"Pfft!"
The fox ninja slammed heavily into the ground. His body twitched a few times, then went completely still.
After confirming that he showed no signs of life, Hoshino quickly turned and ran toward the battlefield where Hizuki and Maki were fighting.
Hizuki was locked in a fierce battle with two Konoha Anbu ninjas.
Although her speed and skill made her difficult for them to handle, her dwindling stamina was gradually putting her at a disadvantage.
Maki kept supporting her from a distance with Wind Release Ninjutsu, but Maki's limited strength made it impossible to pose a lethal threat to the enemies.
Hoshino's arrival changed the battle in an instant.
Wind blades and sand serpents intertwined into a dense web of attacks that the two Konoha Anbu ninjas simply could not withstand.
Before long, they fell one after the other, completely unable to fight.
"Captain!"
Hizuki put away her Ninja Blade and walked over, breathing slightly hard. She had a few minor wounds, but they were nothing serious.
Hoshino nodded and removed the masks from the faces of the three Konoha Anbu ninjas.
All three faces were unfamiliar, with no obvious distinguishing features.
But when Hoshino pried their mouths open and pulled out their tongues to examine them, he found black runes packed densely across their entire surfaces.
"The Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal... just as I thought, they're from Root!"
Although Hoshino did not know what the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal looked like, it seemed to be the only Sealing Jutsu burned onto the tongue.
No wonder those Anbu had shown no fear at all when death was upon them.
If they had been real Konoha Anbu, they certainly would not have fought them to the death.
Perhaps these people had come to their deaths just to buy time.
At that thought, Hoshino immediately rose and waved for Maki and Hizuki to follow.
After the three left, windblown sand swept past, wiping away all three corpses and every trace of the battle.
Before long, a large mine appeared before Hoshino and the others.
Looking at it from afar, they saw three or four ninjas dressed in Konoha Anbu attire packing things up outside.
When they saw Hoshino and the others approaching, the ninja in the lead frowned and said something quietly to the ninjas beside him.
They were too far away for Hoshino and the others to make out the words, but they could see the ninjas around them immediately quicken their movements, preparing to retreat.
Hoshino's gaze turned cold. Sand and dust rapidly gathered into a giant hand and slapped toward the Konoha Ninja outside the mine.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
Several thick earthen walls rose from the ground.
Boom-
The sand hand swept through several of them in succession with a howling gust, shattering the walls and sending sand flying everywhere.
"Retreat!"
At the lead ninja's command, the Konoha Anbu ninjas quickly slung several broad sealing scrolls onto their backs and ran in another direction.
"Trying to run?"
Hoshino waved one hand, and the sand and dust condensed once more into several sand serpents that swept toward the ninjas carrying the sealing scrolls.
The lead ninja suddenly stopped and rapidly formed Hand Seals.
"Secret Technique: Insect Wall Jutsu!"
Countless black insects poured from his sleeves, forming a thick wall of insects in front of the sand serpents.
"A ninja from the Aburame Clan..."
Hoshino narrowed his eyes, a trace of gravity in his voice.
There were not many Aburame ninjas in Root. The most famous was Aburame Ryoma, an Elite Jonin.
Without using Tailed Beast Transformation, Hoshino really was no match for him.
Then I'll ignore him and grab the sealing scrolls.
Without the slightest hesitation, Hoshino charged straight at the Konoha Anbu ninjas.
Aburame Ryoma frowned slightly, evidently not expecting Hoshino to charge straight over.
"Secret Technique: Insect Sphere!"
Countless Kikaichū poured from his sleeves, forming a black sphere of insects.
But Hoshino had no intention of dodging. A golden curtain of light enveloped his entire body in an instant.
"Bang!"
The Insect Sphere struck the curtain of light with a dull thud, but it could not break through its defenses.
"At least leave one behind for me!"
Sand and dust condensed into several sharp spears and shot straight toward one of the ninjas carrying a sealing scroll, closing in on the target almost instantly.
"Ah!"
The ninja grunted, lost his balance, and the sealing scroll slipped from his back.
"Retreat, quickly! Hurry!"
Aburame Ryoma's expression changed. More Kikaichū poured from his sleeves and flew straight at Hoshino.
At the same time, he quickly threw a smoke bomb. Smoke spread in an instant, obscuring their view.
Hoshino waved one hand, and the sand and dust instantly dispersed the smoke.
But Aburame Ryoma and the others had taken the opportunity to put distance between them, disappearing deep into the desert in the blink of an eye.
"Captain, should we pursue them?" Hizuki asked quietly, tightening her grip on her Ninja Blade.
Hoshino shook his head. "We can't catch them. They're all elite ninjas of Root, and we might not be able to beat them anyway."
"Captain, the scroll."
Maki stepped forward, picked up the sealing scroll from the ground, and handed it to Hoshino.
Hoshino took the sealing scroll and turned his gaze toward the mine. "They left in such a hurry. There must still be things in the mine they didn't have time to take."
"Hizuki, Maki, search the mine and see if there are any clues."
"Yes, Captain!"
Hizuki and Maki answered in unison and quickly ran toward the mine entrance.
Hoshino stayed where he was, looking warily around to make sure there were no other ambushes nearby.
After the two entered the mine, Hizuki took a fire starter from her ninja tool pouch and lit it, illuminating the path ahead.
They followed the mine passage forward and soon arrived in a spacious underground chamber.
In the center of the chamber stood a huge iron cage, with several corpses lying inside.
The blood had not yet dried; they had clearly died only recently.
Tools lay scattered around the iron cage, and a thick smell of blood hung in the air.
"This is..."
Hizuki frowned and crouched down to examine the condition of the corpses.
Maki came closer as well and said quietly, "These corpses don't look like ordinary people. What on earth is Konoha's Root doing?"
Hizuki shook her head, her gaze sweeping over the tools around them.
"They left in a hurry and didn't have time to take any of this. The captain was right. There must be something important here."
"Let's take these things back and leave them for the captain to deal with," Maki suggested.
"All right."
Hizuki quickly gathered the scattered tools, and she and Maki took them and several corpses toward the mine entrance.
At the mine entrance, Hoshino sat cross-legged on the ground with an unfurled sealing scroll before him.
A large, general-purpose sealing scroll like this was not very troublesome to unseal. The hand seals were basically the same, and he undid it after trying a little.
Unexpectedly, it contained a stack of files and two corpses.
There was no equipment of any kind inside.
Hoshino leafed through a few pages of the files and found that they recorded complex experimental data and charts, seemingly related to some kind of forbidden jutsu or human experimentation.
The two corpses were also extremely horrifying to look at. Their skin was covered in runes, and some of their organs had been replaced with mechanical parts.