Akizuki clutched the scroll and flipped behind a tree. When he landed, his right leg failed to keep up, and his knee dragged half a foot through the red mud.
The second steel needle skimmed past his shoulder. The copper plate tied to its end trembled in the wind, its shrill sound drilling into their ears as the root network beneath Chiba's feet faltered for half a breath.
"Don't listen to the copper plates."
Asuma threw out Flying Swallow. The wind-nature blade severed the thin wire, but the copper plate continued vibrating after it hit the ground.
The third needle shot at the scroll from the canopy, but its firing position was off to the side and behind them. The two attackers had used sound to conceal their true route of movement.
Chiba formed a spear in his palm and thrust to the right the instant its tip emerged.
A short blade appeared from empty air and caught the spearhead. The ninja holding it used the collision to flip onto a branch, his forehead protector engraved with three musical notes spreading outward.
"Wood Release. Faster than the intelligence said."
"Hidden Sound Village."
Asuma drew his second Flying Swallow and took half a step back toward Akizuki.
"You're still two hundred li from the Land of Grass. Your reach is long enough."
A lanky ninja stepped out from behind the trunk on the left. Four copper plates dangled beside his ears, and every finger on both hands wore a perforated metal ring.
"Sakakibara Shinya contacted us himself. He chose the trading location too. We're here to collect the goods we agreed on."
Akizuki pushed himself up against the tree roots and used a kunai to cut open the oilcloth pinned down by the steel needles.
"I only had Grass Ninja investigate