The 37th S-Rank Mission

Li Yu received his 37th S-rank mission: to travel to the Land of Bears and pursue the rogue ninja Mizunashi from the Hidden Waterfall Village.

According to intelligence, Mizunashi had appeared on the border of the Land of Birds.

He set off immediately upon receiving the mission, passing through the Land of Grass and the Land of Rain, intending to enter the Land of Birds at top speed.

The Land of Birds was situated by a lake where migratory birds nested; with lake water winding around the city and greenery stretching across the fields, it was a beautiful and peaceful town.

This was Li Yu's first time in the Land of Birds. Recalling the original plot, the timing was shortly after Sasuke had defected from the village, when Naruto, Tenten, and Neji had teamed up to take on the "Cursed Warrior" mission in this land.

Simply put, it was a group of rogue ninjas attempting to usurp the daimyo and occupy the country.

"A small nation like this has no ninjas of its own. At most, this mission will only involve encountering some rogue ninjas. I'll head to the capital of the Land of Birds first to gather intelligence."

Besides Li Yu himself, this mission included Yan Xing and two Anbu ninjas.

As the captain of this operation, Li Yu ordered the two Anbu ninjas to scout for information, while he and Yan Xing used the Transformation Technique to change their appearances and strolled swaggeringly through the capital of the Land of Birds.

Every mission to pursue a rogue ninja from the village involved targets who were at most Jonin level; to Li Yu, these were always just business trips.

The scenery in the Land of Birds was decent enough, with an abundance of egrets—likely the reason for its name—but its economy was far inferior to Konoha's, and he soon lost interest.

At the rendezvous point, he met the two Anbu who had returned from scouting; Mizunashi had hired rogue ninjas to protect him and had already headed toward the Land of Bears.

"What? Mizunashi ran off again?"

"For Mizunashi to run this far and even hire bodyguards—and with the Hidden Waterfall Village paying such a high price for us in Konoha to hunt him down—it seems he is no simple man."

The Land of Bears and the Land of Birds were both small nations surviving in the cracks between the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth. Now, they had to enter the deeper crevice of the Land of Bears to continue the pursuit.

The four of them hurried on their way, hoping to intercept Mizunashi before he entered the forests of the Land of Bears. The forests there were deep and easy to get lost in; once he entered, tracking him would become even more difficult.

Land of Bears.

After a night of traveling.

Through his senses, Li Yu discovered four people resting on the ground two kilometers ahead.

Li Yu sneered.

"This Mizunashi from the Hidden Waterfall Village can really run, but I've finally caught him."

After finalizing their tactics, the four of them quickly and quietly closed in.

The two Anbu ninjas took up positions.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

Seeing two fireballs flying toward them in the night, Mizunashi reacted quickly.

"Water Release: Multiple Water Wall!"

He raised two walls of water to block the fireball attack, and instantly, mist churned, blurring their vision.

Li Yu did not hold back, throwing two special kunai that shot toward the four men from the side.

He activated the Flying Thunder God, instantly appearing between the two rogue ninjas, striking one with a Rasengan in his left hand while stabbing the other in the throat with a kunai in his right.

Under the terrified gaze of the remaining rogue ninja, one companion was sent flying, and the other collapsed, clutching his neck.

Mizunashi and the other survivor jumped away quickly, trying to put distance between themselves and Li Yu.

Yan Xing followed Mizunashi, engaging him in taijutsu, while the rogue ninja quickly formed hand seals.

"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"

A large crowd of figures split off.

One of the Konoha Anbu was shocked. "The secret forbidden technique of Konoha Village—how could he possibly know it?"

Li Yu was also very surprised; it was Naruto's signature jutsu, and who among those who had watched Naruto didn't know it?

He activated his Sharingan, his eyes turning blood-red as the three tomoe spun rapidly.

Li Yu couldn't help but sneer aloud.

"Heh, it's just a genjutsu, a bluff."

Without hesitation, he threw another special kunai.

The kunai passed through the bodies of several people in the front, and with another flash, Li Yu appeared in the middle of the crowd.

He brought his Rasengan down from above, slamming a person into the ground with a single strike.

"Boom! Boom!"

All the clones twisted and vanished instantly, rather than turning into white smoke.

Only one lifeless figure remained, lying in the crater beside Li Yu.

Li Yu whispered to himself.

"I thought I wouldn't need to use the Sharingan to deal with you lot, but since you've forced my hand, let's make this quick."

At this moment, Mizunashi parried a kunai strike from Yan Xing, leaped back, and quickly formed hand seals.

Li Yu did not hold back; watching Mizunashi with his Sharingan, he mimicked the hand seals, moving even faster.

"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"

Li Yu gathered water beneath his feet into a water dragon, charging it toward Mizunashi.

Mizunashi's pupils dilated as he let out a shout.

"How is this possible?"

The water dragon Mizunashi had just manifested was bitten by Li Yu's dragon the moment it emerged. It was carried over a hundred meters away and knocked unconscious instantly.

Ordering two Anbu ninjas to clean up the corpses of the rogue ninjas, Li Yu deactivated his Sharingan and approached the fainted Mizunashi. He noticed a gourd hanging from his waist, filled with a transparent liquid that emitted a golden glow.

Li Yu's heart skipped a beat, his pulse quickening.

"Hero's Water."

"A specialty of the Hidden Waterfall Village."

It was a holy water obtained from beneath a giant tree once every hundred years. Drinking Hero's Water could increase one's chakra tenfold, but it was a double-edged sword; as the price for the chakra, it would consume the user's life.

Li Yu unceremoniously tucked it into his robes.

After dealing with Mizunashi, he sealed his body into a scroll, intending to bring it back to complete the mission.

Suddenly, Li Yu sensed an anomaly within his perception range.

"Not good, a large group of ninjas is heading our way."

An Anbu stepped forward and asked, "Captain, can you tell which country the ninjas are from?"

Li Yu pressed his hand against a nearby tree, sensing carefully.

Yan Xing watched Li Yu with intense focus.

As the two Anbu spoke, their hands reached for their kunai, which shimmered with a purple light.

One suddenly lunged at Li Yu's back, while the other swept horizontally.

Seeing this, Yan Xing roared, "Zi Yu, watch your back!"

Li Yu dodged the kunai aimed at his back with a sidestep and retreated.

Rip. His clothes were torn, and a spray of blood flew from Li Yu's arm.

Having succeeded, the two Anbu ninjas leaped away and stood atop the trees.

Seeing that Li Yu had only suffered a cut to his arm, Yan Xing turned and charged at one of the Konoha Anbu, while Li Yu threw a specialized kunai and rushed toward the other.

Just as he was about to attack, Li Yu noticed smoke rising from the Anbu ninjas and shouted, "Yan Xing, watch out! They're going to self-destruct!"

"Boom! Boom!"

Hearing Li Yu's warning, Yan Xing narrowly stopped his charge, shielding his chest with his arms as he was blown away by the shockwave.

Li Yu effortlessly used the Flying Raijin Jutsu marker he had left behind to return to his original position.

He cursed, "Damn it!"

"We were ambushed by people from Konoha."

"Yan Xing, leave quickly! The ninjas are closing in."

Li Yu noticed that while his arm wound had healed, he was slowly losing the ability to mobilize his chakra.

Li Yu formed hand seals, and a Wood Clone appeared beside him.

Using the clone to cover their retreat, Li Yu and the lightly injured Yan Xing turned and fled toward the Land of Birds.

Yan Xing noticed that as Li Yu ran, his face grew paler and paler, to the point where he could barely keep up with his speed.

"Zi Yu, what's wrong? Why is your face so pale?"

Li Yu panted heavily as he replied, "Yan Xing, the kunai from the Konoha Anbu were poisoned. It seems... it seems like a poison specifically formulated to target me."

They stopped in place, and Li Yu used medical ninjutsu to forcibly expel most of the toxin from his body.

Li Yu hadn't expected this treatment to be so grueling; he felt mentally exhausted.

Seeing that Li Yu could no longer run, Yan Xing said, "Let me carry you."

He stepped forward and forcibly hoisted Li Yu onto his back, continuing their journey toward the Land of Birds.

Dazed and drifting, Li Yu lost consciousness.

Wood Release Clone.

The original body is severely injured; I must buy him time.

Li Yu's clone set up a trap using Explosive Tags in the vicinity. He used every single Explosive Tag he had, waiting for those ninjas—whoever they were—to arrive.

At this moment, about thirty figures were rapidly weaving through the forest under the cover of night.

Suddenly, a series of explosions rang out.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

"It's a trap!"

"Enemy attack!"

Taking advantage of the chaotic explosions, Li Yu flung five custom-made kunai toward the densest part of the crowd and activated the Flying Thunder God without a hint of mercy.

"Aaaah!"

"Pfft, pfft!"

In a series of rapid flashes, six ninjas wearing the Pentagram Headband were killed on the spot.

The moment he secured the kills, he retrieved his kunai and turned to leave, refusing to get bogged down in a prolonged fight.

In that single encounter, he had killed eight of the enemy ninjas and wounded five.

So, they are ninjas from Hoshigakure.

Li Yu had no desire to waste his chakra. The journey back to Konoha was long, and he hoped this strike would serve as a deterrent to the Star Ninjas, forcing them to retreat or at least making them too afraid to pursue him with their full strength.

"Damn it, Konoha ninja!"

"Where did he go?"

"Is he hiding somewhere?"

"Come out, you Konoha rat, if you have the guts!"

Listening to the shouting behind him, Li Yu let out a cold sneer and accelerated his speed to catch up with his main body.