Uchiha Lan Is Dead

Inasui frowned deeply. "Captain, at least let us brothers come with you, or let Tetsuka scout ahead alone..."

Uchiha Tetsuka: Huh? Are you even speaking human language?

"Execute the order!"

Uchiha Lan turned his head slightly, his scarlet three-tomoe Sharingan appearing especially profound in the dim light.

"The Will of Fire the village speaks of is not about treating ninja as expendable resources. It is about willingly becoming burning green leaves to protect the weak."

With that, Uchiha Lan stepped alone into the trap the Hidden Sand ninja had painstakingly prepared.

Watching his retreating back, even the twenty Chunin temporarily assigned to them could not help but feel moved.

It could only be said that in a world that valued nothing but strength, the power of talk-no-jutsu was still far too potent—especially talk-no-jutsu enhanced by the system.

It was hardly any weaker than a protagonist's halo.

Only one person remained unaffected.

Uchiha Tetsuka: Ah, so I'm still very weak in the captain's eyes!

Inside Gale-Splitting Gorge.

Uchiha Lan lightly leaped onto a boulder and moved close along the cold cliff face.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

An extremely faint sound of projectiles slicing through the air, almost entirely masked by the wind, came from behind a protruding rock overhead!

Needles as thin as cow hairs, gleaming with a ghostly blue sheen from poison, shot treacherously toward Uchiha Lan's back!

Uchiha Lan did not even turn around. He merely tilted his head and twisted aside slightly. The poison needles brushed past his hair and embedded themselves in the rock wall behind him with a ding, their tails still trembling.

With a flick of his wrist, a kunai silently appeared between his fingers. His arm swung backward and upward at a bizarre angle!

Thud!

A muffled groan sounded, followed by the noise of a heavy body hitting the ground.

Behind the rock, a sentry dressed in Hidden Sand camouflage clutched the wound in his throat, precisely pierced through by the kunai. His wide eyes were filled with disbelief and frozen terror as his twitching body slid down.

Deep within Gale-Splitting Gorge, in a cave concealed behind a massive stalactite, Chahachiro was observing the mouth of the gorge through a hovering eyeball-shaped miniature puppet.

When he saw Uchiha Lan's team stop instead of charging headfirst into the encirclement as expected, a trace of sinister disappointment appeared on his paint-smeared face.

"Tch, so they noticed? The Uchiha Clan's Sharingan really is troublesome..."

He muttered hoarsely, "But hehehe, you happen to be our primary target! Uchiha Lan, do it!"

He directly gave the order to the puppeteers around him.

Meanwhile.

After using his Sharingan to deal with several exposed sentries, Uchiha Lan spotted a palm-sized ocher flag covered in intricate runes planted in an exceptionally hidden recess high on the rock wall ahead.

The flag itself emitted only weak chakra fluctuations, but through the Sharingan, it seemed like a node connected to several equally concealed rune marks on the surrounding cliff walls!

"A sensory barrier? No... a triggered sealing and binding trap!"

Alarm bells rang in Uchiha Lan's mind.

The Hidden Sand ambush was far more than just a few sentries! This gorge itself had likely been transformed into a massive cage!

Before the words had faded, a sudden change erupted!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Countless Explosive Tags on both sides of the gorge detonated at once. The deafening blasts shook the air as shattered rocks poured down like a torrential rain, instantly sealing both the front and rear exits!

Immediately afterward, a thick purple poisonous fog, dark as ink, surged from the depths of the gorge like floodwaters bursting through a collapsed dam, accompanied by even more violent, chaotic currents as it swept toward him!

The toxic fog churned as it advanced, and even the hard rock surfaces it passed gave off faint sizzling sounds of corrosion!

"The plan to surround and kill Uchiha has begun!"

Faint shouts filled with killing intent came from above.

"Yes!"

"I guess so!"

At the same time, piercing whistles and dense sounds of projectiles cutting through the air rang out from the tops of the towering cliff walls on both sides of the gorge!

Countless flaming explosive kunai, poisoned senbon, massive Fuma Shuriken, and all manner of Wind Release ninjutsu poured down like a rainstorm.

Their target was the relatively open area in the middle of the gorge, where he had just cleared out the sentries!

Clearly, the Hidden Sand ninja had not failed to notice the sentries' losses. They had activated their prearranged saturation attack plan!

A giant wave of purple poison fog in front, and a deadly storm of ninja tools behind!

For an ordinary Jonin, this would have been an absolute dead end!

"Chahachiro... he really prepared a 'grand gift.'"

"Hidden Sand... they really are ruthless! So this is what a real 'ambush' is?"

A cold curve lifted at the corner of Uchiha Lan's mouth.

"Earth Release: Earth-Style Rampart!"

A massive earthen wall rose from the ground, only to be instantly torn apart by the torrent of ninja tools raining down upon it.

Purple poison fog continuously seeped through the cracks in the earthen wall.

Meanwhile, his scarlet Sharingan erupted with red light amid the roiling poison fog and the cold gleam of ninja tools filling the sky. Its three tomoe transformed into three sickle-shaped blades.

He had never believed his Earth Release mastery could block Hidden Sand's attacks. That towering rampart was merely there to conceal his real trump card.

"Susanoo!"

A massive red skeletal half-body of Susanoo instantly condensed around him, its arms crossed as it shielded Uchiha Lan within.

The many Wind Release ninjutsu and ninja tools crashed against Susanoo's surface with crackling impacts, yet they could not penetrate its solid defense.

The poison fog was troublesome, but he had prepared for it. He first gave himself an antidote injection, and then, of course—

He activated the weird skill—Diving!

Why had he not used it sooner? Because he still needed to set up a few little things.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

When the fierce wind swept up the sand and dust, the scene within came into view.

A figure wearing a Konoha Jonin flak jacket lay on the ground, his back bristling with kunai and shuriken.

"Roar!"

"Yosh, we got him!"

"Beautiful!"

Cheers suddenly erupted one after another.

What Konoha Spark, elite Jonin, puppeteer nemesis—under their combined attack, he was still nothing but trash.

What they did not know was that several years later, when Kirigakure ninja ambushed and killed the First Beauty of Hokage's Back, Yekura, they would do the same thing—and think the exact same way.

Seeing that Uchiha Lan seemed to be dead, Chahachiro, who had been hiding cautiously the entire time, finally dared to show himself.

A group of Hidden Sand ninja surrounded him and showered him with praise.

Surrounded by the Hidden Sand ninja like a victorious general returning from battle, Chahachiro finally revealed a gleeful smile of avenged hatred on that young old face of his.

The Hidden Sand ninja around him cheered even more excitedly, as though they could already see the immense merits that Konoha Spark's downfall would bring.

"What Konoha Spark? He was nothing special!"

One Hidden Sand ninja spat smugly.

"Before Lord Chahachiro's schemes, no matter how formidable someone is, they still have to lie down!"

"Exactly! Puppeteers are the strongest!"

Chahachiro basked in the belated flattery, and even his steps became noticeably lighter.