Toys

Hanyu trusted his judgment. No ninja would ever operate alone on a battlefield like this.

Even someone as powerful as the Hokage would bring an escort squad when trying to approach or cross a battlefield... Only a ninja like the Fourth Hokage, who could come and go anywhere with Space-Time Ninjutsu, was exempt from this rule.

So here was the question: could the enemy who had just been sent flying by an Explosive Tag really be a ninja like the Fourth Hokage?

Frankly, that comparison was rather unfair to both sides. The traps Hanyu and the others had laid weren't complicated. If the enemy could still blunder right into one, all it meant was that he had no idea how a battlefield worked.

From a distance, Hanyu could tell the enemy was no older than sixteen. He was probably a rookie on the battlefield too, and his youth and inexperience had just cost him dearly.

"Don't move. Don't finish him off. Wait patiently." Hanyu used the same birdlike whistle to signal his companions behind him.

The enemy who had been hit by the Explosive Tag hadn't died instantly. He was groaning in pain on the ground, struggling to survive. But judging by how much blood he was losing and where he'd been wounded, he had no chance of making it. Even his death throes wouldn't last much longer.

Hanyu worried that someone in the squad might not be able to stomach the sight and choose to finish off the enemy, putting an end to his suffering. In reality, though, his order was unnecessary. The squad was young, but they were all professional ninja. They wouldn't give away their position out of the slightest pity for an enemy. No competent ninja would commit such a foolish act that put the cart before the horse.

In fact, they didn't feel any pity at all. If anyone should have been unable to bear the sight, it should have been the enemy's companions, not the Konoha ninja. So if his own comrades hadn't stepped in to end his suffering and had instead chosen to watch, the Konoha side had even less reason to do so.

It seemed cold, but it made perfect sense. On a battlefield like this, killing carried no guilt, and so the killing never ceased.

Chichiwa, positioned at a vantage point, had already drawn her bow. She cautiously watched for anything unusual around the enemy, ready to attack the moment other enemies appeared. But she never once aimed at the clumsy enemy himself. She knew that letting him bleed to death was the best choice for both sides.

"Don't be too cautious. At least for now, we have the numbers on our side. Once I give the signal, we need to seize the moment and attack boldly, taking out the remaining enemies as quickly as possible." Hanyu continued, speaking to Nara Nagisa beside him.

The enemies they'd encountered shouldn't be part of a large force. Otherwise, they would have already started searching and hunting through this area. That made a two- or four-person squad the most likely possibility. But whether it was a two-person or four-person squad, after losing a member first, they were already at a disadvantage.

That was the downside of attacking on a battlefield: often, the only way to deal with traps was to send someone to test them with his life.

Considering how terribly inexperienced the dying enemy seemed, his squad might well have been newly formed and sorely lacking in battlefield experience... Hanyu's squad was in much the same situation, but this assessment could at least give them a sense of parity, or even an advantage.

Both sides knew this. The enemy might even choose to retreat outright.

If they got the chance, they should attack decisively. If the enemy simply withdrew, they should let them go... Hanyu would never rashly order a pursuit. First, it was too risky. Second, their mission was to defend, not attack.

The sound of the explosion had long since carried into the distance. Before long, the woods fell silent again. Even the enemy had stopped struggling; he must have died. Yet Hanyu still hadn't found a second enemy.

Their scout, Renjuro, hadn't managed to send back any useful information either.

The enemy's body had gone cold, and Hanyu began to hesitate... He started to doubt his earlier judgment. Could there really have been only one enemy?

Just as Hanyu was thinking this, an arrow crackling with lightning suddenly thunked into the tree trunk beneath his feet. The foothold then exploded without warning.

Hanyu and Nara Nagisa reflexively leaped out of the tree canopy and dropped straight to the ground... They were exposed.

The attacker was Chichiwa. Hanyu recognized the arrowhead, made of a special metal that could conduct chakra, but Chichiwa would never attack her own companions.

"Oh, so that's where the fourth one was hiding?" A hoarse voice drifted eerily from the place where Hanyu and his companion had just been hiding.

If Chichiwa hadn't warned them, Hanyu and Nara Nagisa might already have been silently assassinated.

The enemy in the tree murmured only that one sentence. Then he abandoned Hanyu and his companion and charged straight toward Chichiwa at an unimaginable, uncanny speed.

Hanyu and Nara Nagisa had no time to dwell on their shock. Without a word, they raced after him.

Chichiwa also began to retreat. Judging by the enemy's speed, she knew she couldn't face him with Taijutsu; she had to put some distance between them. But the enemy was too fast. In an instant, the distance between them had already closed considerably.

Fortunately, Hanyu was right on the enemy's heels, and his hands were already forming seals:

Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Technique!

Blossoms of flame swarmed toward the enemy like locusts. The enemy had been charging straight ahead at high speed, but under this attack, he had no choice but to dodge and change direction, which forced him to slow down.

Hanyu and his companion had finally caught up with him.

"Looks like I'll have to deal with you first." The enemy stopped and turned his face toward them. Only then did Hanyu get a clear look at the man's aged face.

The instant Nara saw that face, he fired a crimson flare into the sky without a word. It signaled an emergency of the highest order... At least now Nara knew why the Konoha squad that had been here earlier had vanished without a trace.

Hanyu was surprised by Nara's reaction. It seemed a little too extreme. He was still counting on their numerical advantage—there was only one enemy, and even if he was an elite jonin, the four of them might still be able to fight him.

Nara drew a deep breath and said in an unusually grave voice:

"It's Monzaemon of the Sand Village."

"Who?"

Hanyu was completely baffled. He'd never heard that name before.

He wasn't some fanfiction author. How could he know the names of every powerful ninja? Especially at this point in time.