The Hidden Mist Village had a clan called the Yuki clan (the Haku standing beside Zabuza belonged to the Yuki clan), and its members possessed a Kekkei Genkai called Ice Release.
The squad that had come to attack them now belonged to the Yuki clan of the Hidden Mist Village.
Of course, only their leader could use Ice Release.
Not every member of the Yuki clan possessed this Kekkei Genkai.
A Water Dragon shot up from the bottom of the cliff, carrying the five attackers to the top. The leader looked at the tall Earth Wall before them and spoke in a low voice. "Of all things, we ran into Earth Release ninja. Tch, this is troublesome."
"You people are from the Hidden Mist Village, aren't you?!" Seeing that they had all made it up, the secretary felt cold sweat break out on her forehead. Gritting her teeth, she said, "Isn't your village allied with ours?!"
The leader looked at the secretary and snorted. "Allied? We're also allied with the Land of Lightning. Don't say something so childish and embarrass yourself.
"Besides, the Land of Lightning is paying us a hefty sum to help them."
They wouldn't pay until the job was done, but there was no way he'd tell these Konoha people that.
The secretary gritted her teeth. She wasn't worried about herself so much as the three children behind her getting hurt.
"If that's the case, how much are they paying you? Tell me. If it's reasonable, I can pay you double," Yuya said calmly from behind the secretary.
"Oh? And who are you?" The lead ninja narrowed his eyes at Yuya.
Yuya lifted his head and replied, "I'm the only son of the richest man in Konoha. I can make the decision, as long as you turn back."
Yuya wasn't stupid. Of course he wouldn't tell them who he really was.
The leader smirked. "You think that's enough to make us turn back? Heh, keep dreaming."
As he spoke, the masked leader charged forward, and mirrors of ice formed all around them, surrounding the group.
"Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Technique. Heh heh heh..."
A thick fog engulfed Yuya and the others. The secretary hurriedly called Yuya, Uchiha Rou, and Hyuga Kazuko over to her.
"Rou, can your Sharingan see the enemy?" Yuya asked in a low voice.
Uchiha Rou was eleven and had awakened a one-tomoe Sharingan. She wasn't exactly impressive, but not everyone was a freak like Madara Uchiha. For a Uchiha girl, Rou was already considered talented.
Uchiha Rou shook her head anxiously. "No! There's chakra everywhere. I can't see them!"
"Kazuko, what about you?" Yuya asked the other girl.
Kazuko activated her Byakugan, then pointed to one side. "I see them!"
The secretary immediately formed a hand seal. "Earth Release: Earth Control Rock!"
But she was too slow, and the enemy had already dodged.
"Kazuko, give me a location!" Yuya looked at the Kunai in his hand, formed a hand seal, then turned to Kazuko.
Kazuko nodded and focused on the fog before them...
The Byakugan could see a person's chakra pathways. Even in a thick cloud of chakra, the pathways in a human body remained in a fixed pattern.
Unless you weren't human.
"Over there!"
Kazuko pointed, and Yuya hurled the Kunai with an Explosive Tag attached. Then he clapped his hands together. "Take this! Hah!"
The powerful gusts from the explosions that followed one after another left the other four attackers stunned.
It wasn't that they couldn't maintain the Hidden Mist Technique. But with the girl's Byakugan, they couldn't completely hide themselves. Only the leader, with his Ice Release Kekkei Genkai, could fight head-on.
The secretary's Earth Release was a perfect counter to the others' Water Release.
After all, they hadn't reached Kage Level. In fact, they were barely even Jonin. They'd made it this far purely because the Yuki Ice Release ninja was carrying them.
But now...
"Ah! Ah! My leg! My leg's broken!" someone screamed. Since the Hidden Mist Technique couldn't conceal them, maintaining it would only waste their chakra.
The group dispelled the Hidden Mist Technique, revealing that the one caught in the blast had a broken leg and was bleeding profusely. Uchiha Rou and Hyuga Kazuko, the two young girls, turned pale at the sight.
"Now you know we're not easy to mess with, right? My offer still stands. Turn back, and I can give you a million ryo. You can use it to treat his injury."
Yuya was sweating a little. He found the scene sickening too, but this was no time to throw up.
That would make him look weak.
Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags was Senju Tobirama's S-rank forbidden technique.
Simply put, once a tag touched someone, it could multiply endlessly and explode.
But "endlessly" was only theoretical. A person's chakra wasn't infinite, so the technique couldn't truly multiply without limit.
In the Naruto anime, the only other iconic use of Explosive Tags besides Senju Tobirama's Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags was Konan's ten billion tags, which she used to blast Obito for ten minutes. (So that was where all the Akatsuki's money went, huh? Buying these things?)
And since Yuya was Senju Tobirama's grandnephew, it was only reasonable for him to have learned the technique, right?
However, due to his age, he didn't have much chakra. He could make at most a hundred or so tags before running out.
To control his chakra consumption, Yuya couldn't just use the technique until he was completely drained.
But looking back, perhaps it would've been better to pour more chakra into it just now and kill the Mist Ninja outright.
"You brat!" The other side clearly had no intention of accepting Yuya's offer. With a flash, the leader dashed into one of the ice mirrors. A cold wind swept past, and Yuya and the others suddenly realized the ground beneath their feet had frozen solid.
"This is bad!" The secretary cried out in alarm, but it was already too late.
The ice surged upward, and four identical figures sprang out of it...
"Watch out!" The secretary could only block one. The three children on Yuya's side faced the other three, and the ice blades in the clones' hands were about to slice through them. Yuya spread his arms, and liquid gold surged from them, wrapping around him, Uchiha Rou, and Hyuga Kazuko.
With a clang, the ice blades struck hard, but couldn't pierce the golden barrier that had formed in front of the three.
Meanwhile, Uchiha Rou finished forming her hand seals, puffed out her cheeks, and sent a stream of fire toward the three ice clones.
After his attack missed, the leader promptly retreated and narrowed his eyes at Yuya.
Yuya snorted and slapped the ground, now frozen solid.
A flash of golden light passed, and all the ice turned to gold.
"..." The leader fell silent.
His Ice Release required him to construct an icy domain around his enemies, then catch them off guard or send ice clones to attack from every direction.
But now...
Looking at the gold spreading across the ground beneath his feet, the Kirigakure ninja realized there was no way he could surround this Konoha squad with his frozen domain.
More importantly, they were very close to Konoha's forward camp. Their mission to bypass the Land of Iron and gather intelligence was complete, and they had also destroyed the route Konoha's ninja would take to retreat.
Their primary objective was done. If they didn't retreat now, the ninja coming from Konoha might catch them.
Retreat was practically their only option. It was just that...
The leader gave Yuya a long look. "I didn't expect Konoha to have someone with a Kekkei Genkai like yours. Hmph. We'll meet again on the battlefield."
He was about to leave when Yuya hurriedly called out, "Wait!"
The leader stopped and looked at Yuya warily. "You still want to keep us here?!"
Yuya shook his head. "No. I know we couldn't take you down quickly if we fought for real, and you couldn't kill all of us in a short time either. I mean, what I said earlier still stands—but the offer is for your Mizukage.
"We can discuss whatever benefits the Kumogakure gave you. And this ten kilograms of gold is my greeting gift to the Kirigakure."
As he spoke, Yuya tossed over a gold bar.
The leader of the Kirigakure squad frowned.
Yuya pointed to the ground beneath his feet. "Don't worry. The gold created by my Kekkei Genkai turns back to normal when it gets wet. What I'm giving you is real, not something I created."
After Yuya explained, the Kirigakure leader snorted, but still hugged the gold bar to his chest before turning and walking away.
Seeing this, Yuya immediately smiled.
He didn't care if you took it or not. As long as you did, there were plenty of ways to use that.
Before you continue