Ambush

And as for the rest, Qingyun no longer needed to hold back.

"30 Million Volt Thunder Bird!" Qingyun didn't want to waste time. These guys, whose combined strength barely reached Chunin level, weren't worth using his full power on.

Harnessing the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's terrifying lightning, Qingyun instantly took down all the dozen or so rogue ninja in front of him.

They writhed on the ground. Whether they were dead or not no longer mattered; they had already been crippled.

Qingyun then used Electric Discharge to kill another enemy and, together with Yoshihime, interrogated two of them.

"Where is the red-haired girl?! How did you know we'd be passing through here?!" Qingyun demanded.

If their answers differed, then at least one of them was lying. If their answers matched, they were probably telling the truth. Of course, the chances that they would both tell the same lie were slim.

"One of us is a Konoha defector. He understood the code, so we lay in wait here." The rogue ninja stared at Qingyun in terror.

A child so young, yet strong enough to crush him—it felt like a dream.

"I'm asking you: where are the red-haired girl and the blond boy?!" Qingyun demanded again, his voice far more menacing this time.

In the end, the two rogue ninja gave Qingyun the right answer: the Bounty Office.

"So someone at the Bounty Office put a high-priced bounty on Kushina Uzumaki—and they want her alive," Qingyun said to Yoshihime with a frown.

"The Bounty Office? What kind of place is that?" Yoshihime was young. Though mature for her age, she still seemed unable to make sense of it.

"It's also called the Bounty Exchange. Basically, someone posts a bounty, someone else takes the job, then cuts off the target's head and turns it in for money."

"It's a place where people hire others to kill for them. Since it operates in secret, it's hidden in the Underworld."

"But no one knows where the Bounty Exchange is."

"Then how are we supposed to find it? If we follow Minato's markers, will someone else ambush us?" Yoshihime asked with a frown.

"I'm not sure. But we have to keep going. It's our only lead." The men seemed to have been hit by some kind of ninjutsu. They were about to reveal where the Bounty Exchange was, but suddenly died.

Qingyun was just as baffled. With no other choice, he glanced at the Konoha symbol on the tree, then continued toward the next marker with Yoshihime.

Qingyun's sensory abilities came in handy. By combining his perception, ability to see through chakra, and Sharingan, he easily spotted the next marker. This time, Minato Namikaze's Forehead Protector had been left there.

"Minato's Forehead Protector? He didn't leave another marker. He left his Forehead Protector here instead. Why?"

Qingyun and Yoshihime exchanged a look, neither understanding what Minato had intended.

Then Qingyun saw Yoshihime beside him get struck and sent flying, crashing to the ground beneath a tree.

"Yoshihime!" Qingyun panicked. He didn't know why he cared about her, but then he realized the move that had sent Yoshihime flying looked familiar.

"Was that the Hyuga Clan's Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm?! What's going on? Why would someone from the Hyuga Clan attack Yoshihime?!"

Qingyun hurried to Yoshihime and saw that, though she had taken a hit, she wasn't badly hurt. Perhaps the Senju Clan's cells were exceptionally strong.

Qingyun turned around and saw that the tree with Minato's Forehead Protector hanging from it had turned into a person. The person was wearing a mask.

He wore a full ninja uniform. It was obvious that he belonged to Konoha's Hyuga Clan.

"Anbu? An Anbu agent was lying in wait for us here? Why?" Qingyun stood beside Yoshihime and demanded an answer.

"Because you crossed someone you shouldn't have. Does that answer your question? Or perhaps your very presence is a threat to us," the Cat-Mask Anbu said, seemingly unwilling to waste words.

"Whatever the reason, you and Yoshihime are going to die here today, Qingyun! Wind Style: Wind Cutter Technique!"

The Cat-Mask Anbu swiftly formed Hand Seals. As an Anbu agent, he was undoubtedly at Jonin level. Wind Cutter was clearly one of his go-to techniques; he performed it with practiced ease.

Qingyun couldn't take Wind Cutter head-on, especially with Yoshihime behind him, so he quickly formed Hand Seals too.

"Earth Style: Earth Wall!"

A tall earthen wall blocked the Wind Cutter, but the danger hadn't passed. His opponent was clearly a Wind Release expert. Using the Body Flicker Technique, he moved behind Qingyun.

"Wind Style: Vacuum Sphere!"

Qingyun did a backflip, instantly turning to face him.

"Bang!" Qingyun slammed his fist into the ground. At first, the Anbu thought Qingyun had lost his mind. But when the earth split apart and the ground began to shake beneath him, forcing him to stop his technique, he realized Qingyun wasn't nearly as easy to kill as he looked.

"You're incredibly strong! No wonder someone sent us to kill you." The Anbu smiled faintly and used the Body Flicker Technique to move onto a tree branch.

"Summoning Technique!" The Anbu bit his finger and slammed it against the branch. A moment later, he summoned the Dream Eater Beast.

Lying on the ground, Yoshihime was stunned. She hadn't expected their opponent to be so strong.

"This guy!? He uses Wind Release and can summon the Dream Eater Beast? Could he be..."

Without realizing it, Qingyun had begun to associate the man before him with Danzo.

But that didn't make sense. If he was Danzo's subordinate, why did he have the Byakugan?! Qingyun could clearly see that something was odd about the man's eyes.

He'd never heard of anyone from the Hyuga Clan using such flashy Wind Release techniques, let alone summoning the Dream Eater Beast.

What was going on?

Qingyun was baffled.

But the enormous Baku before him gave Qingyun no time to pause. It opened its mouth, and a powerful gale surged out. Even Qingyun was involuntarily drawn toward its jaws.

Yoshihime had no strength left. Her injuries hadn't healed after the attack, and she was about to be swallowed.

"Teleport!" At the last moment, Qingyun teleported to Yoshihime's side, then teleported her to safety.

"Where'd he go?! How did he disappear all of a sudden?!" Qingyun's sudden disappearance shocked the Cat-Mask Anbu.

"Be careful!" Yoshihime knew Qingyun still had to fight, so she immediately warned him.

"I know! I'll definitely beat this guy!" Qingyun replied with complete confidence.