Faced with the praise and teasing from the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, Kōki could only awkwardly scratch his head and chuckle, "Senpai, I didn't deliberately hide anything. In fact, my forte is indeed Medical Ninjutsu and Wood Release. Taijutsu and Water Release are just auxiliary methods for me."
Kōki's Versailles-like words made the Ino-Shika-Cho trio roll their eyes. They never expected that Kōki, at such a young age, would say such hurtful things, making them want to hit him.
When Kōki noticed the unfriendly looks from the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, he quickly changed the subject. " Yūsuke- senpai, we've now wiped out all the Sand Ninja in the base, so can we go back to the village now?"
Kōki Nara Yūsuke was both amused and exasperated by Yuki's clumsy attempt to change the subject; they were just trying to scare Kōki.
However, now that Kōki had brought up mission-related matters, he dropped his playful expression and answered seriously, "We should indeed return to the village immediately after completing the mission, but even after destroying the stronghold, our mission isn't finished yet. We still have other tasks to complete."
"Other tasks?" Kōki, somewhat puzzled. Why was this mission different? Wasn't destroying the stronghold and killing the Sunagakure inside considered completing the mission?
"That's right, there are other tasks as well. This mission is actually divided into two parts. The first part requires us to clear out the Sunagakure outpost and kill all the Sunagakure inside."
"The second half of the mission is to cause as much trouble as possible for the Sunagakure forces within the Land of Rivers, and to disrupt their supplies." Nara Yūsuke said, taking out the mission scroll he had previously obtained from Shinnosuke Sarutobi Sunagakure passing it around to Kōki and the others.
After taking the scroll and reading its requirements, Akimichi Tsuyoshi looked at Nara Yūsuke with some confusion. "Hey, Yūsuke, why didn't you say so from the beginning? I was planning to treat myself well after completing the task of clearing the stronghold."
Akimichi Tsuyoshi's words left Nara Yūsuke speechless. His teammate, whom he had grown up with since childhood, was good in every way, except that he could never forget a bite to eat.
"The reason I didn't explain the entire mission before it started was because I thought it would take us some time to eliminate the Sunagakure within the base, and in severe cases, some of us might even get injured."
"So I was thinking of taking a break after completing the first part of the mission. But I didn't expect Kōki to Kamui, wiping out all the Sunagakure in the base in one fell swoop." As he spoke, Nara Yūsuke looked at Kōki with a helpless smile, and continued.
"Therefore, thanks to Kōki's outstanding performance, all three of us retained our full fighting strength. Kōki was only slightly exhausted after running out of Chakra, so we were fully capable of continuing to execute the second half of the plan."
Nara Yūsuke's explanation left Akimichi Tsuyoshi speechless and Kōki dumbfounded. He hadn't expected that his idea of quickly eliminating Sunagakure was a mistake.
After understanding the cause and effect, Yamanaka Kenji and Akimichi Tsuyoshi looked at Kōki speechlessly. Kōki, who was being stared at by Ino and Cho, felt a little embarrassed. He didn't know that there were other tasks after completing the mission of killing Sunagakure.
"Hey, you two, that's enough," Nara Yūsuke said, slapping his forehead as he looked at his two childhood friends.
"Hehe, I was just joking with Kōki." Yamanaka Kenji and Akimichi Tsuyoshi understood the hidden meaning in Nara Yūsuke's words. They didn't blame Kōki at all; on the contrary, they were very grateful to Kōki.
Although Kōki's swift elimination of the Sunagakure reduced their rest time, they were also glad that he had killed Sunagakure all. They knew that every battle carried the risk of injury or even death. Their strength was considerable, but that also meant Kōki would face powerful enemies. Kōki gave them a sense of security.
"I'm sorry, Kōki, I didn't blame you. Tsuyoshi and I were just joking." Yamanaka Kenji apologized to Kōki. He thought that although Kōki was strong, he might not be strong inside, and he might have been hurt by Tsuyoshi and Tsuyoshi's expressions.
In response to Yamanaka Kenji's apology, Kōki waved his hands repeatedly, saying, "I could tell the seniors were joking with me. And don't underestimate me just because I'm young; I'm a mature ninja, not that fragile."
Kōki was also a little embarrassed. Although he looked young, he was older than Yamanaka Kenji in his heart. How could he not see through the joke that Yamanaka Kenji and the others were making?
Kōki's answer greatly increased Yamanaka Kenji's positive impression of him. Compared to Kakashi, another genius ninja Konoha throughout Konoha, Kōki felt that Yuki's attitude towards people was a million times better than Kakashi's.
Their Butterfly Squad had also worked with Kakashi before, but Kakashi's attitude was less than satisfactory. Although he was quite strong, he was full of the arrogance of a genius ninja, making him difficult to get along with.
Looking at Kōki now, Yamanaka Kenji felt that Kōki was simply the best partner the Lord Hokage had assigned them. Thinking of this, Yamanaka Kenji couldn't help but rub Kōki's head playfully to express his joy.
Looking at his teammates' grinning faces, Nara Yūsuke could only sigh and rub his forehead. "Alright, alright, Kenji, let's start cleaning up the battlefield. After a short rest, we'll prepare to enter the heart of the Land of Rivers to ambush Sunagakure."
After hearing Nara Yūsuke's words, Yamanaka Kenji's expression became slightly serious, and he began the cleanup work, with Kōki also searching for valuable information.
Kōki first arrived at the Sunagakure that had been shattered by Akimichi Tsuyoshi's punch. He was curious about how Sunagakure's Puppet Technique had managed to deceive his senses.
He clapped his hands together and used Earth Release Technique to clear the rubble from the base. After the rubble was completely cleared, the scene inside the base was revealed to Kōki.
Kōki looked closely and realized what was happening when he saw the scene in the ruins. The stronghold that Akimichi Tsuyoshi had destroyed was indeed filled with puppets, but these were not ordinary puppets.
Instead, they were Human Puppet made from the flesh of ninjas. However, these Human Puppet were not complete; they were only semi-finished products that retained a portion of flesh and blood.
It was precisely this unfinished product that deceived Kōki's senses, leading to the failure of Nara Yūsuke's plan.
This situation made him realize that Sensory Ninjutsu is not omnipotent, and sometimes Sensory Ninjutsu can deceive him.
It's only because Kōki is so strong that they were in such a dangerous situation after falling into the trap.
If there had been eighteen, twenty-eight, or even more people lying in ambush, they would truly be buried here today.
However, Kōki still had one question: how exactly did the people of Sunagakure manage to evade his Sensory Technique and lie in ambush around him?
Unfortunately, he had killed all the people from Sunagakure who were at this stronghold, so he was unable to answer his question.