Feigning a Retreat to Lure the Enemy

He had originally assumed that raising a hand was a prerequisite motion, meaning that through anticipation, he could at least manage a slight dodge.

But if there was no such prerequisite motion, it meant the Lightning Style of the person before him was even more impossible to counter; the lightning would appear the moment a thought crossed his mind.

If one could not withstand the high-voltage current, they would simply drop dead; at least for any ninja below the Kage level, it was an unsolvable situation.

If that were the case, why would he let Ryotaro escape? He clearly had enough time to strike and intercept Ryotaro.

A terrifying guess formed in the mind of Higashi Shito, and his face turned deathly pale.

"Figured it out? Too bad it's already too late."

Rasa adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses again, unhurried and calm, as he said leisurely: "The Shinobi World is small, not enough for me to toss and turn in alone."

"The Shinobi World is also vast; at the very least, finding a few people in the desert would waste a lot of my time."

"However, I believe that if someone leads the way, the results will surely be twice as good with half the effort."

Higashi Shito gritted his teeth and voiced his guess: "So you intentionally let Ryotaro leave so you could track him and find the others."

"But even if you find them, so what? Captain Mahiru is a master of swordsmanship, and Captain Hunter possesses the Kekkei Genkai Explosion Release. If they join forces, you might not win."

Despite his words, Higashi Shito felt very uneasy inside.

The abilities Rasa displayed were too bizarre—ninjutsu without hand seals, high lethality, and a decent attack range. If one was caught off guard, a first-strike kill was guaranteed.

Rasa chuckled and shook his finger, denying Higashi Shito's guess: "You only guessed half of it."

"It's not that I had to let him go. Whether it's Ryotaro or Haitaro, as long as someone can lead the way for me, that's enough."

"This person could be him, or it could be any one of you."

Higashi Shito turned around quickly to look. The dutiful Ryotaro had already run a hundred meters away, turning into a black dot that vanished into the horizon.

The Iwagakure ninjas on this mission had a secret method of communication. Before splitting up, the captains had agreed on a rendezvous point.

If Captain Mahiru and Captain Hunter joined forces, they might be able to defeat the person before him, which would be ideal, but Higashi Shito did not want to gamble because he knew the odds of winning were slim.

"Damn four-eyes!"

With a curse, Higashi Shito bent his legs and launched himself forward, chasing in the direction of Ryotaro.

He only hoped that Rasa's attack range wasn't that long and his movement speed wasn't that fast, allowing him to catch up to Ryotaro.

"It seems this gentleman has a deep-seated prejudice against those of us who wear glasses."

Being mocked as a four-eyes didn't annoy Rasa. He extended one hand, pointed it at Higashi Shito's back, and whispered: "Electrotherapy: Electric Net."

Strong voltage gathered in the air, forming strands of current—nine horizontal and nine vertical—that shot toward Higashi Shito's head.

Electricity and light are both forms of electromagnetic waves, and their propagation speeds in a vacuum are identical.

Therefore, there was no need to be like Kakashi or Second Pillar, using Lightning Style: Chidori and starting a long run to increase the piercing power.

Of all the martial arts in the world, only speed is invincible. No matter how fast you run, can you be faster than the speed of light? Do you really think everyone is the Flash?

To dodge Rasa's lightning, one would have to anticipate the direction of the attack while he was gathering the high-voltage current, before the current actually formed; otherwise, it was absolutely impossible to dodge.

Turning his back to Rasa was, for Higashi Shito, an act of courting death.

The electric net descended upon Higashi Shito's head. The high-voltage current instantly destroyed all the functions of his body, and he died on the spot, his entire body charred black.

The high-voltage current continued downward into the desert, and the moment it touched the sand, sparks flew and blue smoke rose—a true flash of lightning and flint.

The impure sand could not withstand the high temperature of the electric heat, burning and melting into crystals of extremely poor quality.

Rasa walked over slowly, not even glancing at the fallen Higashi Shito, and kicked the crystals formed by the melted sand.

He smacked his lips and muttered: "Looks like even if I traveled back to the Tang Dynasty, I could get rich quickly. Remove the impurities, and I could burn out dozens of pieces of glass with a wave of my hand."

Kicking the crystals aside, Rasa launched himself forward, chasing in the direction Ryotaro had fled, while simultaneously spreading out a microwave magnetic field to act as a radar.

Half a minute later, sensing the returning echo frequency, the corners of Rasa's mouth curled up. Found you, little mouse.

Now, all he had to do was trail far behind Ryotaro, and once he found the other Iwagakure ninjas, he could start the slaughter.

High-speed movement in the desert is a very dangerous thing for ordinary people. This is because there is a unique natural phenomenon in the desert: quicksand.

On the surface, quicksand looks no different from its surroundings, but in reality, the sand beneath the quicksand has no cohesion.

Once someone steps on quicksand, the surface layer of sand sinks rapidly. Because there is nothing to gain leverage from, an ordinary person who steps into quicksand can only sink deeper and deeper.

Even for a ninja, if they are caught off guard, there is a possibility of being swallowed.

Ninjas who reside in Sunagakure are adept at dealing with such quicksand terrain; this is also a very important means for Sunagakure ninjas to defend against foreign enemies.

Home-field advantage.

Ryotaro ran in a hurry.

Captain Higashi Shito, along with two colleagues, had joined forces to resist that white-clad man named Luo Yongxin; at this moment, they were likely in grave danger.

These were his colleagues who had traded their lives to buy him time. Ryotaro had no time for grief; he steeled his resolve—he had to pass the information to the remaining two teams as soon as possible!

Just like young Forrest Gump in the movie, Ryotaro had only one thought in his mind at this moment: run!

Having escaped from quicksand he had triggered unintentionally several times, Ryotaro was in a wretched state. Braving the wind and sand, and relying on the route they had agreed upon before splitting up, he finally located the other team.

This was an oasis where a dozen Iwa-nin huddled together around a campfire. The desert temperature plummeted at night, and with scorpions prowling about, lighting a fire was an absolute necessity.

The group chatted and laughed, eating dry rations and warming themselves by the flames, their faces beaming with pride.

Being chosen by Tsuchikage to execute this special mission was, in itself, a matter of great pride.

Ryotaro's sudden appearance shattered the tranquility.

"Who's there?"

The Iwa-nin gathered around the campfire rose in an instant, forming a defensive formation and scanning the front; they were truly an elite squad.

"It's me, Ryotaro..."

Having sprinted for several hours, Ryotaro's stamina was completely spent. He collapsed to the ground with a thud, gasping for breath, while raising his hands to show he had no hostile intent.

During wartime, many ninja would disguise themselves as others to infiltrate enemy camps and cause chaos. To counter this, every major ninja village had prepared multiple sets of code words.

From the crowd, a ninja with a long sword slung across his back stepped forward, eyeing Ryotaro warily as his lips moved: "Code."

Ryotaro knew this was a necessary procedure. After lying on the ground to catch his breath, he recited the pre-arranged code.