Chapter 219 : Only a fool would answer the enemy's questions
Let's go back in time a bit.
Inuzuka Tsume and another Jonin each led their squad members to scatter in east and west directions, setting up traps in different areas.
By the end of their busy work, almost all the exploding tags and hidden weapons they carried were used up.
During this time, Kuro-Maru tracked them down by scent, bringing a full pack of supplies, including food and weapons, finally giving everyone something to use.
After setting up the last mechanism, she stomped on the loosened soil a few times, making it firm and hard again, so as not to reveal any obvious flaws.
Screech—
A bird-like shriek mixed with the wind drifted over. Inuzuka Tsume immediately climbed to the treetop and saw a signal flare burning in mid-air above the dense forest canopy in the foothills, emitting a dazzling red light.
Kuro-Maru simultaneously twitched his ears, sniffing carefully towards the mountain, detecting a trace of unusual scent.
"A large force is coming from the southeast! Stay hidden!"
"Inuzuka-sensei," Shiranui Genma's tone was urgent, the senbon in his hand glinting coldly, "Naraku has encountered the enemy!"
Might Guy immediately stood up and said, "I'll go meet him right away!"
"No!"
Unexpectedly, Inuzuka Tsume refused Might Guy, suppressing her emotions with all her might, controlling herself not to make an irrational judgment.
"It's obvious Naraku has already clashed with them! If he can't even escape himself, your going there will be useless!"
"But, Sensei!" Guy still wanted to argue, "Are we just going to give up like this—"
"Obey orders! Do I need to repeat what a red signal flare means?!"
Inuzuka Tsume reprimanded angrily, "We must hold this position and block the enemy's attack! Do you know what the consequences will be if the defensive line is breached?!"
Might Guy saw that his usually unrestrained and bold sensei now had red eyes and was breathing heavily, and he knew how painful the psychological struggle she had gone through in a short time was.
So he no longer argued, lowered his head and clenched his fists, tears of unwillingness in his eyes, hating himself for still being so weak.
He suddenly remembered a day two years ago, when his father returned home covered in dust and exhausted, the specks of blood on his body already turned dark brown.
His father sat in the house for a long time, and was silent for a long time, eventually just patting his shoulder and saying.
"Guy, we need to work harder."
"Become strong and reliable!"
"To have the power to protect our comrades..."
These words still echoed in his ears, and Might Guy finally understood a bit of the unspeakable bitterness his father felt at that time.
--But even now, I still don't have that power, Father... The war didn't give the participants much time to compose themselves. A few minutes later, Guy heard the sound of explosions caused by triggered traps.
The enemy was close... By the stream on the other side.
Fire Release: Multiple Stream Slashes had already dissipated, and the Sand Ninja who had just been glaring at Naraku were all frozen in place, no one actively attacking for a moment.
This directly caused a large area around him to become empty, as if it were a forbidden zone on the battlefield; stepping into it was stepping into death.
Naraku swallowed the fresh blood that overflowed from his throat, his Sharingan fixed on a certain shadow, as if knowing that the most threatening presence to him was hidden there.
Chiyo was slightly surprised by his keenness, but still chose not to reveal herself due to her fear of Uchiha's Genjutsu. Only her voice, coming from an unknown source, expressed her question in a declarative tone.
"Konoha's Uchiha, what is your relationship with White Fang?"
Naraku remained silent with a cold face, but in his heart, he stuck out his tongue at Chiyo.
--Only a fool would honestly answer an enemy's question, nah nah nah!
And what responded to Chiyo instead of him were only continuous explosions and large fires in the direction of the Sand Ninja's attack, as well as black smoke slowly rising to the treetops.
Clearly, this was Konoha's trap zone.
Realizing that she had been blinded by hatred and had been easily lured step by step to this point by this kid, Chiyo's face darkened, and her voice was filled with ruthlessness.
"It doesn't matter if you don't say; your corpse can tell me just the same."
Before her words finished, a whooshing sound rapidly approached from behind Naraku.
--Damn it! Another sneak attack!
Naraku was already prepared for this.
In the nick of time, he swiftly flipped his blade and pressed it against his side, blocking the heavy punch of the Ox-Headed Puppet, but under the impact of the immense force, he was forced to slide several meters before barely stopping, spitting out two mouthfuls of blood as if unable to bear it.
Chiyo, a veteran of countless battles, naturally understood the principle of hitting an enemy when he's down. At the same moment, a blue-faced puppet suddenly appeared, and from beneath its white robe, a dozen tentacle-like iron chains emerged, their tips polished black and sharp, moving with more flexibility and viciousness than snakes when attacking.
Naraku gritted his teeth and dodged the iron chain thrusts, then quickly dodged left and right, his blade constantly striking out sparks.
Enduring such frequent and dense attacks, he still keenly detected an anomaly underground through Sensing Ninjutsu.
The moment the Pig-Headed Puppet leaped out of the earth, intending to ambush him, Naraku swung his blade, cutting off the thorns extended from its arm, and broke through the rapidly shrinking steel cage through the gap.
Bombs continuously exploded within the empty cage, the blazing fire illuminating his profile. The airflow, laden with a burnt smell, heavily swept past, dissipating among the deep forest.
--I must escape quickly; if I keep fighting, I won't be able to leave.
Before Naraku even landed, he began forming hand seals, instantly mobilizing all his remaining Chakra to release outwards.
His intuition told Chiyo that this move might be very bad.
But when she controlled the blue-faced puppet to pounce, and the iron chains were only half a meter away from him, the last seal was formed, and a powerful electric current created a Barrier around Naraku's body, deflecting all the sharp spikes.
Lightning Release: Myriad Lightning Killing Array—Full Power!
Lightning bolts erupted from beneath his feet, vying for dominance, transforming into a dozen thick, dazzling lightning snakes that roared towards the sky, circling, intertwining, and rotating, violently wielding their massive bodies, turning everything they touched within a hundred-meter radius into ashes.
Chiyo and the Sand Ninja had no choice but to avoid this terrifying Ninjutsu, constantly dodging awkwardly in the gaps between the giant lightning snakes. Every moment, Ninja who weren't fast enough screamed and vanished into thin air.
The world seemed to be swallowed by the dazzling blue light. When the intense light faded, only a scene of desolation remained in their vision, with no sign of the Uchiha... After successfully shaking off Chiyo, Naraku, without stopping, used Sensing Ninjutsu to locate Inuzuka Tsumes Squad. If he encountered any lucky Sand Ninja on the way who hadn't been eliminated by the traps, he would kindly send them on their way.
The only problem was that his bloodline limit sickness, which had just stabilized, began to flare up again, and this time he truly didn't have time to perform "self-healing" for the animator.
--Just take some medicine.
After having the system add dozens more popularity points to himself and locking his blood, Naraku threw seven or eight pills into his mouth and chewed them up with his teeth.
A sour and bitter taste, strong enough to shoot straight to his head, made him cough repeatedly, but he forced himself to swallow it.
The strong bitter taste in his mouth still hadn't faded even when he saw Inuzuka Tsumes Squad fighting amidst over a dozen puppets.