How could there be so many tough guys in the face of death?

The Stone Ninja squadron commander, a special jōnin, died in the Wind Release attack, and the others instantly lost their will to fight.

They broke away from the battle and fled toward the Land of Waterfalls.

Seeing this, Uchiha Ling said, "Captain Anko, Dule Jiong, clean up the battlefield and kill the wounded Stone Ninja. I'll chase the others. We can't let them escape!"

Mitaraishi Anko wanted to stop Uchiha Ling, unwilling to let him rush recklessly ahead, but before she could even raise her hand halfway, he had vanished with the Body Flicker Technique.

During sparring classes at school, Uchiha Ling had often disappeared like that. His Body Flicker Technique was simply too fast.

Eight Stone Ninja withdrew from the battle, hastily forming two four-man squads.

One Stone Ninja cursed, "Those underhanded bastards from Konoha! They had a jonin pose as a genin to ambush us!"

The acting squad leader, a chunin, frowned.

He disagreed with his teammate's assessment. To him, one of those genin had already attained the strength of a jonin.

Like other dazzling geniuses, their development was held back by the Ninja Academy's slow teaching pace. Once they left school, nothing could suppress their brilliance.

Take Kitsuchi, a jonin from their own village and the Third Tsuchikage's son. When he first graduated from the Ninja Academy, his Earth Release was reportedly already the strongest in Iwagakure.

With his Earth Release ninjutsu alone, Kitsuchi could serve as a mainstay in sealing rampaging tailed beasts.

With those immense chakra reserves and mountain-like Earth Release techniques, even a tailed beast would end up pinned beneath a mountain.

"Argh!"

A scream came from beside him. The squad leader turned and saw blood spurting from the back of the teammate farthest to his left as he fell from a tree branch.