Matsumoto Ryūichi shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, forming Hand Seals with both hands. "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
A fierce wind swept up fallen leaves and dust, instantly engulfing the entire clearing.
The Kumogakure shinobi reacted swiftly, leaping apart almost as soon as the wind began to blow.
But the instant their vision was obscured, Matsumoto Ryūichi had already locked onto the red-haired kunoichi. His Kunai, infused with Wind Release Chakra, stabbed straight for her throat!
"You Konoha scum!" the bald squad leader roared. Blinding lightning instantly enveloped his right arm as he lunged toward Matsumoto Ryūichi.
Then he stopped.
It wasn't because he wanted to.
His body had suddenly become unbearably heavy.
Every muscle and every bone felt as though they'd been filled with lead. Even lifting a finger was difficult.
And it wasn't just him. The red-haired kunoichi was still fighting Matsumoto Ryūichi.
The other four Kumogakure shinobi had all frozen in place, their faces filled with shock and disbelief.
Reiatsu pressure.
Reiatsu at Captain-level was enough to affect every shinobi below Kage Level.
Especially ordinary Jonin like these.
Liuyu hadn't even drawn his sword.
He simply walked calmly up to the bald squad leader.
The man's temples bulged as he desperately tried to control his Chakra, but to no avail.
"You..."
"Shh." Liuyu raised a finger and gently pressed it to his lips.
The next second, his figure blurred.
Or rather, it wasn't a blur. He had simply moved so fast that he was almost impossible to see.
Out of the corner of his eye, Matsumoto Ryūichi caught only a few afterimages flickering among the rigid Kumogakure shinobi.
With each flicker, a spray of blood blossomed.
The throat, the heart, the back of the neck, the temple.
Every strike hit a vital spot, each one a simple, direct stab or slash.
There were no clashes of Ninjutsu, no Taijutsu skirmishes, not even the sound of weapons meeting.
Only the muted, brief squelch of a blade slicing through flesh and severing a windpipe.
The four Kumogakure Chunin, including the bald squad leader,
became four corpses that slowly crumpled to the ground in less than three seconds.
Only then did the red-haired kunoichi force Matsumoto Ryūichi back with a Lightning Release: Senbon and look over in horror.
When she saw the squad leader's eyes wide open and blood gushing from his throat, she screamed,
"Monster—!"
She turned and tried to run.
"Binding Way #4: Crawling Rope."
Liuyu raised his hand and lightly tapped the air with his index finger.
A yellow cord of light appeared out of nowhere, wrapping precisely around the kunoichi's feet.
She stumbled and fell forward. Before she could struggle, Matsumoto Ryūichi's Kunai was already pressed against her back.
"Don't kill me! I surrender! I have information!" the kunoichi rasped.
Uchiha Ryūha walked over and crouched in front of her.
The kunoichi looked up and met those calm, unruffled black eyes. The blood in her veins seemed to turn cold.
"Where is the Two-Tails Jinchūriki?" Liuyu asked.
"I—I don't know her exact location!
"But Lady Yugito is somewhere in the Land of Hot Water!
"She's leading a team to hunt down Konoha's scouting squads. We're a scout unit supporting her operation!"
"How many of you are there?"
"Thirty in total, including Lady Yugito!
"They're all at least Chunin. Our mission is to eliminate every Konoha informant in the Land of Hot Water and clear the way for the forces coming after us!"
"Where are you meeting, and how do you communicate?"
"At an abandoned shrine twenty kilometers to the northeast!
"We use lightning signal flares. Green means it's safe, and red means we've encountered enemies and need help."
Liuyu nodded and stood up.
"You—you said you wouldn't kill anyone who surrendered..." The kunoichi's voice trembled.
"Did I?" Liuyu looked at Matsumoto Ryūichi.
Matsumoto Ryūichi silently shook his head.
The Kunai stabbed down.
The kunoichi's body jerked twice, then fell still.
The battle was over.
From beginning to end, it had taken less than a minute.
Haruno Kazuya and Fujiwara Itsuki hadn't even properly engaged the two Genin before Uchiha Ryūha had taken care of everything.
The two Kumogakure Genin tried to run, but Liuyu casually threw two Shuriken, pinning their knees. They lay on the ground, wailing.
"Clear the battlefield," Liuyu ordered.
Matsumoto Ryūichi and the two Genin began searching the corpses for ninja tool pouches and scrolls.
When they finished searching,
Uchiha Ryūha walked to the center of the clearing, looked at the six corpses, and slowly raised his right hand.
"Way of Destruction No. 54: Abolishing Flame."
Purple flames surged from his palm.
They weren't ordinary flames. They gave off almost no heat, yet carried a chilling quality that made one's heart tremble, as if they could devour every trace of life.
The flames fell upon the corpses. They didn't burn or explode. Instead, they "melted" them like strong acid—
Flesh, bones, clothes, and ninja tools silently broke down and vaporized in the purple flames, leaving not even a speck of ash behind.
In a mere dozen seconds, all six corpses, along with the bloodstains and signs of battle, had completely vanished.
All that remained was a circular patch of charred earth, bare of even a blade of grass.
Haruno Kazuya stared blankly at the scorched ground, then at Liuyu's calm profile. Suddenly, he shuddered.
Destroying the bodies and covering their tracks.
So practiced, so... indifferent.
"Liuyu, what about those two..." Fujiwara Itsuki pointed at the two Kumogakure Genin, who were pinned through the knees with Shuriken and trembling in terror.
Liuyu glanced at them.
"Abolishing Flame" fell once more.
Their screams lasted only half a second before the spreading purple flames swallowed them completely.
"Mercy for the enemy is cruelty to yourself." Liuyu lowered his hand, as if all he'd done was brush away some dust.
"On the battlefield, a prisoner is valuable for one thing only: intelligence.
"An enemy who's already given up their intelligence is no longer a source of information. They're a burden and a risk."
He looked at his two pale-faced Genin teammates, his tone as even as if he were giving a lesson:
"Remember, this is war, not a game.
"Put away your useless compassion. It'll only get you killed faster."
With that, he turned and headed into the depths of the forest.
Matsumoto Ryūichi followed first, his steps firm.
Haruno Kazuya and Fujiwara Itsuki exchanged a glance. In each other's eyes, they saw something breaking—and something harder taking shape in its place.
They gritted their teeth and followed.
The squad set off again.
But Liuyu didn't head northeast toward the abandoned shrine right away.
Instead, he turned southeast and entered a stretch of hills with more complicated terrain.
"Liuyu, we're going the wrong way," Matsumoto Ryūichi reminded him quietly.
The former Jonin teacher had already accepted his new position and now considered himself a subordinate.
"We're not." Liuyu kept walking. "There are some tails we need to deal with first."
"Tails?"
Liuyu didn't explain.
But his Reiatsu sense remained focused behind them—about a kilometer away.
Four cold, expertly concealed presences clung to them like burrs, tailing them ever since they'd left the Konoha outpost.
Root.
All four were Jonin-level.
Their stealth was excellent, and they were keeping just the right distance.
Far enough not to lose their target, but not so close that they'd easily be detected by ordinary sensor shinobi.
"Shimura Danzō really is thoughtful," Liuyu chuckled silently. "Afraid I'd get lonely on the battlefield, so he sent me bodyguards."
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