Chaos in Otogakure

Chiba Shun looked at the two men. Neither wore a forehead protector, and he could not understand what connection they had to Otogakure Shinobi Village.

But since Yuchuan had no intention of joining forces with the other man against him, that worked out perfectly.

He nodded. "Fine!"

Chiba Shun did not waste any words. Since he had decided to fight, he immediately began forming hand seals.

Sakamoto Kei's expression changed when he saw that. He immediately shouted, "Attack!"

As he spoke, he began forming hand seals as well.

Some of his subordinates hurled concealed weapons at Chiba Shun, while the rest launched attacks toward Yuchuan.

The battle erupted once more.

However, Sakamoto Kei was clearly slower at forming hand seals than Chiba Shun, not to mention that Chiba Shun had seized the initiative.

Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!

The ground beneath Sakamoto Kei's group immediately turned into a bog.

One person after another sank into the swamp, unable to move.

The jutsu Sakamoto Kei had been preparing was interrupted as well.

When the Jonin named Yuchuan saw this, he was overjoyed. He hurriedly ordered his subordinates to kill Sakamoto Kei's people one by one with ranged attacks.

After casting the jutsu, Chiba Shun did not linger. He led the three children around the battlefield from one side.

Yuchuan did not pursue them. He needed to deal with Sakamoto Kei first.

Although Sakamoto Kei had fallen into the swamp, as a ninjutsu-focused ninja, he could still use jutsu to resist.

The battle between the two sides was fierce, but the outcome had long been decided. Everyone, including Sakamoto Kei, was ultimately dealt with.

Yuchuan let out a long breath and said, "Recover quickly, then go after that fat sheep!"

"That guy is traveling with three rookies. He must be from a major Shinobi Village. After using two A-rank Jutsu in a row, he probably doesn't have much chakra left!"

"Ninjas from major Shinobi Villages definitely carry plenty of good stuff. He might even have high-level jutsu scrolls!"

"We'll go together, and split all the spoils equally!"

The others immediately burst into cheers!

Just then, the ground beneath them suddenly rippled.

Yuchuan was startled and stumbled, nearly falling over.

But he was a Jonin after all, and his reaction was fast. Realizing he had been ambushed, he leaped out of the range of the Earth Release: Earth Wave Technique.

The moment he landed, he scanned his surroundings, trying to locate the enemy.

Yet everywhere he looked, his subordinates were crying out under the effects of the Earth Release: Earth Wave Technique. Some were struggling to keep their balance, while others had already fallen to the ground.

Behind them stood a figure with both palms pressed against the ground, clearly the caster of the Earth Release: Earth Wave Technique.

Yuchuan relaxed. It was good enough that he had found the enemy. Although the Earth Release: Earth Wave Technique had disrupted their formation, it had no killing power. His men would recover soon enough.

He only needed to keep a close eye on him and prevent him from using any other offensive jutsu.

Once his side regrouped, taking down the opponent should not be difficult.

But just then, a hand suddenly reached out from the soil beneath him and grabbed his ankle.

Yuchuan's heart jolted, and he blurted out, "Damn it, it's a Clone Technique!"

Even as that thought crossed his mind, the long blade in his hand had already slashed toward that hand.

His experience was solid, and his judgment was accurate. Chiba Shun had indeed used the Clone Technique.

While they had been dealing with Sakamoto Kei and his subordinates, Chiba Shun had not actually left. After creating an Earth Release: Earth Clone, he had returned.

Then his real body had burrowed underground, while the clone cast the B-rank Earth Release: Earth Wave Technique.

Busy dealing with the enemies right before him, Yuchuan had failed to notice Chiba Shun's return.

By the time he realized he had fallen into a trap, it was too late.

Before his blade could strike Chiba Shun's hand, he felt the world spin, and then he found himself in a completely dark environment.

He also felt a wave of suffocation, as if someone were choking him by the throat.

He instinctively tried to raise his hand and pull away whatever was around his neck, only to discover in horror that he could not move at all.

In his panic, he hurriedly mobilized his chakra.

But this time, Chiba Shun's real body had been continuously maintaining the chakra for the Heartless Decapitation Technique.

One side was prepared, while the other resisted in haste. The outcome was obvious.

Yuchuan failed to break through Chiba Shun's chakra seal immediately.

When he understood what was happening and gathered a large amount of chakra to forcefully break through Chiba Shun's chakra seal, he discovered that it was not only Chiba Shun's chakra blocking him, but also the surrounding earth.

He failed again.

After that failure, he no longer had any chance to resist. The suffocation had already thrown him into complete panic.

By the time the people on the surface recovered from the Earth Release: Earth Wave Technique and destroyed Chiba Shun's Earth Release: Earth Clone, Yuchuan had already gone completely silent.

Chiba Shun emerged from underground with Yuchuan's corpse and coldly glanced at the group.

Watching Chiba Shun casually toss their leader's corpse aside, they all swallowed hard and looked at one another.

Just as they hesitated over whether to rush him together, Chiba Shun secretly formed a hand seal and used the Body Flicker Technique, instantly closing in on the two people nearest to him.

With two flashes of his blade, he killed them both.

The man on the left merely had his neck cut through, while the man on the right was cleaved in half at the waist by Chiba Shun's chakra-conducting long blade!

Frightened by that sight, the group immediately scattered in all directions.

No one considered how much chakra Chiba Shun had left, or whether he could still fight.

All they knew was that Chiba Shun had directly killed eight people with a single Earth Release: Mountain Earth Technique; trapped dozens of people, including Sakamoto Kei, with one Swamp of the Underworld, leaving them like lambs for slaughter; and then killed their leader before they could even react.

If that had been all, they might have considered rushing Chiba Shun and fighting the ninjutsu-focused Jonin in close combat. But the Body Flicker Technique and taijutsu Chiba Shun displayed were both stronger than theirs.

That horrifying sight of one slash splitting two people had utterly severed their will to fight.

Such a powerful expert was far too terrifying. Even if he had little chakra left, even if they could win in the end, they would still have to sacrifice several lives—perhaps even more than ten.

They did not want to be the unlucky ones.

Seeing that the group had finally left, Chiba Shun finally let out a sigh of relief.

His total chakra reserves were indeed still not that high. At most, he could barely cast three A-rank Jutsu.

After using the Earth Release: Mountain Earth Technique and Swamp of the Underworld, he no longer had enough chakra left to cast another A-rank Jutsu.

At that point, he could only use a trick and kill Yuchuan, the strongest among them, with three B-rank Jutsu.

And in order to trap Yuchuan underground until he died, the chakra consumed by Chiba Shun's Heartless Decapitation Technique had definitely exceeded that of a single B-rank Jutsu. His chakra was nearly exhausted now.

If the remaining people had rushed him together then, he truly could only have fled.

Chiba Shun believed he had a chance of escaping pursuit by a group of lower- and mid-ranked ninjas without unified command, but his three little followers would not have had that chance.

That was why Chiba Shun chose to reveal himself and scare them away.

A short while later, the three children nervously returned to the vicinity of the battlefield. Seeing that Chiba Shun was unharmed, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

Chiba Shun pulled the Jonin named Sakamoto Kei from the swamp and had Ayana seal his corpse away together with Yuchuan's.

Chiba Shun had expended quite a lot this time, so he directly handed the task of cleaning up the battlefield to the three children.

Amid the children's excited cheers, one piece of loot after another was collected.

These ninjas might truly have been connected to Otogakure Shinobi Village. Their belongings did not look like those of wandering ninjas, and they carried quite a few valuable items.

Chiba Shun estimated that their haul this time was worth more than two hundred thousand ryo.

Chiba Shun patted his ninja tool pouch in satisfaction, then led the three children to a nearby town to rest for several days.

After staying in the town for a few days, the four of them finally learned about the current situation in the Land of Fields.

A power struggle had broken out within Otogakure Shinobi Village, and someone had launched a coup.

Most incredibly, the coup had ended with both sides badly wounded, leaving no winner.

At present, no clear faction in the Land of Fields could claim to represent Otogakure Shinobi Village.

The two sides Chiba Shun's group had encountered were likely both from the former Otogakure Shinobi Village, fighting over legitimacy, only for Chiba Shun to disrupt everything.

After resting up, Chiba Shun had no intention of getting involved in the Land of Fields' civil strife again, so he quickly left the country with the three children.

After passing through the Land of Fields and entering the Land of Iron, they encountered far fewer problems.

It was not that there were no ninjas in the Land of Iron, but the country was rather hostile toward ninjas, who generally did not stay for long.

Chiba Shun's group was merely passing through, so the people of the Land of Iron did not trouble them.

But if they stayed there for an extended period or carried out missions within the Land of Iron, powerful samurai might come looking for them.

Watching the passing samurai, Ayana quietly asked Chiba Shun, "Teacher Shun, are these samurai very strong?"

Chiba Shun said, "There are powerful people among the samurai. The strongest person in the Land of Iron should be on the same level as our Kage."

"Ah?!" the three children cried out.

They had originally thought samurai were merely a group of weak people who could not use chakra.

Chiba Shun said, "Use your brains. If samurai were truly weak, how could the Land of Iron remain neutral among the Five Great Nations?"

"The weak do not even have the right to choose their own side!"

"That's true!" The three children seemed to have discovered some great truth and were all excited.

The Land of Iron was not suitable for a long stay, so the four traveled at a forced-march pace, intending to pass through quickly.

Originally, none of them had any interest in learning about the customs of the Land of Iron.

Unexpectedly, when they passed through a small town in the Land of Iron, they came across a grand festival.

The people of the Land of Iron were more conservative than those of other countries and had preserved many traditions.

This included not only the samurai heritage, but also many customs passed down from thousands of years ago.

For example, Chiba Shun saw this grand festival worshipping the Rabbit Goddess.

All the wealthy people in the town participated, and many rich and famous figures had come from elsewhere to pray to the Rabbit Goddess.

There were quite a few people from outside the Land of Iron, including even some ninjas wearing forehead protectors.

The three children had never seen such a grand event before, and they all looked at Chiba Shun with hopeful expressions.