The End of the Warrior Era

Uchiha Hezi rubbed her hands together, eager for action.

"So, what's the plan? Do we leave someone to guard the entrance, or do we all head down together?"

0015 shook her head cautiously. "I'll call the nearby units first to report the location of this secret warehouse to Lady Mikoto and ask if there are any reinforcements before we enter. That way, if there's trouble, we can alert Lady Mikoto in time."

0015 was well aware that because they had occupied so many towns recently, Lord Fucheng was stretched thin on manpower.

Under these circumstances, it was highly likely they would have to complete the mission on their own.

However, using the radio to report in and notifying Mikoto and the surrounding Misaka Sisters in advance was the most appropriate course of action.

As a node in the Misaka Network, 0015 didn't even need to open her mouth to communicate.

She directly utilized her Level 3 Electro Master electromagnetic wave ability to transmit the information she wanted to convey to the Misaka Network and Mikoto in the form of a radio signal.

With the information logged into the Misaka Network, the four of them and the dog followed the rope down the well, carefully entering the depths.

From the entrance, this hidden underground base looked rather unremarkable.

At the bottom of the well, there was only a brick-lined opening just wide enough for two people to pass through side-by-side.

The initial passage was narrow, but after moving forward thirty or forty paces, the interior space suddenly opened up.

From the walls of the cavern, they could see that this wasn't an artificially excavated base at all, but rather a natural limestone cave that had been simply expanded.

Paru, the scout dog with a keen sense of smell, proved even more useful in the underground cavern.

The crisscrossing tunnels made it difficult to keep one's bearings.

Fortunately, Paru discovered traces of medicine being transported.

The four of them squeezed through a slightly smaller opening into a deeper level of the underground space.

The natural limestone cave seemed to be divided into many layers.

After descending more than twenty meters, a cavernous space with a ceiling height of six or seven meters appeared before them.

"It's huge!"

Uchiha Hezi had already activated her Sharingan, granting her excellent night vision.

What met her eyes were rows of metal shelves standing in the distance of the cavern.

"We found the medicine warehouse!" Hezi thought to herself with joy.

She and Nonō, who understood pharmacology, walked at the front of the team, taking the initiative to approach the shelves to verify the various supplies.

Just then, an accident occurred!

A sudden sensation of weightlessness hit them, and Uchiha Hezi and Yakushi Nonō, who were closest to the shelves, suddenly fell into a cleverly hidden trapdoor.

The trap snapped shut instantly.

Hezi and Nonō lost their balance, spinning through the air as they plummeted to the level below.

"Oh no!" Hatake Jiangyi and Paru, positioned in the center of the formation, immediately drew their katanas.

Meanwhile, 0015, who had been bringing up the rear, let out a muffled groan.

It was clear that other traps were currently attacking her.

Crackle!

With a hiss of electricity and a flash of blue-white lightning, 0015 illuminated the entire cavern.

One could see that four or five sharp kunai had already embedded themselves into the slightly muscular arms of 0015, Moon of the Fifteenth.

"Go support Hezi and the others!" 0015 shouted a warning.

She used her electromagnetic force to flick away the blood-stained kunai.

"Leave these three freaks to me."

As she spoke, Moon of the Fifteenth leaped like a giant bird spreading its wings, pouncing toward the three enemies who were coated in a special type of mud.

"Honor of the samurai!" The three mud-covered enemies didn't use ninjutsu like typical shinobi; instead, they drew their own long swords.

Forming a triangular formation, they retreated away from 0015 while throwing needles and kunai.

Hatake Jiangyi knew they had fallen into an enemy ambush.

He had no choice but to rely on himself to save Uchiha Hezi and Nonō first.

The scene of his former teammate, Matsumoto, being blown to pieces by an Explosion Release ninja flashed through Jiangyi's mind once more.

But this time, Jiangyi felt no fear or trembling; he simply gripped the hilt of his blade tighter.

He heard the enemies' cry.

"Honor of the samurai."

Could these people be the samurai guards under Nagashima Ryosuke?

Hatake Jiangyi quickly arrived at the right side of the trapdoor, carefully testing the metal surface.

He felt it was quite tricky.

"The material of this trap is incredibly hard. Does this mean I have to..."

Before he could use ninjutsu to destroy the ground, a samurai in armor hidden in the shadows of the shelves suddenly lunged out to ambush him.

"Someone's here!"

Paru shouted a warning.

This samurai had been hiding behind the medicine shelves, using the scent of the herbs to mask his own.

But the sound of wind stirred by his ambush still failed to escape Paru's ears.

Clang!

Clang, clang!

Sparks erupted in the air.

Three exchanges of strikes allowed Hatake Jiangyi to block the ambush by a hair's breadth.

Yet, Jiangyi was still forced back three steps by the sheer power transmitted through the blades.

This guy, what immense strength!

He saw that the masked samurai, whose lower leg was being clamped down tightly by Paru, was currently swinging his blade at the dog.

Summoning Release!

Hatake Jiangyi quickly released the summoning to keep Paru from harm.

He then cautiously retreated to create some distance.

Judging by the opponent's footwork and armor, this person was clearly not a ninja.

He was likely a samurai similar to those passed down from the Warring States period.

Moreover, seeing the opponent return his long sword to its sheath after executing his technique, it was clear this was the close-quarters method of a practitioner of the Iaijutsu style.

Jiangyi grew increasingly cautious.

His right hand, gripping his sword, assumed the special starting stance of the Hatake Style Heart-Mind Slash.

The armored samurai, Ogawa Uemon, did not speak at this moment.

He merely stared coldly at Hatake Jiangyi, approaching him with small, rapid steps, his feet sliding across the ground like water.

This guy was clearly the samurai leader, and he had lost his patience.

He intended to use a finishing move to end the fight quickly.

Ogawa Uemon shouted, "Ogawa Style, Cross-Blade Iai Slash!"

Hatake Jiangyi did not show weakness: "Hatake Style, Hatake Heart-Mind Slash!"

Two figures were seen crossing paths within the cave as their blades clashed.

A straight, thin line suddenly appeared across Hatake Jiangyi's body.

Behind him, Ogawa Uemon opened his eyes wide in shock as a torrent of blood gushed wildly from the base of his throat.

It turned out that the finishing move, the Cross-Blade Iai Slash, was a special sword technique that split one long blade into two.

After the first blade was blocked, a short blade hidden in the left hand would accelerate to deliver a second strike.

Poof! A cloud of smoke.

Hatake Jiangyi, who had been split in two by the Cross-Blade Iai Slash, transformed into a puff of white mist.

The Shadow Clone of Jiangyi had successfully taken his place as the target of the execution.

Having escaped a brush with death, Hatake Jiangyi panted heavily.

He had used the Shadow Clone and the psychological intimidation of the Hatake Style sword technique to make this powerful samurai fall to "un-samurai-like" tactics.

"You... you have no martial honor..."

Blood gushing out made it difficult for Ogawa Uemon to speak.

At this moment, a giant ninja dog was biting his neck from behind.

His left hand, holding only the short blade, was also being clamped by the wrist by a strange ninja dog wearing glasses.

Ever since Jiangyi fell into the ambush and saw Yakushi Nonō and Uchiha Hezi fall to the level below, he had not relaxed for a single moment.

No matter how terrified he was this time, he did not experience the same inability to move due to trembling that he had during the previous battle against the Sand Ninja.

Having endured life-and-death trials and grueling training, Hatake Jiangyi was, for the first time, grateful that he was a ninja and not a samurai.

To ensure he struck his opponent, he had summoned the giant ninja dog Gurin and the ninja dog Akira, who possessed night vision.

Under these circumstances, Ogawa Uemon, who only knew sword techniques, lost in a state of extreme frustration.

Hatake Jiangyi leaned on his sword, catching his breath.

"Heh, talking about 'martial honor'—the times have changed!"