Finishing Blow

A sharp whistling sound cut through the air, followed by over a dozen kunai and shuriken of various shapes.

Aoba suddenly accelerated beneath his feet, dodging the attack from behind. However, three Grass Ninja had already passed his position, forming a pincer formation with the other group.

"A Konoha ninja? Why did you kidnap our people? Are you trying to start a war?"

Hearing their accusation, Aoba found it absurd. How should he put it? There was an obvious implication in the Grass Ninja's words: if you did not release them, they would start a war.

But in reality, those who knew, knew. Even five Kusagakure villages would not be enough to take on one Konoha. Even though Konoha was now at its weakest point in history, it was still far beyond the reach of a single Kusagakure village.

So, anyone with a brain knew that even if Aoba had truly kidnapped their people, Kusagakure would never dare start a war. At most, they would send an envoy to Konoha to complain.

In fact, Kusagakure was exceptionally skilled at diplomacy. Their alliance with Konoha had also relied on their outstanding diplomatic abilities. Put simply, they knew how to suck up.

"War? You think you're worthy? To be honest, I have an entirely legitimate and indisputable reason for taking those two away.

"But when facing trash like you, I cannot even be bothered to explain. As long as everyone who saw me dies, there naturally will not be any problem. So, are you ready to die?"

As he spoke, Aoba gently set Karin on the ground, then untied the rope around his back. He laid Karin's mother down as well.

"Karin, take care of your mother. This will be over soon."

"Okay."

"Good girl." Aoba gently rubbed Karin's hair, then stood and drew the Kusanagi Sword from his back.

This time, he did not use the Explosive Tag trap from before.

For one thing, he had used that move before, and they were already wary of it. For another, their team likely had a dedicated sensory ninja. Such a crude trap would be difficult to fool them with.

Seeing Aoba draw his sword, several Grass Ninja seemed to realize something.

"It's you—the Wind-Chasing Sword of Konoha, Aoba Kamikawa."

"Heh. Even trash like you have heard of my worthless title. What a shame."

The moment he finished speaking, Aoba vanished before the Grass Ninja.

Though he mocked them verbally, Aoba never underestimated any opponent in actual combat. So from the very first move, he went all out. The Body Flicker Technique, accelerated by Wind Release, directly surpassed the comprehension of the Grass Ninja.

The next second, one of the three people directly ahead had his head sent flying into the sky. The other two, however, were fairly capable. They actually reacted in time and avoided the following Vacuum Flash.

But that was all. The two quickly retreated and formed hand seals, intending to unleash some sort of ninjutsu.

But before they could finish their seals, Aoba had already appeared before one of them. The Kusanagi Sword swept sideways and sliced directly through his throat.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough." The other Grass Ninja finally completed his ninjutsu.

But Aoba did not even spare it a glance. He charged straight into the technique. At the same time, a tornado formed from chakra swirled around his body. The instant it collided with Great Breakthrough, the two Wind Release techniques canceled each other out.

A violent current of air erupted and scattered in all directions. Amid the other man's incredulous gaze, Aoba passed directly through the turbulent airflow and appeared before him.

Wind Release was Aoba's strongest ninjutsu. Unlike the ninjas of these minor villages, who were obsessed with all kinds of high-powered ninjutsu,

he had focused on Wind Release itself from the very beginning. After refining Wind Release to a certain degree, his control over ordinary Wind Release had reached the level of the wind-based superpowers from movies.

With a single thought, he could cast Wind Release ninjutsu in all kinds of relatively simple forms. Their power was not great, but their practicality far surpassed those powerful ninjutsu that required hand seals. After all, ninjas were highly agile assassins. Ninjutsu was merely support; he could use swordsmanship to make up the finishing damage. At least for this era, this tactic was still extremely sharp.

After the second ninja died, the other group finally reacted and began to move. Their tactics were clear as well. They had no intention of confronting Aoba head-on. Instead, they charged directly at Karin and her mother.

Aoba sharply changed direction at high speed and rushed toward Karin and her mother.

But visually, he was already too late. The other group of Grass Ninja was closer and had already approached the two.

Two kunai flew from Aoba's left hand, but their aim was off. The Grass Ninja easily dodged them, and the kunai embedded themselves in the two trees before Karin and her mother.

I've got them. The Grass Ninja shouted inwardly. He had already seen how powerful this Konoha ninja was. But he had a weakness. He was concerned about this mother and daughter.

As long as he could seize the mother and daughter, at least he would survive this time.

But then, a teammate behind him suddenly shouted.

"Watch out!"

Watch out? Watch out for what? That Konoha ninja was still some distance away, and the kunai had not hit him at all.

Unable to stop in the midst of his high-speed movement, the Grass Ninja rushed to Karin and her mother. He reached out, trying to grab Karin's mother, who stood in front of her daughter.

But then, he suddenly felt that something was wrong. Why was his field of vision so uncomfortable, and why was he suddenly looking up at the sky against his will?

No, it was not out of his control. His head... had fallen off!!!

He tried desperately to turn back, but he could not do it at all. Instead, as his head fell to the ground and rolled, he saw the culprit behind it all.

The ends of those two kunai were actually connected by an extremely thin steel wire. Just when he had thought Aoba missed, the kunai had already set up a simple trap between the two large trees.

Even children at the Ninja Academy could see through a trap of this level. But in that instant, he had desperately wanted to beat that Konoha ninja and seize the mother and daughter first.

And Aoba had used that impatience to take his life with a trap so simple it could not have been simpler.

The Grass Ninja at the front died. The Grass Ninja behind him barely dodged, but one of his hands was injured. Only the last Grass Ninja, who seemed to be a sensory ninja, truly avoided the trap.

Aoba's maneuver was enough to be included in the tactical textbooks of traditional ninjas. In that brief instant, he exploited the enemy's desire to win and immediately turned the situation around.

And that brief delay had already given him enough time to fall back and defend. By the time the two surviving Grass Ninja reformed their formation, he had successfully returned to defend.

In an instant, offense and defense switched.