Retaliation

Swish, swish—!

Goenji casually pinned a kunai into a tree, an explosive tag hanging from it.

"Those guys from Kirigakure."

As he moved, trap after trap fell into place.

He displayed his most proficient side in shinobi operations: the creation of traps.

Yet his gaze was filled with fury.

His formidable brain told him that the lives of Ryoma and Ze were likely hanging by a thread.

The enemy had dispatched four Jonin, and all of them were such tricky bastards. Given his current strength, if he faced more than two, he could very well die.

There are no comrades nearby who can suppress these four, nor is there a main force. I probably have to head toward the main force or headquarters before anyone can coordinate an attack and wipe them out.

Goenji felt extremely distressed right now; the companions he worked with might die today just like that.

Yet he understood that with his present strength, facing numerous elite Jonin, he was simply no match for them.

If it were just one person, he had the confidence to beat them to death.

If there were more than two, there was no chance.

Currently, only an encirclement by the main force or coordination with numerous Jonin could possibly take down those four Kirigakure ninja.

Just where did those guys pop out from? No such powerful characters appeared in the original work, not even a hint of a sign.

One could only say that a village so large, with ten or twenty thousand ninja, it really wouldn't make sense if a few elites didn't emerge.

The ones who appeared in the original work were simply the more famous and outstanding among their elites.

Bang, bang, bang—!

Behind Goenji came the sound of an explosive tag detonating.

A pure white figure danced amidst the ice, gliding rapidly.

This Body Flicker Technique is really fast. Luckily it was me who pursued; if someone else had chased, they probably would've run off in no time.

Fubuki Shiro wore a gentle smile as he looked ahead at Goenji, who was fleeing incessantly, and analyzed inwardly.

Kirigakure had already investigated Uchiha Goenji's abilities.

They knew he was an extremely well-rounded shinobi.

Especially in Fire Release and the Body Flicker Technique, he was formidable indeed.

As for himself, he was formerly a member of Kirigakure's pursuit force, specializing in hunting down rogue ninja, so in terms of the Body Flicker Technique, he was also a top-tier expert in Kirigakure, which was why the village had dispatched him.

Bang—!

With another explosion, a large tree toppled in front of Fubuki Shiro. He smiled faintly, leaped high to gracefully leave the tree behind him, caused an ice trail to form beneath his feet, and continued his pursuit.

"Still, I can't let you escape so easily."

Fubuki Shiro looked at the distance between them, knowing that relying solely on the Body Flicker Technique made it difficult to catch up to Goenji; he could only keep pace.

This was disadvantageous for their plan.

Moreover, with his own strength, he wasn't certain he could take Goenji down. The opponent had already recalled the shadow clone that had clashed with Munashi Jinpachi and returned to his peak condition.

He had to stall Goenji and wait for his teammates to arrive.

As for those teammates of his, Fubuki Shiro strongly agreed with their strength.

His hands formed hand seals rapidly.

Ice Release: Legend of the Hungry Wolf.

Awoo~--!

Goenji kept observing as he hurried along, and upon hearing the commotion, he looked back.

"Dammit."

Right behind him, a snow wolf surged into the sky, towering like the Akimichi clan's Expansion Jutsu, trampling the forest beneath its feet.

The snow rushed toward him like an avalanche.

The enemy's figure stepped on an ice snowboard, charging over like a skier.

Consuming so much chakra just to catch up to me—you're truly going to any lengths to kill me, aren't you afraid of dying here yourself?

Goenji felt the enemy drawing closer and complained inwardly.

His Sharingan could already tell that the opponent's chakra was now heavily depleted, but the enemy's ninjutsu was no joke either, genuinely keeping pace with his Body Flicker Technique.

He had to remember that his current Body Flicker Technique was not inferior to Body Flicker Shisui, and his speed was among the best of the best among shinobi.

Snake - Boar - Monkey - Boar - Horse - Tiger - Tiger...

Fire Release: Modified Majestic Destroyer Flame.

Goenji turned his head, driving his body with his memory to flip backward off a tree while gathering a massive amount of chakra in his mouth.

This time he was going to use a massive amount of chakra, employ it, and push the lever to the extreme.

If I survive this disaster, even if I have to risk my life, I'll become stronger.

Although Goenji had worked very hard to become stronger, he hadn't expected to still encounter this kind of trouble.

He still wasn't strong enough. If he had Hashirama Senju's strength, handling this kind of scene would be child's play.

Boom—!

The Majestic Destroyer Flame spewed forth.

Blazing flames consuming the heavens—that described Goenji using Fire Release at maximum power.

The entire forest seemed plunged into a clash between fire and snow, with the shockwave spreading far and wide.

The intertwining of ice and snow.

In the distance, flocks of birds scattered, screeching and flying wildly.

As for the birds close by, they were instantly charred to a crisp, then turned to dust and vanished on the spot.

The torrent of the ninjutsu clash blew the dust away.

Beasts on the ground that failed to escape in time turned into roasted whole beasts, while those farther away were scalded into howling.

Other beasts were directly blanketed by ice and snow, receiving an ice burial.

That is.

A few kilometers away from the battlefield, Shisui Uchiha stood on a tree branch on one foot, watching the scene of ice and snow clashing in the distance.

His Sharingan tomoe emerged, pulling his field of vision straight in.

It's Big Brother Goenji, and Kirigakure's Ice Release.

Kirigakure's Ice Release was far too famous; Shisui instantly knew that Kirigakure was indeed making a move against them.

They had targeted him a few times before as well, though he had counterkilled or evaded them.

This time, it seemed they had pulled out even more powerful methods against Big Brother Goenji.

Swish, swish—!

After confirming, Shisui did not delay, rushing rapidly toward the battlefield.

Whoosh, whoosh—!

"What happened?"

Nara Yiming led his team following behind Shisui, also hearing the commotion and seeing the scene in the distance.

"Captain, it's Goenji and enemies with Kirigakure's Ice Release kekkei genkai." Behind him, the sensory ninja used ninjutsu to sense and reported to him.

"Not only that, three kilometers away from the enemy, two terrifying auras are approaching. It seems to be the enemy's companions, and Shisui has already caught up."

Nara Yiming said, "Hurry up and keep up. Don't let the enemy succeed."

"Yes."

Swish, swish—!

Rustle~

What is that thing? Hoshi Kaguya leaned against a concealed rock face, powerlessly letting his eyes fall to the ground as he watched bugs crawling toward him one by one.

Hmph, damn bugs, bullying me when I'm weak... No... Just as he wanted to complain a couple of times, he realized something was wrong. How could there be such bugs here?

Whoosh, whoosh—!

The moment the thought crossed his mind, he saw the bugs on the ground spring up like bullets, drilling straight through his skin.

Dammit, it's that guy from the Aburame clan. Hoshi Kaguya didn't even have the ability to consume life force to refine chakra anymore; he had used it all up earlier, and could only watch helplessly as the bugs entered his body.