When Toshi was unsummoned, Kaida quickly made a shadow clone and dispersed it. The clone that Kaida had sent to help Yomi received the memory of Kaida and an order:

*If Yomi and Ryota are safe, tell them to stay there and disperse yourself to inform me of your location.*

The clone looked toward Yomi and Ryota. They had run quite a distance and were now 10 kilometers away from their initial position. The clone appeared in front of them and said,

"It looks like Yukihiro-sensei's fight is over, and the remaining enemy ninjas were ordered to retreat. Kaida asked you guys to stay here; he will be coming any minute."

After saying that, the clone dispersed itself. Kaida received the location of Yomi and Ryota and used the Wind Instantaneous Movement Jutsu to reach their location as fast as he could, covering the distance of 10 kilometers in just one minute.

"It's great that you guys are safe. Did any of you suffer any injuries during the fight?" Kaida asked as soon as he arrived in front of Yomi and Ryota.

"We're okay, just a little exhausted. Running for this long while evading attacks is very difficult," Yomi said with a laugh.

Kaida looked toward Ryota, and both nodded at each other.

*bark bark*

"Oh! Looks like Kiba, you were able to save both of them, huh?" Kaida said to Kiba while patting his head.

Since they were quite a distance away, Yukihiro wouldn't be able to sense them and come to their position, so they headed back to the caravan, which was currently being protected by two samurai from the Land of Iron, who were acting as bodyguards for the council members.

Yukihiro and Kaida's clones were also present there to protect their client in case someone from the enemy ranks managed to reach them.

Seeing Kaida and the team returning, Yukihiro's clone dispersed itself, and Yukihiro received the memory of his clone.

"Great, it looks like all of them are alright. Also, I don't have to look for them now. Let's just store his body first."

Yukihiro stored the body of the Jonin he had killed and then went back to the location where they had first killed some Chunin and Genin during their initial attack. Even though their bodies were badly damaged due to the fire attack, Yukihiro still stored them.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Then he also used the Wind Instantaneous Movement Jutsu to return to the caravan.

Just as he arrived in front of his students and was about to ask them about their well-being, one of the councilmen came out of the caravan and said,

"Yukihiro, what took you so long? I expected better from you."

"I am sorry, sir, but the enemy numbered 20 and even had 2 Jonin-level ninjas. We were able to kill many of them, but not all. Due to such a huge disadvantage in numbers, some of them managed to escape.

So, I think we can't continue to travel at such a slow pace. Since we had to eat soldier pills to counter them, we will be unable to fight after 3 days. I suggest that we carry you to the Land of Noodles as fast as we can, while the caravan continues to travel as it is now.

This way, it may act as a distraction while we reach the Land of Noodles," Yukihiro said.

The councilman looked visibly pissed, with a frown on his face as he replied,

"Why should we suffer due to your incompetence? You should have killed those damn pests. Now that you failed to do your job properly, it is your responsibility to protect us if they come again."

Kaida was very angered after hearing such a remark. He thought,

'We were fighting with our lives on the line for such a fool. Was that worth it? I'm pretty sure that if any of us had died during the fight, he wouldn't have even batted an eye and would have just blamed us as incompetent.'

But he controlled his anger and tried to argue reasonably.

"Sir, we just told you that we fought 20 ninjas, including 2 Jonin, Chunin, and Genin, while we were just 1 Jonin and 3 Genin. We had to put our lives on the line to save you.

And in the end, we were able to save you, so I think we completed our job perfectly."

"How dare a brat talk in between us! And do you think I will be in your debt for saving my life? It is your job to die for me. Our lives are more important than hundreds of yours," the councilman said to Kaida, his frown deepening.

This was the limit of what Kaida could tolerate.

He used the Wind Instantaneous Movement Jutsu and appeared just behind the councilman, with his sword at the man's neck.

"Sensei, I think I'm fine with having some failed missions on my resume. Can we just kill him and say we were unable to save him?" Kaida asked Yukihiro, pressing his sword against the councilman's neck, causing a small cut.

Both of the samurai drew their weapons, ready to attack. Yomi and Ryota also took out their weapons and appeared on the left and right of Kaida, prepared to defend him against any attack from the samurai.

"Unfortunately, Kaida, we can't always take the easy way. The deal with the Land of Noodles is important—it's crucial for stabilizing our village's economic condition.

We can't put our village in danger just because of some fools. However, if he keeps blabbering such nonsense, you can kill him, and I'll handle the rest. I'm pretty sure Lord Third will be able to finalize the deal with or without them," Yukihiro said, sounding increasingly sinister with each word. The councilman could tell from his tone that Yukihiro was completely serious.

Kaida nodded after hearing this, removed his sword from the man's neck, and all three of them used movement jutsu to appear behind Yukihiro.

Yukihiro then put a business smile on his face and said,

"Dear elder, you can wait in the carriage for a while. Once we've rested a bit, we will continue our journey."

The councilman nodded his head so fast that he might have gotten neck cramps. Seeing the tension subside, the bodyguards put away their weapons.

After that, Yukihiro and the team moved a little away from the carriage.

"I'm sorry, sensei. I lost my cool there," Kaida apologized to Yukihiro.

"Well, you did a great job, because thanks to you, I was able to control myself. Otherwise, I might have killed him outright.

This is why I don't do escort missions, or rather, why Lord Third doesn't give me such missions. But now that I'm getting these missions, you can guess how bad our village's condition is.

But let's leave that aside. I don't think that fool will speak out again, at least not until we return to the village.

Now, tell me, are you guys alright?"

"Yes, sensei. We managed to kill 2 ninjas during our initial surprise attack, but the sound of fighting drew other ninjas to our position. We weren't sure about going up against 4 Chunin by ourselves, so we decided to run and keep them distracted," Ryota said.

"Good choice. Were you guys able to store the bodies of the ninjas you killed?" Yukihiro asked.

"No, sensei. We didn't have enough time," Yomi said.

"No problem. Now, Kaida, what about you?" Yukihiro asked.

"I was able to injure the enemy, but he summoned a defense-type summon that looked like an armadillo, and because of that, I couldn't kill him. After that, the red smoke allowed him to escape. I think his name was Kazuki."

*******

(A.N: Thanks for reading ^~^)