Scroll

I... I can't move!

With a pfft, darkness filled the middle-aged ninja's vision. His limbs seemed frozen stiff as he fell straight from midair and slammed heavily into the ground. The wound on his left shoulder burst open from the impact, spraying out a gush of blood.

It was over. Everything was over! With great difficulty, his other uninjured hand reached for his chest. What it touched was hard—a kunai had already pierced through his heart. His opponent had struck swiftly and seized the timing with perfect precision. They were undoubtedly a formidable opponent. Even without the sneak attack, injured as he was and having expended a great deal of Chakra in the siege, he would have died regardless.

Yet even knowing the outcome could not be changed, his heart was still filled with unwillingness.

It should have been enough just to bring it back to the Third Raikage! As long as he brought this scroll back, all those deaths would have been worth it!

The genjutsu was still in effect, and darkness still covered his eyes. Yet the resentment and fury in his gaze were chilling.

Then, amid that unwillingness, his consciousness slowly sank into darkness.

"It's over..."

Only after the middle-aged man stopped breathing did a figure drop down from the tree with a tap, landing before his head.

Chiba had said that if this man escaped, he would most likely be carrying something—either belonging to his own ninja village or theirs. So he had to be searched, to make sure nothing crucial or important was overlooked.

The Three Tomoe Sharingan in Hirohiko's eyes gleamed scarlet. His vigilance did not slacken in the slightest just because the other man was dead. Only after carefully checking and confirming that the ninja had no underhanded traps such as self-detonation or