The Despicable Stick

After Charlotte Doyle absorbed the Dragon Bone, she artificially created a small earthquake.

Sensing the earth shaking, the Stick guessed that Charlotte and the others might have already unearthed the Dragon Bone. Without further hesitation, he decided not to engage Ginny and the others in a stalemate within the tunnel, but instead ordered, "Keep your distance, fight and retreat."

But the Stick began to order his men to retreat towards the entrance of the passage.

When Ginny saw the enemy starting to distance themselves, she didn't engage them head-on. Instead, she maintained a certain distance and exchanged fire.

Ginny's Gun-Fu made it difficult to unleash her full firepower in the narrow tunnel, but she still managed to kill one enemy with every shot.

The members of the Chaste suffered continuous losses in battle, leaving behind a corpse every few meters during their retreat.

After retreating a short distance, the Stick sensed the airflow within the tunnel and the wind rushing in from the entrance, and said:

"They were underground, sealing them off with poison gas."

Following the Stick's command, several the Chaste ninjas took out can-shaped grenades from their pockets, pulled off the pins, and threw them directly into the passage.

The pin was pulled, and the thrown grenade immediately emitted yellow smoke, which spread rapidly and completely blocked the passage.

The yellow smoke obscured each other's vision, making it impossible for either side to see the other.

As air rushed into the tunnel, the poisonous gas spread deeper into the tunnel with the airflow.

Meanwhile, the Stick led the members of the Chaste to retreat to the entrance of the passage, while throwing out several more Poison Gas Grenade to increase the concentration of the poison gas.

Now, the Stick's men are guarding the entrance to the passage with guns. Anyone who tries to escape through the poison gas will be mercilessly shot down.

Just as the Poison Gas Grenade began to spread, Ginny realized something was wrong and tried to lead her people out, but the ensuing bullets forced her back.

Seeing the poisonous gas spreading, Ginny could only lead everyone back to the underground passage for shelter. Even so, some people who were slow to react still inhaled the gas, fainted, and foamed at the mouth.

Just as Ginny retreated, Sasuke and Rock Lee arrived. Seeing the disheveled group, Sasuke asked curiously, "Golden Secretary, what happened?"

After running for a while, covering their mouths and noses, Ginny and the others gasped for breath and said anxiously, "Something's wrong! Go find Charlotte! The enemy has used Poison Gas Grenade!"

As soon as Ginny finished speaking, yellow smoke followed them relentlessly, spreading towards them. Sasuke this, Sasuke grabbed the two messengers at the High Table and instructed Rock Lee, "Rock Lee, take Ginny with you, let's retreat inside first."

With that, Sasuke grabbed one person in each hand and started running wildly into the depths of the tunnel. Rock Lee had no choice but to carry Golden Secretary on his back and follow Sasuke in the retreat.

The other High Table messengers could only run frantically on their own. Those who were slower were overwhelmed by the poisonous gas and collapsed to the ground in agony, their bodies convulsing violently.

Rock Lee and Sasuke moved with incredible speed, returning to the end of the tunnel, the Dragon Bone Sealing Chamber, in the blink of an eye.

But standing before them now was not just Charlotte Doyle, but also Shizune and Charlotte Doyle.

Charlotte Doyle had just summoned Shizune and briefly explained the situation when Rock Lee and Sasuke came running back with several people.

Seeing this, Charlotte was full of surprise. At this moment, Rock Lee and Sasuke put down the person they had brought back.

Ginny was very surprised by the sudden Shizune; she had never seen this person before. However, now was not the time to think about that, and she immediately called out anxiously:

"Boss, something terrible has happened!"

"The enemy used Poison Gas Grenade to block the passageway, and many of our men have already fallen victim to it."

Upon hearing Ginny's words, Charlotte's initial joy at the discovery of the Dragon Bone vanished instantly.

Using Poison Gas Grenade in an underground passage? You're trying to wipe me out completely! If this were an ordinary person, they would have really gotten themselves into trouble.

Charlotte showed no sign of tension and said calmly, "Ginny, don't worry, I have a solution."

Do you know what kind of force the enemy is?

Hearing Charlotte's calm tone, Ginny's anxious heart calmed down at that moment. After thinking for a moment, she said, "I'm not sure what kind of force the enemy is, but it could be the Hand."

"I saw they also had ninjas, but the leader was an old man carrying a stick, though he seemed to have some eye problems."

Clearly, the Stick's agile movements made it difficult for Ginny to believe he was blind.

Charlotte murmured, "A stick? An old man? A ninja?"

The next moment, Charlotte seemed to realize something and said with certainty, "So it's Daredevil's master, Stick of the Chaste."

At this moment, Shizune, who was standing to the side, suddenly spoke up, "Poison gas? Let me go check it out first!"

Charlotte saw Shizune suddenly speak up, thought for a moment, and then said, "Alright, you're an expert in this area. Take a look at what's going on with this poison gas, but be careful."

"Understood!" Shizune replied, then her figure transformed into a blur and vanished in a flash.

At this moment, some of the messengers at the High Table behind also ran back, but their numbers were greatly reduced. Of the forty people who went out, only half returned. Some of the remaining half died in the gunfight, but most of them fell victim to the poison gas attack.

Sasuke and Rock Lee, seeing Shizune's speed and movement, immediately exclaimed in surprise, "Lord Charlotte, who was that just now?"

Clearly, they sensed that Shizune was someone like them, but since none of them had ever seen Shizune before, they didn't know who she was.

Seeing the surprised looks on their faces, Charlotte smiled and said, "She's Shizune, a Jonin, and more importantly, a Medical Ninja."

Upon hearing that Shizune was actually a Jonin, both of them were extremely surprised. Jonin were considered high-level combatants in Konoha, and Medical Ninja were especially rare.

However, because of Shizune's attire—no ninja Headband, no Jonin vest—they didn't recognize her at first.

Meanwhile, Ginny was very curious about how this so-called Medical Ninja had appeared here. If she had known, she would have personally brought Charlotte down with her, without anyone else accompanying her.

Ginny glanced at the large crater behind Charlotte and noticed that the Dragon Bone were gone. She wondered to herself, could it be...?

Was that woman just now transformed from that Dragon Bone?

At this moment, Ginny's gaze towards Charlotte Doyle became strange.