Land of Grass
Step... step... step... The dense sound of moving through the forest rang out as a group of people wearing Grass Ninja headbands shouted and leaped continuously through the trees.
"Don't let them get away!"
"Damn it, stealing people right from under our Grass Ninja noses!"
The person fleeing ahead was none other than Aoran, wearing an Owl Mask.
And riding on his neck was a small child with red hair.
With the people behind him in hot pursuit, Aoran also felt a bit short of breath.
Although he had used the Byakugan to infiltrate the unguarded Hidden Grass Village, he couldn't use the Byakugan indefinitely.
Therefore, when he brought the person out, he was discovered by the people of the Hidden Grass Village.
The reason he wanted to take this person out was simple: he wanted to change this child's tragic fate.
It was both for his own enhancement points and so that this child would not suffer.
[Almost there, I'm about to escape the range of the Hidden Grass Village.]
Aoran didn't dare to stop for a single step; using his Byakugan, he had already planned out the retreat route.
"Ding! Congratulations to the host for significantly changing Karin's life trajectory. Obtained Karin's Trait Badge: Uzumaki Bloodline 1, enhancement points +3."
"Uzumaki Bloodline 1: Greatly increases Chakra and vitality, and provides an additional increase to injury recovery speed."
This notification sound was like music to Aoran's ears.
He didn't have time to think much and quickly clicked on the Trait Badge to equip it to his template.
Instantly, his dried-up Chakra began to recover rapidly, and his physical fitness suddenly jumped up a level.
Although he didn't look back, the veins around the Byakugan in his right eye under the mask were bulging, which allowed him to clearly see the people behind him constantly closing in.
With enough Chakra and physical strength, he naturally wasn't someone who would just take a beating.
"Hold on tight!" Aoran patted Karin's back.
Karin's face turned pale with nervousness, but she still knew this was her only chance to escape the Hidden Grass Village, so she quickly hugged Aoran tightly.
Aoran soared into the air, and a longbow suddenly appeared in his hand.
A white arrow also abruptly appeared on the string.
Faster than it takes to tell, twang!
Amidst the vibration of the bowstring, the arrow had already been shot toward the rear.
A Grass Ninja just happened to peek out from behind a tree and was hit directly.
"Puchi!"
Struck in the face by the arrow, he let out a hurried scream: "Ugh..."
The Grass Ninjas were startled!
In this dense forest full of trees, the opponent could actually find a shooting angle.
And could even shoot one of their men dead.
"It must be a fluke! His stamina can't be that good! Keep chasing!"
Seeing his teammates hesitate, the Grass Ninja squad leader quickly shouted.
Although Aoran was a full thousand meters away from them, this distance was not a problem at all for the Byakugan.
Seeing the leader among the Grass Ninjas encouraging morale, he immediately locked onto him as the next target.
However, the Grass Ninja squad leader was very careful, hiding behind trees the whole way, making it impossible to aim at him.
He didn't hesitate to use 1 of the 3 enhancement points he had just obtained on his weapon.
[Weapon +1 → Weapon +2 (Cannot be further improved) Remaining enhancement points: 2]
[tough wood bow → swift lightning bow, feathered arrow → flowing light arrow. Fire rate increased, effective range 1500 meters.]
The bow's body became nimble, and the arrow glowed with a faint blue light. Aoran quickly changed direction and swept to a clearing outside the forest.
"Step... step..."
Drawing the bow and nocking an arrow, he aimed at the exit of the dense forest.
"Swish!"
The flowing light arrow was like blue lightning, passing through the gaps in the branches and leaves, accurately sinking into the forehead of the first Grass Ninja to rush out of the forest.
The ferocity on that Grass Ninja's face instantly froze; his forward momentum didn't decrease, but he fell straight to the ground.
"Careful, take cover!!" the Grass Ninjas behind him exclaimed, subconsciously looking for shelter.
But the other Grass Ninjas were rushing too fast and burst out of the forest all at once.
Aoran's eyes were calm; with enough Chakra, he had already seen everyone's position clearly with his Byakugan.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
He almost didn't need to aim, relying entirely on the Byakugan's insight and muscle memory to continuously fire the bow.
The swift lightning bow's characteristics of high fire rate and low post-shot lag were utilized to the fullest.
The first arrow pierced the Adam's apple of a Grass Ninja who had just peeked out from behind a tree.
The second arrow pierced the palm of another Grass Ninja who was forming hand seals, interrupting his ninjutsu.
The third arrow pinned a Grass Ninja who was trying to flank him to the tree trunk where he was hiding.
The blue arrows were like lethal flowing light, weaving a web of death in the dim forest.
Every time a streak of light lit up, it was accompanied by the scream or muffled groan of a Grass Ninja.
The Grass Ninjas were dazed by this precise and rapid sniping; they found that whether they hid behind trees or rocks, those tricky arrows could always find an angle.
"Wind Release: Wind Mastery!"
Aoran formed hand seals, and a breeze wrapped around his body, making him even more nimble.
He was like a ghost in the forest; his speed was not only reflected in his arrows but also in his own movement.
Utilizing the swift lightning bow's light weight, he moved at high speed among the branches, stopping for no more than two seconds each time, firing at most three arrows, and then immediately changing position.
The faint light trails produced by the flowing light arrows as they flew carved out fleeting lines of death in the forest.
The pursuing Grass Ninjas suffered heavy casualties in a short period.
Especially after the squad leader was killed, their morale completely collapsed.
"No way! We can't even touch him!"
"His arrows are too fast!"
"It's just a brat, forget it."
"Retreat! Retreat quickly!"
The surviving Grass Ninjas no longer had the courage to pursue; they fled backward in terror, wishing they had two more legs, disappearing into the depths of the dense forest.
Aoran stood on a high branch, watching the fleeing enemies, and did not pursue further.
He let out a soft sigh and patted Karin's foot on his neck.
"Relax a bit, we're safe."
Karin gradually relaxed in Aoran's gentle tone.
"Come down first, let's get something to eat."
Aoran squatted on the ground, and she jumped down from his neck.
As a result, her legs were numb and she couldn't stand steadily for a moment, falling onto her bottom.
Aoran reached out and pulled Karin up.
"Are you scared?"
Karin pursed her lips and shook her head; any place would be much better than that hell in the Hidden Grass Village.
"Let's eat something first, then we'll cross the border."
Seeing that Karin didn't speak, Aoran just assumed she was frightened, took a soldier pill out of his ninja tool pouch, and handed one to her.
Karin took the soldier pill but looked up at Aoran: "Where are you taking me?"
She had seen her mother sucked dry by the people of the Hidden Grass Village with her own eyes; when someone wanted to take her away, she had agreed without a second thought.
But at this time, at only 3 years old, she was still lost about the future.
Aoran touched Karin's hair: "To Konoha. My home is a bit lonely; come be my family."
"Family?" Karin looked at Aoran blankly.
After her mother was sucked to death, she was the only one left in this world.
When she thought her whole life would suffer the same fate as her mother's.
Aoran suddenly appeared and took her away from that hell.
Now suddenly saying he wanted to be her family, little Karin's eyes turned red:
"I still don't know what you look like."
Aoran thought for a moment, took off his mask, revealing his handsome face and special white right eye:
"My name is Aoran."
Karin was the person Aoran could think of whose life trajectory was easiest to change.
In order not to become a weakling later, Aoran also took a risk.
Fortunately, he had the Byakugan and the Grass Ninjas weren't prepared, which allowed him to succeed.
"Let's go, home! Live a different life."
Aoran reached out his hand, Karin hesitated for a moment, then placed her hand on his... Meanwhile.
Mission Center.
Among Orochimaru's followers, many people whose missions were being re-evaluated or whose mission pay was being withheld began to gather here.
More than half of them were battle-hardened Jonin, and their chilling killing intent made the staff tremble with fear.
The Third Hokage had already received a report and secretly dispatched twenty Anbu members to stand by.
When Orochimaru appeared in full combat gear, all his subordinates shouted in unison: "Lord Orochimaru!"
The sound was so loud that the entire Mission Center shook.
Orochimaru nodded slightly and walked straight to the mission window.
Fujio, behind the window, was a plant from Danzo. He was already prepared to deal with all kinds of difficulties, his purpose naturally being to be difficult and ideally provoke Orochimaru.
The mission audit was just the beginning; there were countless other moves waiting for Orochimaru.
"Show me the backlogged S-rank missions," Orochimaru said calmly.
Fujio handed over the mission book, feeling puzzled. Orochimaru carefully flipped through those exploration missions that had long been ignored.
"My subordinates..." As soon as Orochimaru spoke, Fujio immediately cut in:
"Lord Orochimaru, the mission review is the intention of the higher-ups; I have no right to interfere."
Orochimaru showed a half-smile: "They will take this mission with me."
His finger pointed to a certain column in the mission book—[Investigate Natural Abnormality: The "Valley of Nothingness" that devours Chakra].
This was a mission to explore a moving valley that paid little and was time-consuming and labor-intensive; it had long been ignored.
Fujio was stunned for a moment: "Yes, yes, I'll register it for Lord Orochimaru right away."
Fujio hadn't expected Orochimaru to actually take a mission, and he processed the procedures in a fluster.
Orochimaru made a gesture, and twenty-three subordinates came forward one by one to confirm. In just a few minutes, all were registered.
Their ninja ranks were not low, so they had to register when leaving the village; after all, every Jonin was an important strategic resource for the village.
If they encountered some tricky missions, they also needed to know who was available in the village.
Holding the mission scroll, Orochimaru waved his hand and ordered: "Depart."
Under Fujio's dumbfounded gaze, the group left the Mission Center as quickly and orderly as they had arrived.
Fujio was stunned.
Wait, aren't you Orochimaru? Weren't you here to cause trouble?
Why did you just leave?
...