Difficult Victory

The kunai pierced Yueguang Han's forehead. After cutting through the skin and muscle, it produced the sound of metal scraping against metal, as if it had stabbed steel. It could advance no farther, and the grating noise was painful to hear.

The wind blade formed by Beast Wave Palm sliced through the muscle in Yueguang Han's arm, but it could not sever the alloy skeleton of the T800 robot inside his body.

The metallic sensation of the blade striking something hard made the two Sand Shinobi Jonin stare wide-eyed in disbelief. The threat of death instantly enveloped them, making them feel as if they had fallen into an ice cavern, their backs turning cold. The dark gun barrels were already aimed at their chests. They wanted to flee, but it was already too late.

"Bang, bang!"

Two somewhat muffled gunshots rang out. At the same time they attacked, Yueguang Han had not remained idle. His arms were bent at the elbows, and both forearms had already transformed into SPAS-12 shotguns, their muzzles aimed at the two men's abdomens.

Before they could even scream, the two Sand Shinobi Jonin were blasted backward by the shotguns' tremendous impact. Although the shells did not rip through their bodies, their immense destructive power still tore two fist-sized holes in their chests. The organs beneath the wounds had been reduced to mush.

After killing the two ambushing Sand Shinobi Jonin, Yueguang Han let out a sigh of relief. That had truly been dangerous. If they had been trying to restrict his movements instead of attacking him directly, he really would have been done for.

"Damn it!"

"Bastard!"

"Baka!"

"Yarou!"

Seeing two more comrades die miserably at the hands of the enemy before them, the remaining six Sand Shinobi immediately gritted their teeth. The jutsu they had already prepared were no longer held back, and they released them at once.

Wind Style: Wolf Fang.

Wind Style: Wind Cutter.

Earth Style: Earth Spear. ×2

Lightning Style: Lightning Tiger.

The remaining Sand Shinobi unleashed Wind Style, Earth Style, and Lightning Style jutsu simultaneously. More than a dozen kunai bound with Explosive Tags accompanied them. Although their opponent was immune to Fire Style, explosions were not merely flames.

Sharp earthen spears continuously bored out of the ground around Yueguang Han, stabbing at him from all directions as half his body remained buried in the earth. They also sealed off every route he could use to break free and escape.

A sharp wind spear as thick as a barrel descended from the sky, stabbing straight toward the top of Yueguang Han's head and blocking the direction in which he could evade upward.

The lightning-wreathed Lightning Tiger struck with even greater speed, lunging straight at Yueguang Han's chest. Even if it could not kill him in one blow, it could paralyze him and leave him helpless, waiting to be slaughtered. A colossal wind blade, infused with powerful Chakra and resembling a high-pressure current of air, could also sever his neck.

Faced with the Sand Shinobi's jutsu, Yueguang Han neither dodged nor could dodge. He merely raised both arms, using his palms to protect the top of his head and his forearms to shield his neck, then met the Sand Shinobi's attack head-on.

"Crack, crack...!" The Earth Style: Earth Spear struck Yueguang Han's body and pierced through his skin and muscle. In the end, it was the earth spear that broke, but it still managed to restrain Yueguang Han's body.

"Roar..." The Lightning Tiger pounced onto Yueguang Han's chest with a thunderous rumble, but in the end, it was absorbed by his body like a river returning to the embrace of the sea. It caused no damage whatsoever and instead recharged more than a hundred Energy Points for Yueguang Han.

At last, Wind Style: Wolf Fang and Wind Style: Wind Cutter arrived. The rotating, drill-like wind spear shot straight toward Yueguang Han's hands, which protected the top of his head, and finally enveloped his entire body. The enormous, high-speed wind also slashed against the arms shielding his neck. The violent, countless tiny wind blades continuously scraped away the flesh from Yueguang Han's face and body.

The kunai bound with Explosive Tags shot in last, immediately erupting into a violent explosion.

Smoke and dust billowed from the explosion, while the flying sand and rocks stirred up by Wind Style raged through the air.

The Sand Shinobi watched the smoke, dust, and stones stirred up by the explosion and Wind Style: Wolf Fang, finally relaxing. They had seen every jutsu strike the enemy. They had seen the Earth Style: Earth Spear pierce into his body and restrict his movements. They had seen the Lightning Tiger pounce onto him while he merely raised his hands in defense. They had even seen two A-rank Wind Style jutsu strike him. Under such circumstances and such an attack, there was no way that this difficult enemy could survive. He might not even have a complete corpse left.

"Mission complete!" Yakura said sorrowfully. There was not the slightest trace of joy at having completed the mission.

Upon hearing Yakura announce that the mission was over, not one of the Sand Shinobi showed a smile. They were sorrowful as well, mourning the more than one hundred Sand Shinobi who had died along this riverbank. If they had taken the intelligence about those three Genin seriously sooner, so many comrades would not have died here.

They grieved because, to kill this Konoha Shinobi whose name they did not even know, they had lost most of their manpower. The elite shinobi squad of fifteen, who had spent so long together, now had only seven members left, one of whom was seriously wounded. Three of the four Jonin had died.

"Collect the bodies of our fallen comrades and take them back for burial," Yakura said, walking dejectedly toward the seriously wounded comrade lying on the ground behind the Earth Wall.

The other Sand Shinobi also put away their grief and walked toward the Sand Shinobi corpses scattered across the riverbank to begin collecting them.

"Rat-a-tat-tat...!" The sound of a Light Machine Gun rang out through the smoke that had yet to disperse.

"Bang, bang...!" The roar of a Barrett once again echoed through the forest.

Under the Sand Shinobi's astonished and terrified gazes, a metal torrent flew out of the smoke in the blink of an eye, continuously punching through two of their bodies and sending up columns of blood.

The two comrades who had walked to the other side to collect the bodies were also struck by successive bursts of blood. Their bodies were sent flying several meters away, each now bearing several fist-sized bloody holes.

The enemy isn't dead yet! How is that possible? The instant they heard the sound, a terrifying and absurd thought arose in Yakura and the other Sand Shinobi's minds. They could not believe it, but their bodies had already begun moving at full speed on instinct. They dared not stop for even the blink of an eye. Unfortunately, neither of them knew Earth Style, and they could not predict the direction of Yueguang Han's muzzles through the smoke. They could only keep changing positions and leave it to luck.

That was really close. I almost died. Within the smoke, Yueguang Han had already emerged from the earth, exposing the body of the T800 alloy robot. He secretly broke into a cold sweat. Once the flames from the explosion had dissipated, Yueguang Han activated his Infrared Electronic Eye. His hands transformed into Light Machine Guns and his feet into Barretts, and he simply sat on the riverbank, firing continuously.

Just now, the Sand Shinobi's Wind Style: Wolf Fang had scraped away all of Yueguang Han's muscle and skin, fully exposing the T800 alloy robot beneath his flesh. The Wind Style: Wind Cutter cast by Yakura had nearly severed Yueguang Han's alloy arms, while the alloy bones in his neck had also been cut halfway through. Yueguang Han had only just repaired the T800 alloy skeleton.

However, Yueguang Han did not want to emerge from the smoke yet. He did not want anyone to see what he looked like now, even if they were about to die. Moreover, he had an advantage within the smoke. The Sand Shinobi did not possess the Byakugan and could not see his movements inside it. This would also be an effective tactic in the future.

Earth Style: Earth Wall.

An earthen wall suddenly rose from the riverbank. It turned out to be the Sensory Shinobi who had been seriously wounded earlier. He forced himself to use Earth Style: Earth Wall, which might have been the final jutsu he could cast. However, the earthen wall did not rise in front of him. It rose beside Yakura as she continuously dodged and moved, blocking her. He exposed himself to shield Yakura.

(The Earth Style: Earth Wall has a range limitation, depending on the shinobi. Yakura had come to check the Sensory Shinobi's injuries earlier, so they were relatively close. The Barrett could shoot through an ordinary Earth Wall, but the protagonist temporarily did not do so.)

Wind Style: Hurricane Assault!

The other Sand Shinobi, who had been continuously dodging, formed hand seals. A terrifying tornado swept up a large amount of gravel and sand from the riverbank and sent it toward the smoke concealing the enemy, also blocking the direction of the Earth Wall. However, because of this, the shinobi casting the jutsu could no longer dodge nimbly, and even his speed slowed.

It's over! Seeing the Sand Shinobi's movements slow and become less agile than before, Yueguang Han sighed inwardly and aimed his right foot, which had transformed into a Barrett, at him.

"Bang!" A gunshot rang out. The bullet struck the chest of the Sand Shinobi casting Wind Style: Great Breakthrough, blasted a large hole through his back, and sent his body flying several meters away.