Into the Land of Fire

A shook his head and rejected Chiba Shun and the others' suggestion. "Konoha is fighting one against four again this time. They'll have to mobilize the entire village's ninja. How could that happen so quickly?"

"I won't go too deep. Just another ten kilometers ahead."

Chiba Shun, Sakai Yushi, and Killer B exchanged glances and all nodded.

Then the four of them quickly headed deeper into the Land of Fire.

After advancing for a while, the four would stop and wait for Chiba Shun to use his sensory ninjutsu.

A moment later, Chiba Shun suddenly said, "Found them. There are actually two four-man squads ahead!"

A said, "Kill our way through!"

With that, he charged in the direction Chiba Shun had indicated without even checking how strong the enemy was.

The other three did not dare delay and hurried after him.

Compared to the others, Chiba Shun specialized more in ninjutsu, so he stayed behind the three of them and kept some distance.

After only a few steps, Chiba Shun said, "Not good. They found us too. They have a ninja skilled in sensing as well."

He did not need to point it out. The two sides were already close enough that A and the other two had noticed the enemy's movements.

A was not surprised. The ones they encountered here were surely Konoha reconnaissance squads. Was it strange for them to have a sensory ninja?

To keep them from escaping, A accelerated even further.

Among the four, Chiba Shun held the lowest rank and was only a Special Jonin. The other three were all Jonin.

However, including Chiba Shun, all four were skilled in taijutsu and extremely fast.

Most of the Konoha ninja in those two squads were merely Chunin, and their speed was nowhere near that of Chiba Shun's group.

Before long, the four saw the Konoha ninja.

Knowing they could not escape, the Konoha ninja had already formed up and prepared for battle.

Without slowing down, A charged toward them and said, "So it's the Byakugan. No wonder they spotted us so quickly."

Sure enough, one of the Konoha ninja was from the Hyuga Clan.

Of course, he had to be from the branch family.

Akira Hyuga was beginning to regret it. The Byakugan was the foremost bloodline limit for reconnaissance, far more useful than the Aburame Clan's Kikaichū or the Inuzuka Clan's ninja hounds. However, activating the Byakugan consumed chakra, so the Hyuga Clan only used it for reconnaissance intermittently.

He had waited quite a while before activating the Byakugan to scout again.

After all, this was already the heart of the Land of Fire. He had not expected these four Kumogakure ninja to be so bold as to penetrate this deeply.

By the time he saw Chiba Shun's group, they were already charging toward his squad.

If only I had activated the Byakugan earlier! Akira Hyuga thought through gritted teeth.

But this was no time to think about that. The battle had already begun.

A charged at all eight enemies alone, while Killer B and Sakai Yushi launched assaults from both flanks.

All three unleashed powerful chakra.

The hearts of the two Konoha Jonin, including Akira Hyuga, sank.

They only had two Jonin, while the enemy had three.

Moreover, judging by A and Killer B's presence, they did not seem like ordinary Jonin.

Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique! Wind Release: Breakthrough! Two Chunin worked together flawlessly, launching a combined ninjutsu attack at A.

Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet! A Jonin unleashed his strongest Water Release technique at Killer B.

Akira Hyuga charged at the last one, Sakai Yushi.

He believed Sakai Yushi was the weakest of the three and intended to eliminate him first before supporting his other companions.

Besides that, countless kunai, shuriken, and Explosive Tags were hurled at the three of them.

A few were thrown toward Chiba Shun as well, though not many. After all, his presence was the weakest among the four.

Chiba Shun's chakra reserves had been the lowest of the group to begin with, and after several hard battles earlier, he did not have much chakra left. Chiba Shun smiled faintly. This was perfect.

He had been forming hand seals ever since he began approaching the Konoha ninja.

At last, his lengthy sequence of hand seals was complete. He dodged several kunai, slapped both hands against the ground, and shouted dramatically, "Earth Release: Mountain Earth Technique!"

This was the first time Chiba Shun had truly used the Earth Release: Mountain Earth Technique, and also the first time he had used it in actual combat.

All his previous attempts during practice had failed. Whenever he had used the Earth Release: Mountain Earth Technique before, the two hemispherical rocks had run out of momentum before they could close together.

But this time, Chiba Shun felt that he might be able to pull it off!

Chiba Shun did not know that this was precisely the improvement of will through battle that he had thought would be difficult to achieve.

A sensed it and smiled faintly. He had greatly disliked Chiba Shun's overly cautious style of fighting before.

That was why he had chosen to take the risk of venturing deep into the Land of Fire—to use its dangers to force Chiba Shun's hand.

The facts proved that his gamble had paid off. Chiba Shun must have felt the danger and decided to end the fight quickly. At last, he was going all out!

Now that was more like a Kumogakure ninja. Spending every day playing schemes and tricks—how was that like a Kumogakure ninja at all?

With both hands pressed against the ground, Chiba Shun poured in chakra with all his strength and did his best to control it according to the description on the ninjutsu scroll Danzo had given him.

He did not have much chakra left, so he should not have been able to succeed. But while running over, he had swallowed a soldier pill, and while pouring out chakra, he forcibly refined more without regard for the damage to himself.

Finally, on either side of the tight defensive formation formed by the six Konoha Chunin, two enormous hemispherical rocks rose from the ground.

The gigantic hemispherical rocks rapidly squeezed toward the ninja in the center.

Moreover, this time, they closed far faster than in any of his previous attempts.

Seeing hope of success, Chiba Shun's spirits surged, and he accelerated his chakra extraction once more.

The six Konoha Chunin were terrified. Why were these Kumogakure ninja risking their lives right from the start?

Was that Kumogakure ninja who had cast the technique insane? Why had his ninjutsu trapped even his own companions inside?

Furthermore, the enemy's chakra fluctuations were abnormal. It seemed as though he was forcing himself to use a ninjutsu beyond his abilities.

Was that really necessary?!

They clearly held the advantage, so why were they going all out from the very beginning?

Konoha's previously tight formation immediately fell apart. They could no longer spare any attention for A's charge and scattered in every direction.

But that was exactly what Chiba Shun wanted. A completely ignored Chiba Shun's Earth Release: Mountain Earth Technique and continued charging into the Konoha ninja.

He practically took them down one punch at a time, defeating the Konoha ninja who had abandoned all defense in their desperation to flee.

Of the six Chunin, four died at A's hands. The last two, while avoiding A's attacks, failed to escape the Earth Release: Mountain Earth Technique's range and were crushed into pulp.

A, Sakai Yushi, Killer B, and Konoha's two Jonin, all of whom had also been caught in the attack, escaped in time.

Chiba Shun did not stop the ninjutsu just because A had successfully broken through their defenses. He knew his current state was rare. If he gave up now, he might not get another opportunity like this for years.

"Aahhh!" He completed the Earth Release: Mountain Earth Technique amid a roar.

His chakra was instantly drained dry, including the chakra provided by the soldier pill and the chakra he had forcibly refined during battle.

As he watched the two hemispherical rocks finally close together, Chiba Shun collapsed onto the ground and panted heavily. Yet a smile still appeared on his face.

Whew, he had finally succeeded!

On Konoha's side, Akira Hyuga and the other Jonin exchanged a glance and prepared to flee.

Akira Hyuga had originally intended to kill Sakai Yushi first, but his subordinates had been dealt with too quickly, ruining his plan.

But it was clearly too late to think of running now. Killer B and the other two had already entangled them.

Akira Hyuga truly deserved to be a Jonin of the Hyuga Clan. Facing Sakai Yushi's Five-Sword Style swordsmanship and A's attacks, he was not killed immediately.

Instead, the last Jonin was directly taken down by Killer B alone.

A might have felt embarrassed that his younger brother had beaten him to it. Just as he was about to put more force into killing Akira Hyuga—

Chiba Shun weakly said, "Senior A, hold back. Yushi, stop. Spare that Hyuga!"

Sakai Yushi immediately stopped upon hearing that. A hesitated for a moment but did not attack again.

However, he directly blocked Akira Hyuga's path back to the village to prevent him from escaping, then looked at Chiba Shun to see what he intended.

Chiba Shun was still gasping and could not speak for the moment, so he pointed at Akira Hyuga, then at his own eyes.

A frowned. "He's from the Hyuga branch family. You can't obtain his eyes!"

Given A's status, he naturally knew about the Caged Bird.

And A did not believe Chiba Shun was unaware of something like that.

Sure enough, after catching his breath for a while, Chiba Shun said, "Of course I know that. But..."

Chiba Shun looked at Akira Hyuga and asked, "Senior of the Hyuga Clan, may I ask your name?"

Akira Hyuga frowned but did not answer.

Chiba Shun continued on his own, "Some time ago, I visited Konoha and was deeply impressed by its prosperity."

"Every ninja and civilian in Konoha Village radiates confidence and unity. The Will of Fire is indeed powerful."

"But I also noticed that amid such a harmonious atmosphere, there was a group of people who seemed completely out of place."

Akira Hyuga's heart stirred. He knew Chiba Shun was talking about people like him.

Sure enough, Chiba Shun said, "That's right. That group is your Hyuga branch family."

"Konoha is one big family. Everyone is free—except you. You are a flock of caged birds!"

"You are slaves to the Hyuga main family! Your lives and deaths are controlled by a single thought from the Hyuga main family!"

After a pause, Chiba Shun said, "Senior of the Hyuga Clan, do you want to break free from the cage?"

Akira Hyuga's breathing quickened. Of course he did. What member of the Hyuga branch family had never entertained such thoughts?

But then he thought of the curse mark on his forehead, and his heart returned to dead silence.

He did not believe Kumogakure's sealing techniques could undo the Caged Bird.

The Caged Bird was impossible to break.

Moreover, he did not have much time. Once the village learned that he had disappeared, the main family could remotely activate the Caged Bird and kill him on the spot!

This was not as though it had never happened before!