The Omen

Hiss—

The frightened horses neighed wildly, but the terrified caravan members held them fast.

For a moment.

Throughout the caravan.

Panic spread.

The tall Root Organization member drew his tachi and pressed it against Zong Quan's neck, saying in a deep voice:

"Whether there are missing-nin in the group isn't something you can explain away with a single sentence. You have three minutes. Take everyone over there."

He pointed toward an open area ahead on the right.

That was where the Root Organization had set up its traps, with the densest concentration of thrown ninja tools.

As he spoke, the Root Organization member withdrew his tachi, grabbed Zong Quan off the ground, and threw him toward the rear of the convoy.

Zong Quan staggered forward, inwardly cursing his luck. First, he had been driven along by missing-nin, and now he was being driven along by the Konoha Anbu.

Those without strength were like cattle and horses in the Ninja World, born to be driven around.

After passing the second carriage.

Zong Quan looked toward Ingetsu. He had wanted to vent his frustration deliberately, but then he remembered that the other man was an S-Rank Missing-nin and immediately wilted. Putting on an act, he said:

"Everyone off the car! Off the car! Gather up! Do as the ninja lord said!"

Ingetsu jumped down from the carriage, leaving Zong Quan staring blankly. He hadn't expected the other man to cooperate so readily.

Next, the other Uchiha, Nonō, and Kurenai Yuhi also got off the carriage.

They were quite satisfied with Zong Quan's performance. The man knew the captain's identity, but had no intention of betraying them.

The caravan members in the carriages behind them climbed down reluctantly.

At that moment, three members of the escort team stared fixedly at Ingetsu and the others.

Nervousness showed in their eyes. Their palms were sweating, and they were visibly uneasy, as if making some difficult decision.

They wanted to report the dozen or so people who had infiltrated the caravan. They guessed that these people were most likely the missing-nin team the Konoha Anbu were looking for.

Not everyone could think things through as well as Zong Quan. These people were convinced that this suspicious group was absolutely no match for the Konoha Anbu!

Whoosh—

One of the three escort members raised his right hand high. Seeing this, Zong Quan's eyes widened. The next second, he leaped up despite the pain and forced the man's right hand down.

Zong Quan looked shaken, inwardly shouting, Damn it! These idiots were trying to get him killed!

"Zong Quan?" The escort member looked at Zong Quan in surprise as he clung to his right arm.

Zong Quan glared at them and said in a low voice:

"Are you trying to get us all killed?"

The three escort members looked confused. If they simply reported those suspicious people to the Konoha Anbu, wouldn't the caravan be saved?

The Uchiha naturally noticed the commotion behind the caravan. They turned around instinctively, wanting to see how Ingetsu would handle it.

The Uchiha were stunned to discover...

Their Yinyue Captain was nowhere to be seen!

Under Zong Quan's vicious stare, the three escort members felt guilty and fell silent.

At the front of the caravan.

The Root Organization ninja who had walked away suddenly turned around and looked toward the middle of the caravan, where the commotion had broken out. He said in a deep voice, "What is it?"

Zong Quan continued to laugh it off, saying, "Nothing, ninja lord. I'm organizing everyone and taking them to the area you specified!"

The escort member Zong Quan had glared at earlier saw that the Konoha Anbu were paying attention to them. His heart sank, but he raised his right hand again and shouted:

"My lord, I have..."

Before he could finish.

Pfft—

A pitch-black blade pierced through the escort member's back and straight through his heart. His heart sank completely, and he lost all life forever.

"Huh?"

The other two escort members looked blankly behind them, then saw in horror...

The young man wearing the black hood had appeared behind their dead companion at some point.

Two black flashes followed. Terror spread across the two escort members' faces as they clutched their throats and toppled to the ground.

They never even saw what had happened before death came for them. With their desire to report the others, they sank into eternal slumber.

"..."

Warm blood splattered across Zong Quan's face, snapping him out of his shock.

The three men before him had been robbed of their lives by that black blade in the space of a single breath.

Ingetsu removed his hood, revealing his true face. He passed by the dazed Zong Quan and walked toward the Root Organization members at the front of the carriages.

Zong Quan abruptly turned around and stared in astonishment. Everyone who had been standing near the second carriage had vanished.

When Ingetsu killed the betrayers, it was equivalent to issuing the order to begin the battle.

At that moment.

At the crossroads.

The two Root Organization members were also startled by this sudden turn of events.

When they saw Ingetsu.

After a moment, they understood what had happened, and their hearts surged with delight.

Meanwhile, the Root Organization members on the cliff were first shocked, then ecstatic, and finally grim-faced.

Their captains, Yamanaka Fu and Aburame Torune, had chosen to ambush the caravan here and attack it. Their decision had indeed been correct!

Yamanaka Fu and Aburame Torune exchanged a glance. The two rose from the edge of the cliff, and Fu waved his hand.

A Root Organization member severed a steel wire beside him, one used to trigger the traps.

Bang—

With a soft sound, the intricate trap mechanisms embedded in the cliff walls quietly began to operate. The mechanism's seals were released bit by bit.

The next instant.

Whoosh—

A sharp wind-cutting sound rang out. Countless cold flashes appeared across the walls of both cliffs. They aimed at Ingetsu, then fired a dense rain of pitch-black kunai and shuriken.

The area covered by the thrown ninja-tool traps was enormous. They came at Ingetsu from every direction.

Ingetsu activated Eight Thousand Spears, predicting the trajectories of the incoming kunai, shuriken, and senbon. With Black Sword Dark Moon in hand, he used Body Flicker to leap forward and leave his original position.

Clack-clack-clack!

A large number of ninja tools struck the spot where Ingetsu had been standing. But the traps adjusted their trajectories along with Ingetsu's movement, continuing to track and fire at him.

After several twists and turns, Ingetsu found himself with his back against a cliff wall. He could only evade the ninja tools coming from behind, and there was nowhere left to retreat.

"If what's attacking you isn't human, what use can your controlling ocular technique possibly have?"

Yamanaka Fu looked down coldly at the situation in the valley.

Aburame Torune's expression beneath his half-covered mask was equally indifferent. At that moment, however, he spread his hands as if manipulating something, thinking, Even if he can evade the ninja tools, what about the nanoscopic poisonous insects floating in the air...?

The Kikaichu of the Aburame Clan generally covered their bodies. Anyone who touched them would be poisoned and die.

Combined with Secret Technique: Poison Dust Technique, Aburame Torune could exhale the poisonous insects from his mouth.

He could then control them and use the wind carried by the traps to blow them toward Ingetsu, completing the poisoning from a distance.

The two stood atop the towering cliff opposite Ingetsu. Seeing him backed into a dead end like a trapped beast, they already felt certain that victory was theirs!

Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—

A huge number of kunai, shuriken, and senbon, mixed with the nanoscopic poisonous insects floating in the air, came hurtling toward him.

Ingetsu leaned against the wall, yet the corner of his mouth suddenly curled upward. Dark Moon, gripped tightly in his right hand, suddenly blurred, its black mist flowing with high-frequency vibrations.

The Eight Thousand Spears Mangekyō Sharingan rotated in his eye sockets.

Not far away, the Tsuchigumo Clan members and escort members who had avoided the thrown traps because he had moved away suddenly had their Chakra drained dry by Eight Thousand Spears.

As the overwhelming flood of kunai and other weapons engulfed Ingetsu, he boldly swung his blade forward.

Whoosh—

A howling gale erupted. A wall of wind rose from nothing like a waterfall, blocking Ingetsu's path and churning without end.

The wind wall blocked all the incoming kunai, senbon, and shuriken, as well as the nanoscopic poisonous insects in the air.

Clang-clang-clang!!

The ninja tools fell all over the ground.

"This is Wind Release???"

Yamanaka Fu looked utterly astonished as he turned toward Aburame Torune. Torune's pupils widened as he said in surprise:

"My poisonous insects... can't break through that wind wall!"

Below, in the valley.

Ingetsu raised his head and stared at the two men standing atop the cliff. He converted the Chakra he had extracted from the forty-seven members of the caravan into wind-natured Chakra, infused it into Dark Moon, and swung a second blade.

Suddenly—

A pitch-black gale appeared like a waning moon, yet also like a dark ring of stars, enveloping the waists of Yamanaka Fu and Aburame Torune on the cliff.

It seemed capable of cutting through everything in the world, possessing the ultimate sharpness.

The two men looked down in terror.

At the end of their lives.

They saw their upper and lower bodies neatly separated and out of alignment.

Only then did Yamanaka Fu understand.

So...

The slash that had caused the strange distortion in the clouds above had been the work of Uchiha Ingetsu!!

It had foreshadowed their fate that night.

So the other man had killed them.

He hadn't even needed to use the Mangekyō Sharingan.