"How thoughtful of you to trouble a village's Shadow to personally see us off. This little lady is truly overwhelmed by the honor."
At a spot just one or two kilometers from leaving the village, Amane was intercepted by a large number of Grass Ninja who had set up defenses in advance, and the pursuers led by the Grass Shadow from behind had also arrived.
"The infiltration plan was a success, but the evacuation plan is so poor. If the three of you give up resisting now, I might be able to show you some leniency."
The Amane the Grass Shadow saw now didn't have a shred of her previous cowardice; her eyes were filled with an intense fighting spirit.
Therefore, the Grass Shadow now held doubts about whether Amane was of the Uzumaki Clan, even though she still looked like a child.
However, the performance of the other two was quite convincing; Momohime held Karin with a fearful expression that also carried a hint of hope.
So, to force a surrender, he first had to strip Amane of her ability to resist.
Understanding the priority of things, the Grass Shadow immediately waved his hand and ordered for Amane to be taken down first!
In an instant, the sky was filled with shuriken and Kunai firing rapidly toward the three of them.
"Just in time to try out a new technique."
Clearly no Hand Seals were seen, but with a casual wave of Amane's hand, a gust of strong wind blocked all the incoming Kunai. Many of the surrounding Ninjas suffered cuts on their bodies.
A few unlucky souls were even blinded by the cuts to their eyes.
"Using Ninjutsu without Hand Seals? That's the pure application of Nature Transformation or Shape Transformation."
The power of such Ninjutsu was secondary, but someone who could master it was definitely not someone a mere Chunin could mess with. No wonder they managed to escape this far.
"At first, I could only use it with the help of Ninja tools, but now I can use it directly with my body, though the cultivation process was quite arduous."
Amane had no intention of breaking through early and even offered a slight explanation.
Among the five attributes, Wind has the strongest attack power and the fastest speed. Depending on how it's used, it also features invisibility and a massive range.
But because of these characteristics, controlling Wind is extremely dangerous.
Now, although Amane could release Vacuum Slashes with her fingers and create wind Barriers with a wave of her hand, when she was practicing these moves, the white smoke on her arms and fingers basically never stopped.
Amane's ultimate goal was to develop a Nintaijutsu similar to the Raikage's lineage. That is, the Wind Release Chakra Mode, to make up for the inevitable shortcomings in Taijutsu as a female.
"Not bad. I'll interrogate you for the secret of this Ninjutsu after I catch you. Use Fire Release!"
Seeing several people start forming Hand Seals to use Fire Release, Amane couldn't help but smile in her heart.
In a battle between Ninjas, besides the clash of basic stats, whether one can successfully form Hand Seals to use their specialty Ninjutsu is also a major point of consideration.
Like during that wave of shuriken just now, Amane didn't have the confidence to block them with a Ninjutsu that required Hand Seals; there simply wasn't enough time.
Therefore, in an actual battle, you need feints and anticipation to seize the initiative.
Facing the sea of fire now was the same; forming seals while being watched by everyone was unrealistic. And if she still used that seal-less Wind Ninjutsu from before, it would be countered by the flames, making them burn even larger.
In such a situation, if Amane hadn't prepared any trump cards, the optimal solution would be to use Adamantine Sealing Chains to stabilize her surroundings and release a Barrier.
(Too much attention is focused on me.)
In the next second, Karin and Momohime suddenly appeared on either side of Amane. The Grass Shadow immediately sensed something was wrong, but he was powerless to make his subordinates retract the Ninjutsu they had already released.
"Water Release: Water Encampment Wall!"
The steam erupting from the combination of water and fire instantly enveloped everyone. The Grass Shadow only had time to shout: "Sensing Ninja, watch out! Don't let them escape!"
However, Amane didn't want to break through like this at all! If she had wanted to, the net set up in advance would never have been able to stop her from the beginning.
Although she had been here for less than a day, Amane's impression of the Grass Ninja was already extremely poor. Furthermore, to reduce the possibility of subsequent pursuit, Amane didn't mind... alright, that's an excuse.
Amane simply saw the plight of Karin and her mother, and the way they looked at her—like a bowl of food—and anger rose in her heart.
But killing them one by one would be too inefficient.
So, Amane instantly sprouted six Adamantine Sealing Chains from her back and swept them across the crowd, targeting everyone except the Grass Shadow!
Meanwhile, two Shadow Clones directly unleashed Big Ball Rasengans and threw them toward the Grass Shadow's position!
Suddenly, high-pitched screams and the explosions from the Rasengans mixed together.
Based on experience, Amane conservatively estimated that at least twenty to thirty people died in this wave of attacks.
Amane then immediately created ten more Shadow Clones, while her Main Body quickly fled into the distance.
As the sounds of thunderous explosions echoed from behind, Amane felt much better. It wasn't a waste of the effort she spent acting out the evacuation scene for the Grass Shadow.
(I've bought ten minutes. The Grass Shadow's Chakra is still healthy, so he will definitely catch up.)
In the perception of Kagura Minds Eye, Yakushi Kabuto was still in the Grass Shadow's office building without any movement. It seemed the mission wasn't completely finished yet.
On the battlefield just now, only a few Chakras could still be felt. Aside from a few small fry who still had relatively full Chakra, the vast majority were no longer in this dark space, and others were like flickering candles in the wind, about to fade away.
And the Grass Shadow's Chakra...!
Boom!
A small figure smashed through countless buildings, pierced through the outer castle wall of the Grass Hidden Village, and was sent flying all the way into the forest.
"Cough, cough... How can he be so fast?"
In almost the blink of an eye, the Grass Shadow's Chakra had reached her side. Amane only had time to adjust her posture and use all her Chakra for protection before she was sent flying without suspense!
At this moment, Amane lay on the ground, her whole body emitting white smoke. This was the effect of her wounds healing at a rate visible to the naked eye.
If it weren't for her reflexive response and the self-healing ability of the Hashirama cells, Amane felt that even if she didn't die from that blow, she would have struggled to remain conscious.
Amane hurriedly pulled the tiles and branches out of her body, then bit her own arm.
Feeling warm Chakra continuously entering her body, the speed of the white smoke intensified significantly. Soon, her originally mangled skin was restored to its original state.
"It's not without reason that your Uzumaki Clan was destroyed. To think this power can even be used on yourself?"
The voice sounded like a completely different person compared to before, becoming hoarse and gloomy. One felt a chill and goosebumps just by hearing it!
And the image reflected in her sky-blue pupils was also vastly different from before.
His originally black hair had turned snow-white, his eyes had become blue snake-like vertical pupils, his originally thin body appeared even more slender, and a long white snake tail grew behind him.
This image immediately made Amane think of Orochi-Kabuto.
Compared to Yakushi Kabuto in his perfect Sage Mode, the current Grass Shadow had a very high similarity.
Could it be a Sage produced from Ryūchi Cave?
But Amane's Kagura Minds Eye told her it wasn't.
Inside the body of the Grass Shadow before her, a foreign Chakra that clearly didn't belong to him had appeared, and it was constantly eroding a seal on his chest.
"A Jinchuriki? Not of a Tailed Beast, but of a powerful demon beast, right?"
The Grass Shadow's lips curled into a cruel smile, which served as an acknowledgment of Amane's statement.
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