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Chapter 92: Since We've Met, You're Not Leaving
Before long, the two of them returned.
Karui's expression was grave. "Captain, the traces inside are really clear. From the looks of it, not long after that last man checked in, Watanabe and the others jumped out the window and fled immediately."
"Things must've looked really bad. They probably knew they couldn't win, so they chose to retreat for the moment."
Samui's cool expression didn't change, but her eyes narrowed slightly. "Direction of retreat?"
"Over here!" Omoi was standing at the edge of the yard, waving his lollipop. "They ran into the back mountain."
Behind the small building was a stretch of dense, untouched forest. As far as escape routes went, it was a decent choice.
Samui walked over to Omoi's side, focusing on the footprints in the mud. She frowned.
"Only three sets of tracks…"
She lifted her head and gave the order. "Head into the mountains. Check the trees carefully for any traces left by the Body Flicker Technique."
"Yes, ma'am!"
The two answered in unison, then shot off like twin black streaks into the back mountain, following the trail deeper inside.
Finding the corpses of the three Watanabe had been almost guaranteed from the start. Konan hadn't bothered cleaning up the scene that day. The spot where she killed them would probably still have some smashed flesh left behind.
Amaru stood trembling beside Samui, wanting to say something.
But the cold, overwhelming pressure coming from the blond woman next to her kept the words stuck in her throat.
After a long, heavy silence, Omoi and Karui came back.
This time, both of them wore the same expression—pure anger and hatred.
Omoi, no longer listless or gloomy, clenched his jaw and held out a handful of soil for Samui to see.
It was a deep, dark red, reeking faintly of rot.
Inside, bits and pieces of decayed flesh were still clearly visible.
"Captain," Omoi said through gritted teeth, "Watanabe and the others are dead. No doubt about it—they were definitely killed by that last guy."
The lollipop in his mouth had long since been crushed to powder.
He had practically ground his teeth to dust just to stop himself from crushing more of the bloodstained mud that was all that remained of his comrades.
Everything else—their remaining tissue, their bodies—had been eaten clean by the animals and insects in the forest.
Seeing his teammates die in such a miserable way filled him with a rage that burned down to his bones.
The Village Hidden in the Clouds was united. Every Cloud shinobi treated the others as precious comrades.
And now, those comrades had died like this, in some nameless mountain forest.
There had to be payback.
Omoi was furious, but his mind was still working. "Captain, Watanabe and the others were basically taken out in an instant. The enemy we're dealing with this time is probably Kage-level. We're no match. We need the Raikage to send reinforcements."
Their captain was an elite jōnin. He and Karui were jōnin at best. Standing against a Kage-level powerhouse was not realistic.
Amaru clapped a hand over her mouth, panic in her eyes. The chill coming off the blond woman beside her felt even sharper now, like needles pricking her skin.
Samui stared at the blood-soaked clump of earth for a long moment before speaking in a low voice.
"Send word back immediately. We'll wait for Lord Raikage's decision."
Right now, they didn't know who the killer was or where he had gone. She had no solid direction to pursue.
Besides the matter of the Sky Ninja fortress and Watanabe's squad, the village had also issued additional orders on the way—to investigate Hōzuki Castle, as well as the large-scale battle that had taken place in the Land of Birds.
Now that Watanabe's death had been confirmed, she had a difficult choice to make: should she chase the killer, or head for Hōzuki Castle and the Land of Birds?
After some thought, Samui decided to first take a look at the ruins of Sky Ninja Village.
It was close to this mountain village, after all.
"Move out. We're going to the Sky Ninja ruins."
Omoi and Karui exchanged a glance and raised no objections.
Using a messenger hawk to send the report would take at least two days for a round trip. They couldn't just stand around doing nothing while they waited.
The best use of their time was to check the situation at the Sky Ninja fortress.
That was a strategic weapon their village valued greatly. Hopefully nothing had gone wrong.
A short while later.
At the ruins of Sky Ninja Village, Samui and her team stood at the edge of a massive crater, staring down in shock.
The crater stretched at least several kilometers across.
The bottom was littered with giant boulders and broken tree roots, as if the entire landscape had been ripped out by force.
Samui slowly shook her head. "Looks like the flying fortress has already taken off. Someone moved it."
The markings on the ground were obvious signs that some enormous structure had risen up from here.
And aside from the flying fortress, Ankoru Vantian, there was nothing else that could fit that description.
Three Cloud ninja had been murdered by an unknown Kage-level enemy, and the Sky fortress they were supposed to be watching had vanished without a trace.
Their mission regarding the Sky Ninja village had, just like that, ended in failure.
"Captain," Karui ventured, "do you think it's possible the Kage-level guy who killed Watanabe's squad is the same one who took the fortress?"
"Hmm…" Samui fell silent.
That possibility was very real.
A Kage-level opponent wouldn't just go wandering off to a little mountain village ten-plus kilometers away for no reason.
The only thing in this region worth that kind of attention was the Sky ninja's secretly built flying fortress.
"Hey… the sun's gone…"
A shadow washed over them. Omoi instinctively lifted his head. "Huh. That's a weird-looking cloud."
High in the sky floated an oval-shaped "cloud," drifting slowly along.
In an otherwise clear, cloudless sky, it stood out sharply.
"Cloud?" Samui frowned and looked up, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.
Right now, on the deck of the Sky fortress.
Konan sat in a pavilion, eyes closed, resting.
After more than a day of flight, the fortress had already left the Land of Bears and was heading toward the Land of Lightning.
Ryūzetsu and half of the Sky ninja had stayed behind in the village where Jūgo was born, conducting a carpet search for any possible entrances to the Three Great Sage Lands.
It was destined to be a long, tedious job, and might very well end with no results at all. She couldn't afford to just wait there.
After discussing with Alex, they had settled on their next bloodline target—
The Hagoromo bloodline sample from the Village Hidden in the Clouds.
Kinkaku and Ginkaku, as members of the Hagoromo line, were incredibly powerful.
They had ambushed the Second Raikage, lured the Second Hokage into a trap, and ultimately betrayed their village.
Knowing how the Cloud always coveted any kind of power, there was no way they hadn't preserved the brothers' bodies for research.
Kameda walked up quietly and spoke in a low voice. "Lady Konan, we have a situation."
Konan's eyes snapped open. "What is it?"
"On the way to the Cloud village, the fortress passes right over the Sky Ninja ruins. I was going to fly down for a quick look, but I noticed three figures by the crater."
"What kind of people?" she asked.
Kameda shook his head. "I didn't dare get close, so I couldn't confirm their identities. But judging from the forehead protectors they were wearing, they should be shinobi from the Village Hidden in the Clouds. One man and two women—three Cloud ninja in total."
"Cloud ninja?" Konan frowned. "What are Cloud ninja doing at the Sky Ninja ruins?"
She rose to her feet in an instant, her gaze turning frosty.
Whatever their purpose, since they'd run into each other here, she might as well capture them and drag some information about the Cloud out of them.
Her original plan had been to get near the Cloud village first, then snatch some ninja for interrogation. Now, she didn't have to bother looking.
Her targets had walked right to her doorstep.
"Stay here and wait. I'll be right back."
Leaving that order behind, Konan took a step forward and leaped off the edge of the fortress.
On the ground.
Samui's eyes locked onto the sky, her pupils shrinking to pinpoints.
From that strange cloud above, a small black dot suddenly shot out, plummeting straight toward the three of them.
Clearly not a friendly visitor.
"Enemy attack!" she shouted coldly.