Chapter 232: Assassination, Schemes, the World of Shinobi
[Main Mission 1: Prevent the leak of Konoha's top-secret intelligence and stop the outbreak of war.]
The woman codenamed [Catherine] maintained a defensive stance, continuously calling out the coordinates of the ninjas trying to use the darkness to hide.
[Rampage] fired his weapon maniacally. This display also quickly turned their position into a primary target for the enemy's attacks.
But Catherine had little reaction to the shuriken and kunai. She considered herself a [Mortal-tier, High] Reincarnator. While she lacked the confidence to fight a monster like Mercenary Tao, when facing these nameless story characters...
"...it was still a piece of cake!"
Catherine suddenly spun around. The optical binoculars she was holding floated in the air, and she shoved her freed left hand toward the outside of the room.
BOOM!
A powerful shockwave erupted. The wooden wall instantly disintegrated, transforming into thousands of fine wooden splinters that blasted into the darkness.
Two ninjas who had snuck up silently were instantly blown away. The one in front was immediately pierced by the wooden splinters, while the one behind burst into a cloud of smoke.
But Catherine's eyelids were half-closed. She said coolly, "11 o'clock."
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
A terrifying mechanical storm swept in. [Rampage] was holding down the trigger, madly unleashing a torrent of bullets. The adrenaline-fueled thrill made him lose control of his expression. His mouth gaped, pupils dilated, and he laughed unconsciously.
"Die! Die! Die! The times have changed, shinobi!"
The dark-clad ninja had used the [Substitution Jutsu] to dodge the splinters, but he never expected a steel flood of ammunition to pour down. He instinctively formed hand seals, his body hardening in an instant.
[Earth Style: Hardening Technique]!
Clank! Clank! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
The first few bullets were indeed blocked. But this level of super-firepower, nearly a hundred rounds per second, was not something a simple ninjutsu that "hardens the body like rock" could withstand. His defense was quickly broken, and his body was torn apart in mid-air.
[Rampage] saw the kill notification and turned his fire back to the street below.
But the next moment, the ground trembled violently, and the street began to crack open. Catherine put away her binoculars, maintaining the shield outside the window with one hand while quickly moving behind [Rampage] and smacking the back of his head.
"Someone is casting a high-level jutsu! We're pulling back!"
The two then kicked off the floor, flying backward through the wall they had already destroyed.
The Reincarnators in the other rooms also used their own methods. As this was a team cooperation mission, they all knew these ninjas in the dark were likely sent by the other Four Great Shinobi Villages.
And they, the Reincarnators, had been assigned to [Konoha's] side. They had to retrieve the stolen intelligence, the theft of which could trigger a new war.
A Reincarnator with a blond ponytail leaped nimbly from his window just before the building collapsed. He spun in mid-air, the blue light of the [Transmutation Circles] on his white gloves flashing.
The next moment, he clapped his hands together, and a massive Transmutation Circle appeared.
VWOM!
A terrifying wind pressure exploded. The stone slabs cracked by the Earth Style jutsu were instantly tossed about like confetti. The man stood in the center of the gale, his expression wild. He raised one hand, and the wind, now full of stones, building debris, and corpses, danced around him.
In just a moment, he locked onto his target: thirty meters away, the Iwagakure ninja who still had one hand on the ground. He was clearly a high-level shinobi, capable of launching a jutsu that shook the entire street block on his own.
The man pointed his right hand in that direction.
BOOM!
A turquoise-white tornado, filled with bricks, wood, and flesh, plowed a massive, hundred-meter-long trench straight down the street.
At the end of the trench, only a mangled corpse remained.
The man landed on the ground, air currents still swirling around his hands.
Catherine and Rampage, who had just emerged from behind the street, recognized him from this move.
"It's that [Fengbo]. Tsk, our side is really full of talent this mission. I'm getting more and more curious... just what kind of intelligence is it, that from the Nexus's perspective, it requires all of us Reincarnators to be on Konoha's side?"
When Catherine saw [Fengbo] make his move, she pulled back [Rampage], who had been about to approach the story character. She sensed something was wrong and preferred to give up the "first-move" reputation bonus, letting [Fengbo] have it.
[Rampage] sniffed the air, looked to one side, and frowned. "A Reincarnator died."
He had a special sense of smell, or perhaps a special perception. In his senses, everyone had a unique "scent." Strong, weak... he could even smell their combat style.
Take that Mercenary Tao, for example. Just one look, one whiff of his aura, and [Rampage] had almost choked, his lungs rebelling against the dense stench of blood.
And right now, the guy who was exuding a scent of decay and death also smelled of gunpowder.
"Probably a marksmanship-specialist Reincarnator. Died under that collapsed building."
Catherine focused her senses in the direction [Rampage] indicated and nodded.
"Mm. Heart and throat were pierced. Likely assassinated by a shinobi."
Rampage was surprised they had already lost someone in the first step of the main mission.
"Pathetic. Our side is loaded with talent, and someone still managed to die this early."
He spoke flippantly, but his expression turned serious, as did Catherine's. Both were veteran Reincarnators who had survived over a dozen missions. Their complementary personalities and deep-seated caution were indispensable to their survival.
Without a word, they stood back-to-back.
Catherine spread her hands, and an invisible barrier unfolded around them.
[Rampage]'s expression was grim. The fur on his body began to visibly lengthen.
Unlike [Rampage] and [Catherine], [Fengbo] was completely at ease. The wind told him the location of every enemy.
He was a true lucky dog. His starting trial world was the [Fullmetal Alchemist Derivative World]. As one of the easiest worlds to gain abilities, and one with a systematic path to learn them, he smoothly acquired the necessary specializations and skills.
He successfully became a powerful alchemist. By his own estimation, if he were in the FMA world, he might even be certified as a State Alchemist.
And compared to the [Flame Alchemist], Roy Mustang, he felt his mastery of [Storm Alchemy] was far superior.
"Hey, it's alright! I'm from Konoha, here to back you up!"
He casually scanned the area. After his last attack, the nearest enemies had all retreated over a hundred meters. In this dead-silent town, it was unlikely anyone could match him in this state.
Well, except for that madman, Mercenary Tao.
As Fengbo spoke, he arrived at the wooden house. But just then, he noticed something strange.
Before he and the others had acted, so many people in town had died. The Iwagakure ninja who just attacked was clearly a high-level user of large-scale jutsu. How had one ninja and one woman managed to hide in that flimsy room for so long?
He suddenly felt a bone-chilling cold. At that exact moment, he saw the woman through the window, her eyes wide with terror, shaking her head to warn him.
Damn it, the enemy is...
The black-clad shinobi, who had been guarding the window and whom Fengbo had just "protected" with his back, was now plunging a kunai at Fengbo's back.
KRAK!
The ninja's strength was immense, but he was stopped by an invisible shield. Fengbo, having narrowly escaped death, his heart hammering, roared and clapped his hands together.
An intense hurricane exploded between him and the shinobi. BOOM~
"Aaargh!" The woman's terrified scream rang out. Fengbo, his back still to the window, leaped backward. The rapid chain of events left him no time to think. He just prepared to grab the woman and retreat.
Poof!
The black-clad shinobi, caught by the hurricane, exploded into smoke. At the same time, a cold sneer sounded from behind Fengbo.
This Reincarnator, with his decent enhancements, finally realized the truth. He only had time to partially turn, his hands trying to clap again, but the crackling lightning from behind him instantly pierced his body.
TZZZT!
[Lightning Style: False Darkness]
A spear-like bolt of lightning pierced Fengbo's body and swept toward the distant Catherine and Rampage. But those two were extremely alert. The moment the attack exploded, they had already pulled back, retreating toward the collapsed houses.
BOOM!
A huge cloud of smoke and dust... When it cleared, a tall, dark-skinned Kumogakure shinobi stood in the street, holding the charred corpse.
"Be careful. Three more got away," a voice replied from the darkness on the other side.
"Don't worry, they're not going anywhere. We have this place surrounded. Neither the woman nor these Konoha guys are getting out."
The Kumogakure Jounin ignored this. While ninjas from different villages could temporarily team up against Konoha reinforcements, the intel—the one rumored to shake Konoha to its core—could absolutely not fall into anyone else's hands.
He immediately used the Body Flicker Technique, appearing on the roof of an undamaged shop. They had killed almost everyone in this town, and Konoha's first team was annihilated. This new, mysterious support team had been lured out by the intel and ambushed.
But the woman... she had mysteriously vanished.
His eyes scanned in all directions. Suddenly, his eyelid twitched.
In the supposedly dead-silent battlefield, a very tall man was lifting a "female corpse" from a pile of bodies. He gave her a shake, and the woman let out a painful groan.
Ayai (the Kumo-nin) instantly understood where the woman had been hiding. She had been pretending to be a corpse, using the darkness to lie among the bodies.
Because so many had died and the situation was so chaotic, he and his team truly hadn't had time to confirm the status of every single body.
This woman... No, now wasn't the time. That man... he must be one of the Konoha reinforcements, the one who was attacked by the exploding tag. Why would he do this...
He actually found the woman himself...
Kaito Shirogane lifted the woman, confirmed she had no fatal injuries, and then set her back down.
The only reason he sought her out was his concern that the woman, while "playing dead," might be hit by a stray attack from the Reincarnators or ninjas. His Special Trial mission was not necessarily identical to the other Reincarnators' main mission.
If he failed his trial because of something so trivial, it would be ridiculous.
Therefore, he had used the [Transparent World] to find the woman and immediately check her condition. If necessary, he would have even used his last page of [Thou Shalt Not Die] on this story character.
"Alright, you can keep lying down."
Hana Hiranaka glared at Kaito, thinking that the shinobi Konoha had sent were all complete and utter fools.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
The sound of slicing air. Two figures instantly appeared at Kaito's sides, while two more kunai shot simultaneously at his heart and throat.
Kaito seemed completely unresponsive, standing motionlessly. Ayai, who had been prepared for an evasion, was stunned as he watched the two kunai strike true. He and his clone simultaneously thrust their own kunai at the target's vital points.
CLANG! CLANG!
The sound of metal striking metal rang out. The webbing of Ayai's hand split open from the impact, and his body instantly burst into smoke—he had used the [Substitution Jutsu] to pull back.
But the target still stood there, completely unmoved.
Kaito Shirogane cracked his neck, his voice full of disappointment.
"Shinobi, don't just charge straight in like that. Go on, bring out those clever schemes."
"Come. Use every trick you have. Try to kill me."
(End of Chapter)
~~~
Guys We cross the 200 power stone goal and as promise here the bonus chapter
Next goal 300 power stone,come on guys you'll can do it, good luck.
~~~
Get early access to 30+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
~~~
Every 5 new reviews = 2 extra chapters
Every 100 Power Stones = 1 extra chapter