On Kimimaro's side, he was still training most of the time with Karin, Suigetsu, Ranmaru and Sasuke.

  The dolls were so well-liked that they even owned some themselves, Kimimaro had a Jugo doll, as did Karin, but she treated hers as a precious possession, while Kimimaro built a small altar for Jugo, the man would make a great follower.

  Suigetsu had a doll of himself, also the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist collection, he especially liked his own doll, admiring it with a smug look.

  Ranmaru didn't care much about it, he only bought a few out of curiosity, but kept them on a shelf at home.

  Sasuke rolled his eyes when he saw his own doll, especially when he discovered that his doll was one of the most popular, usually bought by little girls.

  He ignored all of that, but when he saw Itachi's, part of the rogue ninja lineage, he bought one just to burn it.

  Even Guren had a doll of herself, one of Orochimaru, and secretly, one of Jugo.

  Kimimaro's group, however, was undertaking missions in the open, and with the growing fame of Otogakure, as well as the particularly high mission completion rate, ninja work progressed rapidly, mainly through merchants who passed through to buy typical Otogakure products, such as dried fruits with a particularly sweet taste, appreciated by the nobility of many places.

  Currently, the group was on one of these missions. Kimimaro didn't need to come, but judging that Itachi might be keeping an eye on Sasuke and could appear at any moment to drag his brother back to Konoha, Jugo still made him act together with Sasuke as a team.

  Their team was quite complete, Ranmaru, through his eyes, was very good at reconnaissance, Karin was even better, not only could she sense chakra from a distance, but she could also restrain anyone with seals and heal, Suigetsu and Sasuke were the front line, in the end, Kimimaro just strolled along with them.

  If it weren't for his serious nature, he could act like Kakashi, walking around with a lazy face and a book in his hand, but unfortunately the man preferred to take every mission seriously, even a simple escort mission.

  The large caravan moved slowly along the road toward the Land of Fire. A fat merchant spoke constantly with Kimimaro, pleased to have acquired such a strong ninja.

  Kimimaro wasn't very well-known before, but now he's part of the village's high-ranking collection, so even without ever having seen Kimimaro fight, the merchant placed him in the "strong" category as soon as he saw him.

  This is how this world worked, ninjas could learn each other's true strength through constant information disputes, often resulting in tragic deaths to acquire valuable information.

  But for ordinary people, a ninja's power was limited to general recognition. Age, rank, Ninja Village, notoriety... That's how they judged a ninja's strength, basically a mix of rumors and general knowledge.

  Kimimaro ignored the fat man while observing his surroundings, ready for any situation.

  Sasuke was in the lead with Ranmaru, who used his eyes to scan the path ahead from time to time. Sasuke just had an indifferent face, annoyed at having to participate in missions instead of training.

  Behind the caravan, Suigetsu and Karin were like two opposite poles, Karin annoyed by Suigetsu's incessant talking and Suigetsu clearly talking about whatever came to his mind, clearly bored.

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  -I really wish Itachi would come after Sasuke. I heard Kisame works with him and I really want to get Samehada.- Suigetsu sighed, speaking enviously. -Kubikiribocho is cool, but Samehada is so strong... I could even beat Kimimaro and...

  -Shut up! You annoying guy! Sword this! Sword that! Can't you stay quiet for a minute?!- Karin yelled, frustrated.

  Snapping the string, Suigetsu looked at Karin with a mocking expression. -At least I don't stare at Jugo's doll like it's a god.

  Karin's face flushed red with embarrassment, but this quickly turned to anger. Chakra surged in her hand as she punched Suigetsu. At that moment, Suigetsu's entire upper body exploded into water.

  Karin had been learning to control chakra to inflict devastating damage for some time, and with her chakra control, she progressed rapidly.

  Suigetsu quickly reformed, glaring at Karin with irritation, but seeing the woman's annoyed face, he dropped the hilt of his sword, it wasn't worth it, especially if Karin managed to catch him with those chains.

  After she grew stronger, Suigetsu had to take Karin seriously.

  He spat and ignored the woman, remaining silent as he walked away, he grabbed his water bottle and began to refill his fluids. Karin glanced at him once more, huffed and continued walking with heavy steps, there was no point in arguing now.

  Kimimaro simply looked at them and ignored them, he was already used to that duo.

  Karin ignored Suigetsu, but didn't forget her job. Making a hand seal, her awareness quickly spread as she observed the chakra from a distance. At that moment, her eyes opened in surprise.

  -Captain, ninja squad approaching at 8 o'clock!- Karin shouted.

  As soon as she said that, Kimimaro moved to face that position, Ranmaru's eyes turned red, focusing on that area and seeing the ninjas approaching.

  -Three squads, Anbu masks without any symbols.- Ranmaru said.

  Kimimaro narrowed his eyes, and the next moment he felt the fat man approaching with a look of anxious fear, but while Kimimaro wanted to ask the man to back away, his eyes widened.

  A loud explosion rang out from the crater, the fat merchant's body had been blown to pieces, but Kimimaro was alright. He had been thrown far away by the blast, a layer of bone covering his now charred skin, falling to the ground. Kimimaro's eyes sharpened as his brow furrowed slightly.

  The sound of explosions didn't stop, the other members of the convoy threw themselves against Kimimaro's four companions, exploding at the slightest sign. The only unlucky one was Ranmaru, who was focused on the enemy and was hit by the explosion head-on.

  He was thrown far away, he groaned in pain, his body burned and his bones dislocated, even part of his flesh was torn away, exposing the bones underneath, but like a werewolf, he began to regenerate even before he fell.

  Karin ran towards him, she had used her chains to try and seal the suicide bombers, but they weren't using chakra, instead they were using remotely activated explosive tags.

  She placed her hand on Ranmaru's wound and the green chakra began to accelerate his natural healing. The boy gritted his teeth and endured the pain.

  Sasuke had dealt with his opponents using a fireball, burning them to ashes, while Suigetsu slashed them with his sword, unconcerned about being blown up.

  The group approached, with Kimimaro looking around to see that the others were alright.

  -Captain, they're coming!- Karin shouted, looking towards the forest.

  The group stood up, Ranmaru having already taken off his burnt shirt, glaring irritably at the group that arrived.

  Twelve people wearing ANBU animal masks stood in the trees, staring at them without saying anything.

  When Kimimaro was ready to speak, the group didn't bother talking, quickly moving into attack mode.

  Kimimaro frowned, but didn't back down. A rain of kunai flew at them, but he simply raised his hand. A bone emerged as it stretched out and then opened like an umbrella, protecting everyone behind it.

  Sasuke didn't stand still, sealing quickly, he pointed at them while spitting out a huge and extremely hot fireball.

  Suigetsu pulled Kubikiribocho along as he advanced, laughing excitedly. - Hey! Sasuke! Let's see who can kill more!

  Sasuke grumbled, uninterested in playing with Suigetsu, but still pulled out a kunai and attacked head-on.

  Chains emerged from Karin's back, reaching out to provide support and Ranmaru began to do hand seals while his eyes turned red. The enemies seemed to see a dense fog forming around them, clearly a Genjutsu, but when they tried to dissipate it, they realized they couldn't.

  Kimimaro didn't move, he wanted to see if the four of them could handle the enemies.

  Instead, he looked at the merchants who blew themselves up.

  It was clearly a planned ambush.

  Since they couldn't infiltrate the hidden sound village, they used missions issued by merchants to lure them out, but why?

  Kimimaro wanted to report this as quickly as possible, but for now he needed to capture some of these guys for questioning.