The surging mountain wind carried a trace of danger.
Tsuchikage Ishikawa raised an arm, signaling the attendants behind him to be cautious.
Mu, carrying a scroll on his back, immediately closed his eyes. Forming hand seals, he controlled the chakra within his body, extending it like antennae along the mountainside rock walls to sense every corner around them.
The carefully arranged ambush was completely exposed under his perception.
"Twenty people southwest of the mountain pass. Sixty more are positioned around us. Judging by the fluctuations in their chakra levels, they're all highly capable ninja."
Mu's findings prompted the Iwagakure ninja to quietly shift their footing, tightly protecting the younger generation led by Ōnoki.
"A force of fewer than a hundred thinks it can intercept and kill us?" Ishikawa, who had cast the Light-Weight Rock Technique on himself, slowly rose from the ground. "This is a good chance to test the power of a Tailed Beast."
"Which tail shall we use?"
Leaning on his scroll, Mu asked the floating leader.
"Of course, the Nine-Tails!"
Ishikawa flashed forward, instantly flying in front of the scroll and unfurling it in midair.
He spread his five fingers and pressed them onto the black sealing formula. The strange markings around the character for "nine" began to ripple violently as they floated before him.
Bang!
After a thick burst of white smoke, the vessel sealing the Nine-Tails appeared before Ishikawa. He weighed it in his hand, feeling the Nine-Tails' weight.
"Attack!"
A thunderous shout erupted from the rocks. The rogue ninja hidden all around, who had long been itching to move, revealed their weapons beneath the daylight and unleashed the chilling killing intent radiating from their bodies.
Rumble!
The instant the figures appeared, the Explosive Tags buried throughout the mountainside detonated. After the deafening explosions came