"Woke up?"
Aoki Tsuki has gradually gotten used to this elusive woman.
Perhaps she stood by the bed and stared at him for a long time; as long as he lived in the village, he couldn't escape her surveillance.
"There's... a mission?"
"Yes, Danzo's people sent a message requesting Hanzō to send Hannya Corps to assassinate the leader of the Land of Forests."
After joining Akatsuki, in order to show his sincerity, Aoki Tsuki handed over the contact information of Root, as well as Kikuno Momo, which were all in Konan's hands.
Upon hearing that it was Danzo's mission, Aoki Tsuki immediately jumped out of bed.
"Isn't the Land of Forests an ally of Konoha? I saw them when I attended the Fourth Hokage's inauguration ceremony last time."
Konan shook her head. "Perhaps it's a betrayal. This kind of thing isn't surprising. Konoha is probably too proud to act directly and wants to use Hanzō to resolve it."
Hanzō and Danzo were political allies, and Amegakure was known for its ninjas specializing in assassinations.
Isn't that a coincidence!
"Okay, I'll set off with my men right away. Oh, and don't forget to ask them for their payment."
He always expects something in return when he does things for Gen; it's his style, and also a tacit understanding.
Assassinating a ninja leader from another country is extremely risky, undoubtedly an S-rank mission. Even with a 50% discount from allies, the reward would still start at least at five million taels of silver.
"Yes, they asked for 20 million taels, and they didn't haggle."
"Uh... you really are amazing!"
Konoha is so rich, and Root is so generous; their magnanimity makes the villagers, being from a small village, feel inferior.
This single order is enough to feed Amegakure for a long time.
We have to do it, and we have to do it well.
The Amegakure Guard protects the village in their spare time and goes out to carry out missions when needed; it is a multi-functional and multi-purpose position.
In small villages, it's common for one person to do multiple jobs.
Kurokawa led a team to protect the daimyo, Takuno Jin and Umatsu's teams stayed behind in the village to oversee patrols.
Aoki Tsuki, along with Shioame, Ryōta, and Shinichi, head to the Land of Forests to carry out a top-secret mission.
This is a small country located on the northern border of the Land of Fire. The military organization within its borders is called the Hannya Corps, Kimen serves as the organization's symbol. Fickleness is the way this small country survives.
Following Root's instructions, upon arriving in the Land of Forests, the first thing to do is contact Root's intelligence personnel, who will provide further arrangements.
Safe house.
Aoki Tsuki wore the Panda mask he had bought in Konoha, Ryōta, Shinichi, and Shioame wore the gas masks unique to Amegakure.
"I am the contact person for this mission, 'Chrysalis'."
Looking at the blonde woman with glasses in front of him, Aoki Tsuki recognized her at a glance as the famous 'Dean'.
The term "pupa" means to lie dormant, waiting for the day it emerges from its cocoon.
"Just call me Panda. These are my team members. Let's talk about the mission objectives. When do we move in?"
The dean handed over a photograph. It showed a bald man with a scar on his scalp, gold-plated front teeth, and a fierce-looking face.
"The leader of the Hannya Corps is named ' Oniki,' an elite Jonin Earth Release and usually stays in his mansion, which is heavily guarded, so he has no opportunity to engage in combat."
However, at 8 a. m. tomorrow, he will lead a group to Iwagakure to finalize the alliance. You only need to ambush him on the way.
" Konoha and Iwagakure should have sent people as well."
Chrysalis adjusted her glasses, took out Iwagakure Forehead Protector from her person, and replied with a smile, "The people sent by Iwagakure are right in front of you."
"So that's how it is..."
No wonder Konoha knew about the defection of the Land of Forests in advance; it turned out she was the one who delivered the message.
At this moment, the Dean should be representing Iwagakure Village) to deliver intelligence to the Land of Forests.
" The Fourth seems to have sent a member of the Anbu) here, but it's unclear who it is."
"Understood, I'll handle the rest."
It turns out that various factions from Konoha were having a party to deal with this ' Oniki,' and the time and place of his death were all meticulously planned.
This is the tragedy of small villages, being manipulated without their knowledge.
Aoki Tsuki silently mourned for the ninja leader for a few seconds. He couldn't care less about that; all he knew was that this guy was worth 20 million ryo.
After obtaining the target's route, Aoki Tsuki led his team to search for ambush points along the way.
After leaving the safe house, the dean walked along the alleyway, intending to return to his temporary residence, when a boy happened to walk towards him.
The other person looked very friendly, but their rosacea was a flaw.
As the director of the orphanage, she naturally felt close to the children, but as a high-level spy, she was naturally not careless and secretly became vigilant.
Just as their eyes were about to meet, they locked gazes.
However, the dean only saw a pair of spinning red three- Tomoe before losing consciousness.
' Uchiha...'
"Tomorrow morning at eight o'clock? So you've already decided to join Iwagakure."
The Fourth's task for him was to find out why the other party had joined Iwagakure and to do his best to stop it.
Now that Amegakure has also gotten involved, things have become complicated.
The boy dragged the dean to a trash can and made him sit against the wall, disguising him as a homeless person to ensure he wouldn't be harmed by others, before slipping away.
After a moment, the dean woke up, touched his head, but remembered nothing.
"What happened? Was I attacked...?!"
The next morning, several ninjas wearing Kimen left the capital and plunged into the vast jungle.
Not long after they left, a boy followed them from a distance. Using his Sharingan, he easily evaded their counter-surveillance and tracked them without any difficulty.
The journey was uneventful until they reached a canyon, at which point the group immediately became alert.
" Oniki, I'll go ahead and scout ahead."
"Okay, go ahead."
Oniki waved his hand. This trip to Iwagakure meeting was already fraught with great risk, so he had to proceed with caution.
The subordinate darted upwards towards the top of the canyon, where he could quickly spot any potential enemies from his elevated position.
A moment later, the subordinate wearing the Kimen poked half his body out, waved his hand, and indicated that there was no danger and it was safe to pass.
Only then did Oniki feel relieved and lead his team into the canyon passage.
After walking a short distance, Oniki suddenly stopped. "Wait, why hasn't Yagyō returned?"
Just then, a whooshing sound came from overhead.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh...
A dense Senbon Rain descended upon us, moving incredibly fast.
"Enemy attack!!"
With such a wide-ranging attack, there is almost no room to hide in the canyon.
Puff puff puff...
"Ah... ah... ah..."
Five or six members of the Hannya Corps were killed on the spot in an instant, their faces turning black and foaming at the mouth.
"Asshole!!"
Oniki released the Hardening Technique and watched his elite subordinates, whom he had painstakingly trained, die tragically. He was filled with rage.
He was met with Shuriken, Kunai, and Explosive Tag.
Boom boom boom...
This level of attack certainly wouldn't kill Oniki, but his surviving subordinates weren't so lucky; two more fell.
" Water Release · Water Shockwave "
Water cascaded down from the sky and poured directly into the canyon passage.
"Ah..."
The remaining members of the Hannya Corps were swept into the raging torrent, choked and dizzy, and were pulled into a nearby river by the current. They struggled to surface.
"Waaah... gulp... gulp..."
Suddenly, someone in the water grabbed his legs and dragged him back down.
Pfft... Pfft...
Red blood spread in the water like a blooming rose, and several corpses slowly floated up from the water.
"Ah... Damn Amegakure!! I'll kill you all..."
In the blink of an eye, all of his men had been killed, and Oniki was going crazy.
The series of attack methods— Senbon Rain, Underwater Strangulation, and Water Release —are clearly characteristic of the Amegakure.
With his feet firmly attached to the mountainside, Oniki turned to look at the mountaintop. He had no way to deal with the enemies in the water, but he couldn't let the enemies on the mountaintop get away.
Especially since that wretched guy was beckoning him with his finger right now, clearly provoking him.
Swish... swish...
Chakra erupted beneath his feet, and using the mountain wall as a springboard, he leaped to the top of the mountain, where a blue-haired youth wearing Panda mask was standing not far away, watching him.
"Damn Konoha, they hired you to kill me!"
"Listen to this, don't you know perfectly well? We're just doing this for money, so don't blame us."
Aoki Tsuki's figure suddenly vanished from the spot.
As the leader of the Oniki Hannya Corps and an elite Jonin, Oniki had extensive combat experience and his reaction was naturally quick. He immediately clasped his hands together and crossed his index fingers.
" Earth Release - Earth Release: Earth Shore Return."
Chakra seeped into the earth from his feet, hardening the soil in front of him about two square meters and condensing it into a stone slab that stood upright in front of Chakra.
Compared to Earth-Style Wall, this technique is less defensive, but because it uses readily available materials, it is faster to cast and saves more Chakra.
puff...
The gleaming blade pierced the stone slab as easily as tofu, and blue lightning extended a meter beyond the tip of the blade, its movement unpredictable.
Lightning Release?
Oniki looked at the blade of light pressed against his chest, a heavy feeling rose in his heart.
Clearly, the enemy had a good understanding of his intelligence and was using a restrained escape technique, hoping to take him down with a surprise attack.
Aoki Tsuki pulled the sword from the stone slab, leaped to the top, and said from above, "Quite quick reaction. No wonder it's a treasure worth twenty million taels."
"Don't be so arrogant, Earth Release: Rock Cannonball Technique."
Puff... puff... puff...
Oniki suddenly leaped backward to create distance, then opened its mouth and spat out fist-sized stones for long-range bombardment.
Aoki Tsuki rolled over and hid behind the stone slab, using it for defense.
Thud... Thud...
However, they underestimated the power of the stones; the hard stone slab was blasted into fragments after only a few seconds.
Click...
He cleaved the incoming rocks with his sword, then advanced instead of retreating, charging towards Oniki amidst the barrage of rock projectiles.
Of course, Oniki wasn't going to stand still and wait for the enemy to attack. He dodged while continuously launching rock cannonballs at them.
Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique
The thick white fog spread rapidly, enveloping the entire mountaintop.
Oniki lost sight of the enemy, and thus had no choice but to cease his attack.