The First Battle of the Golden Finger

"Bang! Bang!"

Gunshots rang out sharply in the quiet night forest, echoing through the trees. Muzzle flashes erupted suddenly from the dim, dense canopy, and the heads of two Jonin who were darting toward the treetops exploded like watermelons.

"Damn it, the target has discovered us. This isn't a Genin. Kill him!"

A low growl sounded from behind a tree not far away. Ohno stepped out, his hands already weaving signs.

Wind Style: Gale Palm.

Before the two Jonin corpses could even hit the ground, a massive, transparent blade of wind sliced rapidly toward the canopy where Yueguang Han was hidden. The Gale Palm technique unleashed a sharp, several-meter-long blade of wind from the palm, traveling at extreme speed with immense cutting power.

Wind Style: Beast Wave Palm.

The surrounding Sand Shinobi emerged from behind trees and bushes. Dozens of kunai and a barrage of small, foot-long wind blades whistled from all directions toward the canopy, sealing off every possible escape route for Yueguang Han. Their coordination was impeccable. The Beast Wave Palm technique formed multiple small wind blades in the palm to shred the enemy.

Facing the incoming Wind Style ninjutsu from all sides, Yueguang Han did not dodge. The Gale Palm was too fast to evade, and the combination of wind blades from the Beast Wave Palm and the dense volley of kunai made it impossible to avoid everything. He simply stopped trying.

"Swish, swish...!"

The canopy rattled as the wind blades tore through it. Branches were severed, and large patches of leaves rained down. Within moments, the dense treetop was stripped bare.

In the canopy, a massive wound was carved into Yueguang Han's chest by the Gale Palm's large wind blade. The several-meter-long blade acted as if it were trying to bisect him, slamming into him and sending him flying. He crashed heavily onto the ground a few meters away, leaving a shallow, human-shaped crater in the earth.

Yueguang Han's body was covered in lacerations from the smaller wind blades, each cut deep enough to expose bone, and several kunai were embedded deep into his flesh. From a distance, he looked undoubtedly dead.

In the eyes of the Sand Shinobi, Yueguang Han had been overwhelmed by their attacks before he could even use a Substitution Jutsu. They didn't believe he could survive being hit by so many ninjutsu. Only two Chunin walked toward the fallen Yueguang Han. Four other ninjas headed toward the Sand Shinobi Jonin who had been headshot under the tree, preparing to use scrolls to seal their bodies for transport.

"Damn bastards!"

The Sand Shinobi squad leader gritted his teeth. Despite their caution, they had still lost two Jonin. This wasn't some fleeing Genin; this was a sentry, and very likely a Jonin or even an Elite Jonin. The sound of the gunfire had been so loud that other Konoha Ninja had likely already been alerted.

None of the Sand Shinobi noticed that the body of Yueguang Han, whom they believed to be dead, was rapidly recovering. The wounds that had reached the bone were already closing up.

The T800 Endoskeleton is truly durable! It really lives up to its reputation as a robot used in modern warfare! I might as well be bolder from here on out! Yueguang Han thought as he lay on the ground. His hands had already transformed into two M249 LMGs, the bullets already chambered (automatically loaded upon manifestation).

"Da-da-da-da-da-da...!"

Intense gunfire erupted suddenly. Just as the Sand Shinobi were fuming in secret, Yueguang Han—who had been lying on the ground and presumed dead—suddenly sat up. His hands had transformed into strange objects aimed directly at them, the muzzles flashing with Huoguang and emitting a continuous, crisp, loud sound.

"Pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft...!"

Almost instantly, blood began to spurt from the bodies of the two Sand Shinobi approaching Yueguang Han, as if something with immense piercing power had passed through them. Both Sand Shinobi collapsed straight to the ground.

The same fate befell the Sand Shinobi who were collecting the bodies of their fallen Jonin. The tree trunks beside them were pelted with splinters and bark, a testament to the density of the attack.

"How is this possible?" Seeing their supposedly dead enemy suddenly come back to life and kill six more companions in the blink of an eye, the remaining Sand Shinobi were filled with disbelief. Some quickly dove behind nearby trees, hiding deeper into the dim forest.

"Go to hell!" A few Sand Shinobi who were closer roared in anger, drawing kunai to charge at Yueguang Han or weaving signs to unleash ninjutsu.

"You have no chance left!" Watching the Sand Shinobi charging toward him and the others preparing to weave hand seals to release ninjutsu again, Yueguang Han's voice was icy. The light machine gun in his hands, spitting tongues of fire, quickly pivoted its muzzle, and a stream of crimson bullets swept toward the two Sand Shinobi weaving seals in the blink of an eye.

"Puff, puff, puff..." Before they could even finish their hand seals, let alone dodge, the two Sand Shinobi preparing to cast ninjutsu were pierced through by the bullets, leaving several blood-spurting holes in their bodies.

"Bastard!" Ohno, the Sand Shinobi squad leader hiding in the shadows, stopped his hand seals and clenched his fists tightly. It was too fast—not even a second had passed. It was so fast that even he, an Elite Jonin, hadn't had time to cast a Defensive Ninjutsu to save them.

"Bastard, die!" The three Sand Shinobi charging at Yueguang Han finally reached him. The poison-coated kunai and Tachi glowing with purple light in their hands slashed fiercely into Yueguang Han's body.

"Clang...!"

The kunai and Tachi easily sliced through and pierced Yueguang Han's skin and muscle, but when they struck bone and tried to penetrate his internal organs, they emitted the sound of metal clashing against metal. The Tachi and kunai could not advance a single inch further.

"How is this possible?" The few Sand Shinobi looked on in disbelief at the weapons that had pierced the skin and muscle but could go no deeper. It felt as if they had stabbed into a stiff puppet wrapped in human skin and flesh.

"Surprised, are you? Too bad you're about to die!" An icy voice rang out. Yueguang Han's hands had transformed into shotguns, pressed against the abdomens of two of the Sand Shinobi.

"Run!" Feeling the touch against their stomachs and hearing Yueguang Han's cold words, two of the three Sand Shinobi broke into a cold sweat, feeling the shroud of death. Their bodies instinctively leaped backward, desperate to get away from Yueguang Han.

"Too late!"

"Bang! Bang!"

The cold words heralded death. With two muffled gunshots, the two Sand Shinobi were instantly sent flying by the immense power of the shotguns. Their abdomens had already turned into a mass of mangled flesh, with blood and viscera mixed together, spraying into the air.

"Damn it!"

Watching two of his comrades die a miserable death and be sent flying, the remaining Sand Shinobi was terrified to the core. He immediately leaped backward with all his might, raising his hands to weave seals and release a Defensive Ninjutsu.

"Weaving seals in front of me—do you think you have the time?" The icy voice rang out.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!" Along with the cold voice came eight sharp, consecutive gunshots. Muzzle flashes flickered one after another in the dark night.

While he was still in mid-air, his hands having barely reached his chest, hundreds of steel pellets engulfed the Sand Shinobi, blasting him even further away. By the time he hit the ground, the front half of his corpse was already a bloody mess.

"Bastard!" Watching his comrades die one after another, Ohno roared. This time, he had wanted to intervene, but once again, he hadn't even finished his seals. Everything had happened too fast, and of the twenty-man elite Sand Shinobi squad he had brought, only seven remained.

"Die!" Ohno roared, the speed of his hand seals breaking his previous limits.

'Wind Style: Suppression!'