Brave Jump

This night, naturally, nothing happened.

However, in this calm before the storm, after a night of brewing, almost all the Tsugawa Ninja found their spirits increasingly taut while their bodies grew more and more exhausted.

After all, the more pressing the situation, the faster a person's energy is depleted.

As dawn broke, Elder Xiu Ping began pacing endlessly in his office. After a while, as if he could no longer contain himself, he said to the Clan Leader:

"Clan Leader, I'm preparing to patrol the village."

Clan Leader Tsugawa Taishi thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

According to the suggestion Yuzhen had previously made, before leaving this place, two ninja would follow behind him, forming groups of three for operations, to counter the unpredictable sneak attacks of the "unknown enemy."

Yuzhen silently observed the ninja beside him, noticing that these two appeared listless and also quite on edge.

After the three of them left, led by Yuzhen, they headed to a place where a combat team was gathered.

The current positions of the ninja in this Ninja Village were all arranged by him, so Yuzhen knew the distribution of the ninja like the back of his hand.

Upon arriving at the combat team's gathering place, Yuzhen and his group were, of course, not stopped. He quickly met the captain there.

"Captain Keihisa, how is everyone? Has anything unusual been discovered after the night?"

"Everything is normal, Elder Xiu Ping, but... we wish those cowardly rats would show themselves. This kind of passive counterattack strategy isn't our style," the captain said.

Yuzhen nodded and said, "It's good that everything is fine... This enemy is a bit special, we must remain patient."

After confirming there were no problems here and offering a few words of encouragement, Elder Xiu Ping seemed ready to leave.

However, just as he turned around and took a step outward, his entire body suddenly froze.

Then, the wise elder, as if he had suddenly discovered something, his eyes flashed with a sharp light. He looked at Tsugawa Keihisa with an expression of utter horror and shouted:

"No, you're not Captain Keihisa, who exactly are you?"

The ninja here had been on high alert all night, and most of them were somewhat listless. Now, disturbed by Yuzhen's loud voice, many were stunned.

While they displayed expressions of confusion and disbelief, Elder Xiu Ping had already plunged a sword into Captain Keihisa's chest.

It's difficult for most people to react to a scenario where a visiting elder suddenly turns 180 degrees.

Tsugawa Keihisa stared up at the elder, then down at his own chest. His mind felt rusted, unable to process what was happening. He had no idea what had occurred.

Am I... am I not Tsugawa Keihisa? Then who am I?

The others also found it difficult to react promptly to the conflict between their direct superior and a high-ranking member of the clan, as they couldn't determine whom to believe at this moment.

"Everyone, don't move, block the doorway, and don't let this imposter escape! He's been impersonated by the enemy."

Yuzhen, having come prepared, naturally began to cry wolf.

Upon hearing the word "escape," Captain Keihisa finally reacted thanks to Yuzhen's "kind" reminder... Regardless of what was happening, if he didn't want to die, he had to flee.

So, clutching his chest with one hand, he turned and immediately ran.

Although Yuzhen had given the order for everyone not to move, after the captain escaped unhindered, he stomped his foot in frustration and said, "Why didn't you stop him... Never mind, you all stay put, I'll chase him myself."

Under the bewildered gazes of everyone, Elder Xiu Ping launched a pursuit of the half-crippled Captain Keihisa.

Subsequently, the sounds of battle could be heard from a distance, and the reconnaissance ninja deployed nearby also detected the anomaly.

The battle seemed very brief. After two or three minutes, Captain Keihisa, covered in blood, staggered into an alley. While concealing his presence, he headed towards the base of another combat team.

This unit seemed to have already noticed the commotion in the village. However, before they could react, Captain Keihisa had already burst in.

"Captain Keihisa, you... what happened?"

This captain was named Tsugawa Morita. Seeing Tsugawa Keihisa severely wounded and covered in blood, barely able to stand, he immediately rushed forward to support him.

Alright, actually, the names of these captains don't matter at all.

Captain Keihisa looked utterly miserable, gasping for breath as he said, "It was Elder Xiu Ping... Tsugawa Xiu Ping has gone mad, he's an inside agent for the enemy! He suddenly attacked me while on his morning patrol."

"I narrowly escaped, but... quickly, quickly inform the Clan Leader, I'm probably finished."

His voice seemed to be squeezed out from his throat, like last words.

Theoretically, people tend to believe the last words of someone who is dying. However, just as Captain Keihisa began to roll his eyes and his body started to twitch from excessive blood loss...

His right hand steadily plunged a kunai into Morita's chest.

The dying Captain Keihisa, as if experiencing a final burst of energy, suddenly opened his eyes and shouted sternly:

"No, you're an inside agent too!"

Yuzhen could finally understand the feeling of White Zetsu moving unimpeded among the Allied Shinobi Forces. The weaker side being able to stir up trouble gave him a false sense of being powerful.

Fortunately, Yuzhen was a rational person and wouldn't be fooled by such an illusion.

It had nothing to do with his strength, only because the enemy was defenseless. The enemies willingly exposed their soft underbellies, what could Yuzhen do?

He just had to keep stabbing.

It could be seen that Yuzhen had adopted a different attack strategy starting today. He was no longer sneak-attacking from behind like yesterday, but directly choosing to "hard jump."

The reason is simple: this way, the enemy will become more confused and more fearful.

"You... you..."

Captain Morita was so shocked he couldn't speak. This time, Yuzhen had accurately pierced his heart.

"Hello?"

Yuzhen thought the man was greeting him politely, so he responded in a polite and friendly manner:

"Hello to you too."

Of course, Tsugawa Morita was not well. The blade still stuck in his chest made him feel like his wound was burning with flames, while the rapid blood loss left him cold all over.

However, his vitality was tenacious. Theoretically, he could still hold on for a few minutes. But after hearing Yuzhen's sincere greeting, perhaps sensing the last trace of beauty in the human world, he immediately died.

Yuzhen felt this young man had a bit of a temper. Seeing his objective achieved, he stopped acting and turned to run.

The scene that had just unfolded was so beyond imagination that no one had the presence of mind to chase him immediately.

On this very morning, countless people in this village witnessed the bizarre spectacle of an elder killing a captain, and a captain killing a captain.

It was simply unbelievable, causing people to lose their reason.