In the forest outside the village.
Looking at the corpses scattered across the ground, Asuma gave the Anbu beside him a grave order. "Split up and search. See if there are any survivors."
"Yes!"
The Anbu answered in unison, then dispersed to inspect the corpses of the bounty ninja and wandering swordsmen one by one.
Asuma did not remain idle either. He crouched beside the corpse of a bounty ninja and carefully examined the wounds on it.
After parting ways with Kakashi, Asuma had led twenty Anbu squads to the outer wall in a rush.
Yet the expected attack never came. So he led the Anbu beyond the wall to search the outskirts of the village, only to discover an entire forest full of corpses.
"Huh? Just one wound to the throat?"
Asuma froze. The bounty ninja before him had only a thin wound across his throat. There were no other injuries on the body.
After examining several more corpses nearby, Asuma found that each of them had only a single wound as well—either to the throat, the heart, or between the brows. Every strike had been fatal, clean, and decisive!
"Who on earth did this?"
The more Asuma investigated, the more alarmed he became.
The wounds on every corpse bore exactly the same traces, technique, and style. They had clearly been inflicted by the same person. Moreover, judging by the battlefield, there were no signs that large-scale ninjutsu had been used here.
In other words, these hundreds of bounty ninja and wandering swordsmen had most likely been swiftly slaughtered by one person with one sword.
"To kill hundreds of people in this forest one by one without even giving them a chance to scatter and flee... how fast would that have to be? Even if these bounty ninja and