The edge of the Forest of Death.
The Kumogakure Unit had already prepared to venture deep into the forest and make their move. The problem was that they had discovered Konoha had been tailing them from behind.
Clearly, their plan to capture Hinata Hyuga had already caught Konoha's Anbu's attention.
"What should we do, Captain?"
"Konoha has already discovered us."
Several ninjas from the Kumogakure Unit spoke in panicked voices.
"Don't panic." Makai, captain of the Hidden Cloud Ninja squad, calmly made his judgment. "This time, we came at the invitation of Konoha's Third Hokage, representing Lord Raikage in peace talks.
"To some extent, Konoha is the one seeking peace talks with our Kumogakure.
"Since that is the case, they will not easily start a conflict with us and cause the peace talks between Kumogakure and Konoha to collapse!
"The appearance of those Konoha ninjas this time was probably deliberate, intended to make us wary.
"So we cannot hesitate now. Whether we retreat or capture her, we must act quickly."
Having said that, Makai seriously swept his gaze over the faces of his squad members.
"And my judgment now is that we capture her immediately!
"After all, Hinata is in this forest right now..."
As Makai spoke, he suddenly realized that the ground beneath his feet was shaking. More precisely, the entire Forest of Death was trembling, and countless birds took flight from a distant corner of the forest.
What was going on?
Had Konoha's Anbu attacked in advance and used ninjutsu to stop us from capturing Hinata and obtaining the Byakugan?!
Thinking this, Makai, the captain of the Hidden Cloud Ninja tactical squad, grew alert.
Then he noticed that the Hidden Cloud Ninja squad members, whom he had just reassured with his words, were all staring at him with terrified expressions.
Behind me?
Is there something behind me?
Makai turned around, and the sight nearly scared the soul out of him.
The reason was simple: he saw a terrifying scene.
Trees across more than half the forest were being shattered. Boundless earth, tree debris, unidentified beast flesh, and bone fragments formed an Earth Wave more than ten meters high, like ocean swells.
More importantly, the Earth Wave, more than ten meters high, was rapidly rushing toward them!
A powerful ninja had made a move within this forest!
And the ninjutsu he had used was certainly no low-ranking technique! A-rank?
No, S-rank!
—It was absolutely an unknown S-rank ninjutsu!
After reaching that conclusion, Makai immediately shouted at his subordinates, "Everyone, use Earth Style: Earth-Style Wall."
"Yes!"
The squad ninjas snapped out of their daze and quickly formed hand seals.
In an instant, one solid earthen wall after another rose from the ground.
Before the Kumogakure ninjas, they formed a massive defensive rampart!
Then, in the next second, the Earth Wave in the distance, like ocean swells and an enormous mudslide, slammed viciously into the Earth-Style Wall barrier.
Buzzz...
The enormous Earth-Style Wall shook and hummed, with cracks even beginning to appear.
Fortunately, the shaking soon stopped, and the ground no longer trembled!
Did it block it?!
The moment that thought arose in the minds of the Kumogakure ninja squad and they heaved a huge sigh of relief, a terrifying tide of air burst forth. It was a truly invisible force attack—an air-tide assault!
It was the true Vacuum Attack!
A divine strike linked with the Byakugan's ocular power, born from the Hyuga bloodline, and deeply connected to the Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack of the Bloodline Snare!
Crack!
In an instant, the Super Earth-Style Wall jointly cast by six Kumogakure squad members collapsed, turning into rubble that, together with invisible force, smashed viciously toward the Kumogakure group.
Bang!
Makai, the Hidden Cloud Ninja squad leader who had been insisting on capturing Hinata, did not even have time to react before his head was blasted apart by boulders and the Vacuum Attack's shockwave.
The remaining Hidden Cloud Ninja squad members did not suffer as horribly as Makai, but every one of them was struck by the Vacuum Attack's force and the massive rocks from their shattered Earth-Style Wall. They all coughed up blood, suffered severe injuries, and fell to the ground.
Kumogakure's peace negotiation team had thus been severely crippled!
The captain had died on the spot, while every team member had suffered grave injuries...
All of this was witnessed by Uzuki Yanxi, the female Konoha Anbu ninja who had followed the Hidden Cloud Ninja squad to the edge of the Forest of Death.
Beneath the Anbu mask that concealed her delicate face, deep shock inevitably surfaced.
From several hundred meters away, a single strike had severely crippled Kumogakure's peace negotiation squad!
It had even blown apart the head of the squad captain... a Jonin!
Such a ninjutsu attack was absolutely no weaker than S-rank.
Then Uzuki Yanxi looked once more at the Forest of Death, no longer as dense as before. A broad passage stretching several hundred meters had appeared through it, prompting a speculation in her heart.
If the trees in the Forest of Death had not been so dense and had not absorbed part of the ninjutsu's power for those Kumogakure ninjas!
Then all the Kumogakure ninjas would likely have died instantly. The terrifying ninjutsu shockwave might even have continued spreading... reaching the area where they Konoha Anbu were stationed and injuring them as well!
Such power was likely comparable to the Nine-Tails Tailed Beast Bomb attack recorded by the Anbu... and this ninjutsu was not controlled by a mindless Tailed Beast, but by an unknown person. That was far too terrifying!
Uzuki Yanxi solemnly said to the nearby members, who were also wearing Anbu masks, "We must investigate the Forest of Death."
An Anbu member beside her nodded. "It certainly needs to be investigated, but before that, we must report what happened here to the Third Hokage. We must also keep those Kumogakure ninjas alive.
"After all, if we cannot save them... the peace talks between the two great ninja villages will completely fall apart."
All the Anbu nodded at this, then used the Body Flicker Technique to arrive before the Hidden Cloud Ninja, who had been severely injured by the Vacuum Attack and were unable to move, bleeding all over the ground and groaning.
They crouched down and used Medical Ninjutsu:
Mystical Palm Technique!
Just then, hurried footsteps suddenly sounded from nearby.
They belonged to Mitarashi Zixiao, the Anbu Captain who had used the Body Flicker Technique to reach the scene at top speed, along with Hyuga Hiashi.
Hyuga Hiashi in particular was overwhelmingly worried about his daughter, Hinata Hyuga. Anxiety filled his heart... He feared that his daughter would be taken away by those damned Hidden Cloud Ninja bastards, and that her Byakugan would be removed as well...
Tap, tap.
A few seconds later, Hyuga Hiashi and Mitarashi Zixiao finally arrived at the scene. They saw the devastated Forest of Death, whose terrain had been altered over a vast area, as well as the severely wounded Hidden Cloud Ninja already lying on the ground.
Mitarashi Zixiao and Hyuga Hiashi both froze at the sight.
What was going on?
Before you continue