Extremely faint chakra fluctuations came from several directions!
Yusuke quickly woke Inuzuka Go, and the two silently dropped down beside Hyuga Aya.
He warned them with hand signals and the faintest whisper. "Enemy attack. Get ready!"
Hyuga Aya activated her Byakugan at once. She lowered her voice and spoke rapidly.
"Six o'clock, eight o'clock, eleven o'clock. Six chakra signatures in total."
"They're moving fast, and they're closing in to surround us."
In an instant, Inuzuka Go went from looking bewildered to wearing a battle-ready expression. He was practically buzzing with excitement, and Haimaru bared his teeth and growled, the fur on his neck standing on end.
"I set Explosive Tags around the area, so don't panic. We'll leave toward three o'clock."
"Let's make them run into two waves of traps."
Yusuke spoke in a low voice. The three quickly formed a triangular defensive formation and moved toward three o'clock.
The enemy team likely had a sensor ninja too. When they noticed Yusuke and the others had changed positions, they immediately gave chase.
However, what awaited them wasn't the three of them being caught, but an Explosive Tag trap.
A deafening blast came with a wave of heat, and the enemy instantly lost two men.
They hadn't even seen their targets, and two of their teammates were already dead. The enemy captain cursed, "Damn it! Follow me!"
But as they continued forward, another series of Explosive Tags went off.
"Where the hell did that bastard get so many Explosive Tags?" the enemy captain shouted.
Having just taken the brunt of an Explosive Tag trap, they were much more cautious this time. Only one person in the group was injured.
But just as they regained their footing and caught their breath, three figures pounced on them.
Strike while they're down! The fight erupted in an instant!
The enemy facing Inuzuka Go displayed superb Taijutsu. The two exchanged blows at high speed, their chakra-infused fists and feet slamming into trees and tearing strips of bark loose.
Inuzuka Go's blood surged. He let out a shout. "Beast Human Clone!"
Haimaru cooperatively transformed into a copy of Inuzuka Go, and the man and dog attacked from either side.
Haimaru seized an opening and tried to pin the enemy down with a bite, but the man dodged with a quick sidestep.
Go's attacks were relentless. While his opponent was still recovering from his last move, Go swung his right claw, spraying blood into the air.
The enemy staggered backward several steps, immediately falling onto the defensive.
On the other side, Hyuga Aya faced two enemies alone.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
One enemy rapidly formed Hand Seals. A powerful gust swept up pebbles from the ground and sent them flying.
The other was the unlucky man who had been injured. While his partner attacked, he secretly threw several poison needles that glinted purple.
Hyuga Aya moved like a wisp, her Byakugan seeing everything clearly.
She braced herself and shouted, "Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!"
A powerful gust burst from her palm and collided directly with the enemy's Wind Release Ninjutsu. The poison needles were swept away by the force of her palm strike.
Hyuga Aya gave the two no chance to react and charged straight at them.
Yusuke faced the enemy captain on his own. He wasn't nervous at all. In fact, he was watching to gauge the strength of his two teammates.
The captain gave Yusuke no chance to do the same. Holding a short blade, he immediately closed in and engaged him in close combat.
The man's Taijutsu was devious and ruthless, and he was especially skilled with his blade.
Since his weapon was short, he quickly shifted it between different positions around his body.
He looked less like a ninja and more like an acrobat performing tricks.
Yusuke remained calm, drawing his greatsword and attacking.
A layer of Wind Release chakra gathered around the greatsword as it cut through the air.
On a night like this, a weapon infused with Wind Release was a deadly advantage.
The two exchanged several quick blows. Then, when the enemy captain left an opening, Yusuke swung his sword in a horizontal sweep.
The tip of the sword was still some distance away, but alarm bells suddenly rang in the enemy captain's mind.
He forced his chakra into action and leaped backward.
But it was too late. Yusuke had already cut open his abdomen.
If he hadn't sensed the danger early, Yusuke might have cut him in half.
"You're no ordinary ninja," the enemy captain said, clutching his injured abdomen.
"Fall back! We can't handle them!" the enemy captain shouted to his three remaining teammates.
"Genjutsu: Mist Servant Technique!"
Yusuke gave him no chance at all. He leaped forward, and the long sword rapidly shifted in the enemy captain's vision.
One became two, two became four, four became eight, and then sword shadows filled the air.
"What is this? A genjutsu! Damn it, when did he—?"
The enemy captain knew there was no time to disrupt his own chakra. In a panic, he tried to block the sword shadows rushing toward him.
With a clang, the enemy captain felt a weight in his hand. "I actually blocked it! Hahahaha!"
He couldn't believe he'd found the real greatsword among the countless sword shadows. But he was getting ahead of himself.
The sword shadows quickly dissolved into a streak of rosy mist, and the enemy captain felt a pain in his chest. A greatsword was already embedded there.
"Hrk, hrk..." The enemy captain gasped like an old bellows, then slowly fell to the ground.
Yusuke pulled out his sword and shook the blood from it.
The enemy captain was only at the level of an ordinary jonin, so he hadn't been difficult to deal with.
Besides, Yusuke hadn't killed him. He'd only wounded him badly enough to take him out of the fight. They still needed to get information from the man's mind.
Yusuke didn't go after the other enemies. He simply watched the other two fights with interest, keeping an eye on his teammates.
He took a specially made kunai from his ninja tool pouch and tossed it up and down.
The fight on Inuzuka Go's side was fairly straightforward. His enemy had been completely overwhelmed. After all, it was two against one, and they were the good guys.
"Hey, you're not much good, are you? Didn't you train hard enough?"
Inuzuka Go's nonstop chatter rang out again.
This guy really can't help being a chatterbox, Yusuke thought with a sigh.
He threw the specially made kunai at the enemy. Just as it was about to reach him, Yusuke activated the Flying Thunder God Technique and appeared beside the kunai.
The bewildered enemy remained bewildered.
"How'd he do that? Huh? Why does my head hurt? Is my brain growing?"
While he was still dazed, Yusuke drove his greatsword straight into the man's head.
Inuzuka Go complained indignantly, "Captain, that's not fair! You stole my kill."
Yusuke replied nonchalantly, "You can have the kill. But what I need to tell you is that you were too careless."
As he spoke, he pried open the man's hand. An Explosive Tag was clenched in his palm.
Clearly, the enemy had known he was doomed and intended to take Inuzuka Go down with him.
Inuzuka Go realized it belatedly and shivered.
"Remember, villains die from talking too much. If you can finish them quickly, do it. Playing with your prey like a cat with a mouse isn't a game you're good enough to play."
A flash of frustration crossed Inuzuka Go's face, but he answered quietly.
Hyuga Aya was different from Inuzuka Go. Her moves were ruthless.
In the time it took for them to fight, she'd already struck the unharmed enemy with Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms.
The enemy's meridians had been blocked, leaving him unable to use chakra to fight back.
Now, in front of the cool, mature Hyuga Aya, he seemed like a little girl.
The other enemy had fallen to the ground long ago and been knocked unconscious.
Yusuke felt much more at ease. At least one of his teammates was reliable enough to keep someone alive for questioning.
Inuzuka Go: You think you're so high and mighty!
Before you continue