Ambush

In the silent darkness of night, murderous intent was quietly brewing. As time passed, it slowly began to surface.

Kushina kept her eyes closed, concentrating on sensing the flow of Chakra feedback. Not far away, Bei Xingye was listening intently to something. A moment later, he turned his gaze and shook his head at Orochimaru.

Beneath the forest's seemingly tranquil surface, all was far from silent. On the contrary, the endless sounds seriously interfered with Bei Xingye's hearing.

Orochimaru nodded slightly and silently looked toward Kushina, patiently waiting for the result.

After a long while, Kushina slowly opened her eyes. She had already determined the hidden sentries' positions and nodded at Orochimaru.

The mission... had begun.

No one knew about the murderous intent lurking in the darkness.

An owl's occasional shriek rang across the night sky. The hidden sentry in the bushes instinctively turned his head and raised his ears, only to retract that brief, cheap vigilance out of habit the next second.

They were used to the owl's unwillingness to remain silent, and to the brief lapse between sending and receiving signals—a lapse shorter than a single breath.

A breeze carrying a faint fragrance brushed past him. In that instant of negligence, even after sensing something amiss, the perfectly concealed sentry had no time to turn his head. Before he could even feel pain, he discovered that his entire body no longer obeyed him. He could not lift even a finger, nor open his mouth by so much as a slit.

"..."

The sentry widened his eyes in terror, his pupils frantically darting about. He had clearly issued the command to shout, yet the night sky remained just as silent.

Soon, he felt it growing harder and harder to breathe. The fragrance between his nostrils grew fainter and fainter, as though it were leaving him. Darkness descended in an instant.

Kotoha supported the corpse and slowly placed it down properly, then silently made her way toward the next hidden sentry.

Watching from below at a short distance, Orochimaru and the others realized for the first time the frightening side of that lively young girl.

"That poison is terrifying," Bei Xingye said timidly.

He had clearly seen Kotoha stab a needle-like object into the target's nape. In less than ten seconds, the target had quietly died without making the slightest sound.

Kushina was also shocked by the terrifying poison and had already decided to tell Tsunade about it after returning to Konoha.

Only Ye Zi's expression became extremely ugly. The object that had killed the sentry was none other than the senbon Kotoha had shot at him the previous night. He had never expected that senbon to contain such a potent toxin.

Miki had initially felt somewhat pleased while watching everyone's astonishment, but when he saw Ye Zi's ugly expression, he immediately realized something was wrong. After all, Kotoha had attacked Ye Zi with this very weapon the previous night.

"This is troublesome." Miki lightly rubbed his forehead, his face bitter.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Kotoha used her superb skills to silently eliminate the hidden sentries one after another. Although the unknown poison played a major role, it also required Kotoha's extraordinary close-combat abilities.

"I didn't expect there to be someone this talented among the Grass ninja." Orochimaru's eyes revealed deep interest. In his view, Kotoha was still young, yet already possessed such practiced skills. She was simply a natural-born assassination genius. Given enough time, once she reached her peak, everyone would know of her and seek to kill her.

What a pity...

The corner of Orochimaru's mouth lifted. In this era, someone like her was simply not suited to survive.

After eliminating the hidden sentries, the group hurried toward the city of the Land of Ash as quickly as possible without being detected.

Before they realized it, dark clouds had veiled the moon, and the temperature suddenly dropped.

While rushing forward, Ye Zi looked up at the night sky. A familiar glint surfaced in his eyes. It seemed that after he had begun killing, only the oppressive sky before a sudden downpour would remain etched in his memory—the moments when his palms were often stained with blood.

Human life was so fragile...

After lurking and rushing all the way, killing everyone who got in their way, the group finally arrived at the residence of the Land of Ash's ruler. Everything had gone incredibly smoothly.

When they reached the residence, several of them exchanged glances before decisively vaulting over the wall and leaping into the courtyard. Just then, a considerable number of Kunai sliced through the air and suddenly shot toward Ye Zi and the others, who had just landed.

"Have we been discovered?" Without time to be surprised, Ye Zi nimbly dodged the rain-like Kunai.

"Earth Release: Yomi Marsh!"

The instant they landed, several cold voices rang out. The courtyard ground suddenly turned muddy like a marsh. In only a moment, the legs of everyone who had just dodged the Kunai were already trapped in the swamp.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

As though it had been planned long ago, Kunai bearing several Explosive Tags fell toward the spots where the group had landed. The flames and white smoke burning at their ends resembled the Grim Reaper's countdown.

Ye Zi had no time to worry about the others and rapidly formed hand seals.

Boom, boom, boom...

A succession of violent explosions instantly engulfed the entire courtyard.

Such a tremendous commotion attracted everyone in the Land of Ash.

The originally silent city suddenly erupted into turmoil.

"An enemy attack?" The elite soldiers responsible for keeping watch looked toward the explosions, suddenly turning pale with terror. That was unmistakably the ruler's residence.

The ninjas responsible for the security perimeter saw the commotion caused by the explosion behind them, and their faces turned green.

Inside the ruler's residence.

On a pavilion, a middle-aged man dressed in tight-fitting combat attire coldly stared down at the courtyard covered in thick smoke.

This man was Haihara, the ruler of the Land of Ash.

"Are they Konoha ninja...?"

Beside him, a middle-aged man with heavy-set features wore a solemn expression and said coldly, "He is one of Konoha's Sannin, Orochimaru."

The man was unmistakably wearing a Stone ninja forehead protector. Three boys and girls around eleven or twelve years old stood quietly beside him.

Haihara had judged that the attackers were Konoha ninja from their clothing, but he had not seen as clearly as this Stone ninja. Upon hearing that it was Orochimaru, even he could not help revealing a trace of shock despite his composure.

"Are you confident?" A slight tremor appeared in Haihara's voice. After all, the person who had come was one of the legendary Sannin.

Tsuchiya Sanzo's expression did not change as he said in a deep voice, "As long as he isn't Konoha's White Fang, I'm confident I can protect you. Daiyan, Dick, Unohana, the three of you protect him."

"Yes." The three youths answered in unison and surrounded Haihara in a defensive stance, their expressions extremely solemn.

Tsuchiya Sanzo leaped down from the pavilion, his heart exceptionally heavy. Although they had gained the initiative, their opponent was Orochimaru. This mission was probably not going to be simple.

A faint trace of regret arose in his heart. He should not have brought his students along to accept this mission. After all, those three students...

Very soon, the regret in his heart was driven away. Any factor that could affect the battle was excluded from his mind.

The thick smoke generated by the lingering force of the explosions gradually dispersed.

The ambushing ninja focused intently on the courtyard.

There wasn't even half a corpse...