Under normal circumstances, Yuhara should have been riddled with the enemy's tracking shuriken long ago. But because they were "colleagues"—both Magnet Release Ninjas—Yuhara had actually blocked all those attacks. That was something the enemy had never expected. In fact, if Yuhara had wanted to, he could even have caused the enemy's magnetization to fail.
But he had not done so. His goal was to create the impression that he was both weak and already injured.
The enemy was not actually careless. Even though Yuhara had been "injured," he had kept his eyes fixed on Yuhara's hands the entire time, guarding against a sudden counterattack. But who could have expected that Yuhara did not form hand seals at all?
"Stop him!"
A Cloud Hidden Ninja shouted loudly.
The sudden change in the battle threw them off their composure.
At that moment, Yuhara reached his right hand behind his back and casually pulled out a great bow. He switched his hands, gripping the bow with his left and setting his right hand on the string. An iron arrow gathered into being.
The next moment, Yuhara began running sideways. The Lightning Release enemy had already closed in, yet even while running, he continued holding the bow with both hands, keeping the arrowhead steadily aimed in one direction.
"Secret Technique: Tangled God"
Propelled by the bow's stored potential energy and the magnetic force Yuhara had built up, the thumb-thick iron arrow shot out so quickly that it seemed to pierce space itself. It struck Toroi directly in the forehead, after which countless spikes spread outward in a cone. In the blink of an eye, they turned the man's head into a piece of postmodern art... This move was clearly imitating Impaling Technique.
This finishing blow seemed somewhat excessive, but in Yuhara's impression, some ninjas were extremely difficult to kill. Therefore, finishing them off was always necessary.
Although the enemy's entire right half had already been reduced to a pile of debris, was there not a biological concept called mitosis? Looking at this scene—mitosis, and a person splitting apart—it meant the enemy might still have the potential to survive and continue on.
Before he had time to check the results of the battle, the Lightning Release enemy had already rushed up to him!
A side kick wrapped in lightning slammed into Yuhara's left abdomen, making him stagger and nearly pitch forward onto the ground. He suddenly stepped his right leg far to the right, bracing his body and forcibly resisting the enemy's attack.
At the same time, a great deal of blood began to flow... from the enemy's right leg.
"Secret Technique: Thorn Bird"
Several sharp, conical iron spikes thrust out from Yuhara's side. Combined with the force of the enemy's attack, they easily pierced through the man's right leg.
A layer of metal armor could form beneath Yuhara's clothes at any time to defend him. Moreover, because he could alter the metal's properties, the armor's strength and defensive power were extraordinarily formidable.
The Lightning Release had left his body slightly numb, but it was completely bearable.
Although Yuhara's taijutsu was poor, he did not dislike close combat at present. On the contrary, he rather liked situations in which the enemy took the initiative to close the distance. As a ninja, Yuhara now had only two insignificant advantages: exceptionally strong defense and extraordinarily high attack power.
Two longswords extended from his palms. One was silver and thin as a cicada's wing, cold air coiling around it. The other was black, yet some sort of crimson light glimmered within it.
"Secret Technique: Thorn Bird: Cold Plume Blazing Feather"
Yuhara swung one sword to each side, then quickly retreated, seemingly not caring in the slightest about the results of his attack. Afterward, Yuhara paused briefly and looked toward the two remaining enemies.
After staring at them for a moment, Yuhara simply began retreating at his maximum speed.
The Lightning Release enemy's right arm had been severed cleanly at the shoulder, but not a single drop of blood flowed from the wound. Instead, the cut surface bore the marks of having been seared by extreme heat.
"Hey, your arm..."
The other enemy came over to the Lightning Release Ninja. Seeing that his teammate seemed to have no reaction to the severed arm, he gently shoved him. Then something rolled onto the ground with a rumble.
At last, the blood erupted...
Like a geyser.
Unlike last time, when he had merely kicked the enemy hard, Yuhara had personally dealt with two enemies this time. He had to admit one fact: compared to people changing because of their environment, cases of people changing their environment were exceedingly rare.
Since arriving in this world, Yuhara had already participated in several battles and seen all kinds of corpses. Under such circumstances, he had become slightly numb. Naturally, his psychological tolerance had grown higher and higher, while his moral standards had sunk lower and lower.
If he did not kill others, they would kill him. In such a situation, thinking too much was simply making himself miserable.
Besides, as long as one's ambush skills were good enough, even an Elite Ninja could potentially be killed by a Chunin or even a Genin caught in a sneak attack.
After taking out two enemies, exposing all his trump cards, and losing the ability to launch another surprise attack, Yuhara decisively fled once more... All that could be said was that he had a fairly clear understanding of his own abilities.
There was no need to worry about the two remaining enemies. They were skilled in Earth Release and Fire Release but lacked the ability to pursue. Yuhara had noticed this from the very beginning.
Over at the Konoha camp.
Minato Namikaze, having received the request for aid, had already rushed from Konoha to the front line.
After gaining a detailed understanding of the current situation, he said:
"From the looks of it, Cloud Hidden is actually taking a defensive stance. It's as if they were suddenly provoked by something. At this point, we can't determine whether they will truly launch an all-out final battle...
"We need to make every possible preparation, but for now, we shouldn't act blindly.
"How about this? I'll investigate Cloud Hidden's situation. Ideally, I can determine exactly what happened over there."
Orochimaru nodded. "You really are reliable, Minato. Do as you say."
"Then I'll leave things at the camp to you, Lord Orochimaru." Minato Namikaze nodded, and immediately afterward, his figure vanished from the spot.
Well, Minato Namikaze was at the front line. Everything had been neatly explained away... If the truth behind what was happening before them ever came to light, who knew how many people would suffer a spike in blood pressure?
Yuhara hurried toward the Konoha camp. He did not encounter any Cloud Hidden Ninjas again within Cloud Hidden's controlled territory, and, astonishingly, he did not encounter any Konoha Ninjas in Konoha's territory either... Only then did he finally realize that something was wrong.
Moreover, this time, he was stopped by Konoha Ninjas in an area even farther outside the Konoha camp.
"Stop. Who are you?"
"Genin Yuhara, returning from a special mission under orders. Top-secret codename: SJMS0054," Yuhara said.
Although his identity as a Genin was completely inconsistent with a secret mission that could only be identified by a codename, after checking the relevant information, the ninja found that there was nothing wrong with Yuhara's identity and could only lead him toward the camp.
"May I ask what happened here? I actually wasn't away from the camp for very long, but the atmosphere seems quite different from before..." Yuhara tried asking the ninja what had happened.
The ninja glanced at him before explaining, "We're preparing for a major battle with Cloud Hidden. This may even be the final battle between Konoha and Cloud Hidden in this Ninja World War."
The news left Yuhara stunned. He found it somewhat unbelievable.
"A major battle? There were absolutely no signs of that before... War really is unreasonable in how rapidly and unpredictably it changes..."
In Yuhara's view, even if the war was not going to end anytime soon, its scale should gradually have shrunk. How had it suddenly expanded instead?
It made no sense...
Before you continue