Free at last.
This was Amane's first thought.
The Adamantine Sealing Chains had pierced through the heart and lungs, and due to the nature of Sealing Jutsu, no techniques—whether currently active or prepared in advance—could be triggered.
In other words, even if this blow to the heart didn't cause Ding to die instantly, he absolutely wouldn't be able to scream, nor could he use Chakra to leave or transmit any information.
So, without any surprises, Ding collapsed to the ground, his eyes wide with disbelief.
[This Shadow Clone has reached its limit. Just now, to give Obito a "gift," I was a bit too impulsive by manifesting five chains all at once.]
The Adamantine Sealing Chains consume a considerable amount of Chakra; it's an equivalent exchange of power.
Calculating based on having more than two 'Kakashis' worth of Chakra at the start of the battle, after the struggle with Obito until the five chains were manifested, she could only use one now to finish off Ding.
Amane felt like she could vanish at any moment.
However, before that, her Shadow Clone had one last job to complete.
Controlling the manifested Golden Chains, she violently swung Ding's corpse away. The target! The direction of the Three-Tails!
Bang!
The last scene Amane saw before disappearing was Ding's corpse being smashed into a pulp in an instant. Seeing this sudden turn of events, Mei Terumī and the other Jonin chose to retreat temporarily without any hesitation.
[This is for the best. If I really caused Mei Terumī's death, my conscience would indeed hurt a bit.]
But even if this action had truly caused Mei Terumī to die here, Amane asked herself and knew she wouldn't regret it.
This opportunity was simply too rare. It could be said that Amane's Main Body didn't come out personally because she never expected to have a chance to take out Ding this time!
However, because of this, Amane's identity would inevitably be suspected.
Zetsu's words wouldn't have worked just now, but now that Amane had killed Ding and specifically disposed of his body, this action would appear incredibly suspicious.
But if Amane hadn't acted and Ding's body was later excavated and investigated by Mei and the others, Amane's guilt would be even greater!
Even within Root, Amane was still considered a person of Konoha. Once the matter was exposed and investigated, it was highly likely she'd be pushed out as a bargaining chip to prevent the situation from escalating.
But as long as no evidence or leverage was left behind, even if Kirigakure guessed the truth later, the aforementioned problems wouldn't arise.
[So I must run away now, then contact the nearest stronghold and send out the intelligence after packaging it slightly.]
Inside the shelter specifically prepared for children like them, Amane put down the book she was reading and took a few deep breaths as she thought.
"What's wrong? Your expression is so serious."
Yoru leaned over and asked.
Looking closely, the girl's face was filled with unease.
This was no surprise; after all, although they were supposedly here for special training, as dusk approached and a loud explosion rang out, the expressions of the three top officials in charge had all changed.
Then, the only Jonin, Shirakawa Shunji, had left with an excuse and still hadn't returned.
Meanwhile, the other two Special Jonin had simply ordered everyone to stand by and had been standing to the side with grave expressions ever since.
From time to time, one could see one of them asking the other "How is it?" and every time this happened, their expressions would worsen.
By now, even these children could sense that something was wrong.
[I still want to complain; these two are completely unfit for babysitting.]
Just looking at their faces could cause a panic—what are they thinking? But this could be put to good use.
After a small sigh, Amane said softly, "It's because something happened outside, right?"
In Amane's perception, including that Shirakawa Shunji who had rushed to provide support not long ago—the one who had tested them before—there were only two Jonin in the stronghold right now.
On the other side, the Kaguya Clan had at least four Jonin-level fighters involved in the battle so far; the situation at the stronghold's front line was far from optimistic.
"No way, after all, Teacher Mei is in the stronghold, along with Lord Ao and the others."
Even as Yoru said this, her expression didn't improve in the slightest after she finished.
"So, what exactly is the situation outside?"
At this moment, Ringo Yuriko sat down beside Amane, her eyes fixed on the ground as if she were contemplating something.
"What do you want to do once you know? You should understand that staying here is the best choice. If there's danger, that sensing Special Jonin will take us away in advance."
Amane's words made Ringo Yuriko give a disdainful laugh, then she said: "I told you before, I can feel it—this isn't what you really think. If it were, you should have said this:]
"I don't know, the ban Teacher Mei gave me is still in effect."
Amane raised an eyebrow; this Ringo Yuriko was truly annoying. But truth be told, if she really didn't want to leave, she most likely would have said exactly that.
Instead of using words to provoke others and trigger their rebellious psychology like this.
"I don't know what you want to do, and I know staying here is the best choice. But what I want to say is... I can cooperate with you."
Thump!
Her heart skipped a beat.
"But there's a condition: I'm going too. You figure out a way."
Ringo Yuriko stopped talking after she finished.
[If I want to go out, I don't need anyone's cooperation.]
From the perspective of a Root spy, the best strategy right now would be to kill everyone here in a short amount of time!
Then, lure the Kaguya Clan members over and prepare a substitute for herself to be placed with the children.
This wasn't even that difficult; how could Root not have taught Amane how to make a substitute?
And in terms of strength, Amane's was quite luxurious.
Now, with the information brought back by her Shadow Clone, Amane had calculated that if her Shadow Clone didn't have to worry about disappearing from taking a hit, it should be able to fight a Special Jonin head-on!
In her Main Body's state, her comprehensive strength was at the level of an ordinary Jonin. If she gained a bit more high-end combat experience, she should be able to hold that position firmly.
This strength was improving even faster than Kakashi's back in the day!
But who could blame her when Amane had the number one cheat code in the Naruto world, Hashirama cells?
Using the Adamantine Sealing Chains to instantly kill two Special Jonin in one breath, and then manifesting Shadow Clones to go wild on the crowd—Amane was confident she could wipe out over 80-90% of them in an instant, and that was a conservative estimate.
But Amane didn't want to use this method, just as she hadn't tried to kill Mei Terumī at the same time just now.
[I'll just make Ringo Yuriko lose consciousness; that'll be better for both of us. Anyway, the bottom line I must ensure is that no evidence of who I belong to is found; being discovered as a spy itself isn't a huge problem.]
It was time to part ways.
Snap!
Just as her hand was about to move, it was held down. For a moment, Amane even suspected that Ringo Yuriko was hiding her strength just like she was.
"Are you a mind reader?"
From their first meeting until now, Ringo Yuriko seemed to always be able to guess what she was thinking in advance.
"It's because our minds are so alike; just putting myself in your shoes, I haven't been wrong once so far." Ringo Yuriko smiled slightly, and Amane swore this was the only time in so long she had seen a smile on her face that could be called gentle.
"Sigh... what do you want to do out there?"
Mei Terumī? Or maybe there was an acquaintance inside the stronghold? Over the past two months, Amane felt the second option could be ruled out; Ringo Yuriko was a war orphan, and because of her personality, her relationships with others weren't very good.
"Then what do you want to do out there?"
The question was actually pushed back, and this also allowed Amane to see through Ringo Yuriko's true intentions.
She might have about thirty or forty percent desire to fight the rumored Kaguya Clan. But mostly it was because she wanted to get out, which was why Ringo Yuriko wanted to follow along.
Truly... how should I put it?
Speechless? Helpless? A bit happy? Or a bit of a headache?
All of them, probably, but this also made Amane truly firm up her resolve to act!
[Reveal some of the bad situation outside to the children to cause panic and chaos.]
[That way, those two Special Jonin will definitely step in to stop it, and that will be my chance to escape.]
[As for Ringo Yuriko's side, I'll use a Wood Clone to fool her, then I'll lure another wave of enemies outside to make myself "die" here—it'll be perfect.]
The plan was set! But just as Amane was about to take action and find a way to create panic and escape, more than a dozen Kaguya Clan Chakras appeared in her perception, heading straight for this place.
Was the location discovered?
Amane began to use Kagura Minds Eye, a smile forming in her heart while her face remained expressionless.
Ringo Yuriko frowned; she keenly sensed that Amane's mindset seemed to have changed.
She was about to ask in detail, but suddenly! A massive explosion nearly caused Ringo Yuriko to faint on the spot!
Then, a person wearing a white kimono, with two marks—whether tattoos or spots—on his forehead, fell before everyone's eyes like a broken kite struck by lightning, his body charred black like a rag.
"It's the Kaguya Clan! Damn it! How did they find this place! Qingcheng?! Qingcheng?! What's your status!"
It was both a reproach and a confirmation of his teammate's condition.
"I'm fine! But it seems like Lightning Release bombarded the vicinity directly, and now the Kaguya Clan has discovered this place! There are dozens of them!"
"What? Could it be a coincidence? This place is very well hidden!"
The importance of the children was even higher than that of civilians; the hiding place was undeniably secret, it was just that they didn't have the capability to guard it with heavy forces right now.
If there were only two or three enemies, they could still explain it as a coincidence, but with this scale...
The only two possibilities were that the opponent had a super-strong Sensing Ninja, or that someone among them had been marked.
"No! It happened too fast just now, but it seemed like someone was suppressing this Kaguya clansman in a fight."
"Then a blast of Lightning Release heavily wounded him while simultaneously exposing this place! And those dozens of people were all following behind the two of them."
Qingcheng quickly explained the cause and effect; the main reason was that it happened too fast, and they simply hadn't had time to take any action.
"Bastard! Don't they know to stay away from here! Everyone! Evacuate immediately under Special Jonin Qingcheng's lead!"
There wasn't even time to use the secret passage now. In the emergency, letting him, who excelled in combat, cover the rear while the sensing-expert Qingcheng led everyone to retreat was the most correct decision!
At the same time, he was also looking to see which colleague had just done such a stupid thing!
Swish! Clang!
The collision of bone and Kunai rang out in an instant, and this Special Jonin immediately had no mind for anything else.
Fortunately, after a few brief exchanges, he found that this group of Kaguya Clan members wasn't very strong, mostly below Chunin level.
As long as he didn't get careless, he could handle it by himself.
But he alone certainly couldn't stop all dozens of them!
[Damn it, Qingcheng, I'll leave the rest to you.]
Full collection Avilable at low subscription patreon (Obito_uchiha)