"What happened?" Kazuo stared at everything in surprise.
"Hmph! Konoha's rat is here!" Tarō Kakumoto's expression turned grave.
The rat vanished in a puff of smoke, turning into a black-clad figure wearing a white, single-horned mask.
"Anbu, just as I thought. And so young? Are you looking down on me?" A cold sneer curled Tarō Kakumoto's lips.
"Tarō Kakumoto, you can't escape. Come back to Konoha with us, and you still have a chance to live." Shinsei hadn't forgotten that their primary objective was to capture him alive. Though he didn't expect the man to surrender, he still had to say it.
"Then try it!" Tarō Kakumoto began forming hand seals.
Shinsei shot Hashihime a look and formed hand seals as well.
Tarō Kakumoto slammed both hands onto the ground.
Earth Release: Rock Gravel!
Water Release: Water Severing Wave!
Countless fragments of shattered rock erupted from the ground, shooting toward Shinsei and Hashihime.
Shinsei spat a high-speed stream of water from his mouth!
Damn! Both are offensive ninjutsu!
Tarō Kakumoto instantly darted aside. Water Severing Wave's ultra-fast stream pierced the wall behind him, carving a trench with no visible bottom as countless chunks of rock and earth fell.
Shinsei dodged while spraying the high-speed stream. Unable to avoid one rock fragment, he took a hit to the waist, sending up a splash of water before the fragment glanced off to the side.
Shinsei felt a faint pain in his waist. Fortunately, he had covered his body in high-speed flowing water beforehand.
Water Release: Great Water Shockwave!
Earth Release: Earth Flow Rampart!
A massive volume of water poured from Shinsei's mouth, and an earthen wall rose from the ground, firmly blocking the enormous flow.
Still too inexperienced. I should have created a large amount of water right at the start to shape the environment. This terrain is too suited to area-of-effect ninjutsu. There's no room to maneuver at all.
His hands continued forming seals.
Water Release: Water Severing Wave!
The high-speed stream sliced through the earthen wall. There was no one behind it anymore.
Did he run?
Large quantities of rock began falling overhead. Shinsei hurriedly formed hand seals, and earthen pillars rose from the ground to support the ceiling!
"Get out first! He's destroying the base!" Shinsei shouted to Hashihime. The chakra in the earthen pillars wouldn't hold out long; the enemy was destroying the place like mad.
Hashihime nodded and quickly rushed toward the entrance.
Shinsei created several shadow clones, each forming a Water Sword, and destroyed all the room locks to release the survivors.
"Get out, now!"
The dozen or so people stared blankly. Suddenly, a child rushed out, and the rest hurried after them.
Just as they reached the doorway, Wood Kite and Giant Beast rushed in.
"Get out first. It's about to collapse in there."
They each created shadow clones to organize the evacuation of those inside.
"What happened?" Wood Kite's tone was grave.
"I don't know how I was discovered. I might have been careless." Shinsei wasn't one to shirk responsibility. The enemy had indeed detected the rat his real body had transformed into.
"I marked them with a special scent." Hashihime bit her finger, formed hand seals, and pressed her hand to the ground. A large swarm of butterflies fluttered out. "As soon as they come out, my butterflies will find them."
The butterflies scattered in all directions.
"Good. Let's see how long they can stay in there." Wood Kite nodded. "Did you bring all the living people out?"
Shinsei's expression went blank as information came back from his shadow clones.
"They're all out."
Wood Kite looked at the twenty-odd numb survivors at the mountain entrance. "Giant Beast, take them farther away!"
Giant Beast nodded and called to the surviving test subjects, leading them away.
"Stay alert. I'll make things a little harder for them." Wood Kite was about to form hand seals.
"Captain, let me. Save your chakra." Shinsei interrupted Wood Kite. There was still fighting to come, and Wood Kite didn't have as much chakra as he did.
Shinsei walked to the base entrance and formed hand seals.
Water Release: Great Water Shockwave!
Water streamed endlessly from Shinsei's mouth, surging into the base through the entrance.
Let's start with one Kakashi's worth of chakra. This ninjutsu has limited killing power, and the simulated water will disappear when its time is up, but as long as they're in the water, I can sense their positions.
"There are no living people inside. They're probably hiding in the earth." Shinsei couldn't sense any moving figures in the water.
"No hurry. They can't hold their breath in the earth for long."
"Captain." Goat hurried over from a distance, holding a kunai. "Did something go wrong?"
"Yes, but there's still a chance to salvage it." Wood Kite nodded, looking at Goat in front of him. "You're just in time. Sense their chakra and tell me as soon as they appear."
Shinsei looked back at Goat as he approached and suddenly remembered Goat unexpectedly patting him yesterday. Looking at where Goat stood now, he seemed too close to the captain, and the way he held his kunai was odd too. Coupled with Tarō Kakumoto sniffing when he discovered him, something was wrong with Goat!
"Captain, watch out!" Before Shinsei could finish warning him about Goat, he saw Goat suddenly thrust his kunai at Wood Kite. In that instant, Wood Kite only had time to raise a hand to block.
"What are you doing?" Wood Kite roared. His right hand gripped a kunai, its blade embedded in his palm as blood streamed out.
Giant Beast kicked Goat away, and Goat turned into a puff of white smoke in midair.
A shadow clone!
"Goat betrayed us!" Hashihime cried out. "Let me see the wound. There might be something wrong with it!"
Shinsei came to Wood Kite's side and looked at the wound in his palm, where faint purple marks were appearing.
"This is..." Hashihime examined it closely. "These are nano-sized venomous insects!"
Wood Kite swiftly drew a shuriken with his left hand and slashed hard. His right hand dropped to the ground.
Everyone darted away from the hand. That stuff looked terrifying.
"Can you use Lightning Release?" Wood Kite looked at Shinsei.
"Yes!" Shinsei nodded. Wood Kite really did know his detailed information.
Wood Kite extended his bleeding stump. Understanding what he meant, Shinsei formed hand seals, and dense arcs of electricity sprang from his right hand.
"Use a little more electricity."
The electricity connected with Wood Kite's stump. Wisps of smoke rose from it, carrying a scorched smell.
This was to kill the nano-sized venomous insects with Lightning Release, killing healthy cells along with them.
Wood Kite's expression was hidden behind his mask, but his trembling body betrayed the immense physical pain he was suffering.
"That's enough. It should be fine now." Hashihime was the squad's medical-nin. If she said it was fine, it should be all right.
Wood Kite swayed, and Giant Beast hurriedly supported him.
"A-abandon the mission!" Wood Kite's voice was indescribably weak.
"I'm afraid there's still a fight ahead." Shinsei looked toward the distant woods, where a masked figure appeared. Another appeared on the other side.
One, two, three, four, five. Five people loosely surrounded the four of them.
That stance, that silent presence-Shinsei felt a sense of familiarity as he watched the masked figures slowly encircle them.
Are they... Anbu?
"Are they Anbu?" Giant Beast was a little dazed. The situation had changed too quickly for him to process.
"No, they're not Anbu." Wood Kite looked at the figures opposite them, a vague suspicion forming.
It's Root!
They must be coming for me. A few years ago, I kept worrying that Danzo would drag me into Root and brainwash me. But it never happened, making me think too highly of Danzo's character. Now it seems Danzo really is still that same Danzo?
He didn't act before because he was waiting for me to leave the village? He didn't want to capture me in Konoha, or kill me there?
Wood Kite had been in the Anbu for a long time, and the squad members had been going on missions for ages. Yet a teammate's betrayal had happened precisely on Shinsei's first trip outside.
He wasn't overestimating himself. Wood Kite probably wasn't worth making Goat betray them. Only he, the top graduate, the Konoha genius who surpassed Sasuke Uchiha, a descendant of the Senju, qualified.
Shinsei quickly considered countermeasures. Wood Kite was essentially out of action, Hashihime was a medical-nin with limited combat strength, and Giant Beast only knew Fire Style, making him far too easy to counter.
"Head for the river!" Shinsei pointed to the small river a few hundred meters away.
"Listen to Hakutaku!" Wood Kite gritted his teeth. "Move!"