Ambush

"The Rain Ninja are definitely up to something. There are over a thousand of them hiding here, though it's unclear if their target is us in Konoha or the Sand Ninja." Sakumo Hatake stowed away a scroll and pulled Senju Genma toward the edge of the town.

Do not underestimate these thousand ninjas; that is a significant number.

Although the combat effectiveness of ninja village troops is higher than that of ordinary people, their numbers have always been limited.

The Land of Fire, the strongest of the Five Great Nations, has only about twenty-five thousand ninjas, while the weakest, the Land of Water, has only about fifteen thousand, perhaps even fewer.

The Land of Rain is a small nation. Although the Hidden Rain Village has been thriving and expanding under the leadership of the demigod Hanzo, and its strength has begun to catch up with the major powers, it only has ten thousand ninjas in total, and they are fighting on three fronts. A reinforcement force of one thousand is by no means a small number.

The reason the Land of Rain has not been wiped out, aside from Hanzo's immense power, is that the Land of Rain holds little value, making it not worth the investment of greater military force.

War is a matter of weighing gains; if fighting results in a loss, there is no need to engage.

Senju Genma sighed and said, "I didn't expect it to end like this. I thought I might run into the legendary ninja Hanzo!"

Sakumo Hatake delivered a sharp hand-chop to his head, forcing Senju Genma to clutch his skull in pain.

"Ouch! What was that for!"

"Can you stop saying such unlucky things, kid? That man is the one who shook the world under the name of the Invincible Ninja. He is recognized by all ninjas as the pinnacle of the current shinobi world."

"Don't underestimate him. Even I don't have a hundred percent certainty that I could walk away unscathed after fighting him."

Perhaps worried that Senju Genma wouldn't take his words to heart, Sakumo Hatake's expression was extremely grave.

Only then did Senju Genma set aside his arrogance.

In his past life, watching Hanzo's battles in the anime, he felt Hanzo's combat power was average, but now he realized he had forgotten one very important thing.

The Hanzo from the Fourth Shinobi World War was in a reanimated state and was also in his old age. With this double debuff, his strength was far inferior to his prime!

A great reputation is never without merit. How could a man who could single-handedly crush the Sannin and the Konoha ninja forces, lead the weak Land of Rain to contend against three major nations simultaneously, and be recognized as a powerhouse by the ninjas of his time, be simple?

Thinking this, Senju Genma couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. He certainly didn't want to die before he had even grown up.

Seeing Senju Genma's reaction, Sakumo Hatake was so amused he laughed.

This kid really is a bully who fears the strong and picks on the weak!

But that's fine; only those who harbor a sense of awe can live long. A genius who dies young is nothing!

Sakumo Hatake smiled and said, "Alright, stop thinking about it. According to intelligence, Hanzo is currently on the front lines, so we won't run into him."

"A mere Hanzo is nothing in my eyes. Let's go!" Senju Genma finally felt relieved and resumed his arrogant posture.

Sakumo Hatake looked at Senju Genma's small face and reached out to pinch his cheeks, gritting his teeth as he said, "You brat, you sure change your tune quickly! Do you have any idea how punchable you look right now?"

Facing Sakumo Hatake's assault, Senju Genma didn't back down at all and immediately threatened him:

"I advise you to let go. If you dare to bully me today, I'll dare to bully your children in the future. If it's a boy, I'll beat him up; if it's a girl, I'll marry her. I recall your child is due in two months, right?"

Sakumo Hatake froze, not expecting Senju Genma to be so shameless.

However, he was at a loss for how to handle Senju Genma's threat.

He knew Senju Genma's talent; even if he had a son, it wasn't realistic to expect him to surpass Senju Genma.

As for having a daughter...

He looked at Senju Genma's handsome face and felt the possibility of her being "married off" wasn't low at all.

Sakumo Hatake could already imagine a future day when his daughter, whom he had carefully protected since birth, returned home and suddenly announced she wanted to introduce her boyfriend, only for Senju Genma's punchable face to come into view.

Senju Genma would be holding his daughter, asking him with an arrogant expression: "Old man, is my carriage parked downstairs safe?"

Sakumo Hatake shuddered; such a scene was truly terrifying.

That kind of future was not the future he wanted!

Seeing Sakumo Hatake's expression gradually turn hideous, Senju Genma cautiously said, "Let's head back quickly! Shin and the others must be getting impatient!"

Sakumo Hatake remained silent, nodded to himself, and led the way.

Senju Genma could feel that Sakumo Hatake was extremely dangerous right now; there was a lion hidden in his eyes.

The two quickly returned to the gathering point.

"I sense people around us, very close, right in front of us," Senju Genma suddenly said.

"Cloud!" Shin whispered.

"I know!" Cloud responded immediately, his eyes turning a pale blue, veins bulging around them, and a black mark appearing in his pupils.

Senju Genma also channeled his chakra, expanding his sensory range.

"To the west, seventeen people, four squads, six hundred meters away," Cloud said quickly. "There's another four-man squad in the northwest approaching us, almost here."

Sakumo Hatake spoke up: "A group of seventeen—does that mean there's likely an elite Jonin?"

"We can't avoid it. Prepare for battle!"

"Mountain, give me the item!" Senju Genma said in a low voice.

Mountain took the large scroll off his back and handed it to Senju Genma.

This scroll was a gift to Senju Genma from Uzumaki Mito, containing ninja tools collected by the Senju Clan. It was said that Senju Hashirama used this very scroll in the past.

Senju Genma took the scroll and strapped it to his back as the group dispersed to hide behind the trees.

Soon, a four-person squad arrived at the location first, led by a teenage girl with shoulder-length, sandy-brown hair.

It was evident that the other three ninjas followed her lead closely.

They looked around, seemingly scouting the surrounding environment.

"Those look like Sand Ninja." Senju Genma spotted their forehead protectors, which bore the hourglass symbol that looked like an "i" outlined in lines.

"The Hidden Sand Village is currently fighting the Rain Ninja in the southwest of the Land of Rain. It seems they are also worried that the troops here might threaten them, so they sent people to scout," Sakumo Hatake said in a low voice.

As the two spoke, several shuriken flew toward them.

They leaped out of the grass and onto the trees.

The girl raised a kunai and shouted, "Who's there?!"

Sakumo Hatake sighed, glancing at the sand grains remaining on his footwear.

"Was it because of the sand on the ground? There really was something wrong with it!"

"Karura, it looks like Konoha ninjas!" A nearby Sand Ninja, having caught sight of the forehead protectors worn by Senju Genma and Sakumo Hatake, moved to Karura's side and whispered.

Before the Sand Ninja could say anything more, the Rain Ninja had already surrounded them from all sides.

"Let's deal with those guys first!" Sakumo Hatake said to Karura, having already realized that this girl was the backbone of the Sand Ninja squad.

At this time, the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind had not yet gone to war, and since they shared a common enemy in the Rain Ninja, a temporary cooperation was acceptable.