More Ruthless Than Ruthless

The torrential rain, falling from high above, was blocked by the jungle's canopy, creating a continuous patter. Above the jungle was nature's rain curtain, but within it, countless streams of varying sizes dripped down.

In this environment, where humans might not tread for years, a Konoha reconnaissance team encountered an ambush by Amegakure ninja.

Fortunately, none of the pursuing enemies were "Mosquito Coil Eyes." Unfortunately, the enemy numbers were substantial... The Konoha team was surrounded by enemies several times their own strength.

After all, this was the Land of Rain, and the enemy's mobility far surpassed Konoha's.

"We're surrounded, Captain Jian Dong, which way should we retreat?"

Although Yuhara usually paid little attention to the team's decisions, he couldn't afford to now.

"Towards the Land of Rivers. Although it's closer to the Land of Fire, Konoha's forces are weak in that direction. Correspondingly, Konoha's forward camps targeting the Sunagakure direction are set up in the Land of Rivers... Only by breaking through in that direction do we have a chance of receiving reinforcements."

"Reinforcements, huh..."

In reality, everyone knew their chances of receiving reinforcements or a rescue were slim.

Jian Dong glanced at Tigo, then stared at Yuhara and said, "Yuhara, it's up to you."

Although Jian Dong didn't truly understand Yuhara's strength, she had witnessed all his previous training.

"Okay."

Yuhara nodded, but at that moment, he didn't fully grasp Jian Dong's entrustment.

His gaze fixed on the enemy charging at the forefront, his mind rapidly calculating, "In a prolonged battle, conserving chakra is the most crucial thing. If chakra is depleted, everything is over. Taijutsu has the highest cost-effectiveness, but I don't understand combat techniques, so... I guess this is the way."

For a ninja like Yuhara with an ordinary amount of chakra, the options were inherently limited. All his techniques were designed with low chakra consumption in mind, and in this situation, he had to choose the lowest.

So, he nocked another arrow.

For ninja, the trajectory of projectiles like arrows is easy to track. Therefore, to ensure accuracy, even though Yuhara's arrow speed was very fast, he decided to let the enemy get within thirty meters before attacking.

Considering that over ninety percent of ninja battles occur within five meters, thirty meters was, by comparison, an incredibly long attack range.

Yuhara's fingertips suddenly released, and the iron arrow instantly pierced the rain curtain. The enemy charging at the forefront was abruptly hit by this heavy arrow. The barbs on the arrow then deployed, a heavy blow sufficient to pierce the enemy's body, firmly locking onto him.

The charging enemy, as if hit by a flying kick, directly slammed into a large tree behind him.

Blood flowed from his complex wound, dyeing the area around him a shallow pool of red. The Impaling Technique was an exceptionally brutal ninjutsu, and Yuhara's "Seaweed God" was an imitation and optimization of it... Even if a wooden spear couldn't penetrate, an iron arrow could.

The enemy's first four-person squad instantly lost one member. The remaining three stopped in their tracks, turning their gaze towards Yuhara.

The three exchanged glances, then resumed their assault.

This time, they no longer charged in a loose formation. Instead, they formed a column, simultaneously using the complex obstacles in the forest to close the distance between themselves and Yuhara's group.

And as the lead enemy peered out from beside a tree trunk, a sharp whistling sound instantly reached his ears.

Yuhara's iron arrow was less than a meter from his torso.

But at that moment, an earth wall suddenly rose in front of the enemy... It was Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall.

The enemy had clearly anticipated Yuhara's attack.

The deployed iron arrow caused the earth wall to crack inch by inch, but it was ultimately defended against. The three enemies instantly darted out from behind it, directly attacking Yuhara.

At such close range, Yuhara didn't have time to fire another arrow, so he had to resort to a more direct method to stop the enemy's attack.

A sphere of mercury appeared before the foremost enemy.

The enemy absolutely couldn't have known the power of Yuhara's technique, yet he could at least sense the intense chakra within it. But at that moment, his action almost made Yuhara freeze.

He directly spread his arms, embraced the silver sphere, then kicked off a large tree in front of him, forcibly changing his forward momentum.

During this process, Yuhara's attack had already begun to take effect. By the time the enemy merely turned behind that tree, he had already turned into a pile of minced meat.

However, he had ultimately taken Yuhara's technique with him; Yuhara's "Mercury Lamp" had gone off target.

The remaining two enemies did not directly enter the Mercury Lamp's attack range. On the contrary, its ten-meter attack diameter even caused a slight disturbance to Yuhara himself... At such close range, it was indeed not ideal to release such a ninjutsu.

The attack routes of the remaining two enemies finally became unimpeded.

Iron began to flow over Yuhara's body; he prepared to engage the enemies in CQC.

But the enemies who had finally charged over again made a move that surprised Yuhara. The opponent didn't adopt any semblance of a proper attack stance. Instead, they charged forward recklessly, as if intending to grapple Yuhara directly.

"No, could it be..."

A suicide attack! Unfortunately, Yuhara realized it a bit too late. At this point, he could only awkwardly turn his body to the side.

BOOM!

A violent burst of fire quickly spread through the dense rain curtain. Caught off guard, Yuhara was directly blown away.

At this point, the torrential rain became an advantage. The soft soil absorbed the impact force on Yuhara's body, and the rain curtain and mud extinguished the flames on him... Although he looked somewhat disheveled, he tumbled irregularly in the mud for a considerable distance, finally crashing into a large tree.

Fortunately, he had defended his chest and abdomen. In such an explosion, his fragile internal organs were unharmed. Conversely, his entire right arm was blown to a bloody mess.

Yuhara was just a novice. When faced with enemies constantly charging at him, he was somewhat flustered... In reality, he could have avoided injury entirely.

He had underestimated the enemy's resolve.

The reason a small country like the Land of Rain could establish itself, and a small ninja village like Amegakure could survive to this day, naturally had its reasons, and these reasons were very simple and direct: that is...

Amegakure ninja were more willing to die without hesitation.

Whether it was "the barefoot aren't afraid of those wearing shoes" or "the desperate are more fearsome than the stubborn," they feared no death and were not stingy with it. They were exceptionally quiet yet incredibly frenzied.

They had nothing to lose but their lives, so they put their lives on the gambling table every time...

Take your pick.

Just...

Be careful not to end up bleeding from your head.