"Yes!"
This was a brave child. Facing a Kaguya Clan Ninja charging at him, he decisively counterattacked, but before he could swing his Kunai, his palm was pierced through first.
In the midst of the searing pain, he subconsciously chose to retreat to create distance, but unfortunately, he was far too slow, leaving the Kaguya Genin more room to maneuver.
As a result of the following bone spike sweep, he could only instinctively close his eyes and wait for the attack to land, praying that the Chakra on his body could block it.
But following a sensation of weightlessness, pain shot up from his backside. The warm blood on his face made him open his eyes, and he watched as the enemy, whose throat had already been slit by a blade, fell as if in a dream.
"The Kaguya Clan isn't that strong after all."
Ringo Yuriko sheathed her blade at her waist, faint arcs of electricity still flickering around her body.
Through the brief combat just now, she discovered that although the Kaguya Clan seemed able to sprout bone spikes from anywhere on their bodies, as long as her movements exceeded theirs, she just needed to slit their throats ahead of time.
"Don't be careless. I've been to the battlefield with Teacher Mei and the others before; these ones are clearly among the weak ones."
Amane chimed in after helping up the child she had just knocked down with a leg sweep.
The one she had just taken down was the last of the Kaguya Clan Ninjas who had followed them. Except for a few children who suffered minor injuries, everyone, including that Special Jonin Qing Cheng, basically only had superficial wounds.
And this overall low quality of enemies led the children to have thoughts they shouldn't have later on.
The one just now was an example; the few lightly injured personnel were all thanks to them.
"Hmph! I'm speaking the truth. If you want to prove your words are correct, why don't you use your specialty, Sensing Technique, to find me some people with real weight?"
Ringo Yuriko responded with a face full of disdain.
[Sigh... this girl is truly arrogant beyond measure.]
Amane felt helpless. In the original work, after being brought back by Edo Tensei, Ringo Yuriko was also naturally sealed because she wasn't cautious and was lured straight into a swamp.
"Alright, alright, now is not the time for bickering, is it?"
Yue Xiaming was extremely helpless. Over the past two months, her composure had improved more than a little, and she was even teased by Amane for getting closer and closer to her dream.
"It's Amane who's looking for trouble, that killjoy."
After saying that, Ringo Yuriko glanced at Amane's face.
This wasn't to see if she was angry, but rather because Ringo Yuriko kept remembering that conversation from just now.
From that moment on, a trace of inexplicable unease had been entwined in her heart. Ringo Yuriko couldn't explain it with logic; perhaps this was what they called intuition.
[Amane, what exactly is your reason for wanting to leave?]
She wanted to see something in that face. But for now, Ringo Yuriko could only see Amane's helplessness towards her.
This only made Ringo Yuriko feel even more frustrated.
After this incident, she felt she needed to find an opportunity to have a fight with Amane!
If she had something to say, she could just say it directly; she wasn't an unreasonable person.
While they were talking, Qing Cheng had finished sensing the surroundings and walked over, saying, "I will prioritize sending you to a backup safe location. Hibiki, Ringo, minazuki, Chōjūrō! You four come with me, do not delay for a single moment!"
These four were the standouts among the children. Gathering them together made it easier for him to protect them, and in case of an emergency, they could also hold their own for a while.
Everyone moved into action quickly.
Unlike the children in schools on the Blue Star, in this Ninja world, even for children, training to follow orders immediately in times of crisis must be the top priority, otherwise, they face only death!
Naturally, their ability to read the situation was also very sharp. With Qing Cheng saying this, plus what was essentially their first actual combat in their lives, Amane noticed that some in the crowd were using secret threats and such just to get closer to the five of them.
It seemed Kirigakure should place the most importance on education regarding unity.
However, these things no longer had much to do with the current or future Amane.
At the moment the team was about to take shape, she arrived!
Whoosh!
A black robe covered her entire body, and like a ghost of the night, she swiftly arrived behind Amane.
In that instant, Qing Cheng, as a Special Jonin, finally reacted, but even faster than him was Ringo Yuriko, who had been constantly watching Amane.
But no matter how fast they were, they couldn't outpace the long blade that instantly extended from the Black-Robed Person's hand!
Leaping lightly backward, the Black-Robed Person took the chest-pierced Amane and dodged Ringo Yuriko's attack. A raspy laugh announced the success of the sneak attacker.
"No way... how could Amane be ambushed..."
Yue Xiaming's eyes began to well up. Even if one were optimistic and the blade hadn't hit the heart, it had definitely heavily damaged the lungs. And right now, there wasn't a single Medical Ninja here. Even if they rushed her to treatment now, it would likely be too late!
What made Yue Xiaming even more desperate was that if the wound were in the abdomen or elsewhere, she might have been able to use Ice Release to stop the bleeding and let Amane hold on for a while longer, but that technique absolutely couldn't be used on the lungs.
Yue Xiaming's world turned gray.
"Pull yourself together! There might be hope if we snatch Amane back right now and use Ice Release to freeze her entire body!"
Ringo Yuriko's shout brought Yue Xiaming back to her senses. Regardless of whether the medical theory was sound, Yue Xiaming chose to stop thinking and focus entirely on getting Amane's body back.
"Who are you?! How did you get close by bypassing her sensing range?!"
Though she was asking, Ringo Yuriko's blade was not slow at all.
Lightning-natured Chakra made a crackling sound, and one could even see wounds appearing on her original arms, indicating that her emotions were anything but calm.
The Black-Robed Person didn't respond, only forming a few Hand Seals, then aimed one palm at the Special Jonin Qing Cheng, who had already launched an attack.
Blue lightning instantly converged on the palm, emitting a blinding light.
Boom!
Before feeling the power of this technique, the first thing experienced was the shock that struck the eardrums!
Special Jonin Qing Cheng's world went silent, followed by intense pain and numbness spreading from all over his body.
[So it was this person who lured the enemies over just now! This technique's destructive power is staggering; luckily it was aimed at me. But more importantly, this move acts as a signal flare. I must break away from him and evacuate as soon as possible!]
As a Special Jonin, he gauged the consumption from blocking that move just now and couldn't help but feel great dread toward this technique.
If he didn't shake off this Black-Robed Person, then he could draw countless enemy Ninjas over at any time!
But at that moment, something Qing Cheng never expected happened.
After all, in his estimation, that technique had already reduced his current combat strength by seventy percent. The Black-Robed Person should have followed up to finish him off, or turned his weapon to continue killing the children—either would be understandable.
But this enemy actually took Amane's corpse and bolted?
"Stop right there!"
Ringo Yuriko, who had been so close, hadn't been knocked unconscious despite not taking a direct hit.
"Don't go!" Qing Cheng shouted loudly, but it clearly had no effect.
A closer look revealed that Ringo Yuriko's ears were bleeding just like his. And even if she had truly heard him, Ringo Yuriko likely wouldn't have stopped.
Then, not far away, the Black-Robed Person actually stopped and swung the Ninja blade in his hand toward Ringo Yuriko.
[Not good! Ringo Yuriko is in danger!]
Special Jonin Qing Cheng was a Sensing Ninja, so he instantly discovered that this seemingly empty swing was actually a Vacuum Slash of wind-natured Chakra!
Amane was already as good as dead. If Ringo Yuriko died too, how could he, a Special Jonin, ever hold his head up again? It would be more honorable to apologize with his life!
But just as Qing Cheng's body tried to move, a wave of heart-wrenching pain erupted from every part of his body!
[Damn it! What kind of technique is this!]
Powerlessly, he sensed the vacuum Wind Blade slashing toward the charging Ringo Yuriko.
But Ringo Yuriko was completely unharmed.
The Black-Robed Person looked behind Ringo Yuriko at the black-haired girl who had already finished her Hand Seals and activated her technique, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
An Ice Release Genjutsu using the principle of refraction, but this was within the plan.
In the next second, a massive-scale Wind Release Ninjutsu indiscriminately swept everything in front into its attack.
This time, Ringo Yuriko lost consciousness without any suspense and was blown back into the group.
[Goodbye, Yue Xiaming, Ringo Yuriko. I've been quite happy these past few months.]
After saying a farewell in her heart, the Black-Robed Person threw Amane's body away. Immediately, that spot erupted with a boom, creating a towering burst of fire. Then, she quickly retreated from the scene... biting her own arm, white steam continuously rose from her chest, and the wound piercing her lung began to heal rapidly as it heated up.
This scene also made the Shadow Clone left in the base beforehand feel envious.
Her clone couldn't enjoy the boost from the Uzumaki + Hashirama cells; the Main Body's advantage was truly too unfair.
With such a body, unless the heart or brain was pierced in a single blow, or a limb was severed, it would be difficult to cause truly effective damage.
"I'm going back now; my Chakra is almost gone. That Ninjutsu [Lightning Release: Thunder Roar Cannon] that I originally intended to show off to Mei Terumī and Ringo Yuriko still needs more development."
What the Shadow Clone spoke of was precisely that thunderous Lightning Release.
The composition of the technique was very simple: it was the second stage of Rasengan's compressed Shape Transformation, combined with a very close-range Ninjutsu after adding the lightning Nature Transformation.
Amane could activate it instantly.
But the damage to herself would also be very great. That Hand Seal just now was actually to protect herself; otherwise, the Shadow Clone would have exploded directly, though the Main Body could have tanked it.
"It's a hassle."
"Is it a hassle for me? Or a hassle for you? Hmm..." In deep thought, Amane's Shadow Clone vanished.
Amane felt her Shadow Clone was truly becoming more and more individualistic. Did she have that much suppressed emotion?
Smiling, she knew all of that was in the past.
Based on the intelligence just received from this Shadow Clone, there were no flaws in how things were handled.
The one blown up by the exploding tag just now was a treated corpse, ensuring that traces belonging to Amane herself could be seen.
This was something the Shadow Clone had prioritized preparing after using Kagura Minds Eye to observe the battle between the Main Body and Yagura's side.
As for the raw materials... the fact that one could smell blood with every normal breath proved that there was no shortage of that right now.
So she could make her run now! But Amane had one last thing to confirm.
Kagura Minds Eye, open!
The world turned pitch black, and then various subtly different humanoid Chakra distributions appeared; this was the world of Kagura Minds Eye.
First, she confirmed the Chakra of Ringo Yuriko and Yue Xiaming. They were currently together, though one was lying down.
Then, around them, there was a place where many individuals whose skeletons could be made out were approaching.
As expected, the commotion from that new technique just now was too great.
"If I hadn't chosen this way to leave, I wouldn't have needed to act against you. I can't let myself regret my choice, so please go die."
Saying so, Amane charged over with her fastest movement. Now, she could finally let loose properly!
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