Target

As the distance to Konoha's main camp shortened, Qi Shuang noticed more and more Mist Ninja squads heading towards it as well.

"It seems the Hyuga Main Family is doomed this time!" he sighed softly.

From the current situation, he could roughly deduce that the many scattered Mist Ninja squads were slowly forming an encirclement, completely surrounding the Konoha camp.

The Hyuga Main Family had no escape!

Hearing his sigh, Ao loudly reminded his three subordinates again, "You guys better keep your eyes wide open and watch carefully, don't let that guy get away!"

In the blink of an eye, Konoha's main camp was already in sight.

Explosions could be heard everywhere. The outer defenses had already been breached by the surprise attack force, and the fortifications were reduced to ruins. Many Kirigakure ninja rushed in.

However, most of them were entangled by the defending Konoha ninja, unable to break free to search for their target for the time being.

"It seems these Konoha ninja aren't very capable? Their defenses were broken so quickly by us!" Mei Terumi mocked unceremoniously.

Less than ten minutes had passed from the start of the explosions until Mist Ninja were already rushing into Konoha's camp, which made her think Konoha was incompetent.

Taking out a few kunai, Ao casually killed two Konoha ninja who were intently engaged with Mist Ninja and solemnly reminded Mei, "Mei, you absolutely must not underestimate Konoha ninja!"

"If it weren't for us drawing away their main forces this time, their camp's defenses wouldn't have been so easily breached by us!"

"Underestimating your opponent on the battlefield can get you killed at any moment!"

As he spoke, he turned his head and glanced meaningfully at Qi Shuang.

Seeing Ao's meaningful gaze, Qi Shuang understood that he was referring to him killing those two Konoha Chunin.

However, he was not the type to show off, so he awkwardly rubbed his nose, avoided Ao's gaze, and dared not speak.

Meanwhile, Mei Terumi pouted and mumbled after hearing her leader's reprimand, "Alright, alright! I get it!"

She had heard these words from the captain many times before, to the point where her ears were calloused. Thus, she was a little impatient.

Next, Ao landed beside the two fellow villagers who had been rescued and sternly asked them, "Did you see any trace of the target?"

To prevent alerting the Konoha ninja and increasing the mission's difficulty, they did not directly mention anything related to the Hyuga, only referring to them as "the target."

As for Qi Shuang and the other two, they adopted defensive stances upon landing, ready to deal with any Konoha ninja that appeared.

Unfortunately, the surrounding Konoha ninja all had their own opponents to deal with, and no one had the extra energy to provoke their small team.

"We didn't see anything!"

The two Mist Ninja shook their heads, both indicating they were unaware.

"As expected, it's not that simple?" Ao sighed inwardly.

Even though he knew the whereabouts of the Hyuga Main Family wouldn't be obtained so easily, he couldn't help but want to ask.

Afterward, he continued expressionlessly, "Then do you know the location of their encampment?"

One of them still shook his head.

The other thought for a moment, pointed to the southeast, and tentatively said, "I saw many Kirigakure comrades heading that way earlier, perhaps the target's encampment is in that direction!"

"Thank you!"

Ao nodded in thanks, then signaled to his three subordinates, "Let's go!"

Immediately, the three of them put away their defensive stances and, understanding his intention, followed their leader towards the southeast.

On the other side, in a corner of the Konoha camp, a middle-aged man was choking a Mist Ninja and pinning him to the ground, demanding sternly, "Speak! What is the objective of your surprise attack on our main camp?"

Beside him, several masked Anbu guards were keeping watch around.

"To... hell... with... you... I'll... tell... you... there..." the man coughed up blood and replied with a grim smile.

"Not good, it's an explosive tag!"

Seeing the man's extremely strange smile, the Konoha ninja finally noticed that a stack of explosive tags in his right hand had already ignited.

"Die with me!"

Just then, the dying Mist Ninja suddenly lunged, grabbing one of the opponent's thighs with his other left hand.

Unfortunately, he was still a step too late; the thigh his left hand grabbed had already turned into a wooden stake.

"Substitution Technique?"

He was stunned for a moment.

BOOM!

At this moment, the explosive tags detonated.

Crimson flames instantly engulfed him, and the immense impact, mixed with dust and loess, formed a giant mushroom cloud.

However, on this chaotic battlefield, mushroom clouds from explosions appeared one after another, and this one in the corner of the camp was unremarkable.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

After the shockwave dissipated, a coughing sound came from a nearby ruin, and then half a figure crawled out.

It was the middle-aged ninja who had been interrogating the Mist Ninja earlier.

Although he had managed to escape a short distance using the Substitution Technique and didn't face the explosion directly, he was still affected by some of the impact and was buried by the collapsed tents.

"Lord, are you alright!"

An Anbu member covered in wounds, disregarding his own pain, immediately dug him out from the rubble.

This was because that person was one of the highest commanders here.

He absolutely could not be lost!

Immediately after, the other few Anbu members also rushed out from the surrounding ruins, rushing forward to help.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

After coughing a few more times, the commander who was dug out, covered in dirt and dust, self-deprecatingly said, "It seems I'm really old! My reaction speed is nowhere near what it used to be!"

Then, he scanned the Anbu guards around him and found them all injured, feeling a surge of guilt.

If it weren't for him personally interrogating that Mist Ninja, the guards wouldn't have surrounded him for protection and ended up caught in the sudden explosion.

"How badly are you all injured?" he asked with concern.

"As long as Lord is alright, we are alright!" an Anbu member wearing a broken mask replied very politely.

The half-face exposed outside the mask was already stained with blood and dust.

Just as he was about to say something else, another Anbu member, covered in wounds, suddenly appeared before him using the "Body Flicker Technique."

"Greetings, Lord!" the person knelt and bowed.

"If you have something to say, hurry up and say it!" he said, waving his hand and immediately ordering.

The situation was critical, and he had no patience for his subordinates' pleasantries.

"After our investigation, the Kirigakure ninja who launched the surprise attack are gathering at the Hyuga clan's encampment! It looks like their target is the Hyuga clan!" the person replied loudly.

"The Hyuga clan?"

The middle-aged commander immediately fell into thought upon hearing this.

Suddenly, he seemed to realize something and exclaimed, "This is bad, their target is the current Hyuga Main Family head!"