Chapter 248 : The lone rescuer
"Ling! Watch out behind you!"
Hearing his companion's warning, Uchiha Ling quickly dodged to the side. The next moment, several senbon pierced through his fluttering clothes, leaving several small holes.
As his Sharingan activated, he clearly saw a Kirigakure Ninja, holding a sword in his right hand, break through the thick mist and attack from his front-left. The distance was already negligible.
The cold gleam reflected from the blade in his eyes caused a faint stinging sensation.
In this moment of life and death, the ferocity inherent in the Uchiha bloodline was ignited. Uchiha Ling gritted his teeth, embracing the thought of dying together. Instead of trying to dodge, he actively charged forward.
"Mukai!"
He shouted his companion's name, not having time to say more, only hoping the other party would understand his meaning.
Immediately after, a searing pain of metal tearing through flesh and bone came from his left shoulder.
"I got you...!"
Uchiha Ling snarled, sacrificing one shoulder to firmly seize the Kirigakure Ninja's wrist.
"Oh no!"
The Kirigakure Ninja's pupils constricted. He tried to pull his arm back, but in that fleeting moment, a Kunai flew behind him, and the exploding tag attached to its ring detonated at just the right time.
Boom—
An orange-red fireball bloomed in the thick mist. The blast, carrying flames, dispersed the vast white water vapor, briefly returning clarity to the hazy world.
Uchiha Ling and the Kirigakure Ninja both fell to the ground, unable to move. The latter was already on the verge of death from directly taking the brunt of the explosion's force.
"You're really crazy!"
Mukai cursed as he ran to Uchiha Ling's side. He first finished off the enemy, then scooped up his teammate and hoisted him onto his shoulder, setting him down in a relatively safe spot.
"Cough, cough..." Uchiha Ling spat out a mouthful of clotted blood, struggling to raise his relatively intact right arm: "Heal..."
"I know, I know!"
Mukai replied grumpily, pulling out the last healing talisman from his pocket. He placed it on the deep, bone-exposing wound on Ling's left shoulder, injected Chakra, and muttered to himself.
"If the Uchiha didn't hand out so many talismans, you'd have died who knows how many times already!"
The Medical Ninjutsu sealed within the talisman was activated. In an instant, a shimmering green light spread across his entire shoulder blade.
The injury gradually stopped bleeding and healed. Uchiha Ling's condition slowly stabilized, but he wouldn't be able to fight again for a while.
If another Kirigakure Ninja were to ambush them, Mukai fighting alone would likely mean both of them were in grave danger... Similar incidents were happening all over Yunbai Mountain.
Due to the insufficient number of reconnaissance Ninja, the Konoha side was particularly passive. It was difficult for them to launch an offensive, so they could only shrink their defensive line as much as possible, stalling for time until reinforcements arrived.
Time passed minute by minute. The number of companions steadily decreased, while the possibility of timely support became increasingly slim.
Even so, the Konoha Ninja besieged on the mountaintop were still stubbornly resisting, using the terrain to their advantage.
"That's enough. Finish them off quickly!"
The encirclement was now small enough. The captain of the Kirigakure combat squad gathered a few subordinates, and together they began to form hand seals.
After completing nearly fifty hand seals, the mist surrounding Yunbai Mountain paused for half a breath, then converged like flowing water towards the center, forming a massive, ferocious Water Dragon.
"Water Release: Combined Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu!"
The moment the Ninjutsu took shape, the Water Dragon seemed to gain a soul. Its sky-obscuring body moved and coiled agilely within the clouds, letting out a deafening roar.
Even with the toughest resolve, the Konoha defenders could only look up at the sky with a hint of despair, unable to imagine any way to contend with it.
Roar—!!
The giant Water Dragon, coiling high in the sky, roared again, arching its spiny back, then suddenly plunged downwards, so fast it stirred up circular shockwaves.
Just as the Konoha Ninja below thought they would all perish here, a figure rushed from afar, appearing on the battlefield after several rapid flashes.
The newcomer raised a hand to form a seal, and a narrow white light shot out from his palm, instantly piercing the Water Dragon's head and then rapidly flashing to slice through its body.
Fire Release: Streamline Slash Jutsu!
The colossal creature, which had just been so imposing, lost control and instantly shattered into falling rain.
In this brief and intense downpour, the figure stood at the highest point of the battlefield, a pair of crimson eyes gleaming with a faint, bloody light, proudly gazing down at his prey.
A shiver from the depths of his soul shot up his spine to the back of his head. The Kirigakure captain's mind reeled, almost subconsciously thinking of a certain untouchable existence.
—Scarlet Hunter!
He took a step back, cursing, "Damn it, how is he here?!"
If it really was that guy, this surprise attack would surely end in failure, and they would very likely be completely annihilated by him here.
As if to specifically confirm this conjecture, the moment the rain weakened, an endless sea of fire descended from the sky, boiling.
After touching the ground, the flames transformed into surging waves of fire, flowing past the Konoha Ninja within the stronghold and rushing in all directions, scorching everything in their path into dark red magma.
The Hidden Mist assassination techniques, which the Kirigakure Ninja had always prided themselves on, were utterly useless in the face of such a massive firestorm, like thin snow under a scorching sun, melting into nothingness in an instant.
--It's definitely Scarlet Hunter, no doubt!!!
Confirming his thoughts, the next second, the captain of the Kirigakure combat squad decisively ordered a retreat.
"It's Scarlet Hunter! Mission failed, disperse and retreat!"
Based on currently known intelligence, "Scarlet Hunter's" abilities were simply insurmountable. Continuing to fight would only lead to more casualties.
"Yes!"
The Kirigakure Ninja besieging the stronghold didn't hesitate for a moment, scattering and fleeing.
The surviving Konoha Ninja rushed out from their hiding places, about to pursue the fleeing Kirigakure Ninja, when they saw electric arcs spreading across the sky.
Arrows formed of lightning hung densely overhead, vast and shimmering like stars in the Milky Way.
It was Uchiha Ling who first recognized this lone rescuer.
"Naraku...!" He looked around. The numerous Kirigakure Ninja were already gone, so he felt a little anxious, "The enemies have all run off. Aren't we going to chase them?"
"No need."
Naraku replied indifferently, raising his right hand and lightly flicking it with a sword-finger gesture.
Then, thousands of lightning arrows instantly scattered, transforming into a sky full of shooting stars, their bright blue trails drawing countless hair-thin cracks across the sky.
Even if he couldn't see where the enemies were, Tenmei Gyokumei would guide each lightning needle to its designated location—the death line decreed by Ama no Kaguhiko.
The facts were just as Naraku expected. All over the slopes, beyond his line of sight, lay the bodies of Kirigakure Ninja, scattered haphazardly.
Dried, decayed, shattered—this was the appearance of all things after being touched by "death."
Putting away his Mangekyo Sharingan, Naraku's eyes flickered. He estimated the number of remaining defenders, pulled out a scroll case, inserted a note, and then summoned his Ninja Cat.
Thump.
As the white smoke cleared, a calico kitten, whose fur was close to "dark clouds covering snow," appeared at his feet. It meowed and rubbed against his pant leg, purring "uruuru" in its chest.
During his time operating on the Eastern Front, this kitten, with whom he had only recently formed a contract, had been a great help. It was thanks to her constantly traveling to deliver intelligence that Naraku and the camp could maintain smooth communication.
"Yukie," Naraku stroked the cat's forehead and handed her a small dried fish, "Please deliver this to Fugaku-sama for me."
"Meow~"
Yukie stood up, holding both the scroll case and the dried fish in her front paws, and with a "thump," vanished from the spot...
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