Worth It

When Tama greeted them, Po and the other Root ninja were both stunned.

They couldn't understand where this Ninja Cat had come from, much less how it had found them.

Had this cat been following them the whole time?!

While they stood there in brief confusion, Tama had already deftly risen onto her hind legs and pulled a signal flare from the small pouch at her waist, firing it into the sky.

Only when they saw the bright flare burst in the night sky did Po finally snap out of it.

There was no time to mourn his dead Summoning Beast. Now they had to figure out how to save themselves!

"Run!"

Po grabbed his Chunin teammate off the ground and prepared to flee.

But before they could move, a rain of paper javelins and needles came pouring down from above!

Po nimbly leaped back to dodge, then hurriedly drew a Kunai to block. Only then did he barely manage to survive.

But when he glanced to the side, his teammate had already been turned into a pincushion by the Paper Javelins.

Then the culprit behind that barrage slowly appeared from the darkness,

Po's pupils shrank. His voice was laced with shock and unwillingness as he spoke.

"It's you! You're that girl called Konan from the Akatsuki Organization, the one in the report!"

Konan frowned, displeased by his tone, and didn't reply. She simply continued silently summoning more Paper Javelins.

Po panted, his expression beneath the mask bitter.

If he had been in good condition, he wouldn't have taken a teenage girl in the air seriously. But now, after being tormented all night, he was covered in scalds and burns, and had almost no stamina or Chakra left.

"It's all over now..." Po muttered in pain.

He had written only three intelligence reports in total, giving one each to his Summoning Beast, his teammate, and himself.

But now, it looked like none of them would make it back.

Who could have imagined things would turn out this way before they came? It was just a small organization in the Land of Rain.

The girl in the air paid no heed to his despair. A moment later, the paper javelins rained down again.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

This time, Exploding Tags were mixed among the curled-up sheets of paper.

After spending so much time together, Konan had learned caution and decisiveness from Shiba Seika!

She bombarded them over and over until she was sure the enemy had been blown to pieces, then descended and asked Tama, "Are you sure this is the only straggler?"

"Yes, meow~ There were only those two who escaped down the mountain, meow~"

Only then did Konan let out a breath of relief. She muttered under her breath, "That guy made things so dangerous again this time."

Yet there was little real reproach in her tone. Instead, it held the indulgent affection of a gentle older sister toward a mischievous younger brother.

It was precisely because he had Konan's unconditional support that Shiba Seika dared to carry out such a grand, unconventional plan.

But up on the mountain, amid the sea of fire, Yūno Ryōma clearly knew nothing about that.

He was simply shocked by Shiba Seika's composure, to the point that he had begun to doubt the point of continuing to fight.

Seizing the moment when his opponent's focus wavered, Shiba Seika decisively pressed the attack!

"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"

The fireballs he spat from his mouth were like seeds of the phoenix flower, scattering like stars across the sky and covering an area several meters around Yūno Ryōma!

Yūno Ryōma came to his senses and hurriedly dodged, but in the confusion, his robe still caught fire.

He threw off the loose robe that was burning, revealing a body crawling with black Kikaichū—a sight that would have delighted anyone with a phobia of clustered patterns.

As a member of the Aburame Clan, he was usually extremely reluctant to be seen without his robe. Now, however, he was forced to show everyone this ugly appearance.

"I'm quite a sight," he said with a self-mocking laugh.

He couldn't tell whether he was talking about how he looked, or the fact that a Rain ninja boy several years younger than him had driven him into this predicament.

But the humiliation roused the last of Yūno Ryōma's will to fight.

He stopped worrying about whether his teammates down the mountain were alive or dead. He stopped fretting over whether the intelligence could be sent back to Konoha. He stopped agonizing over whether there was any point in staying to fight.

Only one thought remained in his mind: At least before I die, I have to help Lord Danzo deal with the dangerous boy in front of me!

For that, he was willing to expend his own life force, forcibly rousing the insects on his body that had stopped responding. He raised both hands and summoned a buzzing black cloud in front of himself!

He had already resolved to burn his bridges!

He had already prepared to throw caution to the wind!

He opened his mouth and roared. For once, his usually refined and mild-mannered face twisted into a ferocious grimace!

He had clearly abandoned everything. Yet in the next instant, all that fighting spirit and resolve flew away with a sharp whoosh.

A voice rang out from behind him—

"Shinra Tensei!"

Yūno Ryōma's body was immediately flung away like a rag doll, along with the swarm he'd summoned in a final, fearless charge. Caught completely off guard by the incredible speed, he slammed into the sea of fire beside him, scattering sparks everywhere.

The whole sequence was so absurdly connected that it somehow carried the ridiculousness of dark comedy.

Reality wasn't a manga, after all. The will of someone at the end of their rope seemed pitifully weak before the strength of someone who was fresh and ready.

The arrival of that voice could only mean one thing: Nagato had come to reinforce them, bringing members of the Akatsuki Organization who'd received the message.

As a cautious schemer, Shiba Seika had never been stingy about calling in reinforcements.

Konan had come, so of course Nagato wasn't going to be left out.

After arriving, Nagato also helped Karasuba and Masuda Ikki, who were fighting on the other side, quickly take care of the last Root Jonin, Wu.

And with that, all twelve Root ninja who had entered the Land of Rain were wiped out!

As several Akatsuki Organization members accompanying Nagato used Water Release Ninjutsu in turns to control the fire nearby, they anxiously urged them, "Captain Seika, everyone, hurry! The route we took here has just been put out. If we delay, it'll catch fire again!"

Shiba Seika didn't leave immediately. Instead, he used the Body Flicker Technique to appear in the sea of fire, stabbed Yūno Ryōma in the chest, slashed his throat, then opened the Sealing Scroll he'd prepared in advance and packed the body inside.

Only then did he retreat to the teammates who'd come to reinforce them and let them use Water Release to put out the flames on him.

When dealing with an elite like Yūno Ryōma, no amount of caution was excessive. He'd rather empty his Ninja Tools pouch and go without a Shuriken than fail to bring a scroll that could seal away a body.

That's what you called professionalism!

Before leaving, Karasuba used Fire Release to dispose of the other Root ninja's bodies. Only then did everyone withdraw in a hurry, following the several Water Release ninja Nagato had brought down the mountain.

After they reached the foot of the mountain and looked back, the entire mountainside was still shrouded in towering flames!

Shiba Seika asked Kenjiro, who had arrived, "How are things at the foot of the mountain? Any casualties?"

Kenjiro replied, "Luckily, the two leaders, Nagato and Konan, arrived in time. The villagers were evacuated, and no one was hurt."

Even so, Nagato looked heartbroken. Gazing at the entire mountain still burning before them, he said gravely, "When dawn comes, Big Brother Yahiko is definitely going to give you another lecture. Was this really worth it, Seika?"

Shiba Seika instinctively raised a hand and gently touched the sealed scroll at his waist. He smiled faintly and answered with absolute certainty.

"Of course it was worth it!"