"The Sarugami Group... they're after us. It seems someone has put a bounty on us and knows our approximate route and timing."
Meikyō calmly watched as black shadows, formed from insects, coalesced into blurry human figures in the distance.
"We are the Hunting Ninjas, the Sarugami Group, Uchiha Meikyō. Someone has offered 30 million ryo for your life and your Sharingan, so please be on your way."
There was an incredibly empty space, yet it also felt eerie and terrifying, as if a voice from the underworld was coming from afar.
This sound is created by the flapping of countless tiny insects' wings, which vibrates the air and makes it impossible for the enemy to pinpoint their location.
However, this technique requires extremely advanced Chakra control skills.
"You should retreat first. This level of opponent is not someone you can handle."
Meikyō waved for his two teammates to retreat.
Without sufficiently strong eyesight or sensory abilities, even a master of the Five Kage level might fall victim to this attack.
In the original timeline, if the Fourth Raikage hadn't been lucky enough to encounter Tsunade, he probably would have lost his life too.
"I understand! We will go to the village as soon as possible to set up defenses at the border outpost and bring back reinforcements! Meikyō, you must hold on!"
Inuzuka Ryo was well aware of the gap between himself and Aburame Nami and Meikyō, and calmly led Aburame Nami away quickly.
"It seems you're determined to be stubborn to the end, but we expected that. Uchiha is still Uchiha."
A mocking laugh came again from the distant dense forest. The next moment, in Meikyō's vision, countless invisible insects quickly transformed into a torrent and rushed towards him.
[Since it can be seen by my own Mangekyō Sharingan... then...]
"Amaterasu!"
A ball of black flame appeared out of thin air.
In just a moment, many of these insects died.
"Damn it, what kind of Fire Style is this! The Exploding Insects are ineffective!"
In the shadows of a dense forest, the red-clad ninja from the Xuanyuan Group gasped in surprise upon witnessing this scene.
His Exploding Insects were the size of cells, invisible to the naked eye, but the opponent's Sharingan could see them clearly.
This wouldn't have mattered in itself, since their past assassination targets did indeed possess sensory abilities that were precise to this level. However, the Exploding Insects could absorb Chakra, accelerating their own growth. They could grow rapidly in battle and, when used as an explosive device, were exceptionally powerful.
Even if the enemy survives the explosion, these tiny Exploding Insects can still enter their bodies through their breathing, absorb Chakra to strengthen themselves, and then detonate again.
Without a skilled Medical Ninja to surgically remove the Exploding Insects before it fully matures, it's almost certain death.
But the black Fire Style of this Uchiha brat was ridiculously hot; even the Exploding Insects would be burned to death if they got close.
"It's okay, as long as there are enough Exploding Insects, we'll definitely be able to get close to him!"
The red-clad ninja piloted an even larger number of Exploding Insects towards Meikyō.
"The numbers have increased? It's a good thing Awakening awakened the Mangekyo, otherwise it would be really troublesome. However, I still have to kill all these people. I can't let the fact that I awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan be exposed."
A chilling killing intent flashed in Meikyō's eyes. A faint, sun-like golden-orange Chakra rose around him, eventually condensing into a golden-orange cylinder that enveloped Meikyō entire body.
Susanoo, initial form.
The Meikyō closed and opened again, and a layer of black Amaterasu flames ignited outside Susanoo. A line of blood tears also flowed from its left eye due to excessive consumption of its pupil power.
Unlike Sasuke, who possesses Kagutsuchi's Dojutsu that allows him to freely manipulate flames, he can only rely on this method to achieve comprehensive self-protection, at the cost of increased use of his eye power and Chakra.
"Damn it, what's going on! That orange-yellow spine-like thing..."
The red-clad ninja was somewhat incredulous.
"This guy's strength is a bit off! Taking him down will come at a huge cost, definitely not just 30 million taels! Let's retreat!"
The blue-clad ninja among the Xuanyuan Group nodded, then hoisted his black-clad companion onto his shoulder and ran off with the rest of his companions.
The members of the Xuanyuan Group cooperated quite well. The red-clad ninja, as the leader, possessed the Exploding Insects, their strongest trump card. The black-clad ninja mastered a special Yin Release Ninjutsu, which could release shadows to conceal the aura of the group, but at the cost of being unable to move.
Among the remaining members, the blue-clad and yellow-clad ninjas are skilled in Water Style and Earth Style and are very powerful. They serve as the last line of defense to protect the other members. There is also a green-clad ninja who possesses an insect with excellent reconnaissance capabilities to gather intelligence for them. He also has good sensory abilities.
The current situation is that they've discovered a tricky plan: the blue-clad ninja is carrying the black-clad ninja, allowing them to move and escape while concealing themselves from view.
"Where did these guys go?!"
Meikyō's face was somewhat gloomy.
The enemy has a strong ability to infiltrate. In the past, the task of dealing with these infiltrated enemies was always assigned to Inuzuka Ryo and Aburame Nami, whose abilities are extremely suitable for this job.
Now, Meikyō has to rely on his own abilities to find them.
A pair of scarlet Mangekyō Sharingan continuously searched everything around them, while the Meikyō simultaneously expanded the scope of the Transparent World to the fullest extent.
The Xuanyuan Group remained oblivious, but White Zetsu, hidden underground in the distance, was suddenly startled and was about to use his Floating Technique to escape.
"There it is! And this too!"
Meikyō quickly turned around, Amenotejikara swiftly activated, teleporting himself to the edge of his field of vision. At the same time, a huge skeletal arm extended from his Susanoo and slammed heavily onto the ground.
"Boom!"
The immense power of Susanoo caused the ground to tremble.
Seeing through the Transparent World that the White Zetsu below had been Susanoo, Meikyō continued to rush in another direction.
Not far away.
"What was that noise?!"
Jiraiya had activated Sage Mode, couldn't help but look in shock at the location where Meikyō had just used Susanoo.
"Minato! There's an extremely powerful Chakra surge over there, we must hurry!"
Jiraiya spoke solemnly to his beloved disciple beside him.
Upon receiving the message from Minato Namikaze, he rushed to the vicinity and happened to encounter Inuzuka Ryo and Aburame Nami, who were retreating, which is why he hurriedly arrived.
Because Jiraiya had traveled the Ninja World for a long time, he naturally knew how powerful the Xuanyuan Group was. Many ninjas with considerable reputations in the Ninja World had fallen to them. Even when he asked Minato to help him travel using the Flying Thunder God Technique, he was still constantly absorbing Natural Energy in order to enter his still-unskilled Sage Mode.
"I understand, Jiraiya- sensei!"
Minato Namikaze placed his hand on Jiraiya's shoulder and activated the Flying Thunder God once more, disappearing from sight.
"Damn it, big brother! That brat knows a very powerful Sensory Ninjutsu. Even third brother's Ninjutsu can't block his detection! He's still chasing us here!"
As the green-clad ninja fled, he continuously reported what he had sensed to the red-clad ninja!
"What! Damn it, this brat is only worth thirty million taels of silver? I've been ripped off!"
The red-clad ninja couldn't help but curse loudly.
"Brother, you'd better think of something quickly! That kid is about to catch up!"
The green-clad ninja couldn't help but say.
"It seems there's no way to escape now. In that case, we, the Xuanyuan Group, are certainly not without the ability to fight him. As long as we can break through his barrier against the Exploding Insects, that kid will surely die. I refuse to believe that someone his age could have such strength and possess such superb Medical Ninjutsu!"
The red-clad ninja inspired his companions.
The members of the Xuanyuan Group thought it made sense, so they quickly stopped and formed a formation to coordinate their actions.
"So you're finally not planning to run anymore?"
Meikyō looked at the Xuanyuan Group in front of her with a cold expression, and the Ama-no-Ohabari in her hand quickly became covered with a layer of blazing flames.
"Uchiha Clan, if you retreat now, we can choose to pretend nothing happened today and offer five hundred, no, six million ryo as an apology. Otherwise, with our strength, we are not without the power to fight!"
The red-clad ninja was surrounded by all the Xuanyuan Group in the center, and he spoke earnestly to Meikyō.
"Sure, but you have to tell me first who wants to kill me."
In fact, Meikyō had no intention of sparing their lives.
However, if Meikyō could obtain information from them, he wouldn't mind wasting that time.
"Sorry, reputation is the most important foundation for us Xuanyuan Group to survive in the Underworld, besides strength. So we will not tell you any information about your employer."
"Then forget it. Even if I capture you, I can still use my Sharingan's Genjutsu to interrogate you and get everything I want!"
Meikyō shook his head indifferently and raised the Ama-no-Ohabari in his hand.
"It seems you're planning to fight us to the death!"
The red-clad ninja said with a gloomy expression.
"The fish will certainly die, but the net is very strong; you can't break it."
The four-cornered windmill blades in the Mangekyō Sharingan spun rapidly. Relying on the Mangekyo's insight, Meikyō immediately attacked the opponent's few weaknesses.
"Sun Breathing, Fifth Form, Modified, Horizontal Fire Wheel!"
A blazing flame coiled around the Ama-no-Ohabari, and in the blink of an eye, Meikyō rushed in front of all the Xuanyuan Group people, flipped over and unleashed a huge arc-shaped slash that enveloped all the enemies.
"Nintaijutsu performed by the Uchiha Clan using Fire Style? Watch this!"
The blue-clad ninja swiftly Hand Seals to raise Water Wall Jutsu in front of him, but was instantly cleaved in two by the Horizontal Fire Wheel.
However, behind the Water Wall Jutsu, the yellow-clad Earth Style ninja had already used Earth Style: Earth Prison Technique create a rock-formed earth prison, protecting all his companions inside.
The fiery strike cleaved a deep gash in the earthen prison, but it was quickly repaired.
Just as Meikyō was about to unleash a powerful Fire Style to break the earth prison, she seemed to sense something and quickly stuck the Ama-no-Ohabari into the shadow beneath her feet before pulling out the blood-stained sword.
A black-clad ninja with a hole in the top of his head emerged from the shadows, his face beaming with the joy of a successful sneak attack!
"The first one."
Upon witnessing their comrade's death, the remaining members of the Xuanyuan Group became even more enraged and prepared to swarm forward.
They are among the few remaining descendants of the Xuanyuan Clan; each one who dies is one less.
"How many people are there? Luckily, I'm not afraid of group battles the most."
A cold smile appeared on Meikyō's lips, and his figure blurred, splitting into more than a dozen clones.
"Uchiha Style: Mirror Body Flicker Technique!"
"Sun Breathing, First Form, Dance!"
"Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Crimson Claw!"
"Uchiha Style: Controlled Shuriken!"
Meikyō and his two Shadow Clone quickly switched among the clones.
The situation on the field instantly reversed. It was no longer the Xuanyuan Group surrounding Uchiha Meikyō, but Uchiha Meikyō single-handedly surrounding the Xuanyuan Group!
"Sun Breathing, Second Form: Azure Sky!"
A blade of light, as red as the sun, flashed past, and the green-clad ninja became the second Xuanyuan Group to die at the hands of Meikyō, following the black-clad ninja.
Because only the main body possesses sufficient ocular power to unleash Susanoo protect itself, all the clones become means to cover Meikyō's attacks on enemies. Therefore, enemies can still find Meikyō's main body relatively quickly.
There was no other way; these Exploding Insects were simply too dangerous.
Soon, the Chakra of those clones was also devoured by the Exploding Insects scattered in the air.
"Attack with all your might to break through that layer of golden Chakra on this brat! Otherwise, none of us will escape!"
The red-clad ninja barely dodged Meikyō's attacks and spoke to his two companions beside him.
"Moreover, to break through that layer of golden-orange Chakra, one must touch that black flame! And with the temperature of that flame, without a sufficient Chakra protective layer as an insulator, the attacker will either die or be maimed!"
The blue-clad ninja gritted his teeth and said.
His Water Style Ninjutsu is extremely excellent, and his overall strength can even reach the Elite Jonin. In the battle just now, he tried to extinguish the black flames with Water Style many times, but he was always powerless.
"My frontal combat strength is the strongest, so I'll lead the attack to break through the defenses, and you'll provide cover! After that, it's up to you, Big Brother, to handle the Exploding Insects!"
With a death wish, the yellow-clad ninja earnestly gave his comrades his instructions.
He also possesses the combat strength of an elite Elite Jonin, and his raw power is even a notch above that of the Blue-Clad Ninja.
Xuanyuan Group's ability to make a name for himself in the Ninja World is primarily due to the red-clad ninja's unpredictable Exploding Insects, and secondly to his and the blue-clad ninja's formidable head-on combat ability. Unless a master of the Five Kage level is deployed, the two of them working together can basically hold off the enemy and create opportunities for their teammates.
With the addition of the black-clad and green-clad ninjas as support, they achieved a reputation in the Underworld that was almost on par with that of the bounty hunter Kakuzu.