Chapter 500: Chain Explosion
Koharu Utatane generally trusted the kunoichi of the village, with the exceptions of Tsunade and Ino Yamanaka. An ordinary ninja wouldn't dare to lie to her.
At this moment, she grabbed Hinata's wrist. "Come, let's go take a look!"
The old woman's grip was quite strong, and Hinata was dragged along for four or five steps.
Hinata suddenly pointed to a nearby street. "Ma'am, we don't need to go over there. Actually... there are explosive tags buried under the ground and in the walls here too."
"Even in the administrative building?"
"Yes."
"The hospital? The academy?"
"...I, I think so."
Koharu stopped and closed her eyes in thought for a moment. "They must have been planted when the village was being built. This kind of detonation method will definitely have a source. Use your Byakugan to search for that source."
Worried that Hinata was young and didn't understand the principles, the old woman explained a few basic rules of chain-reaction explosions in simple terms. The Second Hokage's Mutual Multiplication Explosive Tags used these rules, and as the Second Hokage's student, Koharu also had some knowledge in this area.
"If the plan is to engulf the entire village in the explosion, then the source will have a very large number of explosive tags. They will also likely be special-made. You can look at the 'explode' character on the tag. If the character looks particularly flamboyant and uses a sealing formula with sixteen or more strokes, then it's definitely a special explosive tag."
"The source should be on the outskirts of the village, definitely well-hidden. The person who secretly arranged this deadly trap should be hiding in the shadows, observing, to prevent their setup from being discovered prematurely. You need to be careful when you search."
Hinata activated her Byakugan and searched the entire village. Just as her eyes were getting sore, she finally made a discovery. "Advisor-sama, I think... I think I've found it!"
The two immediately left the administrative building, made their way to the back mountain, and then began to climb. In a cave within the Hokage Rock, they saw an old man with a defeated expression.
The old man was dressed as a stonemason. Hinata didn't recognize him, but Koharu did. This old man and a dozen other stonemasons had been hired by the village to carve the Fifth Hokage's face on the mountain.
"So... I've been discovered? It's not completely set up yet. What a shame." The seemingly ordinary stonemason suddenly began to form hand seals. Chakra flowed from his feet into the nearby wall, and a dense network of lights lit up. The explosive formulas sealed within a dozen paper talismans were all activated at the same time.
"Get out!" Koharu sent Hinata flying with a palm strike, then turned and punched the old man in the chest. She moved quickly, throwing several kunai to sever the two detonation paths she could see. But the old stonemason had been plotting this for a long time. There were many more explosive tags buried where Koharu couldn't see.
BOOM! The sound of explosions was continuous. Accompanied by an earth-shattering roar, a dazzling light shot into the sky, piercing the dark night.
The violent explosions echoed throughout Konoha, and houses collapsed one after another.
Not only the Fifth Hokage's face on the mountain but the entire back mountain itself was split by a massive crack from top to bottom. The crack continued to spread with the internal explosions.
Hinata was sent flying by the shockwave of the explosion. She gritted her teeth and stood up, stubbornly charging back in.
"Advisor-sama?!"
"Ma'am, where are you?"
Her voice was completely drowned out by the sound of the explosions.
Hinata forced herself to calm down and tried to think. What would Ino do if she were here?
Ino would probably rush in to save her, right?
She cleared her mind of all distractions and used Rotation on the spot to deflect the flying debris, making her way toward the center of the explosion little by little.
Ten seconds later, the mountain began to shake even more violently.
Hinata's face was covered in dirt. The mental stimulation had raised her ocular power another notch. She soon spotted the heavily injured Koharu in the rubble.
The old woman was barely conscious, but her right hand was still pressed firmly against the wall, using a sealing jutsu to confine the explosion of the explosive tags to the back mountain.
Koharu said tremblingly, "The explosive tag at the seven o'clock position..."
Hinata, while using Rotation, raised her hand and used a Vacuum Palm to shatter the explosive tag.
Her Vacuum Palm was accurate and fierce, completely different from her performance during training.
The old woman forced her eyes open and identified the explosion formulas on the scene one by one.
"Inside the wall at the nine o'clock position..."
"Vacuum Palm!"
"Above my head..."
"Vacuum Palm!"
Hinata unleashed all her strength. Disregarding the collapsing mountain, she used a continuous stream of Vacuum Palms to completely destroy the chain-reaction explosion formulas on the scene. Then, she frantically dug Koharu out of the rubble, put the old woman on her back, and the two of them stumbled out of the back mountain.
"What's going on? Hinata, were you attacked?"
"Koharu Utatane? Why are you so badly injured?"
Tsunade arrived quickly, rushing to the scene the moment the explosion occurred. Ino, who had been studying Yin Release and Yin-Yang five elements, heard the explosion, scanned the entire village with her sensory abilities, and then followed the Flying Thunder God mark she had left on Hinata to get there.
Seeing Koharu's faint breathing and her body covered in blood, she was also startled and prepared to use the medical ninjutsu, Mystical Palm Technique, to save her.
Tsunade quickly stopped her. The old woman might have been able to live for another two years. If you hit her with that palm, she might just die! I'll save her.
Hinata was relieved to see them arrive. She mechanically recounted the events, emphasizing that there were explosive tags buried throughout the village. The source had been dealt with, but the remaining tags had to be removed immediately. After saying this, she fainted.
Tsunade assigned a task to Ino. "Didn't Hinata say there were explosive tags buried all over the village? You take people to find them. I'll take care of the old woman here."
Ino was now a high-ranking official, more or less. Mobilizing ordinary ninja for this kind of work was no problem. She was also familiar with the Hyuga clan and could easily call on a dozen or two Byakugan users for help.
"Alright, I'll go right now. And Hinata, Master, please help her too."
"Don't worry, leave it all to me!"
After emergency treatment, Koharu Utatane woke up in the Konoha Hospital an hour later.
The nurse on duty hurried to call Tsunade.
Tsunade came over and checked on her for a moment. "Alright, it's not a big problem. You'll be fine after some rest. Koharu... Auntie Koharu, it's not that I'm trying to tell you what to do, but..."
Koharu tremblingly raised a hand and said in a passive-aggressive tone, "Please, Lady Tsunade, don't call me that. I'm not worthy. Just call me a dead old hag."
Tsunade wasn't embarrassed at all. "You are a bit old, but you've rendered a great service to Konoha this time. You deserve the respect."
________________________________________
If you want more chapters, please consider supporting my page on Patreon. with 50 advanced chapters available on Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/GirlsLove1