Yoshikawa Iwa stood at the very back of the group, his voice already hoarse from shouting.
"Scatter! Everyone, scatter!"
He waved his arms frantically, his eyes filled with anger mixed with a trace of fear.
The image of that massive flaming Chakra Arrow exploding in the middle of the crowd just now was branded into his mind like a hot iron.
Those subordinates who had charged at the very front didn't even have time to scream before they were turned into charred corpses by the blast.
At the thought of this, he subconsciously slowed his pace.
Another Chakra Arrow shot toward them from ahead.
Boom!
The sound of an explosion rang out, and three Cloud Hidden Ninjas in front were sent flying.
This terrifying explosion made all the pursuers feel a chill in their hearts; they subconsciously scattered their formation, and their pursuit speed couldn't help but slow down.
Yoshikawa Iwa crawled up from the ground, covered in dust, and continued to hide behind the crowd, pointing forward with his finger.
"Chase! Catch up to them!"
His voice was sharp and piercing, yet he never once left his position at the very back of the group.
Up ahead.
The trio of Hyuga Aokawa sped along, seeing the Cloud Ninjas closing in from ahead to intercept them getting closer and closer.
He pulled the bowstring taut, and a crimson Chakra Arrow flew off the string, accurately plunging into the densest part of the intercepting Cloud Ninjas.
Boom!
The explosion instantly flipped seven or eight Cloud Hidden Ninjas, with severed limbs and blood splattering everywhere.
Immediately following, a powerful Aura suddenly erupted from Might Guy, who was charging at the very front.
"Youth is meant to burn in the face of adversity! Eight Gates: First Gate, the Gate of Opening, Open!"
He turned into a bolt of lightning, fiercely crashing into the intercepting formation ahead.
"Leaf Whirlwind!"
His movements were fast to the extreme, and a whip-like leg sweep swung out with the sound of breaking air.
Several Cloud Hidden Ninjas blocking the front didn't have time to react at all before they were kicked flying by a massive force, knocking down a large number of their companions along the way.
A solid encirclement was forcefully torn open by him.
Uchiha Shisui followed closely behind, his three-tomoe Sharingan spinning rapidly.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
His figure flickered several times, and several phantoms appeared around the pursuers simultaneously, each looking exactly like Shisui.
A Cloud Hidden Ninja raised a Kunai to stab the Shisui in front of him, only to find it was an afterimage.
But as he prepared to turn around, the Ninja Blade in the hand of this "afterimage" drew a simple arc and stabbed into his heart.
"On the left!"
"No, it's on the right!"
"There's one behind too!"
The crowd fell into chaos, colliding with each other, and their formation was completely disrupted.
The Cloud Hidden Ninjas ahead were left dizzy and dazed by his ghost-like movement technique, unable to form an effective encirclement at all.
Hyuga Aokawa trailed at the very back, focusing on dealing with the pursuers behind.
Now that the pursuers behind had scattered, it was no longer cost-effective to purely use Explosive Flame Arrows.
Therefore, he switched to single-point shots with ordinary Holy Arrows, occasionally mixing in an Explosive Flame Arrow.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Every Chakra Arrow seemed to have eyes, specifically targeting those Cloud Hidden Ninjas who were chasing most aggressively.
Yoshikawa Iwa hid at the back of the crowd, watching his subordinates fall one by one, trembling with rage.
While speeding along, Hyuga Aokawa's Byakugan scanned a long, narrow canyon two kilometers ahead.
The cliff walls on both sides of the canyon were very steep, with only a narrow path in the middle.
A glint flashed in his eyes.
"Another canyon, heaven is helping me!"
He let out a low shout: "Go northwest!"
Following that, he pulled the Spirit Bow taut.
Whoosh!
A crimson Chakra Arrow was accurately fired at the five Cloud Hidden Ninjas blocking the way to the northwest.
Boom!
The explosion erupted among them, and the five were sent flying, their fates unknown.
A gap appeared.
The three of them instantly rushed through, while the pursuers behind roared and gave chase.
The two sides, one in front and one behind, sped toward the canyon.
The pursuers behind were getting closer and closer, with the leading Cloud Hidden Ninja less than two hundred meters away from them.
"They're running out of steam!"
"Chase them!" Yoshikawa Iwa, hiding behind the crowd, saw that the speed of the three ahead seemed to have slowed down, and a look of joy flashed in his eyes.
The Cloud Ninjas, whose pace had already subconsciously slowed, heard this and roared as they resumed their pursuit.
The three of them rushed into the canyon.
The terrain of the canyon forced the Cloud Hidden pursuers to tighten their formation again, huddling together in the narrow passage.
They looked at the three people getting closer and closer ahead, cruel smiles appearing on their faces.
Looking at the pursuers pouring into the canyon like a tide behind them, Uchiha Shisui and Might Guy both showed solemn expressions.
"Aokawa, what do we do now?"
Hyuga Aokawa didn't answer, only silently observing the pursuers behind him.
Finally, at the moment they stepped out of the canyon.
He suddenly stopped: "You guys keep going, don't stop!"
As he spoke, he suddenly turned around, facing the dense crowd of pursuers, and raised the Spirit Bow in his hand once more.
Intense flames once again crawled over the bow's body; at the narrow exit of the canyon, that red glow was frighteningly bright.
"Oh no!"
The Cloud Hidden Ninjas crowded in the canyon saw this familiar scene, and it shattered any lingering hope in their hearts.
The apocalyptic scene from the warehouse area earlier instantly surfaced in their minds.
Fear gripped their hearts.
"He still has Chakra!"
"Retreat! Quickly get out of the canyon!"
"Defense! Defense!"
"Don't push! Let me out!"
"Use defensive Ninjutsu!"
"It's too late, quickly climb up the cliffs on both sides!"
In the narrow passage, orders to advance and the instinct to retreat collided; the entire group was a mess, people crowding against people, and no one could move.
Hyuga Aokawa pulled the bowstring, without the slightest hesitation.
"Fire Release: Hundred Consecutive Explosive Flame Arrows!"
A crimson light illuminated the entire canyon, and with a destructive posture, all of it poured into that narrow "pocket."
"Earth Release: Earth Style Wall!"
"Water Release: Water Wall!"
Except for some Ninjas with fast hand-seal speeds who successfully defended against some of the arrows, the other Ninjas were more or less hit by the arrows.
But this time, the arrows did not explode upon contact as before; instead, they were quietly scattered throughout the canyon.
Just when those Cloud Ninjas felt they had cheated death!
"Burst!"
The white talismans on all the crimson arrows throughout the canyon emitted a sudden, intense light at this moment.
BOOM!!!
A terrifying shockwave tore through the rock layers.
An explosion more violent and dense than any before resounded through the skies.
The entire cliff face collapsed in the explosion, and countless giant rocks tumbled down, smashing the entire canyon into a state of cataclysm.
"Ah!"
"Help!"
The Cloud Hidden Ninjas in the canyon had no time to escape; they were hit by the falling boulders, and screams of agony rose one after another.
The entire canyon seemed to turn into a giant meat grinder, with the violent shockwaves surging back and forth in the narrow space, tearing all flesh and blood to pieces.
The shrill screams were gradually swallowed by the thunderous roar of the mountain collapsing.
Yoshikawa Iwa and the other Cloud Ninjas who were lucky enough not to enter the canyon were sent flying by the explosion's airwave, falling heavily to the ground.
Ignoring the pain in his body, he struggled to get up, only to see the canyon completely sealed off by giant rocks, with only billowing smoke and fire emerging from the gaps.
He could even see those three receding figures through the cracks in the rocks.
Yoshikawa Iwa trembled all over, his fists clenched so hard his nails dug into his palms, blood seeping through his fingers.
"Hyuga Aokawa..."
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