Katabami Gold Mine
The place wasn't far from the Curry of Life restaurant. After Sakura and the others stopped Rokusuke, they took advantage of the night and drew for two hours before finally arriving at the mine.
The group hid behind the rocks nearby, watching the miners working by the faint Kakkō of their fire.
Throughout the mine, stood numerous Kurosuki Clan, clad in black cloaks, each holding a torch and a whip.
"Ouch!"
An elderly man, over seventy years old, had reached his physical limit after a day of overwork. In the dim Kakkō of the fire, he could not see the road ahead, lost his footing, and fell to the ground.
"You old bastard, do you want a whipping?"
The guard lashed out with his leather whip, leaving a bloody welt on the old man's back.
"Ah! Spare me, spare me! I'll get up right away!"
The guard seemed quite pleased with the fear in the old man's eyes, and pointed his whip at the numerous grave mounds beside the mine. "If you don't want to go there, hurry up and pick up the gold ore."
Yes! Yes!
Naruto and Rock Lee, witnessing this scene, felt their eyes blaze with anger. "That bastard!"
The two were about to get up and rush into the mining area when Sakura stopped them. "You two calm down! Hongshi hasn't arrived yet!"
"I can't wait any longer! These guys are scum! Let them feel the heat of my youth!"
Sakura held Rock Lee down. "Lee! It's nighttime. If we attack rashly, we might hurt them. Besides, look, they have fifteen guards alone, and there must be many more resting. Uncle Rokusuke, you've been here before, tell me everything you know."
Rokusuke looked at Sakura: " Sakura is right. When I worked at the mine, I calculated that there should be forty or even more guards. The guards change shifts every eight hours, while there are about one hundred and fifty miners. They work eighteen hours a day and only have twenty minutes of rest during dinner time."
"The evils of exploitation..."
Lord God: "Shut up!"
Sakura remained calm as she analyzed, "That means there are still twenty-five guards resting. So where are the miners resting?"
Rokusuke pointed to the largest wooden hut in the mining area. "It's right there. They rest at midnight every day."
Rock Lee asked, " Sakura, do you have any plans?"
Sakura nodded. "Our first priority is to ensure the safety of the miners. Uncle Rokusuke, please take Rock Lee to the rest hut and wait discreetly. We must notify all the miners to prepare to leave without causing a disturbance."
Rokusuke nodded in agreement. "Okay!"
Naruto quickly asked, " Sakura-chan! What should I do then!"
Sakura laughed and said, "Do what you do best: cause trouble!"
"Make trouble?"
Sakura pointed to the guards' resting area. "That's where the guards rest. Take Uncle Nanasuki there and hide. Once you hear the signal, start creating a disturbance on the other side of the mine."
"Signal?"
Sakura took out two bamboo whistles and handed them to Kyūsha and Rokusuke: "These are it. Uncle Kyūsha, you take one too. Since our opponent is one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, they might have Sensory Ninjutsu. So I'll try to get close to the house where Raiga Kurosuki is first. If they do, I'll lure them away. You'll give the signal when it's time. Uncle Rokusuke, once you're ready, blow the second whistle. Naruto can start after he hears the two signals."
Kyūsha looked at the bamboo whistle. "Leave it to me."
Sakura: "Okay, then you guys stay here, I'll go around first."
Rock Lee and Naruto watched the miners, exhausted but still working, and felt a surge of anger rising within them, but they had to suppress it in order for their plan to proceed.
Sakura darted quickly through the woods, intending to circle around the mining area to reach the room where Raiga Kurosuki was located in the farthest part of the forest.
The Rokusuke had never seen anything like this before and were extremely nervous.
Naruto sat on the ground, his right hand supporting his chin:
After nearly twenty minutes of walking, Sakura finally arrived at the back of Raiga Kurosuki's room and slowly approached. Since Raiga Kurosuki's room was located below a cliff, Sakura used Chakra to attach to her feet and slowly walked down.
"Drop."
But then it started raining, and it looked like it was quite heavy.
Sakura looked at the increasingly dense raindrops and said, "This is troublesome. Hopefully, Rock Lee and the others can find their own opportunity!"
The sound of rain will mask the sound of the bamboo whistle. If Rock Lee and Naruto can't hear it, they won't start their operation, which will directly lead to the failure of the mission.
"Squeak!"
The rain made the cliff face slippery, and Sakura slipped and kicked a protruding rock off.
However, just as Sakura was about to turn and leave, she suddenly felt a chill creep up from behind.
Hey hey, I see you!
When Sakura turned around, she saw a tall man hidden in a black cloak, wielding a strangely shaped knife towards her. A blade tip appeared before her eyes, crackling with lightning, making it impossible to dodge.
Die!
"Bang!"
The newcomer was none other than Raiga Kurosuki, but just as he thought he had succeeded in his attack, Sakura's body turned into white smoke and exploded. This Sakura was nothing more than a Shadow Clone.
" Shadow Clone? Ranmaru, where is she?"
After a moment of silence, a child's voice came from behind Raiga Kurosuki: "I'm sorry, Raiga, I can't see her. Has she already left?"
Even someone as powerful as Red Eye couldn't see through Shadow Clone that evenly Chakra.
Raiga Kurosuki was once one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist of the Mist, a ruthless killer, and his battle instincts were incredibly strong. "No, I have a feeling, she's nearby, keep a close eye on her!"
Ranmaru's voice was tinged with fear; his Red Eye had never shown this before. "I... I will try my best!"
Raiga Kurosuki quickly ran towards the cliff; in this situation, standing Immobility was the most dangerous thing to do.
However, Sakura was hiding in a tree on the edge of the cliff, a tree so large that it would take one person to encircle it, and that's why she wasn't detected. She used Wood Release to merge with the tree.
Seeing Raiga Kurosuki pass by, he breathed a sigh of relief, "Luckily, I used Shadow Clone Jutsu to scout ahead first, otherwise it would have been troublesome. Anyway, let's rescue them first."
"Boom!"
Before Sakura could even breathe a sigh of relief, a deafening clap of thunder echoed from the dark clouds in the sky, and a bolt of lightning suddenly struck the tree where she was standing.
"Boom!"
Sakura swiftly leaped out of the tree, dispelling her Hiding in a Tree Technique. In the next instant, a thunderbolt shattered the tree into charred remains.
"Hehe! I found you again, little girl."
At that moment, Raiga Kurosuki reappeared behind Sakura, thrusting his lightning blade at her.
" Wood Release: Cherry Blossom Wall!"
"Bang!"
The thunder blade was blocked by the hemispherical wooden wall covered with cherry blossoms, penetrating deep into the wood. Its hardness was no less than that of steel.
The cherry blossoms on the wooden wall were scattered and then knocked down by raindrops.
"It's Wood Release! This time, a truly formidable ninja has arrived."
Sakura's red figure darted out from under the wooden wall and ran into the dense forest.
"Where do you think you're going!"
Raiga Kurosuki raised his lightning blade high and charged towards Sakura.
" Raiga! You're under Genjutsu! Release it!"
Ranmaru's Red Eye vision failed to detect any enemies ahead, while Sakura, who had remained beneath the wooden wall from the beginning, immediately alerted Raiga Kurosuki and dispelled his Genjutsu.
Raiga Kurosuki's vision of Sakura vanished in the smoke, but at that moment, his back was turned to Sakura.
"Let me show you what it's like to be ambushed! Wood Release: Cherry Blossom Impact Fist!"
The ground was untied, and a wooden fist as tall as a person punched towards the open space behind Raiga Kurosuki.
Raiga Kurosuki, who was carrying Ranmaru on his back, was caught in the crossfire of the wooden fist's attack. In desperation, he leaped high into the air, turning around and raising his lightning blades high. Lightning flashed and formed a sphere. "You brat, how dare you attack Ranmaru! Lightning Release: Lightning Ball!"
The twin swords slashed down in mid-air, and the lightning ball hurtled towards Sakura at incredible speed. Sakura changed her hand seals, and her wooden fist on the ground opened, catching the lightning ball in her hand. " Wood Release: Wooden Claw Technique!"
Raiga Kurosuki landed on the ground. " Ranmaru, are you alright!"
"Hmm! But Raiga, you have to be careful. This ninja has a huge amount of Chakra. Don't let your guard down."
"Hmm! Judging by her Forehead Protector, it's from Konoha. I wonder how much ransom I'll get if I capture her. Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique!"
Raiga Kurosuki exhaled a large amount of mist, obscuring the surrounding objects in a thick fog.
Sakura observed her surroundings. "Hey, Raiga Kurosuki, who's that brat on your back? He seems to have some unusual power."
"Whoosh."
Two Kunai flew towards Sakura from the thick fog, but Sakura sensed them and used her wooden claws to block them around her body.
Sakura discovered that the dense fog contained a large amount of Chakra, unlike Zabuza's, which greatly affected her senses. "I didn't expect that you Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist all had such strange quirks. Zabuza, and you picked up Ranmaru."
"Hmph, Ranmaru is my most cherished partner, unlike that Zabuza. Although my Hidden Mist Technique has a smaller range than his, it can restrict sensory abilities. This is the true Hidden Mist Technique."
Sakura tried to provoke Raiga Kurosuki, but when his voice rang out, it came from all directions, making it impossible to pinpoint its exact location.
Sakura secretly Hand Seals: "Hey, you wouldn't happen to have created several clones, surrounding me and talking at the same time to confuse me, while your main body tiptoes around behind me to prepare for a sneak attack, would you?"
The scene after Zabuza's " Silent Killing Technique " was broken by Hongshi and the way he crouched on tiptoe are Zabuza vivid in my mind.
An awkward silence fell over the air.
Ranmaru: " Raiga, how... how did she know?"
Raiga Kurosuki: "(╬д) Ranmaru, shut up!"
Sakura: "Σ() My god, it really is! Wood Release: Wood Senbon!"
Numerous thumb-sized spikes began to extend from the wooden claws surrounding Sakura, shooting outwards.
" Raiga, watch out!"
"Puff puff..."
Four Shadow Clone were dispelled in succession, followed by the sound of someone being stabbed from behind.
"Even if you know, so what? You can't escape now! Lightning Release: Lightning Strike!"
Another bolt of lightning struck down from the sky, but Sakura was caught off guard and was hit directly by it.
"Ah!"
Sakura screamed in pain.
"Hahaha, Ranmaru, the two of us together are invincible! But, it really hurts."
Raiga Kurosuki appeared in the thick fog, his body riddled with wooden spikes, blood dripping onto the ground.
Stomping through the mud, looking at Sakura whose wooden claws were charred black from the electric shock, he smiled with satisfaction, "Hey, kid, don't die yet, it's nothing."
Ranmaru, however, noticed something amiss. " Raiga, be careful, I can't see Chakra flowing through her."
Only then did they realize that the Sakura on the ground was not actually a real Sakura, but rather a wooden clone.
"What?! Another clone?! Where's the real one?!"
Ranmaru, intently observing his surroundings, suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "There's a faint Chakra fluctuation within the wooden claw!"
"Too late! Wood Release: Cherry Blossom Tree Binding!"
Sakura's body leaped out of the wooden claws, and then the earth and rocks beneath her feet cracked open, and three cherry blossom trees quickly grew out, trapping Raiga.
The cherry blossom tree absorbed Raiga's Chakra, growing extremely fast, and wrapped around his limbs and Raiga's sword.
Sakura was using Wood Release at this point simply because she had her own Chakra. After using so many Ninjutsu in a row, her Chakra was almost completely depleted.
The cherry blossom tree grew rapidly, eventually binding Raiga's entire body except for his head. Sakura, under her control, also managed to pull out his backpack. "You brat! You're surprisingly strong!"
As the cherry blossoms fell from the tree, Raiga Kurosuki watched them fall, feeling his eyelids grow heavier and heavier. Although he knew he was under Genjutsu, his hands were bound and he couldn't break free. Then he fell into a deep sleep.
"Phew, I need to hurry and inform Naruto and the others."
The rain intensified, and muffled thunder rumbled in the sky. Sakura slowly walked to the edge of the cliff and blew her bamboo whistle with all her might. "Chirp!"