Early the next morning, before the sky had even brightened, people in the caravan were already up and making breakfast for everyone.
Taiichi got up along with them. Even in the wild, daily training couldn't be interrupted. He went alone to a nearby forest, found a clearing, and began practicing his Basic Taijutsu and Kenjutsu.
> [You practiced Advanced Taijutsu. Your comprehension has improved.]
> [Your skill Advanced Taijutsu has leveled up. Experience +1]
> [Congratulations, your skill Advanced Taijutsu has reached Lv1 (0/2000)]
> [You practiced Hatake Style Kenjutsu. Your comprehension has improved.]
> [Your skill Hatake Style Kenjutsu has leveled up. Experience +1]
> [Congratulations, your skill Hatake Style Kenjutsu has reached Lv10 (Max Level). New Skill Acquired: Sword Intent]
> [Sword Intent: Infuse your spirit into the blade, combining your will with the sword to pressure the enemy. Causes fear, retreat, and hesitation in the enemy; severe cases can induce hallucinations. Cannot be leveled up directly. Power is determined by Kenjutsu level and Yin Nature Transformation.]
> [Congratulations. Combining your insights, your Hatake Style Kenjutsu has evolved into Advanced Kenjutsu Lv0 (0/1000)]
With the continuous panel notifications, two crucial components of Taiichi's combat power finally leveled up. This improvement was significantly stronger than before. A massive influx of memories surged forth, slowly settling into Taiichi's entire being.
Taiichi felt as if he were in a chaotic void, endlessly training Taijutsu and Kenjutsu until all the memories were fully digested.
With this, Taiichi's techniques in Taijutsu and Kenjutsu were at least preliminarily comparable to a Jonin.
...
"Taiichi, training?" Saori, who had just woken up, greeted Taiichi as he returned. But immediately, she noticed something was off and stared at him intently.
Taiichi, feeling awkward under her gaze, asked puzzledly, "Saori, what's wrong? Is there something on my face?" He touched his clean face.
"Oh... no." Snapping out of it, Saori quickly lowered her head, poking her fingers together shyly. "I just feel like you changed a lot overnight, Taiichi. Even your eyes look different."
Hearing this, Taiichi understood. His body probably hadn't fully adapted to the breakthrough yet. "I was just practicing my sword work and had a bit of an epiphany. It'll settle down in a while."
"Is that so? You're amazing, Taiichi."
After this small interlude, as time passed, the convoy, like a giant python waking from rest, stretched its body. After everyone finished breakfast, they continued yesterday's journey.
During the journey, Captain Yamaguchi and Yohei also marveled at Taiichi's change. However, only Captain Yamaguchi knew that Taiichi's breakthrough was likely significant; otherwise, his aura wouldn't have become so much sharper.
Days passed one by one. By the fourth day, even Yohei felt bored. The repetitive travel had long worn away his initial enthusiasm. Even the jokes from fellow travelers couldn't catch his interest anymore.
Compared to Yohei, Taiichi, who knew the Shadow Clone Jutsu, had it much better. Every day, he sent a Shadow Clone to handle surveillance while he practiced Nature Transformation or experimented with his newly learned Sword Intent. His days were fulfilling.
As for Saori, she sat in Mrs. Ishihara's carriage. Ever since they first spoke on day one, Mrs. Ishihara frequently brought little Ishihara to chat with Saori, and their relationship slowly grew closer.
Finally, on the fourth day, the group left the Land of Fire and entered the Land of Rivers.
"We'll be entering the Land of Rivers today. Everyone, stay sharp and remain vigilant. It won't be as stable here as it was in the Land of Fire," Captain Yamaguchi warned everyone.
"Yes!" x3
The caravan officially entered the Land of Rivers in the afternoon. Taiichi could clearly feel the guards, who had been somewhat relaxed, become vigilant. The number of patrolling personnel more than doubled.
This made Taiichi stop his training and join his Shadow Clone in keeping watch over the surroundings.
Sure enough, not long after, the caravan encountered an ambush.
At the rear of the convoy, a dozen bandits in tattered clothes, waving broken katanas, rushed forward chaotically.
Disorganized, without formation—a mob of rabble. They didn't even break through the guards' defense before leaving seven or eight corpses behind and fleeing in panic.
Yohei was the first to spot the ambush, but he didn't charge forward. Instead, he stood dazed on the side.
"How are you holding up? You okay?" Taiichi's voice came from behind Yohei. Taiichi arrived at Yohei's side and looked at his pale face.
"First time seeing people killed?"
"Yeah. I didn't even kill them myself, and I'm like this. Taiichi, am I useless?" Yohei said dejectedly.
This was the first time Taiichi had seen Yohei like this. Yohei was usually goofy and cheerful. It seemed this hit him hard.
"Everyone is different. I believe a little difficulty like this won't stop you," Taiichi encouraged.
"Yeah! I'll definitely be fine!" Yohei's mood swung back quickly.
"Do you think Saori would be scared silly if she saw this? She usually acts so timid," Yohei said with a cheeky grin.
Taiichi looked at Yohei like he was an idiot, confusing Yohei.
Following Taiichi's gaze, Yohei looked toward the battlefield in the distance. A little girl was helping everyone handle the corpses, occasionally poking one here and kicking one there. That was Saori.
Nearby, Captain Yamaguchi was watching from a distance. Noticing Taiichi's gaze, the two exchanged nods. Then, with a poof, both disappeared. It turned out both were Shadow Clones.
Left behind, Yohei clearly took an even bigger hit. After a long silence, he finally stepped forward to help Saori deal with the bodies, getting used to the slaughter.
The memories returned by the Shadow Clone made Taiichi smile slightly. He could imagine Yohei's crushed expression, so he didn't go over to laugh at him.
Half an hour later, the reorganized caravan continued forward.
But it seemed all their luck had run out in the previous days. Over the next day, the caravan suffered four more attacks.
Although there were no deaths among the caravan personnel, injuries were inevitable. This made the atmosphere of the entire caravan increasingly heavy.
At this moment, in the middle of the caravan.
"Captain, something feels wrong. Is this frequency of attacks normal?" Taiichi's Shadow Clone came to ask.
"It's not normal. The frequency is too high. Even bandits wouldn't be gathered so densely. Go inform Yohei to stay vigilant." Captain Yamaguchi also expressed his doubts.
"Yes." After answering, Taiichi headed to the rear guard to warn Yohei.
The only benefit of these frequent attacks was that they tempered Yohei and Saori's courage. In subsequent attacks, both could calmly engage the enemy.
What surprised everyone was that Saori, usually timid and weak, became incredibly fierce once she engaged in battle.
Her kunai strikes were lethal, and her Lightning Style was domineering and intense. Seeing this, Taiichi and Yohei spoke a little softer to Saori after the battles.
This made Saori embarrassed, causing her two little fingers to poke together even faster.
Days like this continued for more than a day. Just as everyone relaxed their vigilance, thinking the attacks would remain inconsequential harassments, the real assault was about to arrive.