The team moved swiftly through the forest.
All morning, Qian Ye silently carried out this extremely dangerous micro-control training.
Whenever his chakra ran dry, he ate half a Military Ration Pill.
Once he recovered a little, he continued stimulating his acupoints.
His muscles constantly tore apart, rebuilt themselves, and adapted to this high-intensity pressure mode.
Pakura, walking at the front, occasionally looked back, her gaze sweeping over Qian Ye.
She keenly sensed that the aura around this Hidden Leaf brat seemed to be undergoing some extremely subtle change.
She could not put that feeling into words.
It was like a wildcat that had once only known how to scratch was slowly growing a tiger's fangs.
Pakura frowned.
Was it an illusion?
How could a twelve-year-old civilian Genin with such pitifully little chakra give off this kind of pressure while traveling?
Time passed into the afternoon.
The light in the forest began to dim, while the surrounding trees grew increasingly dense.
Qian Ye had just successfully infused chakra into several acupoints in his right arm and was preparing to test the increase in his arm strength.
Hyuga Tianfeng, at the very front of the team, suddenly stopped.
He abruptly raised his right hand and signaled for everyone to halt.
"Everyone, stay alert!"
Hyuga Tianfeng's voice was icy.
The veins around his eyes bulged instantly.
Byakugan, activate!
The gilded young masters, who had just been teasing one another, immediately drew their ninja tools and formed a circle around the prison cart with their backs to it.
Uchiha Yan drew his Ninja Sword, and his eyes instantly turned into scarlet One-Tomoe Sharingan.
"Captain Tianfeng, what is it?"
Hyuga Tianfeng did not answer. His pale pupils stared fixedly at a patch of brush several hundred meters ahead.
Almost at the same moment.
Qian Ye, at the very rear of the team, felt every hair on his body stand on end.
It was an utterly pure instinct.
In the Pirate World, this was called the rudimentary form of Observation Haki.
In the Naruto World, this was called absolute perception of killing intent.
Someone was there!
And there was more than one!
Without hesitation, Qian Ye drew the revolver at his waist and cocked the hammer with his thumb.
Click.
The crisp mechanical sound was painfully sharp in the silent forest.
"Enemy attack."
Click.
The revolver's crisp mechanical sound had barely faded.
The brush several dozen meters ahead suddenly exploded.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
More than a dozen Explosive Tags detonated in a chain almost simultaneously.
The violent shockwave, mixed with shattered stone and dirt, directly overturned the prison cart in the middle of the team.
The heavy solid-wood carriage flipped twice through the air before crashing heavily to the ground and breaking apart.
"Enemy attack! Scatter!"
Hyuga Tianfeng shouted sharply as his hands rapidly formed seals.
In his Byakugan vision, more than a dozen exceptionally dense chakra sources were closing in from all directions.
Before the smoke and dust had dispersed, more than a dozen black figures had already burst from the brush.
They all wore black skintight combat suits.
Their faces were covered by blank masks without any patterns.
The two leading them held standard Short Blades in reverse grips, their edges gleaming with a dangerous chill.
"For Lord White Fang!"
The leader, A, threw back his head and roared.
"Kill them all! Sabotage the peace talks! Let the village higher-ups see our fury!"
The shout was so loud that the leaves around them rustled violently.
Qian Ye, at the rear of the team, nearly laughed in anger when he heard that.
White Fang's former subordinates?
Bullshit!
Qian Ye hid behind a thick tree trunk, staring at their blank masks as he cursed inwardly.
This was clearly Root!
No matter how dissatisfied White Fang's former subordinates were, they would never all wear standardized black clothing without even a clan emblem, much less these blank masks meant to erase individuality.
That old scheming bastard Danzo!
Qian Ye instantly understood the whole scheme.
Intercept the escort team, kill Pakura, and sabotage the peace talks.
Then pin the blame on Hatake Sakumo's former subordinates and thoroughly grind White Fang's reputation into the mud.
Two birds with one stone.
Truly vicious.
"Protect the prison cart!"
Hyuga Tianfeng knew nothing of the political twists behind this. He only knew that the mission absolutely could not fail.
Tianfeng stomped hard on the ground and took the initiative to meet A, who was charging at the front.
"Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms!"
Blue chakra flared around Tianfeng's hands as his palms struck fiercely toward A's vital acupoints.
A had no intention of dodging.
He held the Short Blade in a reverse grip and poured chakra into it.
An exceptionally dazzling white light flashed through the forest.
Hatake Style Swordsmanship!
Fast.
Fast beyond belief.
A's Short Blade dragged an afterimage through the air as it slashed directly at Tianfeng's neck.
Tianfeng was shocked. Although his Byakugan saw the blade's trajectory clearly, his body nearly could not keep up.
He forcibly twisted his waist and slapped the side of the blade with his left palm, knocking it aside.
His right hand formed into a blade and stabbed viciously toward A's chest.
Pff.
A neither dodged nor blocked, allowing Tianfeng's Gentle Fist to strike the acupoint on his left chest.
Using that force, A flipped his wrist and dragged the Short Blade downward.
Rip!
A terrifying gash opened across Tianfeng's right thigh, and blood instantly sprayed out.
"You!"
Tianfeng let out a muffled grunt and dropped to one knee, quickly striking the acupoints around the wound to stop the bleeding.
He had never expected his opponent to use such a mutually injuring style.
This was not how normal ninja fought.
This was a suicide soldier!
On the other side, Uchiha Yan had already drawn the Ninja Sword from his back.
The scarlet One-Tomoe Sharingan in his eyes spun wildly.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Yan rapidly formed seals, his chest swelling as a massive fireball erupted from his mouth and shot straight toward B.
B did not even slow down.
He bent his legs, exerted force, and leaped directly over the fireball.
In midair, B formed seals with both hands.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!"
Several razor-sharp wind blades shot from B's mouth, instantly slicing apart the fireball's lingering flames and hurtling toward Uchiha Yan's face.
Yan raised his Ninja Sword to block.
Clang! Clang!
The wind blades crashed against the blade, numbing Yan's hands and nearly knocking the Ninja Sword from his grip.
Before he could catch his breath, B had already landed and rushed in at terrifying speed.
Yan's One-Tomoe frantically tracked B's movements.
He saw it!
Left!
Yan swung his sword violently to the left.
But B's body twisted at an incredibly strange angle in midair, evading the blade. His right leg came down in a vicious axe kick with a piercing whistle.
Bang!
B's heel smashed heavily into Yan's shoulder.
Yan felt half his body go numb in an instant. His entire body sank uncontrollably, and both knees crashed heavily into the ground.
"Too slow."
The voice beneath B's mask was utterly flat.
He turned and delivered a side kick directly into Uchiha Yan's abdomen.
Blegh!
Yan spat out a mouthful of blood and flew backward, slamming heavily into a tree trunk more than ten meters away. He slid down and could not even stand.
The battle on Ino–Shika–Cho's side was just as brutal.
"Human Boulder!"
The Akimichi clan's fat boy had only just expanded his body before he could begin rolling.
Two Root lackeys tossed out four Explosive Tags with perfect coordination, precisely sticking them along the route he was about to roll through.
Boom!
The fat boy was blasted into a filthy mess. He forcibly dispelled the technique and staggered back while clutching his burned arm.
"Shadow Imitation Technique!"
The young man of the Nara clan formed seals with both hands, and the shadow beneath his feet stretched rapidly, attempting to restrain the two Root lackeys.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several Senbon crackling with lightning shot down from the trees and embedded themselves directly along the shadow's path.
Lightning-nature chakra instantly severed the shadow's extension.
"Damn it! They know our ninjutsu too well!"
The Nara Boy gritted his teeth and drew a Kunai, preparing for close combat.
The Yamanaka clan girl was being forced into a desperate struggle by two Root lackeys.
Her prized Mind Body Switch Technique could find no opening against enemies who moved at high speed and held a numerical advantage.
If her technique failed, her body would fall unconscious.
The entire escort team completely collapsed in less than two minutes.
The young masters and ladies of the clans might have been strong when sparring in the village.
But against these Root machines that had crawled out of piles of corpses and existed only to kill, the gap in practical combat experience was infinitely magnified.
Qian Ye crouched behind the tree trunk, watching his teammates roll around across the ground with a deeply furrowed brow.
The situation was completely ruined.
Hyuga Tianfeng had taken a blade to the thigh, cutting his combat strength in half.
Uchiha Yan lay on the ground coughing up blood.
Ino–Shika–Cho had been separated and surrounded, their situation perilous.
Near the prison cart, Pakura had been blasted out and fallen into the grass.
Chakra Suppression Shackles still bound her wrists and ankles, leaving her completely unable to move.
A Root lackey carrying a Short Blade strode toward Pakura.
His mission was to silence her.
Pakura stared at the blank mask drawing closer and clenched her teeth.
Was she, Sunagakure's ace, really going to die at the hands of such a nameless nobody?
The lackey raised his Short Blade and stabbed viciously toward Pakura's heart.
Bang!
An abrupt gunshot exploded through the forest.
A spray of blood burst from the lackey's right thigh. He lost his balance and plunged headfirst to the ground beside Pakura's feet.
Pakura froze.
She turned her head and looked toward the sound of the gunshot.
Qian Ye stepped out from behind the tree trunk, holding that strangely shaped revolver in his hand, wisps of smoke still rising from its muzzle.
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