near.

As if some force was driving his steps… This force did exist, and it could probably be attributed to two words – mission.

Analyzing Kakashi's deep psychology, you could understand the importance of those two words to him.

At this time, Haori and Kakashi were chasing after Haku and Mei Terumi. Earlier, it was as if they had received a signal to retreat. They suddenly withdrew from their respective battles.

Plus, Haori had been hit by a direct shot from the Jinchūriki. He couldn't pay attention to the enemy's movements at all, which made their actions passive.

The enemy wouldn't be so careless as to leave obvious traces of their movements. As for subtle ones, they would be covered up instantly in this kind of weather.

And neither Haori nor Kakashi had the means to conduct long-range reconnaissance.

So, their current direction of movement was based on the most likely probability.

Consider this: If that signal was really a signal to retreat, then the most likely direction for the enemy to move would be towards the Land of Water.

The Land of Water is surrounded by the sea on all sides and is located northeast of the former Uzushiogakure. So, they were chasing in that direction.

Although Kakashi still seemed calm, you could actually feel something else about him. The possibility wasn't difficult to guess… Sending a clear signal to retreat could very well mean that they had safely recovered the Byakugan. This would mean that Konoha's mission had failed.

In other words, all the ninjas who participated in this mission had failed, including Kakashi.

As for Haori, although he wasn't personally obsessed with the success rate of higher-level missions, if this was true, this would probably be his first time failing a higher-level mission.

"Speaking of…" Kakashi suddenly spoke, as if he had remembered something. "Zansō?"

He didn't turn back. His steps didn't stop at all. But his voice revealed a hint of concern.

The reason he cared about something like Zansō wasn't because it was some rare ninja tool. It was because it had been lost from Kakashi's hands. Out of a sense of responsibility, he wanted to retrieve Zansō as much as possible.

"I broke it into several pieces. It's unusable, right?" Haori replied. What use was a broken sword?

Unless there really was a ninja who was skilled in using kitchen knife techniques.

Although Zansō was broken, it could be restored through some means. But Haori naturally wouldn't know this kind of detailed information. In fact, Kakashi didn't know either. But he just thought it was a little strange.

"Since it can be a ninja sword, it seems a bit unreasonable that Zansō was so easily destroyed…"

Kakashi's idea was simple. Zansō should have something unique about it, right? If it was just sharp, it wouldn't be included in the Seven Ninja Swords, right?

Haori was helpless. How could he say "so easily"? He had used a lot of force to break the sword. He even bruised his knee.

"Besides, I remember you were carrying half of the sword in your hand, right?"

However, Haori was empty-handed at this time.

"Well, I got a little excited just now and threw it into a ditch…"

During his fight with Mei Terumi, Haori had indeed casually thrown Zansō away. As for where he threw it, he didn't really bother to remember.

"If you want to find it, just go to that village."

"Although it's now a lake."

This answer… What else could Kakashi say? Let's get on with the mission.

Soon, the two of them crossed 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 towards the sea in front of them. The meaning was obvious.

The sea wasn't calm. The waves were much larger than when they arrived here two days ago.

And because of the snow, visibility was also poor.

"Keep going forward."

Haori said. He didn't have a solid reason for this judgment. He just had a hunch that the enemy had already escaped to the sea.

Kakashi had no objections to Haori's judgment… Even if he did, he would have to keep them to himself for now.

So, two days later, the two of them returned to the sea for the second time.

In fact, Haori's intuition was even worse. He felt that there was no need to continue the mission at this point. Even if they caught up with Mei Terumi and the others, would they be carrying the Byakugan?

It was probably impossible.

Even if they killed all the Kirigakure ninjas they caught up with, they probably wouldn't be able to get the Byakugan back.

Because of this thought, after arriving at the sea, Haori himself took the lead and abandoned his wide-range search in the horizontal direction. He was almost in a straight line, heading towards the direction of the Land of Water.

Soon, they left the maximum search area specified in the mission. Then, Haori suddenly raised his right hand, signaling Kakashi, who was following behind, to stop.

"What's wrong?" Kakashi asked. He hadn't noticed anything unusual.

"Can you smell it? The smell of blood…"

Kakashi sniffed hard, but he couldn't smell anything. This kind of low-temperature environment would actually have some impact on a ninja's sense of smell. Their sensitivity would naturally decrease.

But Haori's tone was very certain, and he began to walk in circles around the area.

"I found it."

Soon, Haori pointed to a patch of water and said.

The seawater had a faint reddish tint, but you couldn't see anything if you didn't look carefully.

With Haori's hint, Kakashi, of course, understood what it was. It was blood.

Looking at Haori, Kakashi felt a little unbelievable. At that moment, he had the idea that he should raise some ninja dogs.

Haori bent down, scooped up some seawater with his palm, and rubbed it between his two fingers. He could feel the stickiness of blood.

"If I remember correctly, there should be a Konoha reconnaissance ninja deployed in this location. It's obvious that our people were killed… not long ago."

It was very likely that the blood came from a Konoha ninja.

"Chase!"

Now, looking at the direction, Haori and Kakashi's previous judgment was obviously correct. Unfortunately, they were a step too late.

The enemy had somehow silently broken through Konoha's reconnaissance network.

The situation was no longer under Konoha's control.

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