Long before the Suna ninja appeared,
Yuu and the others had already learned their direction from the warning given by the Hyūga clan member. By now, they had already assumed a defensive formation, protecting the wounded—including Nohara Hiroshi—in the middle. The rest formed a circle around them, holding swords, blades, or kunai, fully prepared.
Rin was arranged beside Yuu.
A little farther away, Gekkō Shigure held his long sword and coldly watched the enemy while muttering inwardly.
Even now, he still believed they should have used his plan: he would lead one squad to stay behind and delay the enemy while the others used the chance to keep moving. Unfortunately, the best timing had already been missed. Now, if things went badly, they might be wiped out completely.
Still…
as a Konoha ninja, even if mission failure was now highly likely, all he could do was fight with everything he had and try to drag a few more Suna ninja down with him. That would count as making one final contribution to the village.
Hopefully, the village would treat his frail, sickly son kindly in recognition of this sacrifice.
Thinking this, Gekkō Shigure snorted coldly.
"I wondered who it was. So it's Sunagakure's rats. What, do you think you can win just because you have more people?"
"Of course. What, are the ones with fewer people supposed to win? Judging by the look of you, you probably don't even have many jōnin, right? There are even a few brats still wet behind the ears in your group. How laughable!"
Nakajima fired back sharply.
When words failed, there was no need to say more.
Just as both sides were bristling with killing intent, ready to begin a life-or-death clash,
Yuu slowly stepped forward two paces and stood between Rin's group and the Suna ninja. Without showing any reaction, he took in the enemy's numbers and positions.
"Leave now, and no one will get hurt."
"...?"
A brief silence.
Then, thunderous laughter erupted.
"Hahaha! What nonsense is this kid spouting? I think he's been scared stupid!"
"Does Konoha have no one left? They actually sent a brat like this to lead a squad?"
"Still wet behind the ears, yet he dares talk big? I'll make sure your whole body is covered in wounds!"
Amid the laughter, only Nakajima seemed to recall something. His eyes narrowed slightly, and his gaze suddenly became a little subtle.
White hair. Young. Carries a short blade…
Wait. Didn't these features sound exactly like that person mentioned in earlier intelligence?
That Konoha ninja who acted alongside the Yellow Flash, left a deep impression on Elder Chiyo and Pakura, but had not appeared again for the past month!
If he remembered correctly, his name was something like…
As if to confirm Nakajima's guess,
in the next second,
his eyelid twitched as he saw the white-haired boy standing in front of the Konoha team blur. Like a pencil sketch erased by an eraser, he vanished abruptly!
Then…
Swish—!!
At this moment, Yuu crossed several dozen meters without any warning and appeared directly in front of them, within arm's reach! At this distance, a few Suna ninja could even clearly see, beneath that white hair, the pair of black eyes that were so calm they were almost indifferent.
"Wha—?!"
Before the closest Suna ninja could even finish the syllable in his mouth,
Yuu's body moved again. Like a stone thrown into a still lake, he instantly stirred up seven or eight afterimages! Each afterimage carried an incomparably sharp blade light, launching a swift and violent offensive at a speed almost impossible for the eye to capture!
Instant Shadow Killing Formation!
At this moment, a net of death abruptly unfolded!
Blade light flashed like lightning!
The sharp sound of air being torn apart, and the sickening, muffled sounds of sharp steel cutting through flesh and bone, instantly merged into one continuous rhythm.
"Hiss! Hiss! Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!"
"It's him! It's him!!"
Nakajima's eyes widened suddenly, his face full of shock and disbelief.
"He's that student of the Yellow Flash, the one Elder Chiyo and Pakura mentioned… Hurry, everyone spread out! Stay alert! Don't fight him up close! Use ninjutsu to stop him!!"
In the time it took him to say those two sentences,
five or six Suna ninja had already been caught completely off guard and cut down by Yuu. The process was smoother than cutting melons and vegetables. Because the blade moved too quickly, they did not even have time to scream before their limbs separated, their broken bodies collapsing to the ground amid spraying blood.
Only afterward did the faster-reacting ninja finally raise their hands and release ninjutsu or puppets.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
"Earth Release: Rock Pillar Spears!"
Amid the chaotic noise, wind blades, stone spears, flames, as well as a large number of kunai, shuriken, and poison-coated senbon, rained down toward Yuu like a storm.
Just as the Hyūga ninja had seen earlier, these Suna ninja were not weak on average. Most of them were between chūnin and jōnin level. Now that they attacked together, the momentum was even more astonishing, enough that Gekkō Shigure and the others behind did not dare charge forward and face the brunt directly.
Rin unconsciously broke into a cold sweat for Yuu.
But…
Compared to Yuu's 0.2-second extreme Substitution under Phantom Stage, the speed of ninjutsu activation was still far too slow.
Moreover, Yuu's Substitution Technique did not even require a medium. That meant they could not predict his position based on something like Flying Thunder God kunai placement the way one might when dealing with Minato. Of course, with Minato's reaction speed, even if they predicted it, they would still likely be too slow to defend.
On top of that, Yuu had seized the initiative from the very beginning. Before attacking, he had already planned his route. So even facing such dense attacks, he remained completely at ease. His figure flickered like a butterfly weaving through flowers, and the short blade in his hand swiftly harvested lives. Every strike drew blood.
Finally…
the first Sunagakure jōnin capable of withstanding one of Yuu's slashes appeared.
"Earth Release: Stone Skin Technique!"
This Suna ninja cast a ninjutsu, covering his body in a thick gray-white layer of stone. When Yuu slashed at him, the attack actually failed to split him apart directly. As the blade struck the stone layer on his body, Yuu felt tremendous resistance, and sparks flew from the blade's edge.
"A mere Konoha ninja—do you really think Sunagakure has no one?! I've locked down his blade! Hurry up and kill him!!"
The Suna ninja roared, trying to use his shoulder to trap the short blade in Yuu's hand.
Mm, this looked a little familiar. In the original story, Baki seemed to have used this same move when killing Gekkō Hayate. It seemed to be one of Sunagakure's specialties.
Two other Suna ninja took the opportunity to pounce over, swinging kunai at Yuu from both sides.
"Die!!"
"…Heh."
The corner of Yuu's mouth curved up.
He simply let go, allowing the White Fang short blade to be trapped by that Suna ninja. Then his body vanished from midair with a whoosh, and when he reappeared, he was already in an open space twenty meters away.
Then,
under the tense gazes of several Suna ninja, Yuu used his now-free hands to form seals at extreme speed, his fingers moving too quickly to see clearly.
"Water Release: Water Severing Wave!"
As Yuu's chest swelled, he opened his mouth and spat out a thin, condensed line of water! It shot across dozens of meters of space like a twenty-meter-long blade, slashing toward the Suna ninja who had just used Stone Skin Technique!
"Splurt—! Crack!"
Wherever the water line passed, whether it was hard stone, thick tree trunks, hastily raised steel shields, or flesh and blood, everything was cleanly split apart like hot butter under a knife!
The Suna ninja using Stone Skin Technique only held out one or two seconds longer than the others. Then the Water Severing Wave cut through his hardened skin and sliced him in half at the waist, his organs and hot blood spraying all over the ground!
His eyes widened, as if he wanted to say something to Yuu. But in the end, he could say nothing. He only spat out two mouthfuls of bloody foam before collapsing. The White Fang short blade he had trapped fell from midair and was casually caught by Yuu, who flashed over to retrieve it.
Not far away,
several large trees that would take multiple people to wrap their arms around groaned in a teeth-aching way. They slowly tilted and fell, stirring up dust that filled the sky. The cut surfaces on their trunks were smooth and even, as if they were cucumbers sliced open by a kitchen knife.
"Holy…"
Gekkō Shigure was almost dumbstruck.
No, wait…
Was this really something a child in his early teens could do?
Had it even been ten seconds since the battle started? Half of those twenty-plus Suna ninja were almost dead already?
What kind of killing efficiency was this?!
And that move just now—wasn't that the Second Hokage's Water Severing Wave? That was an S-rank ninjutsu! For a technique of that level, even an ordinary ninja, even a jōnin, would count as a miracle if they could learn it. Yet he could use it so skillfully? Was this the weight of genius?
Strictly speaking, Yuu's Water Severing Wave proficiency was not yet maxed.
After all, it was an S-rank ninjutsu. Although it was a skin and could be used directly without needing to fumble around like a beginner, it still required some practice to fully unleash its power. At least for now, Yuu had not reached the level of Sarutobi Hiruzen or Senju Tobirama.
However, his opponents were merely Sunagakure jōnin, not Kage-level powerhouses.
So the result was naturally an instant kill without suspense.
Next,
Gekkō Shigure and the others also joined the battle.
It was clear that this guy from the Gekkō clan was indeed good with a sword. His Dance of the Crescent Moon was flashy and elaborate, his blade light seeming to carry cold moonlight as it continuously slashed at the surrounding Suna ninja.
Originally, several Suna ninja had strength comparable to Gekkō Shigure, or even slightly above him. Under normal circumstances, it would be hard to say which side would win.
But these Suna ninja had personally witnessed Yuu crushing everything in his path and slaughtering in all directions. They were nearly scared witless. One by one, they only wanted to run and keep their lives. They had no intention of entangling themselves with Gekkō Shigure, so he instead instantly killed two of them.
The other Konoha ninja faced similar situations.
Only Nakajima was relatively strong. A Konoha chūnin was severely wounded by him the moment they exchanged blows. Fortunately, Gekkō Shigure stepped in and forcefully blocked his kunai. Then, together with the Hyūga ninja beside him, they launched a pincer attack on Nakajima from front and back.
Even two against one, the battle was only around even.
But very soon, a third Konoha ninja freed himself and joined in, beginning a righteous three-on-one against Nakajima. The latter could not even release ninjutsu properly and quickly fell into a disadvantage.
Seeing that the situation there had stabilized,
Yuu did not go over to help. Instead, he began harvesting the lives of the Suna ninja who were trying to escape.
After all, this team of wounded was secretly retreating toward Kikyo City. This piece of intelligence should not be exposed, so it was better to eliminate all of these Suna ninja as much as possible.
Still, the appearance of these Suna ninja was an unexpected situation. It showed that Konoha's defensive line had likely developed a breach, allowing the enemy to slip through. It would be best to leave a couple of tongues alive and see if they could ask about Sunagakure's action plan.
And so,
in less than ten minutes, this encounter battle came to an end.
The Sunagakure surprise attack force of over twenty people was almost completely wiped out by Yuu and the others.
The large river valley was filled with broken limbs and scattered remains. Corpses and puppet parts lay everywhere. The air carried the smell of blood and charred flesh.
On Konoha's side, aside from the chūnin wounded by Nakajima, several other lightly wounded people had suffered scratches from stray projectiles and the shockwaves of explosions. Everyone else was almost completely unharmed.
At this moment,
Gekkō Shigure let out a long breath, carefully wiped the blood from his blade, and sheathed it. He swept his gaze around the hellish scene, then looked at the white-haired boy standing beside the pile of corpses, breathing steadily. The slight contempt he had originally held had long since been replaced by shock and awe.
The other Konoha ninja had similar looks in their eyes.
After all, admiring strength was human instinct. In the face of absolute strength, things like age, identity, and gender were not important. Even though Yuu was only a boy in his early teens, possessing this level of strength was enough to earn their respect.
At the same time, there was also relief.
Thankfully, such a young genius had appeared in Konoha, not Sunagakure. If someone like this existed among the enemy, everyone would feel fear. But if he was a teammate, all that remained was reassurance—and even the hope that he could become stronger.
"Captain Yuu, we captured two alive!"
A Konoha ninja came over to report, his voice filled with excitement.
Hearing this, Yuu turned and looked, noticing that Nakajima was among the captives. Although the man had been tied up, the gaze he directed at them was still fierce.
"Pah! Damn Konoha ninja! Don't even dream of prying half a word out of my mouth!"
"Oh."
Looks like he was a tough one.
Since there were no Yamanaka clan members in this team, they had no way to directly search his soul for intelligence. So Yuu decisively gave up on the idea of interrogation.
However, this place was not too far from Wildfire City. Sending two people to bring the captives back would not be much trouble. On the contrary, it would be a great merit.
Yuu looked at Gekkō Shigure and began issuing orders.
"Jōnin Gekkō, please send two people to take these two Suna ninja back to Wildfire City and hand them over to Lord Jiraiya. Everyone else, clean up the battlefield quickly. We continue moving in ten minutes."
~~~
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