Poisoned Butt

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

Tejudo seized the opportunity to throw out a barrage of kunai and shuriken, sealing off his escape routes.

Tejudo's tactics were spot-on, leaving him nowhere to run and forcing him to face Wolf Fang Over Fang head-on.

Wolf Fang Over Fang struck him directly, followed by a sharp crack.

A wooden post was blasted into splinters by Wolf Fang Over Fang.

Clearly, at the critical moment, he had used the Substitution Technique and easily evaded the devastating blow.

Just then, Tejudo, wearing specially made gloves, took the opportunity to yank backward at empty air. Fine steel wires, thin as hairs, spread out like a heavenly net and sealed off the entire area.

It turned out that the kunai and shuriken he had thrown earlier concealed a great many steel wires.

And the range of his Substitution Technique was limited; he had not leaped beyond the wires' blockade.

"Xiao Xiao, now."

Without needing Tejudo's reminder, Xiao Xiao had already begun forming hand seals.

"Lightning Style: Submerged Flow Pressure."

At a rate of one seal per second, Xiao Xiao finally completed this D-Rank Lightning Style.

At once.

A faint blue light spread along the steel wires in Tejyuya's hands, sweeping across the entire area.

Though this D-Rank Lightning Style was not particularly powerful, it was clearly enough to paralyze him briefly.

As long as they could paralyze him, Inuzuka Ryo's combined human-and-beast assault would surely secure the final victory.

At the same time, Tejudo violently pulled the wires taut, rapidly compressing the space in an attempt to bind him in one stroke.

Unfortunately, things did not go as planned.

Under the perception of the Ultrasonic Radar Technique, he had already sensed Tejudo's setup. Now, as if taking a leisurely stroll, he danced through the gaps and easily escaped the heavenly net.

"Not bad tactics. Too bad you picked the wrong opponent."

Umino Sasuke shook his head. Though he mocked them aloud, he silently approved of them inwardly. With a tactical arrangement like this, even a Special Jonin might not be able to withstand such a coordinated assault if caught by it from the start. Xiao Xiao's D-Rank Lightning Style in particular might have been weak, but it was extremely practical and had been used at precisely the right moment.

"Little ones, I'm going to get serious now."

Umino Sasuke rapidly formed hand seals and immediately released a ninjutsu.

"Water Release: Mist Technique."

At once.

Fine droplets of water suddenly condensed in the air, turning into grayish-white mist.

Like clouds crushed apart by an invisible giant hand, it pressed downward and, in an instant, swallowed the light and outlines within a sixty-meter radius.

The dense mist rolled along the ground, turning trees and rocks into blurred inkblots. Even kunai right before their eyes were veiled in a frosted-glass haze.

"Defensive formation. Watch out for sneak attacks."

Tejudo and the other two faced a formidable enemy. They immediately stood back-to-back in a swastika-shaped defensive formation.

"The Silent Killing Technique is about to begin.

"Eight vital points: the throat, spine, lungs, liver, carotid artery, subclavian artery, kidneys, and heart.

"Now then, which one do you want me to attack first?"

Umino Sasuke's deliberately sinister voice seemed to sound right beside their ears. The three hurriedly threw kunai, but hit nothing. His chilling words continued to echo beside them.

On an actual battlefield, the effect of that intimidation alone would have been no weaker than a C-Rank genjutsu.

"The throat!"

The moment the words fell, Tejudo and the other two merely felt what seemed like a faint breeze brush past them.

"Huh? Fish blood!"

Inuzuka Ryo reacted the quickest. He immediately touched his neck, only to discover plenty of fish blood on his hand.

Fish-blood marks had also appeared on Tejudo's and Xiao Xiao's necks.

"Woof, woof, woof!"

Even Ninja Hound Akitaru had not been spared.

Clearly.

Umino Sasuke had silently marked their necks with fish blood just now.

If he had been an enemy, their throats would already have been slit and they would be dead.

"When did that happen?"

Compared to Inuzuka Ryo's alertness, neither Tejudo nor Xiao Xiao had even noticed when the fish-blood marks had been placed on them.

Tejudo and the other two immediately changed tactics. Maintaining their formation, they began moving, hoping to escape the range of Water Release: Mist Technique.

Unfortunately, although Water Release: Mist Technique only had a diameter of sixty meters, how could the three of them possibly be faster than him? As they moved, the white mist continued to shroud them.

Seeing that they could not escape the effects of Water Release: Mist Technique, Tejudo and the other two could only reinforce their swastika-shaped defensive formation and stay on high alert.

Tejudo was still unwilling to accept it. He loudly declared, "I don't believe that this time, Captain, you can still—"

Before Tejudo could finish, that nightmare-like voice rang out beside his ear again. "The heart."

Only then did Tejudo reach for his chest, only to find fish blood on his hand again.

"Captain, we're done, we're done. You're bullying us."

Tejudo knew the three of them had already been wiped out twice. From here on, they would only be waiting to get stabbed, with absolutely no chance of winning.

It seemed this Silent Killing Technique was currently only moderately effective against jonin, but against ordinary chunin, it would be effortless.

No wonder Momochi Zabuza had been able to wipe out all the students of that class. This ninjutsu was simply a godly technique for crushing the weak.

"Who was acting so cocky just now?"

Umino Sasuke dispelled Water Release: Mist Technique, and his figure gradually appeared not far behind and to the right of the three of them, less than ten meters away.

With the speed of Water Release: Mist Body Flicker, he could close in and kill silently within a breath.

The mist finally dispersed completely.

Yet Tejudo and the other two discovered that all eight vital points on their bodies—the throat, spine, lungs, liver, carotid artery, subclavian artery, kidneys, and heart—had been silently marked with fish blood.

Clearly.

Tejudo and the others had suffered a complete defeat, and a crushing one at that.

"Brat, your ass."

Xiao Xiao pointed behind Tejudo's backside, her eyes full of concern.

"Xiao Xiao, what's wrong with my butt?" Tejudo turned to look behind himself, but he was too fat and his neck too thick to turn that far. He could only reach back with his hand, only to discover a shuriken embedded in his left buttock.

"Ah, Captain, are you trying to murder your most capable subordinate? You even used poison—Water Bat No. 6, at that."

Tejudo pulled out the shuriken. Seeing the green glow on it and recognizing the familiar smell, he immediately knew it was the poison he often used himself.

No wonder he had not felt himself getting stabbed. Water Bat No. 6 had numbed him with poison.

"Brat, don't worry. It won't kill you."

Seeing that Tejudo had already taken Antidote Serum, Umino Sasuke smiled lightly with an expression that said he had Tejudo's best interests at heart. "Get hit by Water Bat No. 6 a few more times and build up more antibodies. That way, you won't accidentally hurt yourself later."

"Then why don't you get yourself—"

"Hm?" Umino Sasuke shot him a threatening look. Tejudo immediately shut up and hurried to treat the wound on his butt.

Umino Sasuke had held back. The shuriken had not gone in very deep, and with Tejudo's thick fat, even if the entire shuriken had been embedded, it would probably only have been a minor wound. It could not have injured the muscles or blood vessels underneath.