Battle with Shennong (Part 2)

Shennong had been appearing on the battlefield constantly; it was impossible for him not to attract attention. Even if one were to perform good deeds indefinitely, it wouldn't suffice; eventually, someone would come to investigate. The person dispatched by Konoha might very well have been Orochimaru, and naturally, this led to the cooperation between the two.

Come to think of it, Shennong was quite unlucky. He had traveled through so many nations without finding a suitable Jinchuriki for the Zero-Tails, yet it was a cruel irony that a perfect candidate existed in a village right near Angkor Fortress. Even so, the Zero-Tails remained an incomplete existence, as it was merely the result of his individual research. He had erred from the start by targeting a Jinchuriki for the Zero-Tails; after all, it was not a true Tailed Beast, but rather something designed to serve as a power source. Consequently, it was easily wiped out by Naruto and Sasuke later on, with the Angkor Fortress destroyed in the process.

Returning to the moment of the battle between Shennong and Ye Wuji, what had just occurred was merely a fleeting recollection in Shennong's mind. It seemed lengthy, but in reality, only a very short time had passed, and Ye Wuji's clone had not yet escaped Shennong's line of sight.

In that instant, Shennong made a decision. His identity was meant to be kept strictly confidential. Even if the Sky Ninja village still existed, while many might know of him, very few had actually seen him. As for the person before him, Shennong was certain he had never met him. With a ninja's memory, even if one had only seen someone once and couldn't recall the details clearly, there would still be a sense of familiarity. Yet, there was no such feeling now. Regardless of who this person was, Shennong would not allow anyone who might know his identity to remain alive in this world, so he gave chase immediately.

After pursuing for a while, Shennong felt at ease. The person before him could not possibly be setting a trap ahead, because this clone of Ye Wuji was running blindly without any purpose. If there were a goal, he would have run in a consistent direction, but Ye Wuji's clone would dash to the east, and once caught up to, would switch to the south. There was no intention of heading in one direction; whenever a path was blocked by Shennong, he would immediately change course rather than attempting to break through in a specific direction.

This was a tactic Ye Wuji had spent a long time contemplating: first, attract Shennong's attention, then lead him on a chase, running in random directions until the very end, when he would finally head toward the pre-set trap. The purpose of this was that if he were caught before reaching the trap, Ye Wuji would immediately retreat, which would indicate that Shennong's strength was likely superior. Although his judgment might be wrong, Ye Wuji would not gamble with his own life; this time, there would be no one coming to save him.

The current progress was very much to Ye Wuji's liking. This also indicated that Shennong's strength was indeed not very high, and he lacked powerful ninjutsu; otherwise, he could have used them to pursue more quickly. After a few probes, Ye Wuji judged that this Shennong was significantly stronger than himself, as Shennong could always track the direction of his flight. However, Shennong's strength did not reach the level where he could easily overwhelm Ye Wuji; although he was caught every time, he was also able to escape every time.

With a Shennong of this caliber, a trap should be enough to finish him off. Finally, they were getting closer to the trap. Ye Wuji's main body could already see the clone and Shennong. At this point, the clone did not have much chakra left; once the chakra was depleted, the clone would vanish, not to mention the chakra required to maintain the Transformation Technique.

"Why do you keep chasing me? I already told you, I don't know you." The clone leaned against a tree, gasping for air.

"Then why do you run the moment you see me? You can't run anymore, can you? Why do you run when you see me? Why do you call me a Sky Ninja? Do I look like someone from the Sky Ninja?" Shennong stood not far away, cautiously watching the clone while scanning his surroundings. This was deep in the woods, so there was no one else around; Shennong was primarily checking for traps.

"I was wrong, I really don't know anything about Sky Ninjas or the Zero-Tails." The clone panted. Just as he said this, the clone seemed to sense something was wrong, immediately throwing all the shuriken on his person before turning and running away at full speed.

Shennong had initially shown no reaction, but upon hearing "Zero-Tails," his expression changed drastically. He glared at Ye Wuji's clone with a fierce look in his eyes. When he saw the shuriken flying toward him, he immediately deflected them and lunged toward Ye Wuji. Having heard news of the Zero-Tails, Shennong no longer hesitated and charged at the clone with all his might. His speed was much faster than before, and he reached Ye Wuji's clone in an instant. Perhaps to find out how much this person knew, Shennong did not deliver a killing blow, but instead kicked the clone to the ground.

He then stepped on the clone, who was trying to crawl up. "Tell me, how do you know this information? Otherwise, I will kill you."

Shennong was truly shocked this time. How could such classified information be known to others? Back when the Sky Ninja were researching the Zero-Tails, only a few high-ranking members knew about it. If not for the final circumstances, even he would not have known.

Even among the invading Konoha forces, only a handful of people knew about this; most still believed that Konoha simply wanted the Sky Ninja village's Sky City, Angkor Fortress. Therefore, Shennong had to get to the bottom of this. The Angkor Fortress could not be moved right now, and the Zero-Tails had not yet been perfected. If the news leaked, the dream of avenging the Sky Ninja village would be shattered, and perhaps even the Angkor Fortress and the Zero-Tails would become spoils of war for Konoha.

Shennong looked at the person before him. If he didn't talk, Shennong was prepared to take him away and use other methods to make him speak.

"I... I... don't kill me. I heard it from someone else. He even asked me to keep an eye on you. He showed me your photo so I could find you, which is why I acted that way when I saw you earlier." The clone struggled, but finding he couldn't budge Shennong's foot, he stopped. At the same time, the clone was secretly surprised; he had nearly been dispersed by that kick. That was only because Ye Wuji had poured extra chakra into the clone and Shennong had held back. No wonder ordinary clones vanished in one hit; a ninja's strike was incomparable to an ordinary person's. If that had hit a regular person, they would have died instantly.

"Who is that person? If you tell me and lead me to him, I won't kill you," Shennong said.

"Really? If that person finds you, he'll give me a lot of money, I don't know..." The clone said, looking at Shennong with a look that implied he understood.

"No problem. If you lead me to him, not only will I spare your life, but I will also give you a large sum of money so you can live a carefree life. Now, can you tell me his name? Don't play any tricks, or I will kill you immediately." After speaking, Shennong pressed down with his foot, as if to crush Ye Wuji's clone.

Feeling the pressure on his body, the clone cried out, "Easy, easy! I'm going to die, and then you won't know who it is!" If Shennong had applied any more force, the clone would have turned into water and vanished.

"Hmph." Shennong snorted without a word, though he did ease the pressure.

"I... that person is called..." Seeing the person about to speak, Shennong felt a bit nervous, wondering if it was one of those who had escaped the Sky Ninja village. But at that very moment, dozens of hidden weapons—shuriken, kunai, and senbon—flew out from three directions. The primary target of these weapons was the clone lying on the ground, though a few were aimed at Shennong as well.

Shennong realized the situation in an instant. If he wanted to dodge, it would be easy, but the person on the ground would surely die under such a barrage. Shennong hadn't heard the name from him yet; he couldn't let the clone die so easily.

Shennong quickly lowered his body, preparing to grab the clone and dodge the weapons. But the moment he grabbed the clone, he saw a smile on the clone's face. Shennong's heart skipped a beat; he realized he had fallen into a trap. Just as he prepared to act, the clone hugged Shennong's right hand, and sparks began to fly from several points on the clone's body.

"Explosive Tag." Shennong identified the object in an instant.

With a deafening "BOOM," flesh and blood flew into the air, along with the hidden weapons, some of which were blown away by the shockwave, leaving a cloud of smoke on the ground.

Ye Wuji stared intently at the smoke, observing carefully. If only he had the Byakugan of the Hyuga Clan, he could have seen clearly through the smoke.

This was only the first trap Ye Wuji had designed. Poor Ye Wuji had been deceived by the Naruto anime; in the show, Explosive Tags never seemed to kill anyone except nameless extras. Every time an Explosive Tag went off and the smoke rose, you couldn't see anything, and then someone would jump out of the smoke, usually only suffering minor injuries, or sometimes none at all. Thus, Ye Wuji treated this trap merely as a probe, while simultaneously linking it to a second trap.

However, as the smoke thinned and no one jumped out, Ye Wuji felt a bit strange and hid himself even more cautiously, readying the Substitution Technique with a target already prepared. He was worried that when the smoke cleared, there would be nothing inside, or perhaps just a shredded log, with the real body having already escaped using the Substitution Technique.

As the smoke cleared further, a blurred shadow became visible. Ye Wuji was puzzled; how could someone still be there? Had this Shennong taken the full force of the attack? That wasn't scientific. What about his Substitution Technique?

This was also a point of confusion for Ye Wuji. The Substitution Technique was one of the Three Basic Techniques, something every Genin had to master upon graduation. Why was it that so many people died without ever using it? It was baffling.

When the smoke finally dissipated, Ye Wuji saw clearly that the shadow was indeed Shennong. At this moment, Shennong had several shuriken, kunai, and senbon embedded in his body. His right arm was gone, blood flowing continuously from the stump. Other parts of his body were covered in blast wounds, and even one of his eyes had been blinded; looking at Shennong's empty left eye socket, blood continued to seep out.

Although Shennong looked miserable, Ye Wuji stubbornly believed that Shennong couldn't be finished off so easily. He remained on high alert. The Shennong standing there kept coughing up blood. After a long while, between coughs, Shennong spoke intermittently: "Who is plotting against me? Since you know those things, you must be from the Sky Ninja village. Why... why would someone from the same village plot against me like this? You want the Angkor Fortress, don't you? Thinking about it, only that could tempt you, or perhaps the Zero-Tails too. Haha, heaven does not favor me. But since I am finished, for the sake of us being from the same village, I will tell you the location of the Angkor Fortress. You must remember to rebuild the Sky Ninja village and take revenge on Konoha."

As Shennong spoke, he coughed up more blood. After a violent fit of coughing, he revealed the location. Ye Wuji heard the place but remained unresponsive, still cautiously guarding his surroundings. After waiting for a while longer, Shennong's aura grew weaker and weaker, and he was barely able to stand. Ye Wuji thought, "No way, is it that easy? The first wave of traps finished him?"

To be safe, Ye Wuji decided to trigger the second wave of traps. With a flick of his fingers, a dozen steel wires set nearby zipped forward. This was originally the second trap, intended to catch someone after they dodged the first attack and jumped out in the opposite direction of the explosion. But now, Ye Wuji triggered them directly. The dozen wires crossed from behind Shennong, passing through his body without the slightest resistance.

Shortly after the wires passed, Shennong's body split apart, turning into large chunks of flesh. Even though Ye Wuji was quite far away, he could see the gore flying, and he immediately vomited, retching uncontrollably without warning.

At this point, it was clearly impossible for Ye Wuji to search the corpse himself. Finally, he sent one of his previous clones to search the body while another kept watch on the surroundings.

Although it was just a clone, it was still Ye Wuji himself. The clone endured the nausea and carefully searched Shennong's remains; after all, Shennong was a medical ninja, and who knew if he had any toxins on him. Once the clone found the two scrolls Ye Wuji was interested in, he had the clone bury Shennong on the spot.

Then, Ye Wuji very carefully retrieved the unused traps. Checking the time, it hadn't taken long; even counting the time the clone spent running earlier, it had only been about half an hour.