Falling into the Trap

Xian Yu walked out swaggeringly right in front of the Huaqi Caravan, carrying the Daimyo Ginseng.

"Old Village Chief, don't you worry. I will definitely help you take the Daimyo Ginseng to Linshui City and sell it for a good price!" Xian Yu's voice drifted from afar, making Huaqi and the others grit their teeth in fury.

"Follow them!" Huaqi hissed.

Immediately, the Amegakure genin and over thirty warriors from the Huaqi Caravan began tailing Xian Yu and Shinozaki Ayumi.

Xian Yu naturally knew they would follow, yet he acted as if he didn't care, letting the tail tag along behind them.

"The reactions of these two brats are a bit off. Be careful of a trap!" The Amegakure genin's eyes were filled with suspicion.

This was not how the script was supposed to go.

Shouldn't the targets be fleeing in a panic while his group played a game of pursuit? As long as they left marks along the way, the Daimyo Ginseng would be theirs for the taking once the Amegakure reinforcements arrived.

"Stick to the plan," Xian Yu said to Shinozaki Ayumi, wearing a rare expression of gravity.

The original plan had long been overturned because Bai Xiaoqi had been forcibly returned to the Summoning Space to evolve and could not be summoned for a month.

Furthermore, the life force of the Eternal Spirit Blade had been completely exhausted, and there was no time to replenish it.

As of now, Xian Yu and Shinozaki Ayumi were at best equivalent to two ordinary chunin.

They weren't afraid of the tails behind them, but if the Amegakure reinforcements arrived, he and Shinozaki Ayumi would basically be finished.

Meanwhile, the thirteen ninjas dispatched by Amegakure had already reached the outskirts of the Great Warm Valley. The leader of this Amegakure unit was none other than Kuiling Hefan, an elite jonin! Behind him followed three jonin and nine chunin.

On the other side, a team of fifteen ninjas was moving rapidly. They could already vaguely see the Great Warm Valley ahead when a middle-aged man with an afro in the group suddenly frowned: "Careful, there are quite a few people ahead."

This person appeared to be the sensory ninja of the team.

Hearing the warning, the others immediately became vigilant.

As they drew closer, the sensory ninja in the forward team also detected the people behind them; they all stopped in their tracks and assumed a defensive posture.

"Ninjas from Kumogakure? Why are you here!" the leader of the fifteen ninjas, a youth wearing a hood, shouted in interrogation.

Could it be that Kumogakure also received the news? This is troublesome. The hooded youth's heart skipped a beat.

The Kumogakure side had nine ninjas, and their leader also frowned: "The guys from Iwagakure are here too? It seems the news is true."

Just as the two sides were at daggers drawn, both sensory ninjas were startled and spoke almost simultaneously: "Careful! There are thirteen targets approaching rapidly from behind!"

Setting aside the Iwagakure and Kumogakure factions, Xian Yu was encountering big trouble.

On the narrow path of the Great Warm Valley, there were towering cliffs on both sides. This was the only path, straight and direct.

"Little brat, weren't you very arrogant just now?" The Amegakure guard beside Huaqi smiled sinisterly.

At this moment, the thirteen-man Amegakure reinforcement team led by Kuiling Hefan had converged with the thirty-plus warriors of the Huaqi Caravan, surrounding Xian Yu and his companion tightly.

Xian Yu showed a look of terror and shouted angrily: "My father is Danzō! The assistant to the Hokage, Shimura Danzō! I already sent word back! If you want the Daimyo Ginseng, I'll give it to you! If I get hurt, just wait for Konoha's retaliation against Amegakure!"

Kuiling Hefan and the few jonin exchanged glances, then noticed the two crossed scars on Xian Yu's chin, and they believed him a little.

"Young Master! How can you do this! You cannot give the Daimyo Ginseng to them!" Shinozaki Ayumi cried out urgently upon hearing this.

Xian Yu gave a bitter smile and said helplessly: "I didn't expect them to come so fast. Ayumi, you must remember, the weak have no way to have the best of both worlds."

Kuiling Hefan hesitated. If this brat really was the son of the Hokage's assistant and died at their hands, it would indeed bring disaster to the Land of Rain.

Although the name of the demigod Salamander Hanzo had resounded throughout the ninja world in recent years, and he was even hailed as the number one in the ninja world after the death of Senju Hashirama.

However, although Amegakure had the potential to become the sixth great ninja village, it was not one yet.

Moreover, getting the Daimyo Ginseng and completing the mission was the most important thing right now.

"Little brat, as long as you don't play any tricks and hand over the Daimyo Ginseng obediently, I promise to let you go." After much hesitation, Kuiling Hefan chose the safer path.

After all, his mission was just to bring back the Daimyo Ginseng; whether this brat lived or died didn't matter. But if he really killed the son of the Hokage's assistant, he didn't know what would happen to Amegakure, but his own end certainly wouldn't be good.

"How can I trust you? What if I give you the Daimyo Ginseng now and you kill me? Where would I go to cry?" Xian Yu tightened his grip on the sandalwood box in his arms and questioned.

"My lord, this brat is likely just stalling for time," the genin who had been following Huaqi spoke up.

Kuiling Hefan frowned and said sternly: "I don't have time to waste with you here. Either you hand over the Daimyo Ginseng and I let you go, or if you try any more tricks, I will have no choice but to kill you both."

Xian Yu's face looked ugly, as if he were facing a difficult choice. Just as Kuiling Hefan was losing patience and preparing to strike, he placed the sandalwood box on the ground and said: "You must keep your word! The Daimyo Ginseng is in this box. Ayumi, let's go."

After saying this, Xian Yu pulled Ayumi and retreated backward.

"Stop!" Following a shout from Kuiling Hefan, the three Amegakure jonin used the Body Flicker Technique to surround the two of them.

Seeing this, Xian Yu shouted angrily: "What? You want to kill us to silence us? I already sent a message back via ninja hawk; if anything happens to me, it will be because of you Amegakure ninjas."

Seeing the brat's reaction, Kuiling Hefan felt slightly relieved. He gestured to an Amegakure ninja holding an umbrella at the side and said: "Don't worry, I, Kuiling Hefan, keep my word! We just need to verify the authenticity of the Daimyo Ginseng first."

The ninja with the umbrella cautiously approached the sandalwood box and used the umbrella to flick open the lid from a distance.

The Daimyo Ginseng inside the sandalwood box appeared before everyone's eyes.

"Can we go now?" Xian Yu asked with a nervous voice.

Kuiling Hefan still seemed uneasy and had the genin who had been following Huaqi step forward to pick up the Daimyo Ginseng and inspect it carefully. Only when he saw the other party nod in confirmation did he breathe a sigh of relief.

However, at this moment, a large-eared ninja among the three jonin suddenly changed color and said: "Bad! There are many people coming this way!"

"Little brat! You dare to toy with me!" Hearing the warning from his sensory ninja, Kuiling Hefan used the Body Flicker Technique to reach Xian Yu in an instant, moving with incredible speed! Xian Yu didn't even have time to react before he was grabbed. Kuiling Hefan didn't dare to kill him, but said coldly: "Little girl, if you don't want your young master to die, surrender obediently! Men, tie them up! Take them and retreat immediately! If we start a fight with Konoha ninjas here, we will likely be at a disadvantage; after all, they are fighting on their home turf."

"So the Daimyo Ginseng fell into the hands of you Amegakure ninjas..." Just then, three ninjas suddenly appeared in the nearby trees, standing in three different directions.

When Kuiling Hefan saw these three, his pupils constricted, and he screamed as if he had seen a ghost: "Not Konoha ninjas... Iwagakure! Sunagakure! Kumogakure! You... how could you appear here!"

The three ninjas surrounding the Amegakure group were clearly wearing the headbands of Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and Kumogakure!

And at this moment, Xian Yu and Shinozaki Ayumi both turned into puffs of smoke with a 'poof'...