After breakfast, Keigo still had something to do so Ren had to wait for him until lunch before they finally left to inspect the detection seals.

It sounded important. The detection seal system. But it was far less impressive than it sounded. Which was why nobody was rushing Ren to go and have a look at it.

It was just one component of the border security here and it wasn’t even all that effective. The regular patrols with sensor ninjas probably caught more intruders than these seals. Especially since the seals were in the forest a few kilometers away from the shoreline.

But it was like locking the door to the house after already locking the gate. It simply added a bit more security.

The security seals send a signal to the master seal at the border base whenever somebody with a genin-level chakra or more passes near them. But their range is only around fifty meters and unfortunately, there are quite large gaps between the seal placements.

The border was just too wide to have these seals every fifty meters so they were only in key spots. Plus, it was obvious to Ren that they were painted by a single person so probably not many in the Barrier Corps could create them, which limited how many could Konoha put near each border base.

It also showed how stretched thin the Barrier Corps were to send a fresh chunin for this maintenance run. But he wouldn’t complain. There were some benefits for him from it.

When Ren saw the first detection seal, he instantly had several ideas on how to improve them, but he didn’t act on it. If he did so, the Konoha’s higher-ups would definitely have him run all around the Land of Fire’s border, adjusting every single one of these seals to be better.

It would take him years. No. This was not the time to show off. This was the time to shut up and do his job and only his job.

He would keep his ideas and create something for himself based on them later on.

“So, how are things back in Konoha?” Keigo asked after Ren checked the tenth seal and they were on their way to the eleventh, probably bored out of his mind.

They were supposed to stay silent and on guard but the man was a genuine chatterbox and clearly found it hard.

Ren shrugged, “I don’t know. The same as always? Peaceful? The village is preparing for sure but the overall atmosphere did not change.”

“That’s good.” Keigo happily smiled, “I really wish this conflict would end soon. Sitting in the border base all day is boring. Can’t wait to get back home, ya know?”

“Somebody waiting for you?” Ren teased.

Keigo rubbed his nose in embarrassment, “Hehe. I have a childhood sweetheart back in Konoha. I miss her.”

“That’s nice.” It really was. Ren was happy for him.

“She didn’t agree to go out with me yet, but…” Keigo awkwardly turned his head away from Ren, making his lips twitch.

“Say no more. Let me guess.” Ren rubbed his chin, pretending to be deep in thought before he deadpanned, “She doesn’t know she is your childhood sweetheart.”

It frankly wouldn’t surprise him with how the man acted.

“Low blow.” Keigo huffed, “But no. I… I didn’t ask her out yet. I wanted to! But I kinda chickened out, hehe.” He blushed before his shoulders slumped, “Haa~, I feel like a loser. But! I’ll ask her out the second I return from this mission. I already made up my mind.”

They walked in silence for a few moments because Ren genuinely didn’t know what to say next. Fortunately, Keigo wasn’t short for words.

“What about you? Anybody waiting for you back home?” He asked, making Ren’s eyebrows furrow as he considered the answer.

“… not really? I am tutoring two academy students back in Konoha but I don’t think that counts.”

“Hmm… female students?” Keigo threw Ren a mischievous grin.

But Ren just rolled his eyes at the manchild, “Does it matter?”

“Yes.” Keigo sagely nodded.

“They are girls.” Ren dryly said.

“Uhu.” Keigo’s grin widened, “And do you want to have sex with them?”

Ren didn’t expect such a blunt question. Not even from Keigo. So, it almost made him miss his next step. After finding his balance, he turned toward Keigo and retorted, “They are fourteen.”

“That’s not a no.” Keigo helpfully informed Ren with a small shrug, making Ren snort.

“Fuck you.”

“I am straight.” Keigo casually shook his head in refusal.

Ren threw him an irritated look and muttered under his nose, “Could have fooled me.”

“Still not a no.” Keigo reminded Ren in a sing-song voice, making Ren sigh in exasperation.

“You need Jesus.” Ren said, speeding up his walking speed and leaving Keigo slightly behind.

Keigo owlishly blinked, “Who?”

Quickly catching up with Ren, Keigo decided to change the topic, probably recognizing he was pushing a little bit too far into Ren’s comfort zone with his teasing, “Anyway, we should totally go out for drinks back home. I can introduce you to a few chicks.”

Ren glanced at him, noticing that he was actually serious right now, and slightly smiled. “I thought you were the guy who had problems confessing to your childhood friend? How come you know ‘chicks’? Are there a lot of chicken coops near your house?”

Keigo just waved the question off, “Hmm… looking at you, you will need somebody who can take the reins. A dominatrix perha-“

Alright. He wasn’t as serious as Ren thought.

Ren’s fist sprang up and almost smashed into Keigo’s shoulder but the man barely managed to jump back while shouting, “Otto! Hey! What was that for?”

“I’ll show you dominatrix. I’ll tie you up and leave you inside the Land of Earth borders if you try that.” Ren threatened in a light-hearted tone.

“You don’t need to go that far. I was just joking, bro.” Keigo pouted and petulantly crossed his arms on his chest.

“Right. Because I am sure if I let you set up a blind date for me, Anko Mitarashi would totally not show up, yeah?” Ren retorted with a small amused smirk.

He did contemplate for a moment if it would be worth it. He was interested in Orochimaru’s cursed seal but meeting a psycho like Anko… Ren wasn’t very enthusiastic about it.

“You know me so well already?” Keigo interrupted Ren’s thoughts, “You really are my brother from another mother!”

Ren blinked at that, finding it hard to believe Keigo said this to him. “You said the same thing to the guard just three hours ago. Right in front of me.” He dryly said, giving Keigo a disbelieving look.

“Well… it works?” Keigo awkwardly defended, rubbing the back of his head while his cheeks slightly flushed from embarrassment.

Ren would bet the man forgot he said the same thing to the guard.

“Anyway, we are almost there. That detection seal is definitely faulty.” Keigo seriously said, switching the topic and trying to pretend the previous few seconds did not happen.

Ren contemplated for a moment if he should tease him further but seeing the nervous look in his brown eyes, he decided to cut him some slack.

“How’d you know?” He asked, focusing on the faulty seal instead.

“I tried crossing near it but apparently, nothing was noticed back at the base. It clearly doesn’t work.” Keigo said as they approached a big rock reaching up to Ren’s torso, sitting in the middle of the forest among the trees. “It’s on the rock.”

They came closer to the rock and Ren put his palm on it, pulsing his chakra in a specific way to… the seal suddenly appeared on the rock and Ren frowned.

More than faulty, it looked disru-

His eyes instantly widened as his ears caught a slight noise from behind and he jumped away from the rock, not even having enough time to shout out a warning for Keigo as swishing sounds passed the place he stood at just a split second ago.

Ren landed horizontally on a tree trunk in a crouch and looked back toward the rock, only to grimace in sadness as he saw Keigo riddled with several kunai handles deep in various parts of his body.

The one going straight through the middle of his neck was definitely fatal even if he somehow miraculously survived the others.

Releasing a sad breath, Ren glanced around the treetops and noticed four ninjas, all wearing a blank ANBU mask, making Ren curse under his nose but he didn’t have the time to complain as he quickly had to jump away from the tree he stood on before a fireball smashed into it.

—

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep