"Wood Style: Shinra Tensei!" Satoru attacked, and Yoshime immediately joined him. Since Wood Release was extremely powerful, this technique instantly entangled at least three ronin with its vines.
The transmigrator no longer needed to hold back against the remaining enemies.
"Thirty Million Volts: Thunder Bird!" he didn't want to waste time. These opponents, whose combined strength barely reached chunin level, weren't worth him using his full power.
Using the terrifying power of the lightning from the Goro Goro no Mi, Satoru instantly defeated all ten ronin standing before him. They writhed on the ground. Whether they were alive or dead no longer mattered, as they were out of the fight.
Then the boy finished off another enemy with a lightning discharge and interrogated the two remaining ones with Yoshime.
"Where is that red-haired girl?! And how did you know we'd pass through here?!" Satoru demanded.
If their answers differed, at least one was lying. If they matched, it was the truth. Of course, there was a small chance they'd conspire and lie identically, but it was slim.
"There was a Rogue Shinobi from Konoha among us; he deciphered the secret mark. That's why we were waiting here," one ronin looked at the enemy with outright terror. Such a small child possessed the power to crush him — it seemed like a dream.
"I'm asking you, where is that red-haired girl and the blond boy?!" the System holder interrogated again. This time his voice was much scarier.
In the end, the two ronin gave Satoru the correct answer: the reward exchange point.
"Someone at the reward exchange point placed a high bounty on Uzumaki Kushina, alive," Yoshime told Satoru, frowning.
"Reward exchange point? What kind of place is that?" Yoshime was still young, and though she seemed mature beyond her years, some things were unfamiliar to her.
"It's also called the Black Market, right? Mostly, someone posts a hit there, someone takes it, then brings the target's head and gets paid."
"It's a place where they order assassinations. Since it's illegal, it all happens in the underworld."
"However, the exact location of this Black Market remains a mystery."
"If that's the case, how do we find them? If we follow Minato's marks, we might get ambushed again?" the Senju clan girl asked, frowning.
"That... I don't know for sure. But we have to move forward because it's our only lead. Those people seemed to fall under some ninjutsu. They were just about to name the Black Market's location when they died..."
Satoru was completely baffled too. Staring at the Konoha mark on the tree, he could do nothing but rush to the next mark with Yoshime.
At that moment, his perception ability proved extremely useful. Combining sensory skills, chakra vision, and Sharingan allowed Satoru to easily spot the next mark. This time, it had Minato Namikaze's forehead protector.
"Minato's forehead protector? He stopped leaving marks and left his forehead protector here? Why?"
Satoru and Yoshime exchanged glances, not understanding their comrade's intent.
In the next second, the Earth native saw the girl beside him fly back with a dull thud and crash into a tree.
"Yoshime!" Satoru grew alarmed. He didn't even understand why he worried about this girl so much. But he suddenly noticed that the strike that sent Yoshime flying seemed familiar.
"This is the Hyuga clan's Eight Trigrams Heavenly Palm?! What's going on? Why did a Hyuga clan member attack Yoshime?!"
Satoru quickly ran to the girl and found that, though she'd taken a hit, the injury wasn't too severe. He thought it might be due to the strong cells of the Senju clan.
The boy turned and saw the tree with Minato's forehead protector turn into a masked person in standard ninja garb. Clearly, it was a Hyuga clan member from Konoha.
"ANBU? Did someone from ANBU set up an ambush for us here? Why?" Satoru stood by Yoshime and demanded answers.
"Because you got involved with the wrong people? Something like that? Or rather, your appearance poses a threat to us, I'm afraid," the cat-masked person seemed unwilling to waste words on Satoru.
"Either way, this time both of you, Satoru and Yoshime, will die here! Wind Release: Cutting Wind Technique!"
The cat-masked ANBU quickly formed seals. As an ANBU member, his strength was definitely jonin level. The Cutting Wind Technique must have been one of his frequently used ones, judging by how skillfully he executed it.
The Cutting Wind Technique couldn't be taken head-on, especially with Yoshime behind him. Satoru quickly formed seals too.
"Earth Release: Mud Wall!"
The high earthen wall blocked the Cutting Wind, but the danger wasn't over. The opponent was clearly a Wind Release master. Using Body Flicker Technique, he moved behind Satoru.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Bullets!"
Satoru did a backflip, instantly turning around.
*Boom!*
He punched the ground hard. The ANBU first thought Satoru had gone mad, but when the earth cracked and his body shook, forcing him to interrupt the technique, he realized the boy before him wasn't so easy to kill.
"Such immense strength! No wonder someone wants you dead," the ANBU smiled faintly and, using Body Flicker Technique, leaped onto a tree branch.
"Summoning Technique!" this ANBU bit his finger and slammed the branch hard. He then summoned the Dream Eater Baku.
Yoshime, lying on the ground, was stunned too. She hadn't expected the enemy to be this strong.
"This guy?! Uses Wind Release and can summon a Dream Eater? Could it be..." Satoru subconsciously linked this person to Danzou.
"No. If he's Danzou's subordinate, why does he have Byakugan?!" the transmigrator clearly saw this guy's eyes were off.
He'd never heard of any Hyuga clan member using such superb Wind Release techniques and summoning a Dream Eater...
What was going on?
Satoru was utterly confused.
But the massive Baku before him gave the reincarnator no time to think. Opening its huge maw, it unleashed an incredibly powerful gale. Even Satoru involuntarily began drifting toward its mouth.
Yoshime had no strength left. After the attack, she hadn't recovered and was about to be swallowed.
"Instant Teleportation!" in the critical moment, Satoru teleported to Yoshime and, using instant teleportation again, moved her to safety.
"Where did he go?! How did he vanish?!" Satoru's sudden disappearance greatly surprised the cat-masked ANBU.
"Be careful!" Yoshime knew Satoru was about to fight and warned him immediately.
"Got it! I'll definitely take this guy down!" Satoru replied very confidently.
***
Read the story months ahead of the public release — early chapters are available on my Patreon: Granulan