The night passed without excesses. I got the Genin up at first light and after a little practical lesson on traps and how to improve them, as well as a light breakfast, the team moved on. This time I did not push the kunoichi to exhaustion, but tried to give an even, not too exhausting load.
The reasons for such a "soft" attitude were obvious even to my charges - we were approaching the location of the customer indicated on the scroll handed to me. And I didn't want to squeeze all the juices out of the girls and then show three half-cadavers staggering from fatigue on arrival. Expediency, Konoha's shinobi brand and all that. If deadlines are also burning - unspecified, as is the final destination - then I need my subordinates at the peak of their form.
After all, this is their mission and they'll be the ones to fulfill it, and I'll take the insurance and a little guidance in the process. Even if they fail everything they can and can't, it won't be much of a loss. In addition to valuable experience for the team, I will have the opportunity to assess what exactly I missed in their development and adjust the training.
That's why there's a Shadow Clone sitting in the shadow of each kunoichi now, capable of not only instantly pulling a genin out of harm's way, but also constantly monitoring for danger to the guarded one even if I'm not around.
Each has a little less chakra than the lower ceiling of a standard jonin, but given the surprise, it's enough for most opponents that decide to hurt the genin first rather than their mentor. All shinobi who have survived their younger years know how to prioritize the danger of their targets.
Our customer was doing business in the city of Aoratu - not the most populated in Ho no Kuni, but thanks to one of my perfect marionettes, I had a good idea not only of the city itself, and it was hard to call it by any other name, but also of the nearest surroundings, as well as of the place of work of the "respected" businessman Ikki Yasari, specified in the mission parameters as the place of receiving the cargo.
Blank space in the column of the place of delivery is filled in at the moment of receipt - quite a standard condition for most merchants, for which additional percentages of the standard rate are charged. In this case, this item, along with the identity of the customer, immediately made me suspect something wrong. Moreover, the trader's affiliation with the shady business made us doubt the legitimacy of the cargo.
As we approached the city, we came across more and more villages with cultivated fields, where peasants were working, so we had to get on the road, so as not to trample the crops and run along it, avoiding travelers, most of whom were on foot. But ordinary people knew about the existence of shinobi, but at the level of tales and stories, so we were always accompanied by curious looks, embarrassing our charges, who were not used to such close attention. For the people of Konoha, shadows jumping on rooftops or slipping past were too familiar to pay attention to.
After about a couple hours of leisurely running, the edge of the city was visible in the distance, represented by the unassuming one-story houses and vegetable gardens of the locals. And such a speed was not a bad result for a recent student of the academy. Of course, it would take me a couple hours to get here at my top speed, and a normal person about a week, but the girls have room to grow.
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