Seamless Ninjutsu Coordination

Although somewhat annoyed, Kotaro obediently followed orders.

He circulated his chakra and returned to his bound "habitat," the rooftop of Shuichi's Villa, because there were always numerous Barriers there, which allowed the summoning Contract Scroll to take effect.

"More than a month has passed since the Kirigakure Village made its move, so their reinforcements must have arrived by now," Shuichi calmly analyzed. "Moreover, given the precious resource of the Seven Star Tree, their forces must be numerous and of high quality."

"We are currently short-handed. Although the village will do its best to send troops after they find out, it will still take about a week for them to arrive."

Shisui tentatively asked, "So... what is our mission...?"

"Turning that forest back into our Konoha is the most important thing. The mission to investigate the missing team is now complete."

Shuichi said expressionlessly, "Personal life and death are insignificant compared to the competition for national resources. Helping a fellow villager avenge is just something I do as a side effect."

He certainly has the strength to easily defeat the people from the Kirigakure, but if he alerts them and exposes his identity, the enemy could easily destroy the forest with a single fire. It's very likely that they've already set up a trap there.

They would rather not have it themselves than let Konoha have it, because the Konoha, the more difficult it will be for the surrounding countries.

While mentally planning their next move, the team members quietly awaited Shuichi's decision...

Suddenly, Akiha moved, using her Byakugan to take a closer look. "Captain, someone is rushing this way quickly. It's likely Sunagakure on patrol nearby."

"Sunagakure..." Shuichi's thoughts raced. As a long-time adversary of Kirigakure, had the Land of Wind noticed the recent anomalies?

"This is an opportunity! Let's see how much information Sunagakure knows!"

He immediately led the way to a dark corner of a cave ruin, shouting, "Follow me! Prepare for battle! Find a way to annihilate the arriving Sunagakure, and leave a few alive to extract information..."

He took out several Scrolls and scattered them around. Shuichi quickly formed hand seals and set up a chakra shielding Barrier. The entire team hid in place and waited for their prey to come to them.

Swoosh--

Several figures darted and moved through the rainforest; from an aerial view, it was clear that they were two groups of people heading in the same direction.

They would pause briefly every so often, appearing very cautious.

They had no choice but to be cautious, as the commotion from afar was enormous, like countless Explosive Tag igniting simultaneously—the first time they had encountered such a situation in recent years.

Beep beep... beep...

Whistles of varying lengths sounded rhythmically, as if the two sides were communicating with a special code. After the whistles stopped, everyone gathered together.

"Senior Yara, what happened up ahead?" The leader of a certain Sunagakure team spoke first, asking a middle-aged man with purple facial markings.

Yara looked fierce, but his tone was much gentler. "We rushed over as soon as we heard the noise, but we can't determine the exact situation yet. It should be safer for us to act together now."

"I remember your Sensory Ninjutsu is quite impressive, Katsuta. Could you please help me gather some information?"

"No problem, everyone please be careful." Katsuta walked at the front with a serious expression, and the others followed closely behind to provide cover.

"The village's main force had just launched a new round of operations when this incident occurred. It seems very likely that Kirigakure is behind it."

"If necessary, we need to find out their purpose."

Yara then advised, "There's no need to be so hasty. This is a long battle. It's best to ensure our patrol forces are sufficient first."

"You've only been here a short time. I know everyone wants to contribute to the village, but acting rashly can easily lead you into their trap..."

"I've learned a lot, Senior Yara!" Katsuta was a humble and good boy. While he was being polite, he also kept his senior's words in mind.

Maintaining their Sensory Ninjutsu as they advanced, the two Sunagakure teams gradually approached the location of the explosion.

In the wetland environment, with only the chirping of insects and no sign of human habitation, Katsuta detected no chakra fluctuations and reported to his superior, "No enemies detected. It's possible that Kirigakure knew we were coming and withdrew beforehand..."

"Um?"

"What's wrong?" Yara and the others were startled by his actions, thinking an attacker was approaching. The clanging sounds of swords being drawn rang out in succession.

Only after drawing his sword did they see Katsuta smiling. "I recognize the chakra; it's one of my comrades from the same village! They're approaching from another direction. We're safe now!"

"..."

The others breathed a sigh of relief, finding Katsuta's perception abilities reliable, and quickly put the swords back.

There are no unusual occurrences now that we're so close to the target location, it seems the enemy made a commotion and withdrew in time.

Three teams of Sunagakure emerged from the dense jungle, their view suddenly opening up to reveal a large crater, several tens of meters in diameter, lying ahead.

The stream water flowed slowly down the gravel along the edge of a certain pit, leaving the ground in a messy and chaotic state, a truly astonishing sight.

"This doesn't seem like the result of Ninjutsu; it must be a pre-existing underground space," Katsuta said with a straight face, seemingly spouting nonsense. "This collapse was probably caused by an explosion destroying the support above. Let's go down and search."

Everyone could see that the walls of the pit were relatively smooth, and given the large area involved, they shared the same idea as him, so they prepared to organize a team to carry out the operation.

"Wait a minute!" The experienced Yara suddenly waved his hand to stop them, pointing to the nearby ground with a serious expression. "Look, if it was just a ground collapse, what's with all these rocks around us?"

Many astute individuals also realized something. One Sunagakure member recalled in shock, "There seemed to be similar pebbles falling on the ground just now, but they were hundreds of meters away from here. Even an explosion couldn't have caused that..."

Boom--

Before the words were finished, a scorching wind swept up from behind the Sunagakure squad on the other side of the pit.

As he turned his head in astonishment, a massive fireball, the size of a small sun, was already hurtling towards him, its speed and power far exceeding that of a normal Fire Release.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

"Wind Release: Breakthrough!"

Itachi and Shisui moved in unison, and the wind-assisted fire instantly engulfed several Sunagakure Ninja. Shuichi placed his hands on their shoulders, and the Flying Thunder God Kunai, reflected a ghostly light.

"Wow..."

As soon as Akiha arrived via teleportation, she immediately attacked, moving with lightning speed to reach the few who were seriously injured but not yet dead. She used her Gentle Fists to sever their meridians and muscles, leaving them alive to be interrogated for information.

"The Flying Thunder God Technique works quite well when combined with other Ninjutsu, almost like an instantaneous sneak attack. This is the first time I've used this technique." Shuichi clicked his tongue, feeling a little regretful.

Just now, Itachi and Shisui completed the hand seals within the Barrier, and Shuichi flew up with them a moment before releasing the Ninjutsu. At the same time, they needed the Byakugan to help pinpoint the enemy's location, thus creating the incredibly fast Ninjutsu attack in the eyes of the opponent.

The Flying Thunder God Technique followed by an instantaneous Ninjutsu is extremely difficult. Rasengan and Explosion Release can be used to gather chakra in the hands before moving, which increases the success rate.

Nature Transformation Ninjutsu released through the mouth is more susceptible to interference from the upper body's meridians. For example, combining it with Water Severing Wave is extremely dangerous, and one careless move could result in self-destruction and death.

Shuichi himself had never used this technique before. While it would be safer to use Shadow Clone to carry the main body, with such keen eyesight and chakra control, one could defeat an enemy with just a small amount of chakra. Opportunities to use it appropriately are extremely rare.