Chapter 39: Lightning Kill
At this moment, inside a cave not far from Kyosuke.
Several figures stood motionless, like statues perched on the rocks. At their feet, a pair of young children were bound.
This was the group of ninja who had infiltrated the Daimyō's residence and abducted his children.
But now, they were like stone figures. If not for the slight rise and fall of their chests, one might think they were already dead.
Suddenly, all of their heads snapped up in perfect unison.
"Hehehe, the fish have taken the bait."
Each of them wore the same expression and repeated the same sentence in the same tone.
It was a good thing the two children had already been knocked out. Otherwise, the sight of this would have likely scared them unconscious.
At this time, Kyosuke and the others had arrived outside the cave.
However, because the enemy held hostages, they didn't rush in immediately. Instead, they first observed the situation from outside.
"Rei, can you confirm the enemy's situation?" Ansui asked without turning his head.
"I can," Rei replied. She then formed a hand seal and held it in front of her chest.
Instantly, a strange chakra wave emanated from her.
Kyosuke was all too "familiar" with this wave. He had fought an enemy with this ability before.
Rei... was a member of the Hyuga clan.
But Kyosuke had no time to ponder other matters. The mission was what was important.
Like the others, he waited for Rei's intelligence.
Her observation lasted for a long while before it finally ended.
"Five people, all inside the cave," Rei reported, describing the scene she had seen in detail.
"What about the hostages?" Yage asked, puzzled.
Rei shook her head helplessly. "There's a spot that even my Byakugan can't see through. The hostages should be there."
Ansui nodded silently. After a brief discussion, the group prepared to begin the rescue operation.
From another direction, not far from the cave, a group of ninja was rapidly approaching.
"How much longer?" the leader, Rasa, asked.
"It shouldn't be long now," replied a female ninja with a long sword on her back and a head of dark green hair. Her hair was strange; two strands in front of her forehead were dyed orange-red, a style that was quite rare in the current shinobi world.
"Good," Rasa said quietly, then suddenly accelerated forward.
The others exchanged a look and quickly followed.
It seems Rasa is taking this mission very seriously, the same thought appeared in all their minds.
Inside the cave, the ninja remained in their "dazed," standing positions, never moving.
Suddenly, the silence in the cave was broken by the swish of projectiles, which also seemed to "awaken" the ninja.
When they looked up, a volley of kunai and shuriken was already upon them. The projectiles collided in mid-air, suddenly changing their trajectories, rendering all attempts to block or dodge futile.
As blood splattered, four figures appeared from the distance. The one who had thrown the shuriken was a slightly smaller figure.
"Snake, nice shot," Ansui praised Kyosuke after seeing the injured enemies. He then turned to the other two and shouted, "Rei, Yage!"
"Got it," Yage replied.
"Alright," Rei said.
With that, the two of them charged toward the enemy at high speed.
At the same time, Ansui's hands quickly formed a series of hand seals, successfully casting his ninjutsu before the other two.
"Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave."
A B-rank ninjutsu was unleashed effortlessly from his hands.
Like the Great Fireball Technique, this jutsu also spewed a large amount of water, which rushed toward the enemy. Of course, while the jutsu could harm the enemy, its main purpose was to create an environment favorable for a Water Release user.
At the same time, Kyosuke was not idle. Although his speed might not be able to keep up with the other two, he could still provide support with shuriken or ninjutsu.
And so, in just a few short breaths, the squad launched a storm-like offensive.
The first to score a hit was Yage, who had already closed the distance to the enemy. His true strength left Kyosuke utterly speechless.
His figure was like a leaf dancing in the wind, suddenly twisting, scattering, and then disappearing from in front of everyone. But his astonishing killing intent remained locked on the enemies.
This feeling... is it a genjutsu?! A genjutsu combined with swordsmanship? As Kyosuke's eyes widened, he pushed his two-tomoe Sharingan to its limit, hoping to glimpse a fraction of the mystery of this technique.
Suddenly, a brilliant flash of a sword appeared behind the enemies.
After the blade slashed through their bodies, Yage's figure reappeared, slowly sheathing his beloved sword.
In an instant, blood gushed freely from the enemies' bodies, and they collapsed to the ground.
Several enemies, whose strength was no less than that of Jounin, were all killed in a single round by the full-power Yage.
This single strike was nothing short of stunning.
As Kyosuke was marveling at this, he turned his attention to the remaining two enemies.
Thump.
With a dull thud, one of the enemies was sent flying into the air by Rei's attack, right into the path of Kyosuke's incoming kunai.
Another one down.
Seeing the situation, the last enemy quickly cast a defensive ninjutsu, then turned and prepared to flee.
Just then, a huge, ferocious water dragon shattered his defensive jutsu and slammed into him.
This Water Dragon Jutsu was a powerful ninjutsu released by Ansui after gathering all the water in the cave.
With the impact of this jutsu, the last enemy's bones were all shattered. He fell to the ground, twitched a few times, and then lay still.
And with that, the battle was over.
Aside from throwing a handful of shuriken at the beginning and then kill-stealing at the end, Kyosuke had not contributed much.
He couldn't be blamed. The strength of his teammates was truly beyond his expectations.
But at this moment, Kyosuke had no mind to pay attention to these things. His attention was completely captivated by the system notification that had just appeared.
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