The light in the corridor seemed to be strangled by someone, and it was dying. There was only a dim yellow lamp every three steps, and the lampshade was covered with thick dust, filtering the light into a turbid state. When the feet stepped on the rough stone slabs, the footsteps were infinitely amplified, echoing in this dead passage, like some kind of countdown.
Boruto walked in the front. Sarada followed Yamada behind him. No one in the team spoke, only the sounds of breathing and footsteps intertwined.
Boruto feels like there is a missing piece in the body.
It's not the kind of hollow that can make people unbalanced, but more like a tooth that has just been pulled out. His tongue always subconsciously pushes towards the empty space, wanting to confirm something, wanting to touch something, but in the end he only encounters a void of wind. This is already the twelfth time - he subconsciously called "Shiki" in his mind, wanting to confirm certain tactical data, and wanting to hear the calm "judgment is correct".
There was only deathly silence in response to him.
He suppressed the urge to turn back and kept walking, even faster.
"There is movement ahead." Sarada's voice suddenly sounded, low and sharp, like a knife cutting through silk.
Boruto had actually sensed it a long time ago. Sharingan's insight was better than his, but his advantage was his intuition - that was not the natural flow of air, but someone deliberately lowered the breathing rate, minimizing the sense of existence.
More than one.
"How many?" Boruto asked in a steady voice.
"Five, maybe six. One on each side of the exit, three blind spots above. And one..." Sarada paused, looking through the wall, "Hidden very deep, in the shadow of the rock ten meters behind your father."
Boruto glanced back at Yamada. The former researcher had no expression on his face, but the hands on his sides were tightening slightly, and his knuckles turned white.
"Your people?"
"... Yes." Yamada's voice was a little dry.
"Make them give way."
"They won't listen to me." Yamada raised his head, with a helpless coldness in his eyes, "You are not here for me at all."
Boruto quickly ran through this sentence in his mind. The meaning is very clear: these people are coming for the "core". Now that the core has been stabilized, if this group of people rush in to disrupt the situation at this time, it will no longer be a simple fight, but a Chakra storm that can swallow up a radius of 500 meters.
That would be much more troublesome than killing a few people.
"Sarada, you stay and watch over Yamada."
"Boruto--"
"I'm not going to die." He blocked her attempts to dissuade her. "I'm going to let dad know what's going on inside, and then cooperate with him to control the situation. There can't be chaos inside, but there can be chaos at the exit."
Sarada said nothing. She just flipped her wrist and twisted Yamada's arm back half an inch. Yamada groaned, and cold sweat broke out on her forehead. That was a silent signal: it was both a warning to Yamada and a promise to Boruto - go ahead and leave this to me.
Boruto turned around and strode towards the exit.
Pushing open the heavy stone door, there is a depression below the ground outside. The moonlight is suffocated by the thick clouds, and the field of vision is limited to thirty meters. Naruto stands with his back to the entrance of the cave. The golden Chakra Cloak has converged, but the mountain-like momentum still envelopes the surroundings.
In front of him, stood four people in messy clothes. There was no Forehead Protector, no uniforms, and they carried the unique bloody smell of stragglers - hired ninjas, or the remnants of some underground organizations.
One of the leading men was shouting, "Seventh Hokage, I suggest you get out of the way. This matter has nothing to do with Leaf, so don't meddle in other people's business."
"My son is inside," Naruto's voice was so calm that it was often a precursor to a storm. "As long as he is here, this matter has something to do with Leaf. Are you interested in talking to me about life?"
"Not interested."
Before he finished speaking, Boruto had just stepped out of the edge of the cave entrance when the sixth man hiding behind the rock moved.
No Hand Seals, no nonsense. The other party's goal is extremely clear - not Naruto, but Boruto.
This attack was very tricky. Boruto dodged sideways, and the opponent's palm blade scraped across his left arm, causing the wind pressure to hurt his skin. Then, three kunai blocked the escape route from the left and right sides.
Boruto pointed his toes, stepped on the rock wall, and jumped up. His right foot accurately kicked the handle of the first kunai, using the force to forcefully change direction in the air. The landing point instantly switched to the blind spot on the opponent's left side.
The fight started.
Almost at the same time, Naruto also moved. The golden Chakra spread like a wave in the depression. The expressions of two of the four people changed suddenly and they stopped immediately - they all recognized what the concentration of Chakra meant. But the other two did not stop. Such people either have a missing string in their brains or they think they can pick up leaks. Most likely it is both.
Boruto stopped being distracted and concentrated on dealing with the sneak attacker behind him.
In the first round of the fight, he noticed something was wrong. The opponent's speed was much faster than expected, his reaction speed was above Chunin, his movements were rigorous and orderly, and he was by no means a makeshift fish.
Then, that damn habit happened again.
Between battles, he subconsciously looked deep into his consciousness, wanting to conduct confirmatory analysis and obtain data on his opponent's weaknesses. This habit had been engraved into his nerve reflexes over the past seven years, as natural as holding a kunai in his right hand.
There is nothing inside.
There was only an empty echo.
This second of pause is fatal.
The opponent seized on this flaw and made up for it with a left hook that sounded like wind. Boruto was half a beat too slow in blocking, and his fist actually hit his chest.
There was a muffled sound, his chest shook violently, and his blood surged. He was forced to take two steps back, and the soles of his feet plowed two shallow marks on the stone slab.
"Concentrate."
Sarada's voice came from the exit behind him, as cold as a basin of ice water poured on his head.
She didn't chase him out, she was still inside guarding Yamada. But those two words were enough.
Boruto gritted his teeth and clenched his hands until they creaked. When he rushed forward again, he didn't look inwardly.
Since it is empty, use your own eyes to see and your own brain to think.
Two and a half minutes.
Boruto pinned the man to the ground, pressed his knees on his wrists, and strangled his throat with his other hand.
On the other side, Naruto had already finished taking care of the remaining four. He was holding a struggling ninja with one hand and stood there looking around. His voice was not loud, but it spread throughout the depression. "Who else is there?"
There was deathly silence in the depression, with only the sound of the wind remaining.
Boruto stood up, pulled out the hemp rope from his waist, and neatly tied his defeated men into rice dumplings. Naruto walked over and quickly glanced around Boruto's body, finally stopping on his chest.
"Are you hurt?"
"I took a punch, it's okay."