The Legacy of Art

Exploding Tag!

Without anyone needing to remind them, upon hearing this specific sound in the relatively quiet indoor environment, the ninjas immediately understood what was about to happen.

For ordinary ninjas, Exploding Tags were a highly threatening explosive ninja tool, and their killing efficiency was quite high… somewhat equivalent to modern battlefield tripwires; stepping on one meant death.

Yuzuru reacted quickly, but just as he was about to use Body Flicker to leave, he found Torifu Akimichi had already pulled Kairi Omori away and stepped in front of everyone.

The next instant, his right arm rapidly swelled, his palm enlarged, and he slammed it forcefully against the "wall" where the Exploding Tag was attached. Under this immense force, the entire large tree shook violently, and then half of its trunk separated and fell.

BOOM!

A ball of flame erupted in the rain. Fortunately, it wasn't a point-blank explosion. After withstanding a certain amount of impact, Torifu Akimichi's arm quickly returned to its normal size… Although he was injured, this was considered the best possible outcome.

The Exploding Tag crisis wasn't the main issue; its loud sound was more troublesome.

Torifu Akimichi clenched his fist. Disregarding the injury on his palm, he said to the three behind him, "Leave this place. The trap has been triggered, and the explosion sound will likely attract the enemy's attention."

Once the enemy realized their trap had been triggered, they would definitely come back to check the situation… No one dislikes catching mice.

By now, Yuzuru had grown to like the environment and weather of the Land of Rain; it was too conducive to concealing the ninjas' tracks.

The Konoha squad hastily left their outpost. After determining they had roughly escaped the danger zone, Torifu Akimichi immediately made several copies of the information he had just obtained. He first gave one to each squad member, instructing them to keep it separately… The information was written in code, so Yuzuru could only keep it, but not understand its contents.

This decision to keep it separately carried a hint of ill omen, implying that whoever managed to return to the Konoha camp had to bring the information back.

Everyone calmly accepted their captain's arrangement. Yuzuru tucked the intelligence scroll close to his body, hoping nothing unexpected would happen… In such a deep enemy territory, maintaining the squad's integrity was the only way to safely withdraw; otherwise, the probability of a grim fate was much higher.

To put it more simply, the Chunin and Genin present needed the Jonin captain's combat power.

Next, Torifu Akimichi reached behind him and pulled out another bird… It was a saker falcon.

Torifu Akimichi placed the intelligence into the message tube attached to the saker falcon's leg and then released it… He used various channels to transmit the intelligence, still feeling it wasn't secure enough.

"Captain, we've obtained the intelligence. Should we withdraw now?" Kairi Omori asked.

"No, our mission isn't complete yet. We still need to confirm the situation at the other two outposts," Torifu Akimichi shook his head.

This…

Wasn't this somewhat irrational? Based on the situation at this frontline reconnaissance outpost, they could completely infer the situation at the other two. However, this was the mission assigned to the Konoha squad, and even Torifu Akimichi had no authority to change it, so the squad had to press forward at their own risk.

Thus, after taking a detour, the squad continued to probe deeper into the Land of Rain.

However, they hadn't escaped the recent crisis. Since the trap had been triggered and such a commotion had been made, enemies from Iwagakure or Amegakure would naturally pursue them relentlessly.

Therefore, after the squad had ventured further into the Land of Rain, Kairi Omori suddenly stopped. "Captain, I feel something is wrong… It feels like there's a gaze on us."

She vaguely sensed something abnormal, but unfortunately, she was only a visual reconnaissance ninja, not a sensory type.

Torifu Akimichi nodded; he also felt something was off.

Since a moment ago, there seemed to be intermittent bird calls from the forest, which instinctively felt wrong.

The squad stopped, no longer moving blindly. The four Konoha ninjas activated all their senses, carefully observing their surroundings.

The next moment, without any warning, Yuzuru suddenly felt a disturbance, as if something was lurking right beside him.

Yuzuru dodged to the right by one step, simultaneously instinctively pushing Kairi Omori beside him!

Immediately after, a whistling sound cut through the air where they had just been standing.

"Enemy attack!"

An invisible enemy was hidden beside them.

Hazuki Uchiha's Sharingan instantly activated. Under her crimson eyes, a semi-transparent figure appeared in her vision.

"Hiding your head and tail, I can see you!"

Invisibility? Could it be Transparent Release? No, could the Sharingan so easily see through Transparent Release? Right, Iwagakure seemed to have an invisibility ninjutsu. This technique played a crucial role in the Battle of Kannabi Bridge, costing Kakashi an eye.

Hazuki Uchiha counterattacked with a sword strike towards the invisible enemy. Kairi Omori and Yuzuru were about to rush to her aid but were stopped by their captain's hand.

"Leave this enemy to Hazuki."

Torifu Akimichi didn't pay attention to the enemy who could conceal their form. His eyes were fixed in a certain direction within the forest. Yuzuru and the other followed his gaze and saw two Iwagakure ninjas walking out from that direction.

"Konoha is nothing special; your reaction speed is too slow. How long has your outpost been destroyed? And you're only coming to investigate now? I'm getting impatient."

"And besides…"

"One Jonin, two Chunin, one Genin. You dare to venture this deep with such a squad composition? I truly don't know if you're confident or reckless."

Only two enemies appeared, but they acted as if victory was assured. They spoke with a hint of mockery and swaggered out.

One of them had spiky hair, and the other had a square face. The spiky-haired one was thin and agile, while the square-faced one was built similarly to Torifu Akimichi, both being stout ninjas.

Yuzuru felt the spiky-haired one looked somewhat familiar, but he couldn't recall his identity for a moment.

"Be careful, these two are from the Iwagakure Explosive Unit."

Torifu Akimichi clearly knew these two. He even thought that if these two had been deployed by Iwagakure earlier, it would indeed have been possible to disrupt Konoha's intelligence transmission routes.

The enemy's strength was considerable; direct escape was impossible.

"Kairi, Yuzuru, you deal with the big guy. Buy me some time. I'll handle the small one. Be careful, they are both Jonin." With that said, Torifu Akimichi didn't wait for Yuzuru and the other to react and charged directly at the spiky-haired one.

It was a bit of a shame; if it were the Ino-Shika-Cho squad, dealing with them should have been a piece of cake.

Buying time? Yuzuru thought. How can I, a mere Genin, buy time from a Jonin?

How could two Iwagakure ninja allow the Konoha squad their way? They decided to prioritize taking out Torifu Akimichi. Torifu was the absolute main force of the Konoha squad; if they could eliminate him, what difference would the rest of them make compared to automatic death?

Thus, the large enemy was about to charge at Torifu Akimichi, preparing to attack him from two sides.

But in the next moment, Yuzuru, who was over ten meters away, appeared almost instantly in front of the large enemy... He didn't want to face a Jonin head-on like this, but the current battle situation was too clear. Once the captain fell into a disadvantage, the Konoha squad would have no chance of winning.

So Yuzuru had to brace himself and go.

The large enemy clearly froze for a moment. He hadn't expected this inconspicuous Konoha ninja to possess such speed.

On the other side, after engaging the spiky-haired ninja, Torifu Akimichi drew the long iron rod from behind him and swung it with immense force, smashing it down towards the enemy's head!

However, facing such an attack, the Iwagakure spiky-haired ninja didn't dodge. Instead, he directly threw a punch, actually smashing it against the iron rod.

BOOM!

No blood splattered. As the spiky-haired ninja threw his punch, an explosion sound rang out.

In an instant, Torifu Akimichi was engulfed in smoke and dust. He, who had attacked first, was forced back half a step.

Fortunately, this move didn't harm him. He spun the long rod in his hand, flinging away the explosion smoke and the surrounding rainwater.

At this moment, Yuzuru also remembered who this person was.

"It really is you, Iwagakure's Explosion Release ninja, Gari."

Torifu Akimichi directly called out the opponent's name.