The moment they heard that sound, everyone instinctively felt a sense of dread. Without thinking, they quickly turned and ran back.
Immediately after, an explosion echoed from behind them, and the narrow secret passage quickly began to collapse. The people at the very front didn't have time to escape and were buried under the rocks and earth.
The remaining four people watched the completely buried tunnel, still in shock. The ones who didn't escape were undoubtedly dead.
The earlier explosion was the cause of the tunnel's collapse, and they quickly understood the reason.
"They… how did they know about the tunnel's existence?" someone asked in shock.
"Could it be an informant?" another person said, like a frightened bird, even though now was not the time for infighting, he couldn't help but blurt it out.
"Impossible! There must be some other reason."
"Alright! Now is not the time to argue about this. Since they've blocked the tunnel, that means they'll be here any moment…" Before this person could finish speaking, the ventilation shaft outside the base suddenly exploded, and a cold wind carrying rain blew in. To the four people present, it was no less than the breath of death.
The person closest let out a cry of pain and recoiled. Numerous fine wounds appeared on his body, and blood seeped out. It turned out that the blowing wind truly carried Wind Release ninjutsu.
Just as that person retreated, several figures rushed in.
Those who rushed in were all members of the Amegakure Anbu. They drew their long swords without a word, and a fierce battle erupted in the dark, narrow room. Only the sparks from clashing blades could be seen.
After a while, two people burst out of the room and ran outside desperately.
The two who luckily escaped knew that there might be more Amegakure Anbu waiting outside, but they had no other choice. The escape tunnel was sealed, and there was only one exit. No matter what, they could only try their luck.
As soon as they ran out, the two saw a dark figure lunging at them.
One of them screamed and swung his sword, directly hitting the opponent's body. However, the opponent vanished like smoke.
—Clone Jutsu?
He instinctively had this thought and quickly tried to pinpoint the person's figure, but he found nothing. Just as he was about to run directly, a sharp pain shot through his abdomen, and all his strength rapidly drained away, causing him to fall to his knees.
On the verge of death, this person noticed someone standing in front of him. The person wasn't very tall; he had to kneel to be at eye level. The person's hand was covered in blood, which must have been how he was impaled.
The Amegakure ninja beside him watched his companion die. After dealing with the clone, the attacker clearly appeared nearby, but his companion seemed to see nothing, looking left and right, allowing the attacker to impale his abdomen. It seemed he had fallen under genjutsu.
He didn't want to fight this short person. As soon as he moved, he felt someone poke his body with a finger. Immediately after, all his meridians seemed to be paralyzed, and he couldn't exert even a trace of strength.
"Well done," the Amegakure ninja could only hear the person behind him praising the short person before he lost consciousness.
Not even a minute had passed from start to finish, and all the remaining Amegakure remnants were dealt with. For the Anbu, this efficiency was actually very normal. If the delay was too long, it would not only increase the possibility of unexpected situations but also violate the Anbu's consistent rule of "completing missions silently."
However,
If the Amegakure Anbu had come by themselves, it would have taken a lot of effort to disarm the traps, let alone detect the existence of the tunnel and blow it up.
Being able to disarm the traps and discover the tunnel so quickly was all thanks to the Konoha Anbu captain.
This person seemed to use a sensory ability to detect the tunnel's existence, ordering explosive tags to be placed there, and at the same time, identifying the weaknesses of the traps to quickly disarm them.
Because of this, the Amegakure ninjas hiding in the base didn't even have time to think of other methods, being completely drawn into their rhythm and directly forced into a desperate situation.
"As expected of the Konoha Hidden Village Anbu," Ussu couldn't help but exclaim.
"It's just ordinary skill," Hyuga Kai said very humbly, "There are plenty of people in the village who are better than me."
Ussu wasn't sure if Hyuga Kai was genuinely humble or stating a fact. If it was truly a fact, then the strength of Konoha Hidden Village was truly beyond imagination. And judging by common sense, Konoha Hidden Village should indeed possess such strength, otherwise, how could it be called the strongest ninja village?
Facing opponents of this caliber, the former leader Besa's choice was simply suicidal. Fortunately, Konoha Hidden Village was extraordinarily magnanimous and didn't hold it against them, and was even willing to help the people of the Land of Rain. The current leader Hanzo's choice was truly the right path for Amegakure.
Ussu secretly rejoiced in his heart, looking at the only unconscious Amegakure ninja, and ordered him to be carried away. This was a live captive kept to extract some information from him, but this was the work of Amegakure, not something the Konoha Anbu could interfere with.
"With this, our mission is complete, isn't it?" Hyuga Kai asked.
"Yes, the number of these people matches the number of rogue ninjas who escaped," Ussu counted them, confirming after tallying the Amegakure ninjas crushed in the tunnel.
"Good, then we'll prepare to return to our country. The remaining work will be handled by the medical team," Hyuga Kai nodded slightly and said, "With all the remnants eliminated, there shouldn't be any incidents of medical ninjas being harmed, right?"
"Please rest assured, your village. The medical team will return completely unharmed," Ussu knew that the other party was warning him not to let his guard down just because the remnants were eliminated, and he immediately replied.
"Mhm." Hyuga Kai was very satisfied with his attitude. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Anyway, you'll find out soon, so I'll tell you first: there are already merchants in the village willing to come and sell grain at fair prices. You can prepare for it."
Ussu was slightly startled, and his heart was instantly filled with joy. He knew that besides the plague troubling the Land of Rain, another issue was the insufficient agricultural output caused by perennial rainfall. The lives of the people of the Land of Rain had always been problematic. Having merchants willing to come to the Land of Rain to sell grain would undoubtedly improve the lives of the people.
"Are the prices really fair?" Ussu asked, somewhat uncertainly.
"Of course. The merchants in our village all have cooperative relationships with the village. They will not violate the village's policy. However, for other merchants in the Land of Fire, I cannot guarantee," Hyuga Kai said.
Konoha Hidden Village's attitude towards merchants was to both support and regulate them, ensuring that while they brought benefits to the village, they would not get out of control.
After many years of operation, many merchants came to settle in Konoha Hidden Village and collaborated with the village to open workshops. These merchants were closely related to Konoha Hidden Village's stance, and it was these people who drove the prosperity of Konoha Hidden Village's commerce.
However, they influenced not only Konoha Hidden Village but also merchants in other parts of the Land of Fire. These people did not have deep ties with Konoha Hidden Village, nor did they sign any joint agreements; at most, they had business collaborations. These people were beyond Konoha Hidden Village's interference.
"Even so, only merchants from your village are willing to come here, right?" Ussu smiled and said.
"That's how it is now, but it might not be in the future," Hyuga Kai replied. Although he didn't know much about this, he had heard Fumori Masaki say more than once that the Land of Rain had excellent transportation, making it very suitable for forming a trade route.
Ussu pondered for a moment, then cautiously asked, "This is just an idea of mine, but I wonder if Amegakure can establish cooperative relationships between the village and merchants, similar to your village?"
"That's not something I can decide, but rather something your village's leader will decide. However, our Hokage-sama also seems to have some ideas about supporting the commerce of the Land of Rain," Hyuga Kai said with a half-smile.
"I was presumptuous," Ussu bowed slightly in apology. "If your village's Hokage truly has this intention, I can report it to Lord Hanzo."
"That would be even better. Our village already has some experience with this kind of cooperation model, which can be helpful for you who are trying it for the first time. We can have merchants from our village come and help drive the commercial prosperity of the Land of Rain," Hyuga Kai said, "Our Hokage-sama said that as long as there is a willingness to coexist peacefully, Konoha Hidden Village is willing to provide assistance, and both sides can benefit mutually. This method is much more convenient than fighting each other."
"That's well said," Ussu said, enlightened. He felt that this was indeed a good thing, after all, the national power of the Land of Rain was not strong, and cooperating with Konoha Hidden Village was clearly better than opposing them.