Supporting Teammates and Being Attacked

A few days later, Chizuru and his group successfully captured seven outlying islands.

Immediately, they began to advance toward their final objective—Lookout Island.

After fighting side-by-side for this period, Uchiha Chizuru had become completely convinced of Chizuru's abilities.

He had secretly calculated that without Chizuru's unified command, their group of rookies would have suffered at least a one-third loss against the brutal Mist Ninja.

It seemed the future of the clan might truly rest on this ten-year-old boy and Fugaku.

This book is first published on t w k a n . c o m

As he was contemplating, Chizuru turned back and shouted, "Everyone, we're already a day behind schedule! Accelerate your advance, we need to support the main island!"

"Yes!"

Those behind responded quickly; they had already placed their complete trust in Chizuru.

Speeding up, after four to five hours, everyone finally saw Lookout Island, or more accurately, the giant pythons on Lookout Island.

Three giant pythons coiled in the sky above Lookout Island like colossal beasts, occasionally swooping down and whipping their tails toward the Mist Ninja on the ground, causing the island to shake violently.

"Those are Orochimaru's summoned beasts! The core battle has already begun!" Jiraiya immediately assessed the situation. "Let's go, we need to support them!"

With that, he rowed his boat even faster.

However, the Uchiha clan members behind them, after the recent acceleration, were already at their limit.

They weren't like Chizuru's three-person squad; Kushina possessed the vast Chakra reserves of the Uzumaki Clan's physique, while Minato excelled at precise control, naturally leaving him with more Chakra.

As for Chizuru, he had both.

Chizuru turned back and said to the Uchiha clan members, "Rest on the boat for half an hour! Then you can join us!"

A hint of helplessness flashed across the faces of the Uchiha clan members as they nodded.

Continuous combat had already exhausted their stamina; forcing themselves to support now would clearly not be a wise move. What weighed even heavier on their hearts was that, judging by the situation, Chizuru seemed to be temporarily parting ways with them—

This boy, who had protected them all along, was the reliance they were least willing to let go of at this moment.

Chizuru, however, had no time to dwell on these emotions. He, Jiraiya, Minato, and the others quickly boarded the island. As soon as their feet touched the beach, Jiraiya began to sense their surroundings.

When the Chakra feedback returned, even he frowned slightly. "This island, only a few square kilometers in area, has over a dozen combat zones. Estimating, there are at least forty Mist Ninja on the island!"

The island was shrouded in an impenetrable mist, with visibility only a few dozen meters.

As everyone frowned, contemplating which direction to support first, Minato suddenly raised his hand and pointed into the depths of the mist, his voice tinged with seriousness, "Look over there—"

They saw a figure quickly leap onto the head of a giant python. He drew a thin blade from his hand and stabbed it into one of the python's eyes.

While the python thrashed wildly in pain, the figure drew his thin blade again and threw it at the other eye. After confirming the hit, the dark figure retracted his thin blade and leaped into the mist, leaving the python to writhe in agony.

Snakes, originally, had no vocal organs.

But as the four watched the snake thrash violently, its head smashing against the ground until it bled, and not stop for a long time, they knew how much pain it was in.

Everyone seemed to feel the python's roar deep within their souls.

A few minutes later, another figure also landed on the python's head.

"It's Orochimaru, let's go support him!" Jiraiya recognized the dark figure with long hair under the moonlight and immediately gave the order.

As they ran towards Orochimaru, they watched him draw a katana and grip it with both hands.

Perhaps it was because the snake was shaking so violently, but Chizuru felt Orochimaru's hands tremble slightly.

After a moment of hesitation, Orochimaru thrust the katana down fiercely. The giant python opened its massive mouth and fell with a thud.

"BOOM!"

Accompanied by the sound of the giant python hitting the ground, Chizuru and the other three arrived beside Orochimaru.

"Senior Orochimaru, we're here to support you!"

Upon hearing this, Orochimaru pulled his katana from the python's head, pointing the tip at them. Hatred seemed to fill his eyes, as if he were about to lash out at the four who had come to his aid. "State the password."

After confirming the password, Orochimaru's expression returned to normal, and he quickly said, "There are more enemies than we anticipated. There are at least twenty more Mist Ninja on Lookout Island. With you here, you can relieve some of the pressure."

As he spoke, he sealed the python's corpse with a space scroll, muttering to himself, "This snake, it accompanied me through so many S-rank missions without dying, and yet... it had to die on this wretched island..."

Kushina watched this scene, also feeling a sense of loss, and said softly, "I never thought the usually cold Senior Orochimaru would grieve for a summoned beast."

"Let's not worry about that for now. We have many people fighting the enemy, let's go support them first," Chizuru interjected. His Sharingan had already observed the surroundings. "The ninja who just killed the python was likely Kushimaru Kuriarare. Be careful, he might launch a surprise attack."

Hearing this, Orochimaru also rallied and ordered, "Your squad will support the Hyuga squad on the far left. They've been fighting for a long time and desperately need support right now."

The four moved on command and soon found the two surviving ninja behind a hill.

The Jonin leading them, panting heavily, reported the situation, "Out of our four team members, only the two of us remain. The enemy seems to be very skilled at ambushing in the mist. Yúcāng, despite having the Byakugan, was still killed.

The enemy's strength is strange. I want to avenge Yúcāng. I'll go with you... cough..."

As he tried to stand up, he let out a pained groan.

"Captain, your leg injury needs treatment, or you might be permanently disabled!" his subordinate quickly urged him.

"You two should return and wait for our good news. I am Jiraiya, a disciple of the Hokage!" Jiraiya said with a smile, placing his hands on their shoulders.

The two nodded, and after finally describing the appearance of the other four, they began to withdraw.

"Let's go," Jiraiya ordered immediately after gathering the information. "The other side just went through a battle, so it's a good opportunity for us to go now!"

Several tens of minutes later, the four arrived at the previous battle site.

Halfway there, Sen, in the jungle, said with his Sharingan activated:

"They seem to be coming towards us. A four-person squad, it should be them."

Jiraiya lifted his finger from the ground and nodded, saying, "Indeed, four people. It seems the recent battle had no effect on them."

"This is a bit troublesome," Minato added from the side. "They just finished fighting and they dare to come straight to our position? They must have some formidable ability. From the intel we just got, it seems one of them is extremely skilled at sneak attacks."

"If that's the case, why don't we do the opposite? Aren't you two also very good at sneak attacks?" Kushina suggested, looking at Sen and Minato.

Sen pondered for a moment and said:

"Minato and I will each take one person from behind, Jiraiya, you deal with the leader and that Jonin, Kushina will provide support..."

Before Sen could finish speaking, they suddenly heard the opposing Mist Ninja say, "There's a Konoha squad ahead, eliminate them!"

Water Style: Hidden Mist Technique!

Suddenly, a thick mist surged towards them from the other side.

"What's going on? The range of a sensory ninja shouldn't be this far!" Jiraiya watched the mist approach, waved for the others to gather, and quickly asked.