Ambush by the Rain Shinobi

"Divine Wind Sword: Consecutive Slashes!"

In the dead of night, several white chakra slashes stood out vividly, intercepting the rogue ninja who was carrying the Chūnin, Xiao Gui.

The rogue ninja froze in place, and within moments, streaks of blood began to seep through the blue ninja vest he wore.

Immediately afterward, the rogue ninja's body collapsed like an unstable stack of blocks, each piece tumbling to the ground as his life force vanished completely.

At this moment, Touma emerged from the shadows, checked the pulse of the Chūnin, Xiao Gui, and then placed him directly into a scroll.

Normally, simple sealing techniques cannot seal living beings; one must pair them with Yin Release nature transformation to alter the subject's form before they can be preserved.

For instance, the famous "Four Black Mist Formation" is a barrier sealing technique that uses the "Black Sealing Method" combined with the "Black Mist Technique" to seal living people.

Similarly, "Sealing Technique: Tiger's Gaze" is a living-person sealing technique derived from applying the "Character Binding Technique: Seal" to the "Super Beast Imitating Drawing."

Touma had merely organized the sealing techniques collected by Orochimaru, extracted their core characteristics, and simplified them into a set of living-person sealing techniques compatible with his "Space-Time Warehouse," which he named the "Black Coffin Technique."

Living beings placed inside the "Black Coffin Technique" fall into a deep coma, and the sealing effect suppresses their internal chakra; however, if the subject has something else sealed within them—like a Jinchūriki—possessing an independent life force, the "Black Coffin Technique" fails to take effect.

Of course, the "Black Coffin Technique" is not omnipotent; it can only guarantee that the subject's vitality does not drain for up to 24 hours. Beyond that time, even ninjas with immense life force like those of the Uzumaki or Senju clans have a high probability of dying within the seal.

Therefore, after sealing the Chūnin, Xiao Gui, Touma summoned a ninja hawk and instructed it to deliver the scroll to Kairan Village.

In truth, they accepted this mission partly because Uncle Umino, sent by Kairan Village, was an acquaintance, and partly because Kairan Village had specifically requested Team Shinku.

Kairan Village's specific request was also due to their familiarity with Uncle Umino, allowing the intelligence to be contained within a small circle rather than spreading further.

The core secret they sought to lock away was the identity of the Chūnin, Xiao Gui. On the surface, Xiao Gui was a "he," but in reality, Xiao Gui was a "she." She was not only Matsukawa Katsumi, the only daughter of Kairan Village leader Matsukawa Daisuke, but also the betrothed of Yuan Zeya, the only son of the former Daimyo, Yuan Jiuxiong.

As the only son of Yuan Jiuxiong, Yuan Zeya was practically the heir-apparent to the Daimyo position, especially after the Sugiyama Clan incident, which left the current Daimyo, Yuan Benxiong, with no desire to continue fighting his brother for power; the probability of Yuan Zeya inheriting the title was now infinitely close to one hundred percent.

If an accident were to befall the future consort of the next Daimyo at this time, Kairan Village would surely face the Daimyo's wrath. The ninjas living around Kairan Village would then be forced to experience displacement once more, a fate they were determined to avoid.

In fact, when this mission was sent from Kairan Village, it was nearly intercepted by Root; Danzo was extremely sensitive regarding the other two ninja villages within the Land of Fire.

Even with the public prohibition from Sarutobi Hiruzen, Root had continued to dispatch numerous spies to Shin-Gaku Village and Kairan Village over the years.

The most famous of these spies was the "Wandering Miko," Yakushi Nonō, who was just over 20 years old and had nearly incited a civil war in Shin-Gaku Village due to her espionage activities.

The title "Wandering Miko" originated from Shin-Gaku Village itself, as Yakushi Nonō's infiltration was so deep that within half a year, she had reached the village's upper echelons, sowing discord and destabilizing the political situation, all for the sole purpose of obtaining Shin-Gaku Village's "Closed Iron Gate" technology.

Because of this incident, Konoha was publicly reprimanded by the Daimyo's court for the first time since its founding, ordered to compensate Shin-Gaku Village for economic losses and hand over the culprit for judgment.

Of course, seeing the bandaged man still causing panic and chaos in the village every day, it is clear that the Hokage personally vouched for him, preventing him from being handed over to Shin-Gaku Village.

In reality, even if Konoha were to offer a sacrifice, Shin-Gaku Village would not dare to accept it; after all, the ninja world respects strength above all else, and if things were to reach a point of no return, it would likely be the moment Konoha annexed Shin-Gaku Village.

From the perspective of village interests, Touma certainly would not have agreed to hand over a core high-ranking official like Danzo. Setting aside the intelligence he possessed, Konoha simply could not afford to show such weakness.

But then again, from a personal emotional standpoint, Touma felt that the sooner such a troublemaker was dealt with, the better it would be for Konoha's development.

Konoha indeed needed power in the shadows, but it did not need a force like Root that operated entirely outside the Hokage's control. During his recent break, Touma, who was conducting research in Orochimaru's laboratory, had been approached by Root ninjas multiple times.

One must remember that Touma was already a publicly recognized ninja of the Hokage's faction, yet even that had not deterred Danzo's covetousness, as he sent people to recruit him every few days.

Touma had notified the Hokage through Orochimaru's intelligence channels, but the harassment from Root had not diminished; instead, it had intensified, even targeting Touma's mother, Takako, who worked at Kan-Kuri-Kan. Clearly, the Hokage's management of his comrade was woefully insufficient!

It seemed Touma would need to continue enduring until this advisor to the Hokage ventured out of the village himself. In any case, his departure procedures were never compliant, and if he were to die outside, it was unlikely anyone would pursue the matter.

Of course, it was unrealistic for Touma to try and kill Danzo right now. Danzo was, after all, a member of the elite guard trained by Senju Tobirama and one of the top powerhouses in the ninja world. His audacity in stirring up trouble across the continent was surely backed by confidence in his own strength.

Therefore, if Touma wanted to seize an opportunity to take down Danzo in one stroke, he would need to plan carefully. Furthermore, according to intelligence Touma had deduced from public records, it appeared that the Mangekyō Sharingan of Kagami Uchiha was kept in Danzo's possession.

Yes, you read that correctly. Kagami Uchiha had not only awakened the Mangekyō but had also failed to leave it to his own son, Hideaki Uchiha.

This deduced intelligence had been verified by Orochimaru, who possessed a technique developed by Senju Tobirama specifically for sensing the unique chakra of the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Orochimaru had indeed sensed the chakra of a Mangekyō Sharingan on Danzo, though it was not implanted directly into his eye sockets; instead, it was stored within a sealing scroll inside his personal ninja pouch.

It was likely that Danzo had not yet solved the issue of rejection; replacing his eyes with a pair of Mangekyō would be too great a drain on his own body, and he would likely be less effective than Kakashi, who wore only a single Mangekyō Sharingan!

Although the pursuit mission had progressed rapidly—not only eliminating Shiba and his nephew along with the other five Chūnin, but also successfully returning the primary target, Matsukawa Katsumi, to Kairan Village—both Shinku-sensei and Uncle Umino felt the mission had gone a bit too smoothly. It was so smooth that they felt as if something else was bound to happen.

Sure enough, just as the four members of Team Shinku and Umino Sadami were withdrawing from the border of the Land of Fire, they were ambushed by a Rain ninja unit that had secretly infiltrated the Land of Fire via underground waterways!