For ordinary people, their disguise would have been more than cautious enough.
At least, neither Sakuraba Sadatoki nor any of her samurai noticed a thing—but to Chiba and his team, those people stood out like torches in the dark. Especially to Chiba.
As his mental power grew stronger, so did his perception—both in range and sensitivity.
Their every move was glaringly obvious within his perception field.
Tenten toyed with a kunai in her hand.
It looked casual, but in fact, she was waiting for Chiba's signal—
Should they act?
Chiba flipped a page of his book and made no move.
Catching a few small fry now served no purpose. It'd just be a waste of time. Their mission was protection, not extermination.
As long as those people didn't make a move, there was no need to get involved.
But if they attacked…
Then they'd die.
Chiba didn't like meddling in others' business, but he certainly wouldn't jeopardize his employer for their sake.
Once they left Kyoto's borders, the pursuers gradually dispersed, seemingly giving up the chase.
When the moon was high and the night deep, dew wetting the grass, the group finally stopped to rest in a mountain hollow.
"Tsukikage Kaza, you've been on watch all day. Go rest—I'll take the night shift," Chiba said.
"That's… not necessary," Tsukikage Kaza replied hesitantly, glancing down the slope.
Chiba shook his head. "Go rest. The moon's bright, and I can read for a while. I'll wake you at midnight."
"Uh… all right."
Tsukikage Kaza didn't insist further.
Chiba opened his book , quietly resuming his reading.
Thanks to the Bodhi Seed, his spiritual and recovery abilities were far beyond ordinary. Even without sleep, his combat strength wouldn't be affected. But Tsukikage Kaza and the others weren't the same.
Of course, Kakashi could take over as well.
But Chiba knew their team was… special. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been assigned C-rank and higher missions right from the start. The village clearly had different expectations for them.
He couldn't rely too much on Kakashi.
At midnight.
"Go sleep. I'll take the rest of the watch," Kakashi said.
"It's fine, I—"
"I know you can," Kakashi interrupted. "But as a ninja and team leader, you need to learn how to allocate your team's manpower wisely. Rotate duties. Don't try to handle everything yourself."
He looked at Chiba seriously. "Otherwise, when the time comes that the team really needs you, what if you collapse because you didn't rest?"
Chiba hesitated for a moment, then nodded lightly.
"Oh right," Kakashi added. "Why didn't you capture those people during the day?"
"That's not within our mission scope," Chiba replied simply.
Kakashi didn't comment, just gave a quiet nod and sent him off to sleep.
The next morning, Tsukikage Kaza woke and immediately bowed her head to Kakashi and Chiba.
"I'm sorry, Sensei… Chiba-kun… I—"
She hadn't woken up for her turn on watch. She hadn't even stirred until Chiba called her in the morning.
"It's fine," Kakashi said. "I told Chiba not to wake you. Let's move—we've still got a long road ahead."
"Yes!" Tsukikage Kaza nodded.
"Hold on," Tenten interjected. "Tsukikage Kaza, you did recon all afternoon yesterday. Chiba kept watch last night. Let me handle the morning shift."
Tsukikage Kaza hesitated.
"Good idea," Kakashi agreed.
Chiba stayed silent, quietly reading on the side. He'd already finished the book on sealing techniques, but he still felt he hadn't fully grasped everything—so he chose to read it .
On the second read…
He found a lot he'd missed before.
It really was profound.
Chiba sighed inwardly.
"Chiba-kun," Tsukikage Kaza asked softly, "don't you ever get tired of reading that?"
She only spoke freely around people she knew well. When noble ladies or samurai were nearby, she rarely said a word. But now, with her duties done, she could finally relax and chat.
Chiba smiled. "How could I get tired of it? Every time I read, I learn something new."
"…"
That stung a little.
Tsukikage Kaza turned her gaze away, silently.
Sealing techniques were notoriously difficult. She'd read a few scrolls before, and they'd seemed like divine scripture—utterly incomprehensible.
Hearing Chiba say "I kidn something new each time" felt almost inhuman.
Chiba chuckled. "Sealing arts are hard, sure—but they're also incredibly valuable. I've been thinking… maybe I can use an absorption barrier together with a sealing formula to store chakra."
"This… you can do that?" Tsukikage Kaza asked, surprised.
If that were possible, the absorption barrier would no longer be so useless.
Yes—useless.
Anyone who knew a bit of ninjutsu theory knew that the Earth Prison Hall technique was practically a gimmick within Earth Release. If you could trap your opponent, you could usually kill them too. If you couldn't, then the absorption barrier was meaningless.
But—if it could store the absorbed chakra…
That would be a game-changer. It'd be like having extra chakra reserves.
"In theory, it's possible," Chiba said vaguely.
He knew about the Strength of a Hundred Seal, which could store chakra—but since that technique involved the head area, he wasn't about to experiment without understanding it fully.
Still, he'd had another thought.
The absorption barrier, at its core, was about absorbing energy, not about the barrier itself.
If he could isolate the absorption effect, could he integrate it into other ninjutsu?
A little chakra wasn't much to him—his reserves weren't as massive as those of the Senju clan or Naruto, but they far exceeded moakidnst ordinary ninjas. He rarely ran low.
However—
Elemental chakra was another story.
If he could temporarily absorb and manipulate an enemy's elemental chakra… wouldn't that mean he effectively possessed that element too?
Chiba rubbed his chin. Now that sounded promising.
Worth experimenting with.
As they walked, he pulled out a small notebook and began jotting down his ideas.
Tsukikage Kaza looked on with envy. "Tenten-chan has a notebook like that too—it's full of her weapon designs. You've got one for ninjutsu ideas, and me? I don't have any ideas at all."
"Sometimes it's not that you don't have ideas," Chiba said as he wrote, "it's that you don't notice them. Creativity's like that—if you record every spark of inspiration, someday a great invention might be born from one you barely remembered having."
Ding, ding, ding!
The sudden chime of a bell.
Chiba instantly shut his notebook and expanded his sensory field.
Thunk, thunk, thunk!
Before he could even act, Tenten was already in motion—
Dozens of kunai rained down like a storm.
Guided by steel wires, they shot into the shadows, forcing several hidden enemies out into the open.
Chiba sighed softly.
Several of them were samurai he'd seen back in Kyoto.
Courting death, are we?
"What's next, Sensei?"
"I'll protect the client," Kakashi said calmly. "You deal with them."
"Yes!"
Chiba gave a sharp wave of his hand. "Go!"
In the next instant, he flickered forward, hands weaving seals—chakra needles formed between his fingers.
Whoosh—
A blur of motion. The first enemy's eyes widened in confusion. A few seconds later, he clutched his throat, face turning red—
His jugular and windpipe had been severed.
Ghh—ghh!
Several men clutched at their necks, eyes bulging in pain. Chiba's movements were like lightning—
He hadn't left a single visible wound, yet bodies were already falling.
Tsukikage Kaza's sword could block a blade—but not a chakra needle.
An invisible blade… is the most lethal of all.
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