Premonition

Hiss—

The horses, startled, let out whinnies, but the terrified caravan members held their reins tightly.

For a moment.

Within the caravan.

Panic spread through the crowd.

The tall Root Organization member drew his longsword, pressing it against Sōsen's neck, and said in a low voice:

"Whether there's a rogue ninja in the group isn't something you can explain with a single sentence. I'll give you three minutes—take everyone over there."

He pointed to an open area to the right front.

That spot was the most densely covered zone for Root's trap-laying and shuriken deployment.

With that, the Root member withdrew his longsword, grabbed Sōsen by the collar, and tossed him to the rear of the caravan.

Sōsen stumbled forward, inwardly cursing his bad luck—first driven by rogue ninja, now driven by Konoha Anbu.

People like him, without strength, were nothing but cattle in the ninja world, born to be herded.

Passing the second wagon.

Sōsen looked at Ingetsu, wanting to vent his frustration, but remembering the other was an S-Rank rogue ninja, he wilted instantly and put on a show, saying:

"Get off, get off, get off and assemble! Do as the ninja-sama says!"

Ingetsu jumped down from the wagon, and Sōsen was momentarily stunned, not expecting such cooperation.

Then, the other Uchiha, Nonō, and Kurenai Yuhi also descended from the wagon.

They were fairly satisfied with Sōsen's performance—this guy knew the captain's identity but showed no intention of betraying them.

The caravan members on the following wagons reluctantly climbed down.

At that moment, three members of the escort team in the caravan stared fixedly at Ingetsu's group.

Tension showed in their eyes, sweat beaded on their palms, and their hearts pounded, as if wrestling with some difficult decision.

They wanted to report the dozen or so people who had infiltrated the caravan, guessing these were likely the rogue ninja squad the Konoha Anbu were after.

Not everyone could think as clearly as Sōsen; these men were convinced that this suspicious bunch was no match for the Konoha Anbu!

Shu—

One of the three escort members raised his right hand high. Sōsen's pupils dilated, and the next second, he gritted his teeth, leaped up, and forced the man's hand down.

Sōsen's face was pale with fear, inwardly screaming "Damn it"—these fools were going to get them all killed!

"Sōsen?" The escort looked at him in surprise, still holding his right arm.

Sōsen hissed in a low, vicious tone:

"Do you want to doom everyone?"

The three escort members looked confused—wasn't reporting the suspicious people to the Konoha Anbu the way to save the caravan?

The commotion at the rear of the caravan naturally caught the Uchiha's attention. They instinctively turned to see how Ingetsu would handle this.

To their astonishment...

Their captain, Ingetsu, was gone!!

Under Sōsen's fierce glare, the three escort members felt a pang of guilt and fell silent.

At the front of the caravan.

The Root ninja who had walked away suddenly turned back, staring at the middle of the caravan where the noise had come from, and said in a low voice: "What's going on?"

Sōsen kept up his cheerful act, laughing: "Nothing, ninja-sama! I'm just organizing everyone to head to the area you specified!"

The escort member who had been glared at by Sōsen, seeing the Konoha Anbu's attention on them, steeled himself and raised his right hand again, shouting:

"Sir, I repor—"

Before he could finish.

Pfft—

A pitch-black blade pierced through the escort member's back, straight through his heart. His heart sank for good, and life drained from him.

"Ah?"

The other two escort members turned in confusion, staring behind them in terror...

The young man in the black hood had appeared behind their dead comrade without them noticing.

Then, two flashes of black light streaked past. The two escort members' faces twisted in fear as they clutched their throats and crumpled to the ground.

To their dying breath, they never saw what happened, carrying their desire to report into eternal slumber.

"..."

Warm blood splattered across Sōsen's face, jolting him from his shock.

These three people had their lives taken by that black blade almost in the span of a single breath.

Ingetsu pulled back his hood, revealing his true face, and walked past a stunned Sōsen toward the Root Organization members ahead of the carriage.

Sōsen whipped his head around in shock, discovering that the people who had been standing near the second carriage had now vanished completely.

The moment Ingetsu struck down the betrayers, it was equivalent to issuing a command to fight.

Now.

At the intersection.

Two Root Organization members were also startled by this sudden turn of events.

Seeing Ingetsu.

In a moment, they snapped out of it, and then ecstasy surged within them.

Furthermore, the Root members on the cliff were first shocked, then overjoyed, and finally their expressions turned grave.

Their captain, Yamanaka Fu, and captain Aburame Torune had chosen to set an ambush here and strike the merchant convoy—it was indeed the right call!

Yamanaka Fu and Aburame Torune exchanged a glance, rising from the edge of the cliff. The former waved a hand.

A Root member cut a steel wire used to trigger a trap.

Bang—

A soft sound rang out. On the cliff wall, the intricate trap mechanisms quietly activated, and the sealing formations on the mechanisms were undone bit by bit.

The next instant.

Whoosh—

A sharp whistling sound tore through the air. Countless cold gleams flickered across the walls of both cliffs, all aimed at Ingetsu. Then, a dense, rain-like torrent of black kunai and shuriken shot forth.

The coverage of the thrown ninja tool traps was immense, coming at Ingetsu from nearly every direction.

Ingetsu activated Yachihoko, predicting the trajectories of the incoming kunai, shuriken, and senbon. Gripping the Black Blade Dark Moon, he Shunshin-leaped forward, leaving his original spot.

Thud thud thud!

A mass of ninja tools struck the spot where Ingetsu had been, but the subsequent volleys adjusted their trajectories to follow his movement, tracking and throwing.

After several evasions, Ingetsu found his back against a cliff wall, able only to dodge the tools coming from behind—nowhere left to retreat.

"As long as what's dealing with you isn't human, what use is your control-type Dojutsu?"

Yamanaka Fu looked down at the valley with indifference.

Beneath his half-covered mask, Aburame Torune's expression was equally cold, but at this moment, he spread his hands as if manipulating something, thinking to himself:

"Even if he can dodge the ninja tools... what about the nano-scale poison insects floating in the air?"

The Destruction Bugs of the Aburame clan generally cover the body; anyone who touches them will be poisoned and die instantly.

And combined with the "Secret Technique: Poison Dust Jutsu," Aburame Torune could exhale the poison insects from his mouth.

He then manipulated them, using the wind energy carried by the traps to blow them toward Ingetsu, completing a long-range poison attack.

The two stood on the high cliff opposite Ingetsu, watching him step into a dead end like a cornered beast, already convinced that this battle was firmly in their grasp.

Whoosh— Whoosh— Whoosh—

A torrent of kunai, shuriken, and senbon, mixed with the nano-scale poison insects floating in the air, came raging in.

Ingetsu leaned against the wall, but the corner of his mouth suddenly curled upward. The Dark Moon clenched in his right hand suddenly blurred, flowing with a high-frequency vibrating black mist current.

The Yachihoko Mangekyo in his eye sockets spun.

Not far away, the Tsuchigumo clan members and guards, who had been spared by the thrown traps due to his distance, had their Chakra instantly drained dry by Yachihoko.

As the overwhelming wave of kunai and other tools engulfed Ingetsu, he ferociously swung a single slash forward.

Whoosh—

A gale howled. A wall of wind, like a waterfall, rose from nothing, standing before Ingetsu and surging continuously.

The wind wall blocked all the thrown kunai, senbon, shuriken, and the nano-scale poison insects in the air.

Clang clang clang!!

Ninja tools clattered to the ground.

"Is this Wind Release???"

Yamanaka Fu was stunned, looking at Aburame Torune beside him. The latter's pupils dilated as he said in surprise:

"My poison insects... can't break through that wind wall!"

At the bottom of the valley.

Ingetsu looked up, staring at the two on the cliff. He converted the Chakra drawn from the forty-seven members of the merchant convoy into Wind nature, infused it into Dark Moon, and swung a second slash.

Suddenly—

A pitch-black wind crescent appeared like a waning moon, also like a dark ring, enveloping the waists of Yamanaka Fu and Aburame Torune on the cliff.

It was as if it could sever everything in the world—the ultimate sharpness.

The two looked down in terror.

The end of their lives.

They saw their upper and lower bodies cleanly misaligned.

Only then did Yamanaka Fu understand.

So...

That sword strike which had warped the clouds in the sky was Uchiha Ingetsu's doing!!

It foretold their fate tonight.

So their enemy had killed them.

Without even needing to use his Mangekyo Sharingan.