***
As they walked, Yome whispered to Chi, "He makes it sound like we're holding him back, when he's the one who needs our help."
"But it's true, Yome," Chi replied with a wry smile. "Daigan and I have been genin for years, and you're not a rookie anymore either. If we weren't liabilities, we wouldn't be on the same team."
A squad of three failures. Only Daigan had a shred of ambition. Whether they admitted it or not, Daigan was the strongest of the three.
"Let's give it another try, Yome. Daigan isn't a nice guy, but he probably won't just abandon us."
"You think so?"
"That's why we have to work hard. If we can't keep up, we can't blame anyone for being left behind."
The competition in Sunagakure was too fierce. Limited resources had to be prioritized for the more talented and better-performing ninja. The mediocre ones, who had in fact already been given up on, would either struggle for a few years before meeting an untimely end or quit being ninja altogether. Konoha's so-called harsh one-in-three success rate was an extravagance Sunagakure simply couldn't afford.
…
The Land of Wind was vast, but ninja traveled fast. A trip from Sunagakure to Konoha would take about three days. Of course, that was Might Guy's top speed without any rest; an ordinary ninja was nowhere near that fast. It took Otokaze's squad a full five days just to reach the border of the Land of Wind.
By a rough estimate, their travel speed was less than a third of Might Guy's. Factoring in stamina consumption, their pace over long distances was probably less than a quarter of his. The gap was enormous.
*This won't do,* Daigan thought anxiously. *Our fundamentals are too weak.*
Chi's stamina was average and her speed was ordinary, but she needed long rest periods. Yome had decent stamina, but her short legs limited her speed. Daigan himself could barely keep up with Otokaze, but by the time they reached a small town not far from the border, he was too exhausted to walk.
They had no choice but to stay the night at an inn to recover before officially preparing to eliminate the bandit group.
…
The four of them left the town early the next morning, only to sneak back in disguise a short while later. Otokaze was disguised as an old man, with Daigan as his grandson and Chi and Yome as his granddaughters.
"I feel like I'm being taken advantage of," Daigan grumbled, tugging at the ugly linen clothes of his disguise as a merchant's son from the Land of Grass.
Chi, dressed as a common farm girl, wore a calm expression that completely contradicted her attire. Otokaze's old man disguise wasn't great either; he looked far too energetic for his apparent age. It seemed that Sunagakure's lessons in disguise and infiltration weren't very effective.
Yome's little granddaughter act, however, was flawless. Her small frame and innocent face made her look nothing like a ninja.
"Quiet down, Daigan. You're about to rip the hem of your sleeve," Otokaze reminded him in a low voice.
"I can't help it. These clothes are so uncomfortable."
The sun in the Land of Wind's desert was merciless. Any exposed skin would surely get sunburned after a short time. That was why the locals were generally covered from head to toe. The clothing of a civilian from the Land of Grass was completely unsuitable here. In just a short while, Daigan's exposed arms were already turning red and starting to itch. If the early spring sun was this harsh, wearing this in the height of summer would definitely cause problems.
"We could have gathered intelligence in town. Why go through all this extra trouble?"
"You all have too little experience," Otokaze said, shaking his head. "Take a look at this town. Don't you find it strange?"
"Strange how? It's a bit rundown and messy, but nothing special, right? The people here are a little wary of strangers, but that's not a big deal."
The four walked along streets that looked almost identical to before, feigning interest in the goods sold by peddlers on the roadside.
"See that man with the stall over there? The one we just passed? He's very likely a bandit fencing stolen goods."
"No way…" The three genin were clearly skeptical.
"Fools, don't turn around and look. It's too conspicuous." Otokaze stopped his subordinates from investigating further. "You genin have barely left the Land of Wind, and you've probably rarely been to the borderlands. There are certain subtleties you'll never understand without experiencing them firsthand."
Otokaze led his three subordinates to a secluded tea house and found a quiet corner to sit. Seeing that no one was paying them any attention, he spoke in a low voice. "This town is very likely one of the bandit group's bases."
"You're kidding!" Daigan was shocked. "Are you saying we've walked right into the lion's den?"
"It's not that dramatic. We're not in any immediate danger."
"So that's why we pretended to leave and then snuck back—to wait for an opportunity to strike?"
"No." Otokaze refuted Daigan's assessment. "Many of the people in this town are family members of the bandits, or common folk on the verge of becoming bandits themselves. The borderlands are different from the interior…"
Otokaze then began to explain the inside story to his three subordinates.
The relationship between the Land of Wind and the Land of Grass was not good, which had given rise to buffer zones along their border that neither side really governed. These areas often shifted with the seasonal rivers and oases. The town they were in, for example, had once been completely abandoned until passing merchants began trading there a few years ago, breathing new life into it.