One might have thought he was being too heavily exploited by Konan, after all, uniforms tend to increase attack speed.
Ling sent her Ling to try to fish in troubled waters, to see if she could destroy or stealthily acquire the Rinnegan, but unfortunately, she didn't have a couple's space, otherwise stealing the Rinnegan would have been quite simple.
It was three or four in the morning, the most suitable time for a night raid. Uchiha Ling lay on the grassland, feeling the cold wind, counting the stars. As a black cloud covered the sky, the world became pitch black.
"Minato-sama, a squad of suspicious Ninja disguised as Konoha Anbu are approaching the Cloud Ninja Genin from the front left. There are three of them, and judging by their Chakra levels, they should be Jonin."
After Hyuga Hikaru, who was responsible for reconnaissance, discovered the situation, he immediately turned to report to Minato Namikaze, who was resting. He had thought there would be no anomalies tonight, but something appeared in the latter half of the night.
"Everyone, depart immediately. Intercept them before they make a move, and be sure to leave them alive."
Ling did a carp jump to stand up, yawned, and nodded. Looking at Uchiha Shisui, whose Sharingan glowed red in the night, Ling felt that Shisui was very steady.
He started activating his Sharingan several kilometers away, preparing for battle, but it was understandable. This was Shisui's first Anbu mission involving Jonin.
The eight people moved quickly, traversing the grassland, and soon approached the squad of "Konoha Anbu" Ninja. Their rapid approach also caused the Cloud Ninja Genin on night watch to exclaim and wake up their teammates.
"Damn it! It's Konoha Anbu! And there are two squads, they think too highly of us!"
Among the seven or eight Cloud Ninja Genin, there were some whom Ling had crippled and whose hands she had cut off. It seemed they were lucky not to have died in that lake. There was also a Jonin with a severed hand, which was also Ling's masterpiece.
"Konoha's brats! They're trying to wipe us out! You guys run, I'll stop them."
The Cloud Ninja Jonin with the severed hand also knew that he and his comrades were just pawns. If they couldn't return alive, the Village would provide ample compensation.
Before his hand was severed, he thought these Genin pawns died for a good cause, but when he became a pawn, he didn't think that way. He wanted to live, but as the only Jonin in the team, he couldn't escape.
He had no right to comment on the Village's act of framing Konoha, but at present, he only wanted to bring these living people back to Hidden Cloud Village.
Before these Cloud Ninja Genin could scatter and flee, they were intercepted by the "Konoha Anbu," and the approach of Ling and her comrades also attracted the attention of this "Konoha Anbu" squad.
"What is this? Which Village made a mistake in their attack target? And overlapped with ours?"
The Sand Ninja Jonin was somewhat puzzled and didn't think this could be the real Konoha Anbu, as their mission was top secret and only reported to the Hokage.
"Since we all have the same attack target, then after killing these Cloud Ninja brats, shall we all go our separate ways?"
The Sand Ninja disguised as Konoha Anbu shouted to Minato Namikaze, who was leading, intending to confirm their identities to avoid fighting each other.
"You guys are quite professional, aren't you? The Konoha Anbu uniforms aren't even transformed with Transformation Jutsu. You've cosplayed everything from the headbands and masks to the Anbu vests perfectly."
Ling commented on this Konoha Anbu, disguised by either a Stone Ninja or a Sand Ninja, evaluating them with interest, occasionally praising them.
"What do you mean, sir? We are Konoha Anbu, ordered by the Third Hokage to eliminate the Cloud Ninja Genin."
The Sand Ninja Jonin heard something strange in Ling's words and wondered if he had encountered the real Konoha Anbu.
"Tsk tsk tsk? You are Konoha Anbu? Then who are we? Are we the brats of Hidden Sand Village or Stone Ninja?"
Listening to the conversation between the two Konoha Anbu squads, the Cloud Ninja Genin and the one-armed Cloud Ninja Jonin both realized that one of the Konoha squads was fake.
"What do you mean? Our identity as Konoha Anbu does not need you to question it. Inform us of your mission objective and purpose, and connect with the Anbu code, otherwise I will consider you Ninja from an enemy Village."
The Sand Ninja Jonin spoke in a very articulate manner; he was a talented individual, but unfortunately, a fake is a fake, and he couldn't be real.
"Interesting. How about this! You just shout 'Ōnoki is a brat' and 'Third Kazekage is a useless dog,' and I'll believe your Konoha Anbu identity."
For Anbu loyal to their Village, Ling's words could actually be spoken, as the mission was important. However, since the other party had already said that, they must have already guessed their identity, so there was no need to say it.
"Alright, what's so difficult about that? I'll just say... Die, brat!"
The Sand Ninja Jonin attacked without another word, directly wielding his Ninjato and using Wind Release Ninjutsu to slash at Ling, while the other two Sand Ninja Jonin also followed suit.
"None of you interfere, I'll play with this person."
Ling alone confronted the attacking Sand Ninja Jonin, while Sarutobi Aoki, Shisui, and Kamikawa Shuji dealt with another, and Minato Namikaze stopped one.
As for Nara Kojiro and his teammates, they kept an eye on these Cloud Ninja Genin, preventing them from scattering and fleeing, as they still needed to be sent back to their country.
This Sand Ninja Jonin was one Ling had not fought before; he specialized in Wind Release and poison Jutsu. His strength was only that of an ordinary Jonin. His Wind Release Ninjutsu looked powerful, but it wasn't refined enough, and his Wind Release nature transformation level wasn't high.
So, the moment he clashed with Ling, he was at a disadvantage. His second blade was struck by Ling in the exact same spot on his Ninjato, his third blade was directly cut off by Ling, and then she slashed his chest.
The Sand Ninja Jonin had no time to form hand signs, not even a chance to use the Substitution Jutsu. Ling's sword speed was too fast, and he couldn't create distance.
Finally, after he was cut into a bloody mess by Ling, almost being slowly tortured to death, he lost his combat ability, and then Ling struck him with a palm, sealing his Chakra.
The entire engagement lasted less than half a minute. He was the second opponent to be dealt with. Minato Namikaze instantly killed his opponent, leaving no one alive.
And facing the encirclement of Uchiha Shisui, Sarutobi Aoki, and Kamikawa Shuji, the third Sand Ninja Jonin also quickly fell into a disadvantage.
During this process, the three of them quickly formed a combat synergy. Shisui primarily engaged in close-quarters combat and used genjutsu for crowd control, while Kamikawa Shuji took the opportunity to ambush, and Sarutobi Aoki would either use Ninjutsu support or directly assist for a while when the opponent pulled away.
Ling sent a Shadow Clone to search the Ninja tool pouches of these Jonin. By the time the first two were searched, the third Sand Ninja Jonin had also been severely wounded and collapsed.
The Shadow Clone immediately seamlessly began searching him, and incidentally applied a Sealing Technique and briefly treated their injuries.
Minato Namikaze was negotiating with that Cloud Ninja Jonin and stating his mission objective, hoping for cooperation. Both parties were informed, so they quickly reached a consensus.
As for the Jonin whose Sand Ninja identities were exposed after being searched and interrogated with genjutsu by Ling, they were directly sent back to Konoha by Nara Kojiro's team, who also reported the details of this mission.
This meant that from then on, only the four of them would be escorting these Cloud Ninja Genin back to the Land of Lightning. Along the way, they not only had to be wary of Sand Ninja and Stone Ninja attacking these Cloud Ninja, but also had to be careful of these Cloud Ninja ambushing them or contacting Cloud Ninja to eliminate them.
This mission was truly thankless. Fortunately, it was worth two S-rank Ninjutsu merits, so everyone just held their noses and endured it.
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