As soon as the heavily wounded Leaf ninja finished speaking, he closed his eyes and lay there, unconscious.
"Hey, are you alright?"
Two nearby Leaf genin quickly ran towards the injured Leaf ninja.
"Wait, you two new kids, don't just go over there!"
Tenchiku Jōnin's expression changed.
The heavily wounded Leaf ninja suddenly opened his eyes, a brutal glint of ferocity appearing in them, not at all like someone injured.
However, before he could act, there was a *thwack*.
The White Fang short sword, glowing white, had already pierced his back neck, gushing blood.
The two genin, who were slightly older than Shiraishi and his companions, were stunned by how quickly everything happened.
Tenchiku Jōnin finally let out a sigh of relief.
He felt a bit annoyed, thinking he should properly educate these newcomers later.
Inexperience wasn't the problem; the most important thing was to have a flexible mind.
"Byakugan!"
Ayane's eyes were covered in grotesque blue veins, and her pale blue pupils were filled with a grave expression.
"Is it an old friend?"
"Yes, and there are two new faces in their team. Judging by their chakra intensity, they're not ordinary ninja."
Ayane reported.
"Hey, Tenchiku, get ready!"
Sakumo shouted towards Tenchiku.
"Understood!"
Tenchiku Jōnin arranged the ninja in the outpost, took out the always-ready large wooden crossbow, loaded with a large number of kunai.
"Two o'clock from your position!"
Ayane directly reported the enemy's location.
"Fire!"
Countless kunai, like a sudden downpour, were launched towards the dense forest area.
"Wind Release: Violent Wind Dust!"
The sharp, blade-like whistling of the wind cut brutal marks into the trees along its path, and the flying kunai were all blown askew in the strong wind, unable to advance further.
"Fire Release: Flame Array!"
Tenchiku Jōnin formed hand signs, and the flames at his feet swirled like a vortex before rushing forward, immediately turning the stormy forest into a sea of fire.
The wind fueled the flames, instantly raising the power of Tenchiku Jōnin's Fire Release to another level.
"Well, well, if it isn't familiar faces."
Seeing the dozen or so Sand ninja emerge from the sea of fire almost unscathed, Shiraishi smiled.
It was the same Sand ninja squad with five jōnin they had encountered more than two months ago.
However, compared to last time, there were two new faces in the team this time, likely special jōnin or jōnin-level ninja.
"Kids, your smoke tactics won't work this time."
Last time, Shiraishi used smoke bombs to assist Ruri and Ayane in battle, giving the Sand ninja squad a hard time. Fighting against Sharingan and Byakugan in unfavorable conditions was no easy feat.
Without any superfluous words, the battle began immediately.
Sakumo undoubtedly sought out the leading male and female Sand jōnin. They were the son and daughter-in-law of Chiyo, the advisory elder of Sunagakure, and also top-tier jōnin and puppet masters in the Sand's puppet corps. Besides Sakumo, no one else present could hold them both off.
Although the enemy team had lost several chūnin in the last battle, they had two new additions this time. One of them used powerful Wind Release to blow away all the kunai launched by the crossbow earlier, showing his mastery of Wind Release ninjutsu.
At this outpost, there were nearly twenty Leaf ninja in total, about half of whom were genin, most of the rest were chūnin, and only Tenchiku was a jōnin.
In terms of numbers, the Leaf side had the advantage.
But in terms of overall strength, the Sand side was clearly superior.
Shiraishi drew his ninja sword and joined the fight. His sword skills, learned from Sakumo over the past few days, had shown some results.
Ruri was the first to charge forward, her two-tomoe Sharingan activated, attacking the jōnin who could use Earth Release ninjutsu.
The Earth Release ninja blocked Ruri's kunai with his own, creating a fierce and piercing clang.
"You're strong, but I'm not foolish enough to engage you in taijutsu!"
The Earth Release ninja easily retreated, a cold sneer on his face. He then formed hand signs, and just as he was about to press his palm to the ground, a powerful binding force suddenly enveloped his body. The scene before his eyes began to distort, and two giant two-tomoe Sharingan spun in front, their dark aura gazing at him.
He immediately realized he had fallen into a Sharingan genjutsu.
But he had avoided Ruri's gaze, so how could he have fallen under a genjutsu?
A kunai slashed across his body, leaving a grotesque, bleeding gash on his chest.
The Earth Release ninja clutched the wound in pain, narrowly dodging Ruri's assassination attempt at the last second.
"Damn it!"
Seeing the Earth Release ninja controlled by Ruri's genjutsu on their first encounter, the nearby Sand ninja couldn't sit still.
Ruri, to avoid being surrounded, had no choice but to turn and retreat.
"Indeed, I'm not very good at petty tricks like genjutsu. He broke free so quickly…"
Seeing the Earth Release ninja return to normal, Ruri let out a soft breath.
"Hey, that's a jōnin, you know."
Shiraishi and Ayane both felt a bit embarrassed.
If this was what she considered "not good," they couldn't imagine how terrifying a genjutsu specialist from the Uchiha clan would be.
"Be careful. That little girl is different from two months ago. Her genjutsu is very strange and completely unpredictable."
The Earth Release ninja's eyes showed a grave expression, suspecting that Ruri's genjutsu wasn't released through her Sharingan.
"We can see that. Just avoid direct contact with her…"
*Bang!*
Shiraishi had already thrown a smoke bomb, which exploded.
Because only he, Ruri, and Ayane were in the vicinity, and the other Leaf ninja were fighting elsewhere, it wouldn't affect them.
"I told you, these tricks are useless against us!"
Among the Sand ninja remaining here, there was one who was skilled in Wind Release ninjutsu.
"Wind Release: Violent Wind Dust!"
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
The windstorm and fireball collided, creating a huge fiery maelstrom that lingered, making the surrounding visibility even blurrier.
"Damn it! Retreat!"
They showed no desire to prolong the fight, directly disengaging from the battlefield with its narrow visibility.
"Eleven o'clock direction."
The sensing Sand ninja reported the position.
The Earth Release ninja roared: "Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
The ground ahead suddenly caved in.
Shiraishi and his two companions used kunai to fix themselves to the wall, hanging to prevent themselves from falling.
"Hey, that guy really is an Iwa ninja, isn't he? Things are getting a little tricky."
Shiraishi increasingly felt that the Earth Release ninja was an Iwa ninja mixed in with the Sand.
In other words, these two villages might have secretly colluded.
"You're so noisy. Whether he's from Sand or Stone, just kill him!"
These were Ruri's words. For a ninja who could easily change the terrain, if they couldn't be killed immediately, they would indeed be very troublesome.
Shiraishi and his two companions ran along the flat rock wall, rushing to the land above. The surrounding trees lay askew and toppled, and dust billowed.
Nearly half of the outpost here was damaged.
—On the other side—
"Your doomsday has arrived, White Fang of the Leaf!"
The male puppet master manipulated his puppet, making this confident declaration.
The female puppet master beside him remained silent, watching Sakumo's every move with cold eyes.
"It's best not to speak too confidently… But since you've come to me, it saves me the effort of searching."
Sakumo vanished from his spot, and with him moved the two puppets controlled by the two puppet masters.
They blocked Sakumo's White Fang short sword, which glowed white.
"Do you think the same trick will work on us? Naive!"
The two puppets split apart again, left and right. From the sleeves of the opposing puppets, a dark chain extended. Unlike last time, this was a chain used by both puppets together.
The puppets circled and flew around Sakumo's body in the air.
On the chain were saw-like blades, constantly making a grinding sound.
If one were to get entangled, they would definitely be torn to shreds by the saw teeth.
And Sakumo, whose attack was blocked in mid-air, had no fulcrum to exert force and avoid the attack in their eyes.
He was certain to die.
"Hmm?"
The male puppet master suddenly froze. Sakumo, surrounded by the two puppets, had mysteriously disappeared from the middle.
"How is that possible!?"
Without a fulcrum, even the Body Flicker Technique couldn't be performed.
Was it a space-time ninjutsu? The male puppet master's eyes widened in disbelief, extremely shocked by this.
It was precisely because he had seen through this weakness of Sakumo that the male puppet master was confident he could kill Sakumo in such a powerless situation.
A faint sound of wind being cut reached his ears.
In an instant, the male puppet master seemed to understand something.
Then, what awaited him was an even more severe injury than last time, blood splattering out.
The female puppet master also panicked, quickly pulling her puppet back.
A flash of a blade.
The puppet was cleanly cut in half down the middle.
"Ah!"
The female puppet master's arm was severed along with it.
Blood gushed out profusely, and her face turned pale.
Sakumo's expression was cold, filled with killing intent.
Suddenly, a Sand ninja rushed from the left, a sharp wind blade condensed in his hand.
Sakumo could have killed both puppet masters at this moment, but he would also have been severely wounded afterward.
Almost without thinking, he turned his body, grabbed the attacking Sand ninja's arm, causing his wind blade to miss.
Then, the White Fang short sword in his other hand swung, piercing the Sand ninja's neck from the left side.
The opponent's body swayed twice before collapsing powerlessly to the ground.
Meanwhile, the male and female puppet masters had disappeared.
"It won't be that easy to leave."
Both of them were now severely wounded, and the male puppet master was already unconscious. This was the best time to pursue.
Sakumo's eyes were filled with icy coldness.