First, the Sensing Ninja must be dealt with.
Amane quickly began forming Hand Seals with both hands, then spread one hand open, and a blue sphere instantly appeared.
The Rasengan, an A-rank difficulty Ninjutsu, is so powerful that hitting an enemy means certain death or crippling injury, and it activates quickly without the need for Hand Seals. However, these advantages cannot hide one weakness: the technique's attack range is too short.
Amane currently cannot use the Flying Thunder God to rush the enemy's face like Minato Namikaze, so if this issue isn't resolved, its practical combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced.
[Let's see the results now.]
The originally pure blue energy sphere was covered in strange runes. Amane clearly sensed an invisible link established between herself and the Rasengan. With a slight shift of her will, the runes transformed into streams of light that gathered at the tip of her middle finger, and the Rasengan compressed and condensed accordingly.
Then, she flicked her finger toward the location of the Sensing Ninja!
Amane didn't hear a scream, but the sound of the explosion, along with the wind, blew over from that direction, accompanied by a heavy smell of blood.
[How terrifying. Reality really lets you kill people.]
The remaining five Anbu, whose Chakra she could sense, all flinched, and their Chakra flow momentarily stalled before abruptly accelerating.
What exactly happened to that Sensing Ninja? Even without seeing it firsthand, Amane could roughly imagine it based on the results of her training.
Why can't the Rasengan be released from the hand?
In the original work, during the mission to retrieve Sasuke, the Konoha 11 were trapped in Jirobo's Earth Release, where their Chakra was continuously absorbed. Naruto tried to use the Rasengan then, but it dissipated as soon as it took shape.
What does this indicate? It indicates that while the Rasengan is in your hand, you don't need to continuously inject energy into the sphere. Otherwise, since the Rasengan could take shape, it should have been usable at that time, perhaps lasting a bit longer or consuming more Chakra.
Thus, it is easy to deduce the reason why the Rasengan cannot be released: you must constantly maintain the stability of this Chakra sphere!
Therefore, Amane wondered if Sealing Jutsu could be used to wrap the Rasengan externally, stabilizing the sphere and allowing it to be released?
The process of practicing this was no easier than training in Nature Transformation. Initially, Amane had to rely on a Shadow Clone to first form the sphere and then apply the Sealing to succeed.
Although this succeeded, throwing the sphere out by hand makes it difficult to hit anyone, and it doesn't have the structure of a shuriken to aid in flight.
Amane then began thinking of ways to modify the seal, wondering if she could launch it like a Water Gun?
But that would mean combining the effects of the Rasengan, Sealing Jutsu, and propulsion, raising the difficulty even further.
As of today, what Amane can achieve is using Sealing Jutsu to maintain stability, compress the Rasengan, and finally launch it from her fingertip, achieving decent practical combat value.
The range is within 50 meters. Beyond this distance, the compression reaches its limit, the seal breaks, and the Rasengan dissipates.
If an enemy is hit within this range, the seal is destroyed by the violent contact, and the compressed Rasengan automatically explodes.
From Hand Seals preparation to launch, less than two seconds.
The flight speed, after strengthening the finger with Chakra, is comparable to that of a shuriken.
Amane summarized: It's suitable for sneak attacks. A two-second activation time is an absurdly long wind-up for a Ninja. In direct combat, it might be very intimidating when facing weaker opponents.
"Don't be afraid! That person absolutely cannot use Ninjutsu of this caliber continuously. Otherwise, she would have used her sensing ability to pick us off one by one while we were stunned!"
One of the remaining five reacted quickly and stepped forward to stabilize morale.
[Well said, but unfortunately, it's already over.]
A huge suction force suddenly erupted inside the Barrier. At first, everyone felt it but ignored it, but in the blink of an eye, the wind force became strong enough to make them lose their footing, and then all five were uniformly sucked toward it.
It turned out that the moment the Sensing Ninja was eliminated, Amane had used a Wood Clone in one spot to deploy another Sealing Jutsu.
Compared to a Shadow Clone, a Wood Clone is more durable, which is convenient for unexpected situations and follow-up actions.
Wind Sealing Technique.
This Sealing Jutsu, like the Fire Sealing Seal, is used to seal the Five Releases so that other Ninja can use them when needed.
Normally, casually activating the Wind Sealing Technique would only cause people within a certain range to feel a slight breeze, which is gradually compressed into the seal, leading to an explosion when the seal is released.
But Amane doesn't just know Sealing Jutsu; she has thoroughly mastered this particular Sealing Jutsu, from theory to practical application.
So she heavily modified it.
She drastically increased the suction force, but the seal itself would rapidly collapse under this overload.
As mentioned before, this group must be experts, and Amane's judgment was not wrong.
Not only were their feet firmly secured by Chakra, but they also gripped their Ninja Tools tightly. Amane launched two more Rasengan, but only one successfully blew off a person's arm; the other person dodged very flexibly.
The person who lost his arm was still stubborn, trying to block it with the Ninja Swords in his hand.
Seriously, buddy, you should have seen the power of the Rasengan just now.
Seeing the wind force rapidly weakening, one person immediately ran toward the direction of the suction, two others headed toward the spot where Amane had launched the Rasengan, and the last person stood guard, surveying the surroundings.
See? This is what happens when you don't have a Sensing Ninja.
Amane stepped out from behind a tree, and the Kirigakure Ninja finally saw what their opponent looked like.
Wow, she was even more concealed than the Kirigakure Anbu. Her entire body was covered by a Black Cloak, and aside from her short stature, no other features were discernible.
"Who are you!"
The charging Kirigakure Anbu asked, but his feet kept moving, rapidly closing the distance.
"Just passing through."
The voice was processed, likely by using Chakra to converge on the vocal cords and alter the tone. Such suspicious physical features, combined with a skill that usually requires training to master, maximized her suspiciousness.
Moreover, this enemy had just attacked, killing one and crippling another. The Kirigakure Anbu quickened their pace, and one person immediately stopped to form Hand Seals, preparing to launch a Ninjutsu.
[That's enough.]
Boom!
The Wind Sealing Technique reached its limit, and the high-load absorbed wind was released all at once. The two people facing Amane were completely unprepared, their balance destroyed as they flew toward Amane.
Amane then struck them with a Sealing Jutsu while they were airborne. They crashed to the ground and were pushed by the powerful wind pressure, slamming into a tree.
What the two saw before losing consciousness was the black-clad figure turning into water upon contact with the wind pressure.
Meanwhile, the Shadow Clone Amane took the opportunity to take down the guard in the center. It took almost no effort, as the Wind Sealing Technique was applied to her body, Sealing the wind pressure upon contact.
Similarly, the Wood Clone used earlier also had it applied, and the Kirigakure Anbu who went toward the source of the wind also met a tragic end.
The battle was over.
Looking at the four people she had completely sealed, plus one severely injured person and one whose corpse was a literal mess, Amane checked her remaining Chakra.
[Two-thirds remaining. The fight went reasonably well. If I had killed them directly, I probably could have saved a little more.]
"Now, allow me to ask, what were six Kirigakure Anbu doing here?"
Hearing Amane's processed voice, several of them showed disdainful sneers. As for what she meant, everyone present understood, and there was no need to say it out loud.
Amane chuckled in response.
In the Ninja world, proper interrogation is the least efficient method, especially with Kirigakure Anbu. She slapped the severely injured person on the head; he was currently agitated from the intense pain, making him suitable for the technique.
[This move requires lives to feed it to gain proficiency, so I only know how to use it for now.]
It was necessary to figure out what mission this group of Kirigakure Anbu was executing. It must be quite important, or they wouldn't have sent six people, equipped with Barrier Ninja Tools.
Thinking of this, Amane adjusted her Chakra composition, refining pure spiritual energy, and then forcefully injected it into the person's head.
"Memory Plunder Technique! You're an Anbu too!"
A Kirigakure Anbu suddenly widened his eyes watching this scene, realizing that soon none of them would be left alive.
The so-called Memory Plunder Technique is a Ninjutsu that uses spiritual energy injected into another person's brain to extract their spiritual energy.
The Caster can randomly obtain the Victim's memories from the past few days, but this action violently destroys the subject's brain, meaning anyone hit will surely die.
"Wait! I'll tell you whatever information you want! Please don't use the Memory Plunder Technique on me!"
Feeling the strange sensation entering his brain, the severely injured Kirigakure Anbu suddenly shouted, but this drew hostile glares from his teammates.
But Amane ignored it, continuing the execution of the Ninjutsu. She knew he was just putting on an act for her.
Words are one of the lowest-cost means available.
[Let me see where the Trap set by the Anbu in his mind is. Found it!]
Suddenly, black substance emerged from Amane's hand touching the opponent, then transformed into peculiar runes that began traveling up her arm. At the same time, a triumphant sneer entered her ear.
But at this moment, Amane felt a flicker of secret joy.
[Excellent. As expected, it's a type of Sealing Jutsu. I understand the principle now. Let's see if I can hit the jackpot.]
The runes on her hand paused, then slowly began to dissipate. Simultaneously, Amane pulled out the spiritual energy from the vicinity of the triggered Trap.
Thud!
Amane ignored the Kirigakure Anbu who had already stopped breathing and began to gradually read the information extracted from the spiritual energy.
"Hmm?"
Amane's brow furrowed tightly.
The good news was the jackpot; the bad news was the content.
"The Fourth Mizukage personally went to Mei Terumī's Hideout? And you were sent here to eliminate the spies at the Hideout one by one!"
The remaining Anbu members immediately looked defeated.
They hadn't expected Amane to extract all the vital information with a single shot. Now, even suicide was too late.
But Amane didn't have time to feel secretly pleased.
If the Fourth Mizukage personally attacked the Hideout, it meant Mei Terumī's mission was definitely doomed to fail.
[Even with the Great Clam's Genjutsu for protection, that's still the Fourth Mizukage!]
This was a Shadow Clone that had been split off earlier, so it knew nothing about the information that had just occurred yesterday.
But that didn't prevent Amane from making the same reasonable analysis and judgment. Because of the third Shadow Clone, she at least knew Mei Terumī and the others had gone to dispel the Genjutsu.
In that case, the situation was clear: Mei Terumī had been helplessly tricked.
To Obito, the Hidden Mist already held little value. Even if it were destroyed now, he would be considered to have let go of his hatred if he didn't burst into song. Under these circumstances, Mei Terumī's side was still considering the opponent using normal logic, which was an extreme information imbalance.
But if that's the case, wouldn't the Main Body be in extreme danger? Was it necessary to dispel a Shadow Clone to send the information over...?
But Amane quickly rejected this option.
Because it was meaningless.
Even if Amane now knew that Yagura would come personally, the only preparation she could make was psychological.
The gap in strength was still too large. Facing a potential map-clearing level bombardment from a Tailed Beast Ball, Amane currently had no countermeasures—that was an objective fact.
But this didn't mean there was no room for maneuver.
In the Shadow Clone's view, the Main Body's safety currently had at least three layers of protection. The first layer was already active: Mei Terumī and the others had prepared for the worst and evacuated the children beforehand.
Secondly, the Hideout itself was surrounded by the Great Clam's Genjutsu, but Amane felt the reliability of this was debatable. At the very least, she thought the location of the Hideout could be found using the Kagura Minds Eye.
After all, the Great Clam's Genjutsu is also based on Chakra. A normal Sensing Technique would perceive the entire Genjutsu area as being full of Chakra, but the Kagura Minds Eye could detect the flow within it.
And the last point required a bit of effort.
[Let me see where Mei Terumī's Chakra is. Full power Kagura Minds Eye!]
The Chakra sensing spanned tens of kilometers in the blink of an eye, then was immediately shut down.
[Didn't find her! Looks like I need to keep moving toward the Hidden Mist Village for a while, and then try again.]
Taking the Kirigakure Anbu she had just captured, Amane continued searching for Mei Terumī's whereabouts.
Meanwhile, Mei Terumī and her group, led by the Jonin master Ao, had arrived outside the Hidden Mist Village.
Looking at the nostalgic Village, Mei Terumī and Ao momentarily fell into a daze, but their eyes quickly became resolute.
As Nakamura Iku looked at this massive Ninja Village, whose architectural style was completely different from Konoha's, he couldn't help but recall the relevant intelligence in his mind.
[I remember the Kirigakure Barrier type is a Mark.]
Any Ninja who rashly enters Kirigakure will be marked by the thick mist, and subsequently detected by the internal Sensing Team.
This differs from Konoha. Konoha records Chakra beforehand, and anyone entering by unconventional means is instantly sensed.
Every respectable Ninja Village has means to sense outsiders; it's fundamental to the Village's establishment. Even the currently decaying Hidden Mist Village, its Barrier cannot be underestimated.
At least for now, Nakamura Iku admitted he had no good way to enter. The best method might be to enter openly by impersonation, or by pretending to be a client.
"Let's review the plan. Soon, everyone except Ao will directly infiltrate the Hidden Mist Village and engage in Guerrilla Warfare against the Anbu Ninja and Regular Ninja. Unless absolutely necessary, try not to take lives."
After Mei Terumī repeated the plan, she began dividing the group.
Excluding her and Ao, there were four members present who could be considered skilled Jonin. Aside from Nakamura Iku, who was not a local of the Hidden Mist and was unfamiliar with the terrain, Guerrilla Warfare was highly feasible.
Therefore, the most important part of the so-called grouping was finding someone to partner with Nakamura.
"To be paired with Lady Terumi, this is truly an honor."
Nakamura Iku seemed somewhat surprised by this result. It was known that Anbu were still monitoring them, although not as closely as in the beginning.
"Then I look forward to working with you, Mr. Nakamura."
Speed is Paramount in War. The group of six, excluding Ao, quickly broke into the Hidden Mist Village!