The Hunt

While Taiichi and the others were busy entering the Land of Moon to search for Hatake Sakumo, Sakumo himself had only recently escaped the Land of Lightning, dragging his heavily injured body.

Speaking of this mission, even with his good temper, Hatake Sakumo couldn't help but swear. The assassination mission, which was originally going very smoothly, was initially executed very well, and he found opportunities to assassinate the targets on the mission list one by one.

Until the last one, who was also the person in charge of the kidnapping plan— Isahai.

Let's go back to that night six days ago.

Hatake Sakumo received the latest intelligence from Root spies: Isahai will be returning to Kumogakure from Yunlei Gorge tonight to report for duty, accompanied by only ordinary Chunin.

Sakumo saw this as a good opportunity. As a ninja skilled in swordsmanship and Taijutsu, who used swift and fierce attacks to defeat his enemies, this kind of surprise assassination was exactly what he excelled at.

Everything went as expected. Sakumo, who was lying in ambush, used the corner of his eye to observe Isahai walking towards him.

Even more ideally than the intelligence reports suggested, he returned to the village alone to report for duty, perhaps thinking that since it was near Kumogakure, there wouldn't be any problems. This undoubtedly made it easier for Sakumo to assassinate him.

Seeing that Isahai was slowly walking into Sakumo's attack range, he no longer hesitated. After dodging the boulder where he was hiding, he unleashed his full power of the Body Flicker Technique. In just a moment, Sakumo rushed past Isahai with his Short Sword in hand.

The horizontally placed Short Sword swiftly sliced across Isahai's neck, and only when blood gushed from his carotid artery did Isahai raise his arm holding the Kunai halfway.

But he was clearly no longer able to continue; the gushing blood drained all his strength and took his life.

If everything ended here, then this mission would have been perfectly accomplished, but there are rarely so many perfect things in the world.

Just as Isahai fell, a group of ninjas arrived from the direction of Yunlei Gorge; it was the Raikage and his guard.

Sakumo's face turned green. If you were to ask who the ninja he least wanted to encounter in the world was, the Raikage would definitely be at the top of the list.

With high attack, high speed, and high defense, it has virtually no weaknesses except for its high Chakra consumption, making it the nemesis of ninjas like him, not to mention his Shadow Guard Unit now.

The moment Sakumo saw the Raikage, the Raikage also recognized him: white Sakumo, Short Sword, and the fleeting assassination attempt. These obvious characteristics immediately made the Raikage Byakugan — the White Fang of Konoha of Hatake Sakumo.

Then an indescribable sense of shame and indignation welled up in his heart. Where was he? This was the outskirts of Kumogakure. Hatake Sakumo dared to kill people here. It was as if he was trampling on the face of Kumogakure. Not only was trampling not enough, but he was also grinding it down with his feet.

Enraged, the Raikage didn't hesitate. Instantly, his Chakra Armor materialized, and he charged towards Hatake Sakumo at a speed barely perceptible to the naked eye, thrusting forward with four fingers— Hell Stab: Four-Finger Nukite.

Faced with the enraged Raikage charging towards him, Hatake Sakumo could only defend with all his might, gathering all his Chakra into his Short Sword and slashing down at the Raikage's thrust.

The powerful Chakra caused lightning to flash everywhere. Although Sakumo successfully blocked the Raikage's attack, he had already missed his best chance to escape.

The Raikage guards, who kept charging forward, completely surrounded Sakumo, giving him no chance to escape.

At this point, Hatake Sakumo was in dire straits. There were too many enemies around him, and although he was very strong, he was ultimately no match for them all. Gradually, he accumulated many wounds on his body.

Standing to the side, the Third A, watched as Sakumo, already surrounded, struggled desperately, with one or two Cloud Ninja being killed by Sakumo every now and then. His anger, which had not yet subsided, surged up again.

"Get out of my way!" The Third A, A, clad in Lightning Style Armor, charged forward again, but this time, he closed his fingers, reducing one finger, making his power even more concentrated.

Hell Stab - Three-Finger Nukite.

Hatake Sakumo, already surrounded, looked at the Cloud Ninja had suddenly scattered before him, and then at the Raikage who had charged forward again. He knew that this was his only chance to escape the encirclement.

He held his sword horizontally in front of him, no longer choosing direct confrontation. He gathered his Chakra and, at the cost of severe injury, endured the Raikage's Three-Finger Nukite. Using the powerful impact, he flew out of the Cloud Village's encirclement.

Sakumo scattered a string of blood droplets in the air, struggling to adjust his body. The powerful inertia after landing caused him to roll more than ten meters on the ground before he regained his balance and used the momentum to get up. Then, without looking back, he fled the scene.

The Third A was stunned, clearly not expecting that Hatake Sakumo would escape the encirclement using his own strength. Seeing Sakumo running and bleeding, the Third A abandoned his plan to personally pursue him. "Go to a company of Anbu and leave his life in the Land of Lightning!"

"Yes."

After escaping, Sakumo wandered around and temporarily shook off his pursuers. He arrived at a pre-arranged contact point, recorded the completion of the mission, and tied it to Ninja Hawk's leg along with his planned escape route.

Watching the ninja hawk disappear into the distance, Sakumo frowned, because he heard the sound of pursuit again. They found him so quickly; escaping would be difficult now.

Oh no! Time was of the essence, and Sakumo hadn't mentioned his own situation in his previous letter. But now, hearing that Cloud Village had caught up, Sakumo felt a pang of regret and hoped the village could send some powerful figures over.

Just as Sakumo had predicted, the escape lasted for six days. During this time, he engaged in intermittent battles with the pursuing Cloud Village Anbu. As a result, his already severely injured body did not receive effective treatment for a long time, and his injuries worsened.

Dragging his heavy steps, Hatake Sakumo insisted on making his way to the agreed-upon location.

But excessive blood loss and severe injuries eventually broke his will. With his last remaining strength, he piled some odds and ends on his body, hoping to deceive the enemy and buy himself more time to recover.

Taiichi others, who had been searching towards the Land of Lightning for almost a day, were now extremely anxious. They were now certain that something must have happened to Hatake Sakumo, otherwise they wouldn't have been without any news for so long.

I just hope the situation doesn't get worse, and I hope they can still get support from Hatake Sakumo.

"Woof woof woof!" At this moment, Kuromaru, who had been lying on Inuzuka Inuzuka's head, let out a rapid bark.

"What's wrong? Has Kuromaru discovered something?" Taiichi asked. Although they hadn't known each other for long, Taiichi tell that Kuromaru was already a well-trained Ninja Dog. The sound it was making must be a way of alerting them that it had made a discovery.

Inuzuka took Kuromaru off his head, and the two whispered to each other for a while before Inuzuka finally said to Taiichi, "Kuromaru said there's a strong smell of blood 500 meters to the right."

Upon hearing Inuzuka Inuzuka's report, Taiichi suddenly felt a sense of foreboding. "Let's go, let's go check it out right away."

"Okay." Inuzuka put the Kuromaru back on his head and headed in the direction the Kuromaru pointed with Taiichi.

Before they even arrived, they could see two ninjas dressed as members of the Anbu rummaging through a pile of junk and finding a human body. Judging from the distinctive white hair, it was none other than Hatake Sakumo, whom they were looking for.

Even more deadly, the leader of the Anbu Ninja had already raised his Short Sword, its cold light aimed directly at Sakumo's throat.

"Stop!" Taiichi could no longer hide his strength. With a roar, he pushed his Body Flicker Technique to its limit! His leg muscles were in excruciating pain from the overload, but he ignored it!

The lead ninja paused upon hearing the roar, but upon recognizing the newcomer, his eyes flashed with even greater ferocity. Instead of stopping, he quickened his sword swings, eager to finish off Hatake Sakumo at his feet as soon as possible.

But Taiichi wouldn't give him another chance. The pause just now had given Taiichi time. He endured the pain in his leg, unleashed his second burst of Body Flicker, and instantly crossed the gap between them. He didn't even have time to draw his sword before throwing a straight punch straight at his opponent's face.

The leader of the Anbu had not anticipated that Taiichi's Body Flicker Technique would be so powerful, and in his haste, he could only stop swinging his sword and raise his arm to block Taiichi's fist.

"Bang--Crack!"

The moment his arm caught the incoming fist, the Anbu changed drastically. A tremendous force swept over him, shattering all his defenses. The fist, along with his arm, slammed into the Anbu Ninja's face.

Instantly, the Anbu Ninja was sent flying, spinning 360 degrees in the air. Even his mask couldn't stop the blood gushing from his mouth, and he passed out before even landing.

Taiichi's earth-shattering punch not only shocked the enemy, but also his own teammate Inuzuka Makoto. What kind of Chakra Enhanced Strength was that? A grown ninja was sent flying more than ten meters by a single punch. If he hadn't hit a tree, he would have flown even further.

This is actually the Chakra Enhanced Strength that Taiichi has only recently mastered. His own strength is not that great, but with the addition of Chakra Enhanced Strength, it's a different story. Throwing an unsuspecting Chunin cake.

Having dealt with one ninja, Taiichi didn't linger and charged straight at another Anbu Ninja. Since the opponent had tried to kill Hatake Sakumo, regardless of their identity, they were definitely an enemy. There was no need to show mercy to an enemy.

At this moment, the Anbu Ninja also reacted. He stopped fighting with Taiichi, retreated, and took out a Signal Flare from his Ninja Tool Pouch, then detonated it directly into the sky.

"Chirp--Bang!"

A green Signal Flare rose into the sky, trailing a long plume of flame.

Upon seeing the Signal Flare, Taiichi knew he was in trouble. It seemed the enemy had a lot of reinforcements, and he couldn't afford to waste any more time.

Thinking of this, disregarding the leg strain caused by his previous multiple bursts of Body Flicker, Taiichi burst forward again, closing in on the Anbu Ninja. At this moment, he had already drawn the Short Sword from his back.

Seeing Taiichi close in, the Anbu Ninja had no choice but to draw their swords and defend. However, their mentality of retreating before the battle even started clearly weakened their morale. Facing Taiichi's attack, they could only think of fighting and retreating at the same time, looking for another opportunity to escape.

Taiichi was not about to let him have his way. His Blade Momentum were like a storm, each Blade Momentum and heavy, aimed directly at the opponent's vital points.

At this moment, Inuzuka Makoto, who was a step too late, caught up. The Anbu were clearly flustered when they saw another Konoha Ninja arrive, and their defense was no longer as impenetrable as before.

Seizing this opening, Taiichi changed his previous aggressive style and slid into the opponent's right blind spot. He inserted his Short Sword horizontally into the front of the opponent's blade and used the momentum to skillfully deflect the opponent's Short Sword.

Immediately afterwards, he pulled back his Short Sword and, as the two men passed each other, sliced open the neck of the Anbu.

Turning back to see Anbu lying on the ground, trying to cover his Anbu with his hands to slow the bleeding, Taiichi walked forward without mercy and plunged a knife into his heart, quickly ending his life. This was the only mercy he could show him.

At this moment, Inuzuka Makoto arrived in front of Taiichi, looking at Taiichi with a shocked expression. He really didn't expect Taiichi be so fierce, having dealt with both enemies in a single exchange.

"Let's go see Senior Sakumo," Taiichi said.

"Okay." Inuzuka answered without hesitation. There was no other way; this was a world that valued strength. If you were powerful, then you had the final say. And Taiichi's performance just now had deeply impressed Makoto.

Upon arriving next to Hatake Sakumo, Taiichi frowned after only a cursory examination of his injuries.

He suffered excessive blood loss and multiple injuries all over his body, the most serious being a penetrating wound in his shoulder. Had he not skillfully avoided major blood vessels and bones, this single wound would have been fatal to Hatake Sakumo.

With such severe injuries, I don't know how Sakumo- Senior managed to hold on until now.

"Makoto, have you notified the Captain and the others?" she asked, turning to Inuzuka Makoto who was standing guard nearby.

"Yes, I notified them as soon as I found out about Lord Sakumo."

"Let's go and meet up with the Captain first, then find a stable place for Lord Sakumo to receive treatment. This place is too dangerous."

"Alright, then follow me." With that, he prepared to lead the way, relying on his connection with the Ninja Dog.

Seeing Inuzuka Makoto turn to leave, Taiichi helplessly called out to him, "You carry Sakumo on your back."

Turning around, Inuzuka Makoto looked at the small-statured Taiichi with a strange expression. Clearly, Taiichi's fierce behavior had made him overlook Taiichi's age.

Seeing that Inuzuka had carried Hatake Sakumo on his back, Taiichi also Hand Seals and created a Shadow Clone to deal with the aftermath. The two then quickly left the scene.

"Boom"

The raging flames ignited a patch of woodland, erasing all traces of what remained.

After running for half an hour, Taiichi and his companion finally met up with Minato. Only then did Taiichi truly breathe a sigh of relief. With a Jonin like Minato in the team, he no longer had to worry.

The group found a secluded hiding place, and just as Taiichi was about to treat Hatake Sakumo, a memory came through.

It turned out to be Shadow Clone had stayed behind to clean up the traces. After eliminating the traces, he stayed there to keep watch until his own Chakra was about to run out, and then he finally saw the other Anbu who had been attracted by the Signal Flare.

"Senior Disciple Brother Minato," Taiichi said gravely, "The Cloud Village Cloud Village Anbu who were chasing Senior Sakumo have just arrived at the place Senior collapsed. There are 15 of them, but their exact strength is unknown."

"Anbu, 15 people, plus the two you killed, that's basically a squad's worth of personnel. That means there are probably 5 Jonin. This is troublesome," Minato analyzed.

"How is Sakumo- Senior's injury? How long will it take to heal?" Minato asked Taiichi, hoping to get good news from Taiichi.

"The situation is not optimistic. The blood loss is too great, and it's been too long. Just healing the external injuries will probably take an hour. Whether he wakes up is entirely up to fate."

Upon hearing this, Minato fell silent. Logically, this situation shouldn't have occurred. The Raikage should have ordered the pursuit force to be withdrawn long ago. How could the Anbu still be chasing them at this point?

"Taiichi, you should focus all your efforts on treating Sakumo- Senior. We'll buy you some time," Minato instructed Taiichi.

"Good!"

At this moment, at the place where we previously rescued Hatake Sakumo.

Fifteen Cloud Village Anbu were gathered here. The air was filled with the smell of burnt food and a faint stench of blood. Several Anbu Ninja were examining the scene. "Squad Captain, the entire area has been destroyed by Fire Style. Apart from our two corpses, we haven't found anything else," a squad Captain reported.

"Squad Captain, what do we do next? Are we just going to give up like this?" another squad Captain said angrily. Judging from his tone, the two Anbu who died earlier might have been his men.

"Squad Captain, we've found their escape route." The last squad Captain came to report.

--

"How did those two die? Even if they were ambushed, how come there wasn't a single trace left?" The squad Captain's focus was clearly different from theirs; he wanted to glean information about the enemy's rescue personnel from the cause of his men's deaths.

"One of them was killed by a single punch. The opponent was very strong. Judging from the body, our man had taken defensive measures, but his neck was still broken, causing him to die."

"The other one died from having his carotid artery cut and then being stabbed through the heart."

"Both died very quickly, with little evidence of combat; both battles were resolved in a short time," the angry squad Captain reported.

"Given the strength of my two subordinates, the person who came must be Jonin to have ended the battle in such a short time."

"Then it could be one Taijutsu- type Jonin and one katana-type Jonin, but it's more likely to be two Special Jonin," the squad Captain guessed.

"Squad Captain, what does the village mean by this? If we hadn't gone to receive orders from the village, we wouldn't be so late."

"Lord Raikage has instructed us to probe Konoha's rescue team one more time: kill them if we can, retreat if we can't."

"Then our men died for nothing! Hatake Sakumo killed quite a few of our men this time!" The angry squad Captain was even angrier.

"That's an order!" the squad Captain shouted.

After calming himself down, the squad Captain continued, "The village has received a protest from Konoha. Lord Raikage has bought us a day, but we're just too incompetent. We couldn't even kill the heavily wounded Hatake Sakumo, and he even got to wait for Konoha's reinforcements."

The squad Captain's voice was filled with helplessness. "If we continue this pursuit, Konoha reports what happened to the other ninja villages, our village will be in an even more passive position."

These are all elites from the Kumogakure's Anbu. Even those who didn't participate in the previous raids know what happened and understand the seriousness of the situation.

After calming the Captain down, the Anbu immediately ordered the team to continue the pursuit, making one last attempt to kill Hatake Sakumo.