First Battle in the Land of Whirlpools

Extremely subtle chakra fluctuations arrived from multiple directions!

Yusuke quickly woke Inuzuka Go, and the two landed silently beside Hyuga Aya.

He used hand signals and the barest whisper to warn them: "Enemy attack, get ready!"

Hyuga Aya activated her Byakugan instantly, her voice low and her speech rapid.

"Six o'clock, eight o'clock, eleven o'clock; a total of six chakra signatures."

"They are moving fast and are currently surrounding us."

Inuzuka Go's dazed expression instantly shifted into a combat face, his entire demeanor becoming exceptionally excited, while Haimaru bared his teeth and growled, the fur on his neck standing on end.

"I've set up explosive tags in the vicinity, so don't be nervous. Move out toward the three o'clock direction."

"Get ready to make them eat two rounds of traps."

Yusuke whispered sharply, and the three quickly moved toward the three o'clock direction in a triangular defensive formation.

The opposing team likely had a sensory ninja as well; once they discovered that the positions of Yusuke and his team had shifted, they quickly gave chase.

However, what greeted them was not the fleeing trio, but an explosive tag trap.

A thunderous roar accompanied by a wave of heat struck, and the enemy lost two men instantly.

Having lost two teammates before even seeing the enemy, the enemy captain cursed: "Bastards, follow me!"

Yet, as they continued to close in, another series of explosive tag detonations rang out.

"Where did these bastards get so many explosive tags!" the enemy captain shouted.

Having learned from the experience of walking straight into the first trap, they were much more cautious this time, and only one person in the team was injured.

However, just as they stood their ground to catch their breath, three figures lunged at them.

Strike while the iron is hot; the battle erupted instantly!

The enemy Inuzuka Go faced displayed exquisite taijutsu. The two exchanged blows rapidly, their chakra-infused strikes slamming into the trees and tearing away chunks of bark.

Inuzuka Go's blood boiled, and he roared, "Beast Human Clone!"

Haimaru cooperated perfectly, transforming into the likeness of Inuzuka Go, and the man and dog lunged from left and right.

Haimaru seized an opening, attempting to bite and restrain the enemy, but the opponent dodged with a flash.

Go's offensive was fierce; catching the opponent before he could recover his momentum, he swung his right claw, drawing a spray of blood.

The opponent stumbled back several steps, immediately falling into a disadvantage.

On the other side, Hyuga Aya faced two enemies alone.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

One enemy performed hand seals rapidly, and a powerful current whipped up gravel from the ground, firing it at her.

The other was the unlucky fellow who had been injured; taking advantage of his partner's attack, he secretly threw several poison needles shimmering with purple light.

Hyuga Aya's movements were elusive, her Byakugan perceiving everything with clarity.

She braced herself, gathering power, and shouted: "Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!"

A violent current erupted from her palm, colliding directly with the enemy's wind ninjutsu, while the poison needles were blown away by the force of her palm strike.

Hyuga Aya did not give the pair a chance to react, closing the distance immediately.

Yusuke faced the captain head-on. He was not flustered in the slightest; in fact, he was observing the strength of his two teammates.

The captain did not give Yusuke an opening, wielding a short blade and engaging in close-quarters combat.

The man's taijutsu was tricky and ruthless, especially his swordplay, which he handled with great skill.

Because his weapon was short, the blade switched positions rapidly across his body.

He didn't look like a ninja so much as an acrobat.

Yusuke remained calm, drawing his greatsword to strike at his opponent.

The greatsword condensed a layer of wind-natured chakra in the air.

In the dead of night, a weapon imbued with wind release was a lethal tool.

The two exchanged several rounds rapidly, and then, seizing an opening in the enemy captain's defense, Yusuke swung his sword in a horizontal sweep.

Although the tip of the blade was still some distance away, the enemy captain's internal alarm bells suddenly rang out.

He forcibly circulated his chakra and leaped backward.

But it was too late; a gash had already been carved into his abdomen by Yusuke.

Had he not reacted in advance, he might have been cut in half by Yusuke right then and there.

"You are no ordinary ninja," the enemy captain said, clutching his wounded abdomen.

"Retreat! They are not people we can handle!" the enemy captain roared at his three remaining teammates.

"Genjutsu: Mist Servant Technique!"

Yusuke gave him no chance at all, leaping forward as his longsword shifted rapidly within the enemy captain's field of vision.

One became two, two became four, four became eight, and immediately following was a sky full of sword shadows.

"What is this? Genjutsu! Damn it, when did he cast it?"

The enemy captain knew it was too late to disrupt his own chakra, so he hurriedly scrambled to parry the incoming sword shadows.

With a metallic "clang," the enemy captain felt a heavy weight on his hands: "I actually blocked it, hahahaha."

He could hardly believe he had found the true form of the greatsword amidst those shadows, yet his hopes were far too optimistic.

The sword shadows quickly dissipated like a colorful mist, and the enemy captain felt a sharp pain in his chest; a greatsword was already embedded there.

"Haa... haa..." The enemy captain let out a series of wheezing sounds like an old bellows before slowly collapsing.

Yusuke pulled his sword out directly and flicked the blood off the blade.

The enemy captain's strength was only at the level of an average Jonin, so he wasn't difficult to deal with.

Moreover, he hadn't killed him, merely left him severely wounded and unable to fight; after all, the intelligence he needed still had to be extracted from the guy's brain.

Yusuke did not continue to kill enemies; instead, he watched the other two battlefields with interest, observing his teammates' situations.

He took a special kunai from his ninja tool pouch and tossed it up and down.

Inuzuka Go's battlefield situation was relatively simple; the enemy was already completely suppressed, as they were, after all, rightfully two-on-one.

"Hey, you're not doing so well, are you? Did you slack off during training?"

Inuzuka Go's incessant chatter rang out once again.

As expected, this guy still can't change his talkative nature, Yusuke sighed to himself.

He threw the special kunai toward the opponent, and just as it was about to reach him, Yusuke instantly activated the Flying Thunder God technique, appearing directly at the kunai's position.

The bewildered enemy remained bewildered.

"How did he do that? Eh? My head hurts a bit, am I finally growing a brain?"

While he was still lost in confusion, Yusuke's greatsword pierced directly into his brain.

Inuzuka Go said with great dissatisfaction: "Captain, that's not cool; you're kill-stealing."

Yusuke said indifferently: "The kill counts for you, but what I want to tell you is that you were too careless."

As he spoke, he pried open the opponent's palm, where an explosive tag was clutched.

Clearly, the opponent knew he was doomed and had intended to take Inuzuka Go down with him.

Inuzuka Go realized it belatedly and shuddered.

"Remember, villains die because they talk too much. If you can finish it quickly, just finish it. Playing with your food isn't a game for someone of your skill level."

A flash of resentment crossed Inuzuka Go's face, and he agreed in a low voice.

Hyuga Aya was different from Inuzuka Go; her moves were ruthless.

In just this short time, the uninjured enemy had already been struck by her Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms.

The enemy's meridians were severed, making it impossible to use chakra to fight back.

At this moment, before the cold and aloof Hyuga Aya, he was completely helpless.

As for the other one, he had long since collapsed to the ground, already knocked unconscious.

Yusuke felt much more at ease; at least one teammate was reliable and knew to keep a live captive for interrogation.

Inuzuka Go: You're so high and mighty!