He grabbed Ichū Bu's collar, his spit nearly flying into the other's face:
"When we were scouting earlier, didn't you beat your chest and guarantee that this forest only had one main road?!"
Ichū Bu shrank his neck, stammering a bit:
"I... I did find a small path, but I thought it was too narrow, they definitely wouldn't go that way."
"I just... I just picked up a wooden sign, wrote 'No Thoroughfare' on it to block it off. Who would have thought he..."
"Bastard!" Ichū Jin was so angry his vision went dark, and he slapped Ichū Bu hard on the back of his head.
"Which direction did he go? Hurry up and chase him."
"Then let me go collect the Explosive Tags from the traps first, so they don't go to waste."
"Collect your MO... cough... collect your damn self, just lead the way!"
Ichū Jin's roar echoed through the forest.
Ichū Bu didn't dare say more; he carefully sensed for a moment.
His round body burst forth with speed that didn't match his size, rushing out in one direction.
Ichū Jin followed closely behind, gritting his teeth.
While running, Ichū Bu hesitated but still spoke up:
"Big brother... that kid has such tender skin. After we catch him, can you... leave me an arm or a leg? I haven't had a fresh meal in so long..."
"Eat, eat, eat! All you know is eating!" Ichū Jin cursed while sprinting:
"If we don't catch him, my hundred thousand taels will be gone for nothing. When that happens, I'll sell you first to cover the loss."
Ichū Bu looked aggrieved and didn't dare speak again, just burying his head in sensing to lead the way.
A moment later.
His speed suddenly slowed down, his small eyes filled with confusion.
"What's wrong?"
Ichū Jin hurriedly stopped and looked around alertly.
"Big brother... that kid, he suddenly... disappeared from my perception."
Ichū Bu's voice carried a hint of unease.
"Disappeared? Didn't you just say we were about to catch up?"
"Yeah, it was like... poof, gone." Ichū Bu gestured anxiously.
"Wait!" Ichū Jin suddenly looked up, and only then did he notice.
The surrounding air had become moist and thick at some point.
A layer of dense water mist quietly spread out, sharply compressing their vision to less than ten meters!
He reached out and grabbed a handful of the moisture, feeling the exceptionally active Water Release Chakra within:
"It's the Mist Concealment Technique! He must still be nearby!"
"Big brother, I'll use Wind Release to blow it away!" Ichū Bu said as he prepared to form hand signs.
Suddenly!
The sound of an extremely thin string being plucked reached his perception.
Immediately after, he sensed a high-speed moving object rapidly approaching them.
"Big brother! Behind us!!"
Ichū Bu's eyes nearly split from the strain as he let out a hoarse roar.
Both were experienced bounty hunters; they instinctively dove to the sides to dodge!
The next moment!
The water mist seemed to be stirred by something as a blue-white light arrow pierced through the fog, appearing in their sight.
The Chakra Arrow was like a bolt of lightning, whistling straight toward Ichū Jin.
Oh no!
Ichū Jin thought to himself. He subconsciously twisted his body to avoid it, but in mid-air, he had no leverage.
He could only watch helplessly as the arrow grew larger in his pupils.
Boom!
Mid-air, Ichū Jin was sent flying by the arrow like a tattered sack.
He slammed straight into a large tree and slowly slid down.
After the light arrow smashed his head beyond recognition, it dissipated.
Ichū Jin didn't even have a chance to tilt his head before he was as dead as could be.
Ichū Bu stared blankly at Ichū Jin's mangled face under the tree.
He couldn't believe it.
The older brother he had grown up with was suddenly sitting by a tree, motionless.
"Big brother!" Ichū Bu let out a grief-stricken wail.
Before he could even mourn, another arrow, much smaller than the previous one, was already flying toward him.
Although Ichū Bu tried his best to dodge, the outer side of his right thigh was still instantly torn open.
A large chunk of flesh vanished, and blood sprayed out!
"Aaaaah! My leg!!"
Ichū Bu let out a pig-like shriek, the intense pain making him nearly unable to stand.
Ichū Bu dragged his leg, gritting his teeth through the pain to form hand signs.
"Wind Release: Gale Palm."
A blast of gale surged forward, pushing the mist ahead.
The mist cleared.
On the shore of the pond ahead, a young boy stood quietly.
The boy had handsome features and a tall, straight posture. He held a blue-white Spirit Bow, and his white eyes looked at him coldly.
He was dripping wet all over; it was clear he had just come ashore.
"Bastard, so you were hiding in the water." Ichū Bu gritted his teeth.
Seeing him blow away the mist, the boy immediately turned and dove into the nearby forest without hesitation.
"Trying to run? You're dead, kid."
His eyes were bloodshot as he lunged toward Ichū Jin's corpse.
He roughly pulled a syringe from a backpack. Looking at the golden-yellow liquid inside, a trace of hesitation appeared in his eyes: "Big brother said this stuff has side effects..."
Then he gritted his teeth: "I'm not even afraid of death, why should I fear side effects?"
Ichū Bu steeled his heart and jabbed the syringe into himself, quickly injecting the liquid.
The paleness of his face visibly turned ruddy, the pain in his leg immediately subsided, and he felt the strength in his body growing.
"This damn thing is actually useful!" He looked in the direction where Hyuga Aokawa had disappeared: "One hour is enough to tear you into ten thousand pieces!"
He snatched all the scrolls and the Ninja tool pouch from Ichū Jin's body.
Ignoring the blood still gushing from his wound, he chased after him frantically with bloodshot eyes... The boy was indeed Hyuga Aokawa.
After escorting Keiko and her daughter for a while, they had parted ways, agreeing to meet again in the future.
On the way back to the village, he found the path ahead riddled with traps.
Intending to mind his own business, he had hurriedly avoided them, not expecting that their target was actually him.
In the forest.
Hyuga Aokawa sprinted for his life, the trees on both sides receding rapidly.
He panted heavily, swallowing with a dry throat.
His Chakra capacity was still too low!
After concentrating his Chakra into the first arrow, there simply wasn't enough Chakra left to condense the second one properly.
His condensation speed was also lacking; once the enemy became alert, his accuracy dropped significantly.
If he could make it back alive this time, he had to find a way to solve these two problems.
He took out the last few ration pills, chewed them into a pulp, and swallowed them with difficulty along with a small amount of saliva.
Through the vision of the Byakugan, even though the enemy was injured, he was still pursuing relentlessly.
He felt somewhat lucky; although the enemy had dodged the vital point of the second arrow, it had at least hit the thigh.
Otherwise, he would have been caught by now.
Nevertheless, the gap between the two was still shrinking.
A Ninja's battle depends on comprehensive quality. Although he possessed the power of a Quincy...
...his other aspects were too weak and were seriously holding him back.
He opened the Ninja tool pouch he had seized from the big man a few days ago.
Searching for suitable spots along the way, he occasionally used steel wire to set up Explosive Tags and Shuriken.
Soon, explosions and Ichū Bu's roars echoed one after another behind him.
The simple traps caused Ichū Bu a lot of trouble, but the distance between them didn't widen much.
This won't work!
If he kept running like this, his Chakra would definitely run out first.
And he didn't have many Ninja Tools left.
The Chakra restored by the ration pills had to be used at the critical moment.
As he sped along, his mind constantly searched for a strategy while his Byakugan observed the surroundings in all directions.
A moment later.
He suddenly pulled out a handful of Kunai and threw them at the surrounding tree trunks.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
The Kunai, with thin steel wires attached to their tails, stuck into the tree trunks one after another, forming a crisscrossing grid.
Near the leaves, Explosive Tags were hidden and tied to the wires.
He didn't stop but ran forward for another distance.
Seeing that the enemy was close enough, he suddenly stopped.
He turned to face Ichū Bu.
With the momentum of someone driven to a dead end, he gripped a Kunai and charged toward him...