Separate Ways

Two hours later.

A cold breeze blew past. Ye Yuexin, lurking in a hidden corner, stared at the empty trap. He felt as if a murder of crows were circling above his head, cawing, "Idiot... idiot..."

By now, he had confirmed that his IQ had been successfully dragged down by the tsundere young Itachi Uchiha.

No matter how absurd the situation, rabbits simply did not eat dango.

This was a matter of principle, for heaven's sake; he couldn't believe he hadn't stuck to his own common sense. He had truly failed his nine years of compulsory education from his past life.

At that moment, Ye Yuexin decided that until Itachi Uchiha evolved, he would never trust any of his ideas again.

Beside him, Itachi Uchiha seemed to have realized or understood something.

Yet, he remained perfectly calm and said, "It seems the Big-Toothed Rabbit is indeed a different breed from ordinary rabbits."

With that, he walked out.

He began to open his backpack, took out his lunchbox, and started picking the dango off the ground one by one.

He gave a mental thumbs-up to Itachi's comment just now.

Ye Yuexin could clearly sense that Itachi's thinking hadn't changed in the slightest.

It was still, "Rabbits like to eat dango."

The Big-Toothed Rabbits hadn't come because of a genetic mutation, not because his idea was wrong.

He checked the time. There was no time left to dwell on such things.

It would take them nearly half a day just to return to Konoha, meaning they only had a day and a half left to complete the mission. They had to hurry.

His own plan needed to change as well. He couldn't hang himself on a single strategy.

If the results weren't good by daybreak, Ye Yuexin decided he would resort to the most primitive method: catching them one by one.

Ye Yuexin walked out as well.

He pulled up a lone dango still stuck in the ground. It didn't seem dirty, so he popped it into his mouth and said, "Itachi, let's revise our plan."

Hearing this, Itachi looked up at Ye Yuexin.

Ye Yuexin continued, "We don't have much time left—a day and a half at most. I think we should split up."

"Big-Toothed Rabbits aren't rare in the Land of Fire; they aren't only found here. Since this situation hasn't appeared elsewhere, it means we can capture jackals from other areas."

"We can use them to restore the food chain here. This is a long-term, permanent solution."

"However, this method will take quite a while, and there's no telling when we'll finish capturing them."

"So, I will continue to set up traps, and you go to the nearby area to see if you can catch a few jackals."

Ye Yuexin dared not let Itachi Uchiha continue to lure them with traps here.

But the most fundamental reason was that Itachi Uchiha could use genjutsu.

It had to be said that genjutsu was a truly practical ninjutsu. It was a pity he couldn't learn it. In this situation, if he went himself, he would definitely just knock them out and carry one in each hand, bringing back two at most.

But with Itachi Uchiha, it was different. Once a genjutsu was unleashed, he could practically ride the jackals back.

Furthermore, Ye Yuexin would be faster at dealing with the Big-Toothed Rabbits here.

As long as the Big-Toothed Rabbits weren't hiding in their burrows, Ye Yuexin was confident that with his movement speed, he could take them down one by one. He could resolve the issue faster than Itachi.

His speed alone was enough to leave Itachi Uchiha in the dust.

After hearing Ye Yuexin's words, Itachi Uchiha had no objections. "Understood. I'll head out now. There seem to be other villages nearby."

He quickly tidied up, shouldered his backpack again, and ran toward the distant mountains.

He needed to cross the large mountain ahead.

After Itachi Uchiha left, Ye Yuexin looked at the remaining dango on the ground, plucked them up, and stuffed them into his mouth. A mission was a mission, but he couldn't let food go to waste.

Afterward, he thought for a moment and decided to scout the nearby area.

Since there were so many Big-Toothed Rabbits in the fields, there must be something attracting them.

When he had arrived earlier, he noticed that both sides of the path were planted with rice.

But looking closely, he didn't see any signs of gnawing in the damaged rice paddies.

Just as Ye Yuexin was pondering this, he heard the cry of a Big-Toothed Rabbit again. He sprinted toward the sound.

Ordinary villagers might get injured if they faced more than one Big-Toothed Rabbit, so they generally wouldn't take the initiative to attack or capture them.

Not to mention, it was nighttime. There was a hint of anxiety and pain in the rabbit's cry. Ye Yuexin felt something must be happening.

Soon, a field appeared ahead.

However, it seemed to be surrounded by wire fencing. And judging by the Big-Toothed Rabbit twitching beneath the edge of the wire, the fence was likely electrified.

Walking closer, he saw it was a carrot field. At that moment, Ye Yuexin felt the coincidence was almost excessive.

He had come looking for bait, and just like that, he had been led right next to this field. Wasn't this like someone handing him a pillow just as he was getting sleepy?

Even the fated protagonist probably wouldn't have such luck.

He grew vigilant and observed his surroundings carefully.

However, it really didn't seem to be a trap.

It wasn't a trap set by ninjas from an enemy village.

Since that was the case, things would be easy to handle.

After a brief moment of consideration, Ye Yuexin decided on this field, as he hadn't found any other good bait.

At worst, he could just compensate the owner later. His current teammate was a wealthy tycoon, after all; they shouldn't mind something like this.

He found the power switch.

After Ye Yuexin cut the power, he walked into the field. The vibrant carrots were very conspicuous under the moonlight.

But this alone wasn't enough, because the Big-Toothed Rabbits didn't yet know that the electric fence around the field had been deactivated.

Therefore, Ye Yuexin formed the Seal of Harmony. Suddenly, a wild wind surged around his body. Several wisps of wind seemed to transform into long ropes, coiling around him.

With a thought, the wind ropes vanished, and a dozen or so carrots were instantly plucked from the field.

In that very instant, they were shredded by the wind that had appeared out of thin air.

To possess the ability to manipulate wind with chakra without using hand signs—even an elite jonin might not necessarily be able to pull this off.

He felt that his control over the wind attribute was growing stronger and stronger.

This really had a lot to do with his meditation on the cliff.

Ye Yuexin even felt that this kind of meditation might transcend the realm of ninjas, as he had felt like he was cheating for the past two years.

After the wild wind shredded the carrots, Ye Yuexin didn't stop; he continued to exert his power until, in the end, the gust of wind was infused with carrot powder.

The colorless wind turned orange, looking like ribbons drifting through the air.

Afterward, Ye Yuexin began to slowly diminish the wind's force, letting it gradually disperse.

The principle was basically the same as fishing.

The effect was significant.

A short while later, the sound of teeth grinding—kji-kji—began to echo.

Ye Yuexin hid in the shadows, observing.

First, a few bold Big-Toothed Rabbits discovered that the surrounding wire no longer had electricity.

They immediately hopped joyfully toward the field.

One or two leaders were enough.

Seeing this, all the Big-Toothed Rabbits swarmed in at once.

Judging by eye alone, there were over a hundred of them. Ye Yuexin felt that the wooden stakes he had whittled might not be enough.

After waiting for a long while without any more Big-Toothed Rabbits appearing, Ye Yuexin knew it was time to close the net.