Intelligence Secured

The Land of Wind was almost entirely desert, and the winds were fierce. If you opened your mouth, you might end up with a mouthful of sand.

In such an environment, it was no wonder Sunagakure was desperately trying to attack Konoha. Living in a place like this, Ninja were nothing more than mindless tools for killing. Aside from starting a war to seize land, there really seemed to be no other way.

The Land of Wind could barely feed itself. Much of its food had to be purchased from the River Country or other small countries, while Konoha not only had enough farmland, it could even export grain.

After entering the desert, Hyuga Mirai and the two women covered themselves up, using sand to blend their colors into the desert. Even if sharp-eyed Suna-nin spotted the direction they were in from afar, as long as they did not move, they would not be able to tell that three people were hiding there.

"Sunagakure has three supply routes in total. We'll use Exploding Tags to set an ambush along this one. As long as there are no more than ten of them, the moment the Suna-nin enter the trap, we strike."

Hyuga Mirai spoke to the two women. He had made an extremely detailed plan. As long as Suna-nin entered the trap he had set, even Jonin would find it difficult to escape alive.

The main feature of his trap was concealment—it was difficult to notice. Furthermore, this was the Land of Wind's territory, behind Sandstorm Town. Back then, only the Konoha White Fang had been able to lead a team through enemy territory like a sharp blade, launching surprise attacks everywhere.

After the Konoha White Fang died, Konoha had almost no one left to carry out such missions.

Moreover, the two countries had not officially gone to war yet. Sunagakure had merely massed troops at the border. Given Konoha's nature, it should have sent envoys to advocate peace. There was no way it would send people into the heart of the Land of Wind to cause trouble.

Hyuga Mirai could not guarantee that anyone would pass through the outermost of the three routes, so they could only wait patiently.

It was also possible that no Suna-nin would pass through here before the mission deadline. If that happened, Hyuga Mirai could only declare the mission a failure and return the way they came.

Fortunately, Hyuga Mirai's luck was not bad. After waiting for only half a day, three squads approached from the distance.

Ten people. Three of them are very young, probably Genin who just graduated. The rest are all Chunin!

Hyuga Mirai's Byakugan could already see activity eight kilometers away. The moment these Suna-nin entered his field of vision, he saw them clearly.

Before long, when the group drew closer, Hyuga Kiyomi also gave a warning.

"They're here. Ten people in total. Three have slightly weaker Chakra, so the rest should all be Chunin."

After hearing Hyuga Kiyomi, Hyuga Mirai immediately ordered, "We can fight. Once the trap is activated, attack at once!"

The three of them then dispersed to their respective positions and lay motionless on the ground. Sand covered their bodies, and even from within a hundred meters, it would be difficult to tell that three people were hiding there.

"Senior Sugiki, we'll reach Sandstorm Town soon anyway. Tell us about the war."

A Genin who had just graduated and been assigned under the Suna-nin Sugiki asked his team's senior with a curious expression.

They had only graduated a few months ago, yet they were already about to take part in the first war of their lives.

However, these fledglings were not afraid. Instead, they wanted to bring honor to their families and become heroes of Sunagakure.

Moreover, at that time, many Genin in Sunagakure believed their village was powerful. The Third Kazekage had been the strongest Kazekage in history. Although he had been poisoned to death by Konoha's despicable methods, the Fourth Kazekage was a powerhouse who had repelled the Third Raikage.

Under the Fourth Kazekage's leadership, most Suna-nin believed Sunagakure could crush Konoha in one stroke and seize territory better suited for living.

Seeing that the three subordinates had asked many times along the way, and since they were close to Sandstorm Town, Sugiki decided to tell them a little about war in advance. It would count as fulfilling his duty as a senior.

"You little kids, don't underestimate war. Once you step onto the battlefield, you have to face danger from every direction at all times. Even now, we could run into an ambush!"

Sugiki did not want these three subordinates to die as soon as they reached the battlefield, so he warned the three Genin in a half-frightening tone.

The female Genin waved her hand and laughed. "We know, Senior Sugiki. You're trying to scare us again. How could there possibly be an ambush here?"

Sugiki also knew an ambush was unlikely here, but his pride as a senior would not allow him to back down. He forced himself to say, "You were simply born too late. If you had gone to war a few years earlier, you would have encountered a Ninja known as the Konoha White Fang. Back then, the Konoha White Fang and I—"

Boom!

Rumble!

Before the Suna-nin Sugiki could finish speaking, the Exploding Tags beneath his feet suddenly detonated. Violent explosions and scorching flames instantly swallowed him.

Then, as if triggering a chain reaction, the sounds of Exploding Tags detonating rang out one after another across dozens of meters nearby.

The three Genin of Sunagakure did not even have time to react. The smiles had not yet faded from their faces before the flames from the Exploding Tags swallowed them whole.

Of the ten Suna-nin, only the three at the rear leaped away in an instant, raising their arms in front of themselves and avoiding the damage from the explosion.

"An ambush! It's the enemy!"

This thought flashed through the minds of the three surviving Suna-nin. They immediately reached for their Ninja tool pouches, preparing to take out Puppet Scrolls or Kunai to deal with the enemy, but the next wave of attacks came too quickly.

Throwing sounds came from behind them. When they turned around, the Exploding Tags that were about to ignite made their hearts tremble.

Six Kunai bound with Exploding Tags sealed off three directions around the three Suna-nin, forcing them to flee forward. However, Hyuga Mirai's teammates were already waiting there, ready to strike.

Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!

Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death!

Hyuga Kiyomi and Yuhi Kurenai both possessed Chunin-level strength, and they immediately used their signature techniques. Furthermore, two of the three Suna-nin were Puppet Masters, yet they did not even have time to open their Puppet Scrolls.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Hyuga Kiyomi's Eight Trigrams Palm domain directly enveloped two of them. Under her rapid Pressure Point Strikes targeting their internal organs, the two Suna-nin could only block the first few moves. They could no longer withstand Hyuga Kiyomi's increasingly swift attacks. In less than a moment, their internal organs and meridians throughout their bodies were struck, leaving them seriously injured and sprawled on the ground.

The other Suna-nin was caught in Yuhi Kurenai's Illusion Technique and stood there blankly. Hyuga Mirai swept his Byakugan over him and saw that Chakra throughout his body had been disrupted by Yuhi Kurenai's Chakra. If no one released him, he would probably need an entire day to regain consciousness.

"Clean up and retreat immediately!"

Hyuga Mirai flung out ten Shuriken. Whether they were dead or only temporarily alive, every Suna-nin was struck in a vital spot by Hyuga Mirai's Shuriken and died instantly.

He then took out three Sealing Scrolls and swiftly sealed the ten corpses into them.

After collecting the bodies, Hyuga Mirai called out, "Kiyomi, Kurenai!"

"Got it."

The two women answered and immediately retreated in another direction. Although they were still some distance from Sandstorm Town, the sound of the explosions might have been noticed by Sunagakure's patrols.

More than ten minutes after Hyuga Mirai and the others left, a Suna-nin patrol squad finally arrived. By then, however, there were few clues left. They only knew that a fierce battle had taken place here and that someone had used a large number of Exploding Tags or Fire Style Ninjutsu.

"Return and report this!"

After receiving a signal, the captain of the Suna-nin patrol squad quickly hurried back toward the camp.

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