The thunderous explosion echoed through the woods. Aihara Ryo, lucky to have survived, didn't first look for the possible enemy. Instead, he quickly bit his finger, formed Hand Seals, and summoned a mole in just a few seconds. He then rapidly wrote down some intelligence and handed it to the mole.
The mole transformed into a cloud of smoke and vanished.
The whole sequence took only a dozen seconds or so. He was clearly very practiced. When Aihara Ryo looked up, ready to search for the enemy, he found a man wearing a Death God mask standing right in front of him.
"Who are you?!" Aihara Ryo was startled by Uzumaki Kuming's sudden appearance. He quickly reached into his ninja tool pouch with his right hand, intending to pull out a Kunai.
But just then, a flash of cold light streaked by. Aihara Ryo felt a sharp pain in his arm. Glancing to the side, he saw that his right arm was gone, blood pouring from the wound.
"Don't make a move, or the next slash won't take your arm. It'll take your head."
Uzumaki Kuming's long sword was pressed against Aihara Ryo's neck, and Ryo hadn't even seen how Kuming had struck. After just one exchange, Ryo understood the difference between himself and the man before him. A bitter smile spread across his face.
"Heh. I didn't think my luck could really be this bad."
"To run into an enemy like you."
The screams of his companions filled Aihara Ryo's ears. While he spoke with Uzumaki Kuming, Uchiha Fugaku was charging into the Sunagakure ranks, slaughtering them. This Sunagakure supply squad consisted entirely of Chunin and Genin. It was still early in the war, and there weren't any ten-year-old kids among the Sunagakure Genin and Chunin.
But their opponent