On Konoha Genin

As far as the "general trend of the world" was concerned, the Mist Village had indeed lost interest in competing with Konoha. It simply couldn't win.

But that didn't mean the Mist Village wouldn't secretly send ninja into the Land of Fire.

Nor could such infiltration be called overestimating itself or proof of the Mist Village's aggressiveness. That was because, a little over a year ago, the Mist Village had done something stupid—unintentionally.

This was what had happened. At the time, the war between the Mist Village and Konoha was still raging, but their hard power was what it was. Since the Mist Village couldn't beat Konoha on the frontal battlefield, it had come up with a terrible idea... They had casually captured a Konoha Ninja, sealed the Three-Tails inside him, and then planned to control this Jinchuriki back into Konoha and release the Three-Tails, blowing Konoha apart in one strike.

The idea had been beautiful, but the Jinchuriki had been killed within the Land of Fire. Thus, the plan to destroy Konoha had failed, while the Three-Tails had also died and gone missing.

In the current ninja world, it was difficult to define whether Tailed Beasts were positive or negative assets, but there was no doubt that they were assets the great nations and great ninja villages had to possess.

So the Three-Tails had to be found. This matter was extremely important.

Although a dead Tailed Beast could revive anywhere in the world, because the Three-Tails had died in the Land of Fire, its most likely place of revival was still the Land of Fire. A dead Tailed Beast could revive in as little as one or two years, so during this period, the Mist Village had been secretly sending elite squads into the Land of Fire, hoping to capture the revived Three-Tails at the first opportunity.

On one side was the Mist Village's elite among elites. On the other was Konoha's rookie picnic party. Look at that—what a coincidence.

Of the four people opposite him, Yuhara could recognize only two because of his age: Juzo Biwa, because he carried a "Great Sword" on his back, and the baby-faced Yagura. But even though he knew only two of them, Yuhara had already decided that they had to flee.

Even a ninja like Juzo Biwa could be ignored, but Yagura's strength was truly extraordinary... Although the future Mizukage looked only fourteen or fifteen, he should actually have been between thirty and fifty years old. To people like Yuhara, his strength was explosively high.

Under these circumstances, there was no need to seek the kind of orderly squad retreat Yuhara had attempted during his first trip to the battlefield. It would be pointless. Now, they should scatter like birds and beasts and see who was lucky enough to escape.

After Yuhara called out Yagura's identity, everyone on the Konoha squad was a little stunned. None of them understood why ninja like themselves had encountered a candidate for Mizukage, but everyone knew Yuhara could not lie about something like this.

Thus, Captain Hayase, who had just been shouting about eliminating the enemy, issued a completely opposite order: "Squads One, Two, and Three, hold off the enemy with all your might! Execute the order!"

After giving the new order, the man turned around and ran without the slightest hesitation!

It had to be said that this was the correct order. Once everyone realized what kind of person their captain was, nobody would obey his orders anymore. Whether Konoha punished them afterward was a matter for later. Right now, they had to consider whether they could survive. Therefore, everyone instead followed Yuhara's words and began fleeing in all directions.

Moreover, judging only from the facts, Konoha had no reason to punish these ninja either, because their commander had fled the battlefield first.

The four-man Mist Village team watched the Konoha ninja scatter with great interest. In their eyes, such struggles were futile. With their strength, there was no way they would allow this group of Konoha ninja to escape.

"Why does someone recognize Lord Yagura?"

"Isn't it normal for the enemy to recognize Lord Yagura?"

The two youngest members of the Mist Village squad said this one after another.

"Don't let your thoughts wander. Don't forget our mission... Leave no survivors." Yagura was still the steadier one, knowing that even those enemies might leak information about their side.

Juzo Biwa grinned. "The combat strength of Konoha Genin is often unpredictable. We have to be especially careful when dealing with them, but... we don't need to be careful with these ninja, right?"

Before his voice had even faded, Juzo Biwa removed the Kubikiribōchō hanging on his back and charged straight toward the fleeing Konoha Ninja. The person he pursued was Yuhara.

Clearly, this was not a random choice. Who told Yuhara to recognize Yagura's identity?

Juzo Biwa swiftly ran across the water. His tall body lowered slightly as he dragged the long sword beside him. In the blink of an eye, he reached Yuhara's back and swung the Great Sword in a wide horizontal slash.

The sound of wind being split behind him made Yuhara spin around sharply. He extended his left arm and actually met the sword's edge with his palm.

Was he panicking and choosing the wrong path? Was he trying to stop a boulder with an egg?

Yet Juzo Biwa suddenly felt as if the air before him had solidified. He had not struck the enemy at all. Instead, it was as though he had slashed into a piece of highly elastic synthetic rubber!

The sword's momentum abruptly halted, then violently rebounded with nearly twice its original force. Juzo Biwa involuntarily spun with it until, after the Great Sword had turned halfway around, its back was driven deep into the side of a large tree.

At the same time, Yuhara swiftly spun around. The Mercury Longsword had already condensed in his right hand. His left hand pressed down firmly on the enemy's knee, while his right-hand sword angled upward. Its tip, radiating a chilling cold, already pointed at the opponent's throat.

Against an enemy who simply played with swords, Yuhara truly wasn't afraid!

However, just as he was about to accomplish the feat of instantly killing an elite ninja, another figure rapidly appeared behind him.

His opponent was astonishingly fast, forcing Yuhara to switch from offense to defense.

He raised his right arm horizontally in an attempt to block the opponent's attack. The metal covering on his arm, suspended in midair, caught another strange-looking Great Sword descending in a cleaving strike.

Yet even though Yuhara had blocked the Great Sword, he still failed to stop the opponent's attack.

A dazzling, fully charged Chakra construct rapidly enlarged before Yuhara's eyes. In the next instant, Yuhara was sent flying by a brutal hammer blow.

Hiramekarei Release!

The enemy who charged before Yuhara again was the young Hozuki Mangetsu. At this age, he could already wield the twin blades, Hiramekarei. He truly lived up to his reputation as the genius capable of skillfully using the Seven Ninja Swords.

Juzo Biwa naturally realized that the enemy's strength was far beyond ordinary, and he loudly warned his teammates, "Be careful. This guy's technique activation speed is unbelievably fast!"

Wasn't it incredibly fast? Yuhara didn't form hand seals at all.

"I noticed!"

After being sent flying hard, Yuhara's back slammed into a large tree. The next instant, it was as though something on his back had been crushed open, and a dense fog instantly burst out, spreading through the forest ahead.

The fog was white at first, then instantly turned into a thick white haze.

To buy Tigo time to escape, Yuhara had no choice but to use an especially sinister technique—one that could even injure him if he was careless.

"What is this? A smokescreen?"

"No!"

"It's mercury—Mercury Vapor!"

"Fall back!"

After realizing what exactly was spreading ahead, Juzo Biwa and Hozuki Mangetsu had no choice but to retreat to the surface of the lake again.

Yagura had to admit that Juzo Biwa's earlier words were correct. The strength of Konoha Ninja really did fluctuate greatly.

"You three stay and deal with this person. I'll go take care of the other Konoha ninja!"

Things were not as easy as they had imagined. At this rate, some of the Konoha ninja might truly escape, so Yagura had no choice but to act as well.