The residents skillfully found cover at the start of the battle, hiding until the Ninja Lords had left before rushing out to check the situation.
In such residential areas, Ninja skirmishes were always ill-timed and disregarded location.
Even if they consciously avoided civilians, the aftershocks of battle would still affect various buildings or roads.
Although the Ninja Village would provide some compensation if there was conclusive evidence, it was often difficult to implement in practice.
Fortunately, the houses didn't suffer much damage this time; only a few tiles were broken, and the ground merely had a large pit, which could be restored to its original state with a little repair... Meanwhile, the battle in the jungle continued.
Kurokō's Secret Technique was extremely bizarre, powerful, quick to control, and had a large attack range, treating ordinary Water Release and Fire Release as nothing.
A small amount of blood, transformed into a thin blood film, could block the Great Fireball released by Naraku. Then, changing its shape into sharp blood spikes, it could even pierce through a Water Formation Wall, directly targeting the caster behind it.
According to the intelligence gathered from the battle so far, only the massive and heavy high-level Earth Release performed by the Jonin leader, Shimura Rō, seemed to have some elemental advantage against him, preventing it from being easily broken.
But the situation remained grim.
Chunin Yagyu, who had just released the Water Formation Wall, was too close and reacted too slowly, getting pierced in several places by the blood. The skin around his wounds began to blacken, and his limbs uncontrollably attacked his companions, severely injuring another Chunin, Zuotang, who was next to him.
If Yagyu hadn't issued a warning at the last moment, and if Naraku hadn't provided timely treatment, Zuotang's life would likely have been lost. However, he also lost his combat ability as a result.
After that, the poisoned and out-of-control Yagyu twitched a few times, quickly losing his last bit of ability to speak. The strange blood that entered his body spread throughout him like a virus within a few breaths, turning him into a puppet completely controlled by the enemy.
Moreover, this puppet seemed to be overdrawing all of its life force, with its Chakra level skyrocketing, allowing it to contend with Might Duy, who had opened the Third Gate.
Might Duy was already hesitant to strike hard and didn't know what to do, thus being temporarily held back.
Naraku could sense that if this continued, Yagyu would likely die in less than ten minutes.
If the Cellular Extraction Technique were used, he Might still be saved, but that would require controlling him and being in a quiet, safe environment; under the current circumstances, treatment was impossible.
This was equivalent to losing three Chunin combatants in a row.
Now, the only ones capable of effective output were Naraku and Shimura Rō.
From a purely rational perspective, Shimura Rō should order Might Duy to quickly eliminate the irredeemable Yagyu, and then the three of them could gang up on the target, which would increase the success rate of the mission.
But he had no such intention, relentlessly attacking the target without even glancing back.
Rather, it could be said that it was his deliberate indulgence that led to this situation.
From the moment he received Danzo's order, he had been thinking about how to carry it out.
The success or failure of the mission, which was merely a diversion, was irrelevant to him, and his own life was also unimportant.
The most crucial thing was to follow the Ninja Lord's will and successfully eliminate this Uchiha who threatened Konoha.
So he wanted the Uchiha to die at the hands of the enemy—at least on the surface, to appear to have died at the hands of the enemy.
This way, he could eliminate Konoha's greatest threat and also cleanly distance himself to avoid implicating the Ninja Lord, achieving both goals.
To accomplish this, he first needed to shake off those extra Chunin and let him and the Uchiha pursue the target alone, making it easier to act.
The time had come. Shimura Rō's hand sign speed slowed slightly, giving the target an opening to escape.
But in Naraku's perception, his Chakra had not diminished to the point of being unable to sustain Ninjutsu, so he must have deliberately intended to let the target escape.
Seeing the person about to flee in the chaos, he immediately raised his hand to form a hand sign.
Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!
Flames roared up, blocking the gap. The compressed attack range made its temperature even higher, and the rolling heat quickly scorched the surrounding trees.
Facing the fierce flames, Kurokō gritted his teeth and chose to retreat.
Naraku raised an eyebrow.
Every Ninjutsu has its limits, and Kurokō's Secret Technique was no exception.
His blood reserves must be limited, and he wasn't truly impervious to water and fire. As long as the energy was sufficiently concentrated, powerful Fire Release and Lightning Release could also counter him.
Naraku again pulled out shuriken, attacking Kurokō from all directions. While he was controlling several blood blades to defend, a thin, white flame exhaled from his mouth.
Fire Release: Wire Slice Technique!
The thin white flame, containing super-high energy, directly pierced the edges of two blood blades, grazing past the side of the opponent's face, scorching his hair tips black and curled.
Indeed!
Naraku confirmed what he had thought.
Kurokō's face instantly turned ugly.
He knew that his Secret Technique would eventually show weaknesses if the battle dragged on, but he didn't expect someone to discover them so quickly.
Can't drag this out any longer!
With a ruthless resolve, he again cut his arm to draw a large amount of fresh blood, quickly scattering it in mid-air, and formed several complex hand signs.
Blood Release: Violent Blood Rain Technique!
Blood condensed into an overwhelming torrent of blood spikes, tearing through the air as they fell at high speed, like the sound of a torrential downpour, echoing across the sky.
Earth Release: Earth Flow Rampart!
To ensure his intention of temporarily letting the target escape, Shimura Rō only erected several solid earth walls for himself and Naraku at the last moment, protecting his side while also completely blocking their vision, preventing any interception or counterattack against the target.
Kurokō took the opportunity to escape into the vast primeval forest.
Shimura Rō seized the moment to quickly assign tasks: "Uchiha and I will pursue the target!"
As he spoke, he had already chased far ahead, turning to issue a second command.
"Might, control Yagyu. If you can't, eliminate him! Then, you and Zuotang wait here!"
Naraku subtly shifted his gaze.
So, Zuotang letting the target escape was to deliberately create a situation where he and Naraku would pursue the enemy alone.
Killing with a borrowed knife? Or doing it himself?
It could only be one of these two.
"Yes!"
Might Duy selectively ignored the words "eliminate him." In his view, a controlled comrade was still a comrade; how could he so heartlessly abandon, or even... kill him.
But even if he hardened his heart and broke Yagyu's legs, the opponent would recover quickly, either chasing him or attacking the severely injured Zuotang.
--Do I really have to kill Yagyu?
Might Duy thought painfully, finding it truly difficult to make a decision... Naraku followed behind Shimura Rō, pursuing the target, his expression hesitant again and again. Still, he formed a hand sign and created a Shadow Clone to return.
Firstly, to see if Yagyu was truly beyond saving, and secondly, his Shadow Clone Jutsu had been improved by the system using popularity points, allowing it to expand its perception range a second time, making it convenient to sense Black Zetsu's location at any time.
Black Zetsu had watched this play long enough.
All its small actions were merely to find an opportunity to rescue him and take him to Madara. Once Zuotang made his move, it certainly wouldn't miss such a heaven-sent opportunity.
Shimura Rō saw the Shadow Clone rushing back, his eyes flickered, but he didn't intervene.
Since the Uchiha wanted to waste Chakra to save the dying Yagyu, then so be it; it would also weaken his strength.
The two split up, and relying on tracking tools and summoning beasts, they quickly pinpointed Kurokō's location again.
He seemed very familiar with the nearby terrain, heading straight for a cliff. Below the cliff was a turbulent, rushing river. If one was good at swimming, escaping this way would not be difficult.
--It's a good place to destroy evidence.
Zuotang and Naraku thought in unison.
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