Uchiha Tatsumi, who had just been lying on the ground pretending to be dead, stood up slowly.
Facing Mikoto's question, he didn't answer directly but pointed toward the forest floor.
"Mikoto, take a closer look at the ground. Do you notice anything?"
Mikoto nodded seriously. Her Sharingan flared to life, and she began to examine the area.
Though the Sharingan wasn't made for pure reconnaissance, its enhanced perception far surpassed normal vision.
But really, Mikoto—using the Sharingan for something this trivial? Indra might roll in his grave.
"There used to be a path here," Mikoto said after a moment. "It's been buried under weeds and fallen leaves."
"Exactly. Looks like it was abandoned a long time ago," Uchiha Tatsumi confirmed, glancing at her.
"But this path isn't marked on any of the maps," he sighed.
"So other ninja might be using these hidden, unmarked routes," Mikoto continued his train of thought.
"That's right. Our current mission is to uncover all the paths that aren't recorded on the map." Uchiha Tatsumi bit his finger and formed hand seals. "Summoning Jutsu!"
A large number of snakes slithered out of the summoning array that appeared beneath his hand.
They weren't venomous, but they were numerous and extremely stealthy.
As natural creatures, they could blend into the forest far more efficiently than humans.
Plus, being from a contracted summoning group, their thoughts were partially linked with Tatsumi's, and they could move quickly across terrain.
If they found anything unusual, they could alert him immediately.
This was why Uchiha Tatsumi's team didn't include a tracking specialist—these snakes were more than enough.
Of course, they weren't intelligent enough for complex missions.
Even getting them to search for hidden roads in the forest was already pushing their limits.
But still, it was a convenient workaround.
Minato's toads didn't have this kind of function.
The toads specialized in combat support and sage mode—but wide-area summoning reconnaissance wasn't in their toolbox.
Gain something, lose something.
Toads had elastic tongues and high intelligence, but when it came to mass deployment, snakes won out.
Minato might not care, but Jiraiya definitely wouldn't envy Orochimaru.
"Aren't we going to monitor other areas too?" Mikoto asked curiously.
"There are countless trees in the Land of Fire," Tatsumi said, placing a hand on an enormous trunk. "These trees, some decades or centuries old, are natural barriers. But they're also a deadly maze."
In his previous life, a tree this big would've broken world records.
If Uchiha Tatsumi owned a couple of trees like this, he might've been able to sell them to buy a good house—assuming the country didn't claim them first.
Returning from his thoughts, Tatsumi explained, "If someone enters here without a guide, it's entirely possible to get lost and either starve or be trapped for days."
"No one can guarantee they'll make it out of the forest without following a known path."
"So if a transport team from the Land of Rain wants to smuggle gold out of the Land of Fire, they'd have to stick to a fixed route."
He was answering Mikoto's earlier question.
"Our job now is to find out where those routes might be," he continued.
"There's no way a handful of us can monitor this entire area without identifying the chokepoints." Tatsumi smiled.
What he said made sense. Mikoto stopped pressing further.
Once the snakes dispersed into the forest, Uchiha Tatsumi clapped his hands.
"Alright, while the snakes are scouting, let's look for a water source."
"It shouldn't be hard to find water in this forest near the Land of Rain…"
He didn't finish the sentence but chose a direction and started walking.
"Are there signs of animal activity in this area?" Mikoto asked, curious.
Tatsumi didn't answer immediately. He sniffed the air.
There was a faint scent of blood—but not human blood.
It was the scent of herbivorous animals. Animals tended to stay close to water sources, after all.
He moved in the direction the scent came from, confident there would be water nearby.
Sure enough, after about twenty minutes, a small stream flowed before them.
Mikoto's eyes lit up in surprise.
She opened a sealing scroll, and with a puff of smoke, several empty water buckets dropped out.
"If we fill these, it should last us quite a while," Tatsumi said.
"If we fill them, I can take at least one or two proper baths," Mikoto nodded.
"…"
There was always a gap between what men and women prioritized.
They filled the buckets, Mikoto resealed them, and then they turned to head back.
A snake slid up Uchiha Tatsumi's leg and whispered in his ear.
"The summoned snakes have found a promising route," Tatsumi said as he stood. "I'll go scout it out and lay a few traps."
"Want to come, Kushina?" he asked.
This could very well be Kushina's final mission before her assignments changed.
Tatsumi wanted to let her enjoy it.
"Of course!" she nodded, eyes gleaming.
"Mikoto, someone needs to guard the tent. It's too dangerous to leave it empty. If Nawaki returns, help him prepare dinner."
"Oh, and don't let Nawaki do the cooking himself—unless you want to spend the night with a stomachache."
After some light cleanup, Tatsumi and Kushina headed out into the forest.
Being able to go on a mission with Tatsumi made her happy.
"Hey, Tatsumi, is our position really important?" she asked as they walked.
He thought for a moment, considering how the teams were distributed.
They were stationed on the outermost perimeter—so probably the least critical position.
But he smiled and said, "Yeah, we're the final trump card."
"Like in a card game, we're the big joker. No one gets past us."
Kushina beamed.
"But Tsunade told me, if you play your trump card too early, it loses impact. You've got to wait until the last moment—only then will it blow everyone away."
"She said, 'Don't use it on some weak combo. Use it to crush everything. Make the dealer doubt their life choices.'"
"…"
The Big Sheep truly didn't hold back when she spoke.
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