Assassination

Chiba Shun's heart sank to the depths!

The only thing he excelled at was swordsmanship. Against ninjutsu-type ninja, it was not that he had an advantage, but that he could use fighting methods that played to his strengths and avoided his weaknesses, at least buying time.

But now, the other side was equally skilled in swordsmanship, and clearly far stronger than him.

Today, he was afraid the odds were against him.

These chaotic thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant as Chiba Shun raised his blade and met the attack.

The moment they clashed, Chiba Shun knew he was truly in danger. The opponent's swordsmanship was extremely fierce, and his blade was better than Chiba Shun's as well. After only a few exchanges, Chiba Shun had been completely suppressed.

At this man's level of swordsmanship, he could probably be called a Special Jonin!

If Chiba Shun's third and fourth blades had not appeared one after another and startled his opponent—and if that opponent had not seemed unwilling to be injured—Chiba Shun would already have been a corpse.

Meanwhile, the ninjutsu user had not been idle either. He directly formed hand seals and unleashed several Earth Spears in succession at Chiba Shun.

Chiba Shun was shocked. He did not care about his companion?

Or was he simply confident in his own strength?

Whatever the reason, Chiba Shun knew he was finished.

There was no way he could fend off a swordsmanship expert stronger than himself while dodging those Earth Spears at the same time!

Just then, a barrage of kunai and shuriken flew in from the side toward the swordsmanship expert.

Chiba Shun had no spare attention to notice it.

He only knew that the pressure on him suddenly lessened. For some reason, the man in front of him let him go, allowing him to quickly retreat.

With a wet slash, an Earth Spear grazed Chiba Shun's left hand, tearing away a chunk of flesh and making him stumble, nearly losing his footing.

If the swordsmanship expert had stepped forward to finish him with one strike now, Chiba Shun would have certainly died.

More accurately, if that swordsmanship expert had not retreated just now, Chiba Shun would already be dead.

At this moment, the swordsmanship expert's expression was extremely ugly. Although he had dodged the attack just now, he had not seen who had attacked him.

Only now did he realize that he had been played.

The ones attacking him were actually just a bunch of brats!

More importantly, what had those things thrown at him been?

Toy kunai? Toy shuriken?

How could such things possibly hurt him?

The troublemakers were children who had entered the Ninja Academy several years ago, all children whom Chiba Shun had previously taught how to climb walls.

Having heard the commotion today, they had all come out curiously to take a look.

A group of children who did not know their own limits only knew that their teacher was being bullied. Without caring about the difference in strength, they immediately threw kunai and shuriken at the enemies.

They were far too weak. Just now, someone's kunai had even been thrown at Chiba Shun!

Seeing that the little brats were preparing to throw more kunai, the swordsmanship Special Jonin's face darkened. He actually hurled a kunai with an Explosive Tag attached toward the crowd.

He did not dare ignore them, because he could not afford to be injured.

He still needed to remain undercover in Kumogakure. Once he was injured, he would most likely be exposed.

Boom!

An explosion rang out, followed by a chorus of agonized screams.

It was impossible to tell how many of the children had been killed or wounded.

But Chiba Shun had no time to care about that. He held his longsword in his uninjured hand and warily watched the two enemies.

Just as Chiba Shun thought the two would continue attacking, the ninjutsu user said, "Get out of here!"

"If you don't leave now, you may not be able to."

It had not been easy for Root to plant an intelligence ninja directly among Kumogakure's ranks. They could not discard him so easily.

The commotion from the Explosive Tag had been far too great. Who knew how many people were rushing here now?

After saying that, he immediately formed hand seals again, preparing to cast another ninjutsu.

However, upon hearing this, the swordsmanship ninja did not leave immediately. He had not given up yet and intended to charge one more time.

But before he could reach Chiba Shun, he stopped.

That was...

Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger?

That was right, the Great Fireball Technique!

As a Konoha intelligence ninja, how could he fail to recognize the ninjutsu that nearly every member of the Uchiha Clan knew?

Chiba Shun knew the Great Fireball Technique? And how was his hand seal speed so fast?

He had completed six seals in less than a second?

Six, perhaps even seven seals in a second? He had never heard of such a thing!

And Chiba Shun was proficient in Fire Release too? The intelligence reports had never mentioned it.

He hurriedly dodged to the side.

But in the next moment, he realized he had been fooled.

He was not merely a swordsmanship ninja; he was also skilled at sensing.

Yet he had not sensed any Fire-nature chakra from Chiba Shun.

Clearly, Chiba Shun had been bluffing him!

No wonder his hand seal speed had been so fast!

But it was already too late to realize that now.

Chiba Shun used the chance to widen the distance between them.

And after creating some distance, Chiba Shun began forming hand seals again.

This time, the swordsmanship ninja assessed them first and confirmed that Chiba Shun was genuinely forming seals.

Earth-Style Wall? The swordsmanship ninja recognized it.

Earth-Style Wall was a very common ninjutsu. He had seen it many times, so it was normal that he recognized it.

His hand seal speed was not bad, probably around 3.5 seals per second.

But he needed nine seals just to use an Earth-Style Wall. What a waste!

After half a year of effort, Chiba Shun had only raised his hand seal speed to 3.5 seals per second, while reducing the number of seals for Earth-Style Wall to nine.

But all of this seemed somewhat laughable in the eyes of the swordsmanship ninja.

Because in Konoha, ninjutsu like Earth-Style Wall was far too common. Any random Chunin could perform it with only six or seven seals.

The swordsmanship ninja hesitated no longer and decided to launch his final charge.

At the same time, he had already guessed the tactic Chiba Shun was about to use.

Before he could rush in front of Chiba Shun, a curved Earth-Style Wall rose from the ground, blocking the sightlines between him and his companion.

It also successfully blocked one of his companion's Earth Dragon Spear techniques.

Although the Earth-Style Wall had been smashed open with a huge gap, he still did not see Chiba Shun in it.

A breath later, a figure burst out from behind the Earth-Style Wall and rapidly fled to one side.

The swordsmanship ninja sneered inwardly. You think that little trick can fool me?

He merely threw two kunai at Chiba Shun while personally leaping over the Earth-Style Wall!

A clone wants to distract me? Dream on!

Huh?

The attack he had expected did not come. There was no one behind the Earth-Style Wall.

Could he be underground?

Just then, his companion's urgent voice rang out. "That was the real body! He ran! Retreat now!"

The swordsmanship ninja froze for a moment. He had actually been fooled again, and by such a simple trick?!

But it was too late to say anything now!

Knowing he had lost his final chance, the swordsmanship ninja gritted his teeth. No longer daring to hesitate, he leaped away from the Ninja Academy in several bounds.

The ninjutsu user merely cast a ninjutsu that served as a distraction before preparing to flee as well.

It sounded as though a long time had passed, but in truth, both sides had only used a few ninjutsu. Not much time had gone by.

Chiba Shun looked with lingering fear in the direction the swordsmanship ninja had fled, then immediately chased after the ninjutsu user.

That man was somewhat plump and did not look like a ninja at all.

Clearly, he was an intelligence ninja disguised as a civilian.

If he could not catch the mole, catching an intelligence ninja would do!

Chiba Shun did not attack. He merely trailed the man from afar.

He did not need to make a move. Someone would naturally do it for him!

Sure enough, after another dozen or so breaths, a flash of lightning suddenly appeared beside the man and sent him flying.

Chiba Shun was startled, then respectfully said, "Lord Raikage!"

That was right. The first person to arrive as reinforcements was actually the Third Raikage himself!

The Third Raikage was incomparably furious.

Today, he had been gathering the village's Jonin for a meeting, and Aoki Yuyi had been summoned away by him.

Yet the Ninja Academy had been attacked!

He was no fool. It was obvious that Kumogakure had intelligence ninja within it!

Moreover, the other side was a mid-level or high-level operative capable of learning the movements of some Jonin!

He glanced at the intelligence ninja, who was dead beyond any doubt, and asked Chiba Shun, "What happened?"

Chiba Shun said, "They did not come directly to attack the Ninja Academy, nor did they carry out a massacre. They came specifically to assassinate me."

"There were three people in total. Aside from this man, I killed one of them. The body is still at the Ninja Academy."

"The last one escaped. He was far stronger than me. If not for the Ninja Academy children risking their own safety to help me, I would already be dead."

After a pause, he added, "Also, that man had dark skin and was skilled in the village's swordsmanship. He should be a registered ninja!"

"I estimate that he was a Special Jonin who specialized in swordsmanship."

The Third Raikage narrowed his eyes. A Special Jonin?

He had probably concealed his strength. If he truly were a registered Special Jonin, he should have been attending the meeting with them today.

After a moment of silence, the Third Raikage said, "I understand. Was he injured?"

Chiba Shun shook his head regretfully.

At this point, one figure after another arrived from the distance.

Several people headed directly toward the Ninja Academy.

The Third Raikage said to one of them, "Ask every taijutsu ninja in the village where they were just now!"

The man was stunned at first, then realized what that implied. His expression also turned ugly as he replied, "Yes."

After speaking, he glanced at Chiba Shun before hurrying off to investigate.

For Chiba Shun, this was destined to be a sleepless night.

He and Aoki Yuyi returned to the Ninja Academy.

After arranging for the wounded, he began speaking to everyone.

"Future of the village, you saw it, didn't you? This is Konoha!"

"We clearly did nothing, yet they still refuse to let us go!"

"Today, twelve heroes gave their lives for the village!"

"And seven more have been seriously injured!"

"All of this is because of Konoha's ambition!"

"They think this can frighten us and make us give up resisting!"

"But they are wrong! Kumogakure has no cowards!"

"Even Ninja Academy students dared to attack a Jonin!"

"From you, I have seen the Will of Lightning being passed on!"