Practical Combat, Decisive

Inside the forest, Shisui, wearing a mask, arrived in front of the caravan with lightning speed and said in a low, stern voice, "There is an ambush ahead. Everyone, halt."

The members of the caravan reacted with impressive speed, coming to an immediate stop. Every one of them wore a grave expression; they knew the situation ahead was perilous, and a single misstep could cost them their lives.

Naraku had also donned a mask and stood quietly at the rear of the caravan. The two guards behind him were trembling slightly.

Suddenly, an unmistakably intense aura erupted from the woods. The opponents seemed to have no intention of hiding their presence, as eight figures slowly emerged from the trees, surrounding the entire caravan.

"Oh, so you actually hired some help," a middle-aged man with a scar across his face said with a playful smirk.

"Nakada, I didn't expect you to come in person this time."

"Nomura."

Nakada Shun gritted his teeth as he spat out the name, his eyes filled with hatred as he glared at the man who had just spoken.

"Heh, since you're here, don't even think about leaving," Nomura—the scarred man who had spoken earlier—continued, his own gaze brimming with equal malice as he looked at Nakada.

"It's time we settled the score between us."

As I thought, Naraku, positioned at the back of the caravan, heard their exchange. It was clear that these two had known each other for a long time, which suggested that Nakada Shun's motives for hiring them might not have been as simple as they seemed.

However, given the current situation, abandoning the mission was impossible; they had no choice but to push forward.

"Attack!" the scarred man suddenly roared. He gripped a long blade and charged forward at high speed, and almost simultaneously, the others sprang into action.

Swish! Bang! Bang!

Although they were fast, someone was faster.

Just as the scarred man made his move, Shisui had already arrived before him, short blade in hand.

The silvery-white edge tore through the air, slashing fiercely toward the scarred man.

Clang!

In a panic, the scarred man used his long blade to block the strike. The immense force left his arm numb, and he nearly lost his grip on his weapon.

"Earth Style: Earth Dragon Bullet!"

Just as Shisui prepared to follow up with another attack, several basketball-sized mud projectiles came hurtling toward him.

It was the man beside the scarred man who had intervened.

Rumble!

The mud bullets slammed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

When the smoke cleared, Shisui's figure had already vanished.

Clang!

The sound of clashing weapons rang out again. It was Shisui; he had already reached the other side and was blocking another opponent.

"Damn Nakada, to think he hired such a helper," the scarred man muttered with hatred, a fierce glint flashing in his eyes.

"No matter who you are, you're staying here today!" With that, he charged toward Shisui with his long blade.

The man beside him observed the situation and followed suit.

For this mission, Stone Ninja Village had dispatched almost all of their elite forces: four jonin and four chunin.

These were the village's top-tier assets; losing any one of them would be a devastating blow to Stone Ninja Village.

The man Shisui was currently holding off was only a chunin, and it was visibly clear that he was already losing ground. If no one came to his rescue, he would be defeated in an instant.

Furthermore, through their brief exchange, he had judged Shisui to be extraordinary. He believed Shisui's strength was undoubtedly superior to the scarred man's, and since the scarred man was arguably the strongest among them, he couldn't afford any accidents.

Soon, he and the scarred man arrived and engaged Shisui in combat once more.

On the other side, Nakada was locked in a fierce battle with the remaining two jonin.

As for Naraku, he had split off two shadow clones from the very beginning. With the assistance of his clones, he managed to hold off the remaining three chunin by himself.

"Go to hell, brat!"

"Water Style: Water Shockwave!"

A young man grinned hideously, his hands moving in a blur of seals, and a massive wave of water surged toward Naraku.

His name was Kawakami, the most outstanding talent among the younger generation of Stone Ninja Village. Despite being only in his early twenties, he already possessed the strength of a chunin.

In a small place like Stone Ninja Village, such an achievement was quite impressive, and he was even hailed as a genius within the village.

Today was his first time participating in such a collective mission, which left him feeling somewhat exhilarated.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

Naraku's main body pushed off with his feet, retreating a few steps. Simultaneously, his hands moved rapidly through seals, his cheeks puffed out, and a violent gale erupted from his mouth.

Under the force of the raging hurricane, the water wave was scattered instantly, losing all its offensive power.

"How is this possible?" Kawakami froze. The Water Shockwave was one of the most powerful ninjutsu he had mastered; he never expected it to be countered so easily.

However, Naraku didn't give him much time to react. With a flick of his hand, a shuriken tore through the air, whistling toward Kawakami.

Whoosh!

The whistling sound cutting through the air brought Kawakami to his senses, but upon seeing it was only a single shuriken, he relaxed his guard once more, holding a kunai horizontally across his chest.

For a ninja, the lethality of something like a shuriken was not particularly high; even a genin could easily deflect one or two of them.

Kawakami held this exact mindset, yet he was likely unaware that there existed a type of ninjutsu in this world called...

"Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique," Naraku suddenly whispered, his hands forming seals.

The rapidly spinning shuriken transformed—one became two, two became four—and in the blink of an eye, hundreds of shuriken filled the field.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

The sound of projectiles tearing through the air echoed incessantly.

"Kawakami!"

Another chunin, who was fighting Naraku's shadow clone not far away, saw this scene and let out a sharp shout. At the same time, a surge of blue light erupted from his body as his chakra flared, and he sprinted toward Kawakami at top speed.

He didn't need to warn him; Kawakami had already realized the danger, retreating at full speed while frantically swinging the kunai in his hand.

Clang! Clang!

The sounds of metal striking metal rang out continuously as the kunai deflected shuriken after shuriken.

Pfft!

Suddenly, a spray of blood erupted from Kawakami's leg. Despite his desperate efforts to defend, the sheer number of shuriken was overwhelming, and he was ultimately struck in the thigh.

"Ugh," Kawakami gritted his teeth against the pain and continued to defend, though his movements had slowed significantly due to the injury.

Pfft! Pfft!

At the same time, two more shuriken pierced his body.

Watching the bright red blood staining Kawakami, Naraku felt a ripple in his heart. This was his first real combat against a genuine ninja; although it wasn't as tricky as he had imagined, he still felt a sense of oppression.

A flicker of hesitation crossed Naraku's mind, but it lasted only for an instant.

He understood the cruelty of the ninja world better than anyone—it was a place where the strong preyed on the weak, a world of big fish eating little fish. If Naraku were not decisive, he would be the one being eaten.

By now, Kawakami was at the end of his rope, and as more and more shuriken pierced his body, he was covered from head to toe in blood.