Practical Combat

Although not a single person could be seen nearby, they trusted Kagura.

After he made that gesture, the three immediately drew their weapons and stood beside Mr. Fukawa, assuming combat stances.

Meanwhile, Hiruzen Sarutobi stood off to the side with his arms crossed, as though the matter had nothing to do with him.

Seeing this situation, everyone understood that Teacher Sarutobi had no intention of stepping in this time.

Kagura drew a kunai from his waist and fixed his eyes on the front.

The scene fell silent for a moment, but fortunately, the silence did not last long.

A voice rang out from the woods:

"You little brat...

You actually noticed us?"

As though they had received an order, figures emerged from the woods as that voice sounded.

Tsunade and the other two grew somewhat tense, because nearly several dozen figures had gradually walked out of the forest.

They wore gray ninja bodysuits, their faces tightly covered by Black Masks, revealing only a pair of hungry wolf-like eyes.

The person who had spoken was likely their leader. He stood in a tree, looking down at everyone below.

He frowned and continued,

"Those eyes...

I see. You're a brat from the Uchiha Clan?

No wonder you noticed us."

At this point, the dozens of figures under his command had slowly surrounded Kagura and the others.

Kagura raised his head and carefully observed the speaking leader. Seeing no symbol of any Ninja Village on him, he understood that these were the so-called Rogue Ninjas.

Since the Ninja Villages had only recently been established, there were still many ninjas across this land who belonged to none of the five great Ninja Villages.

They gathered separately beyond the borders of the five nations, without any clear organization or beliefs, surviving mostly through mercenary work or robbery.

There was no such thing as yielding in battle between ninjas. The moment Kagura saw these people emerge, he knew this fight could not be avoided.

He calmly gave orders to the three behind him:

"Orochimaru, Jiraiya, you two handle the enemies on both sides.

Tsunade, stay by Mr. Fukawa's side and protect him.

I'll deal with the enemies in front."

There were roughly thirty to forty enemies present, with half of them positioned directly in front of the group.

Clearly, Kagura had taken the most difficult task upon himself.

The area fell silent. A leaf was blown down by the breeze and slowly drifted toward the ground.

Like a signal to begin, the instant that leaf touched the ground, both sides suddenly turned into black shadows and charged at one another.

Orochimaru and Jiraiya had already vanished into the crowd, taking the initiative to attack the enemy according to Kagura's orders.

Tsunade gripped her weapon tightly and continued to stand quietly in front of Fuchuan.

Higure flashed through mid-air as the sounds of shuriken colliding rang continuously through the surroundings.

A silver-haired figure suddenly appeared in the air. It was Jiraiya.

After rapidly forming hand seals, his cheeks suddenly puffed up.

Fire Release: Flame Bullet!

Several fireballs struck the enemies chasing behind him.

The struck enemies instantly caught fire all over and fell to the ground, howling in pain.

The principle behind this ninjutsu was to refine oil with Chakra, hold it in the mouth, then ignite it with a Fire Release technique as it was expelled.

No matter how frantically those people rolled across the ground, they could not extinguish the flames on their bodies.

Seeing such results from a single attack, Jiraiya could not help but show a trace of excitement.

But before he could land, several kunai shot toward him.

Still in mid-air, Jiraiya's expression turned serious, but he did not panic.

As he formed hand seals again, his silver hair suddenly lengthened and wrapped around his entire body like a coat.

Ninja Art: Needle Jizo

Those strands of hair were like a solid fortress, deflecting every kunai flying toward him.

The pursuing ninjas' gazes sharpened, and they immediately drew their longswords and charged forward.

Since ranged kunai could not break through his defense, they would attack him in close combat!

Just as several ninjas reached the top of the semicircular "hedgehog," Jiraiya's voice rang out from within again:

"Needle Hell!"

The hair, as hard as steel needles, suddenly shot out like hidden weapons.

Amid a flurry of whistling sounds, the several ninjas who had been about to surround him moments earlier fell to the ground, covered in blood.

On The Other Side, Orochimaru faced the same situation as Jiraiya.

The moment he landed from the air, dozens of attacks formed from kunai and shuriken appeared before him.

Orochimaru formed a One-handed Hand Seal, and A Gust of Wind suddenly appeared before him.

The violent wind directly blew away those dozens of weapons.

Wind Release: Great Breakthrough

"My turn!"

He muttered softly, pulling several shuriken from behind him.

After hurling the shuriken in his hand at the enemy with force, he immediately began forming hand seals rapidly.

Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!

It was precisely the ninjutsu Orochimaru had secretly learned from Teacher Sarutobi.

The few shuriken split into thousands of shuriken, launching an indiscriminate attack toward the forest ahead.

Muffled groans rang out as the enemies hiding in the woods were struck down to the ground one after another.

After finishing all this, Orochimaru turned to look toward Tsunade.

Spiderweb-like cracks had appeared around Tsunade.

Within them were enemies who had attempted a sneak attack, only to be smashed into the ground by her fists.

However, she paid no attention to those she had defeated. Instead, she stared ahead with a shocked expression.

Following her gaze, Orochimaru looked ahead as well.

The moment he saw what was happening Before eyes, his eyes contracted in shock.

Ahead of them was the battlefield Kagura had marked out for himself.

The leader who had spoken earlier and his subordinates had already descended from the trees and stood before Kagura.

Yet strangely, those people still maintained their standing postures.

They had neither drawn their weapons nor made any threats. The entire battlefield was so quiet that it felt eerie.

Upon closer inspection, one could see that their eyes were filled with confusion.

It was as though they had been cursed, frozen where they stood and unable to move.

Kagura raised the kunai in his hand and slowly walked through the crowd.

Whenever he passed someone, the arm holding his weapon would leave behind an afterimage.

Then, a line of blood would appear across that person's throat. As bodies hit the ground, blood stained the earth red.

Kagura was like a Shinigami holding a Scythe, silently harvesting lives.

An eerie atmosphere filled the field. All the enemies were like chickens and ducks lined up, waiting to be slaughtered by their master.

Before long, everyone on the field except the Leader had fallen.

Kagura stood Before him, raising his Right Hand as he prepared to finish off the final enemy.

However, at that moment, the Leader spoke haltingly.

As though he had exhausted all the strength in his Whole Body, he spoke in a voice filled with regret and terror:

"You...

Th-this... is... genjutsu?"

Kagura looked at him in surprise. He had not expected this minor lackey to break free from the control of his genjutsu.

That was right. This eerie scene was the result of him using the Sharingan's genjutsu on these people.

Although he possessed Kotoamatsukami, known as the strongest genjutsu in Hokage history,

controlling lackeys whose strength did not even reach Genin level was simply too easy. The Sharingan's innate genjutsu alone was enough.

Although Kagura had other ways to defeat these people, this was undoubtedly the most effortless method.

That Leader was clearly stronger than the others, as he had actually managed to briefly break free from the effects of Kagura's genjutsu and speak.

But that was as far as his limit went.

Seeing the unwillingness in his eyes, Kagura rarely spoke words of comfort:

"If you want to blame someone, blame your bad luck.

In your next life, remember to choose your Opponent carefully."

With that, he raised his hand and slashed.

A line of blood slowly opened across the Leader's throat. A column of blood sprayed out, and he slowly fell to the ground.