Poof!
The white smoke dissipated, and Inuzuka Kuri and Kyuumaru 'de-fused'.
Inuzuka Kuri's body went limp, and he collapsed onto his knees before Yubi.
As for Kyuumaru, it lay paralyzed to one side, blood flowing incessantly from where the throwing knife had pierced it earlier.
It had only been forcing itself to maintain its state to cooperate with Inuzuka Kuri's Ninjutsu.
The Ninja Hound still struggled to stand, trying to launch another attack on Yubi... but it found it difficult to even get up.
From the moment Yubi revealed himself to the final killing of Inuzuka Kuri, the exchange between the two seemed to go back and forth, but in reality... less than two minutes had passed from start to finish.
[Writing up to here, I hope readers will remember our domain name: Read Good Taiwan Books, Choose Super Awesome]
"You are strong."
Yubi slowly pulled his blood-stained arm out of Inuzuka Kuri's body, watching the man's pupils dilate and his eyelids gradually close, speaking softly.
The man's sense of mission and conviction... was too strong.
As a member of the supply squad, he knew the importance of the supplies, so... even when the battle broke out, he had been doing his best and never abandoned them.
He carried the pack the entire time... no matter how good his stamina was, being hindered by such a heavy load would inevitably affect his state during combat.
To put it bluntly, as a Konoha Ninja, the Inuzuka Clan member before him... was doing his utmost to fulfill his mission.
He was also aware of the Village's current state and was willing to risk his life to protect and minimize the loss of supplies. In the eyes of others, this might seem like a very poor trade-off.
Without the burden of the pack, the man might have unleashed even greater combat power.
But Yubi was still confident... that he could kill the opponent.
The'strength' he praised... was not the power of this Inuzuka Clan member, but his will!
This was a respectable opponent.
In the Ninja World, everyone fights for their own side; there is no right or wrong... only different positions.
It was all for their Villages.
The Root before, and now the Inuzuka Clan... both had shown Yubi the will of the Konoha Ninja.
In comparison, although Sunagakure was also excellent in this regard, they were slightly lacking.
Swoosh!
Yubi flicked his hand.
A throwing knife plunged directly into the Ninja Hound's skull, ending its life without pain.
Then, he quickly gave chase to the trio that had run off earlier.
When he found the targets, he discovered that the battle there had also ended long ago.
He wasn't the only one lying in ambush; there was also Sasori.
When those three retreated, Sasori had followed them immediately.
And he had made his move to take care of them.
From the scene, Sasori hadn't exerted much effort either, as the traces of fighting were not very obvious.
"Clean up... don't leave any clues... wait for the Konoha reinforcements," Arai appeared and instructed. The sudden loss of contact with an important supply squad and the failure to deliver supplies on time would definitely arouse suspicion.
The next day, the Konoha side quickly mobilized several people from the front lines to investigate along the route, searching for the traces of the six people.
But strangely... these subsequent people sent out also never returned, and no information was heard from them.
At this time, the battlefield commander stationed at the Village to face off against Iwagakure was none other than Orochimaru.
Among Konoha's Three Legendary Sannin, one could no longer participate in the war, and another was nowhere to be found under the pretext of traveling... leaving only Orochimaru to attempt to bring an early end to this late stage of the Ninja World War for Konoha.
If he were to stop working too... Konoha would truly be in danger.
The Village could not possibly let him leave the battlefield under any circumstances.
Although the Village's 'golden generation' was currently rising, they were still 'green' after all and hadn't fully matured... they couldn't truly hold their own yet.
Under these circumstances, Orochimaru, as a top-tier combatant, had to step up.
After receiving the intelligence, Orochimaru realized immediately that this transport route... had been compromised.
An enemy had intercepted their supplies.
But the situation on the battlefield was also quite urgent... he didn't have the extra energy to deal with such a'small matter' and could only send word back to the Village to explain the situation, letting others investigate.
The route could be abandoned... but they had to uncover the enemy's identity.
It was best if they could find out what other secret intelligence this group or power held regarding Konoha, and if there were any subsequent plans targeting Konoha... little did they know, on the other side.
After killing the few Ninja sent from the Konoha front lines to investigate, Arai retreated with Yubi and the other.
It wasn't hard to see from the enemy's actions that the other side had become aware of their existence.
To avoid the deployment of stronger reinforcements, the three naturally followed the plan and left early.
It was basically guaranteed that their actions had forced Konoha to abandon this supply route, requiring them to spend more energy and time to find a new transport path through the Land of Grass.
"Konoha might come to investigate; we'll take a shortcut into the Land of Rain."
On the way, the three traveled rapidly.
Arai said.
"Okay."
Yubi replied.
Before they had completely returned to the Land of Wind, they had to remain cautious at all times.
The mission couldn't be considered complete until the very second they handed it over.
Just as he finished speaking, suddenly... the three of them felt a simultaneous jolt in their hearts, as if an invisible pair of eyes had already 'locked' onto them.
It gave them the sensation of being naked.
Exposed... "So fast?!"
Arai's face showed shock, his gaze turning cold instantly. Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately said, "They're here!"
Konoha's people had found them!
Among the enemy members, there was a character with super-strong Chakra perception... who could lock onto them from a distance.
The three had been extremely cautious during their retreat along the way.
They hadn't been discovered by anyone else either.
At this timing, those who could directly notice and probe them could be none other than the Konoha Ninja searching for them.
This also meant that their methods of erasing their tracks still left clues in the opponent's eyes, allowing them to accurately lock onto their position!
"So fast!"
Yubi thought to himself.
The three of them had already been highly efficient and had distanced themselves from that route at high speed... he didn't expect the Konoha people to catch up anyway.
"This kind of reaction speed from the opponent... indicates that when we killed the initial group of six, Konoha had already issued orders. The people we killed later were a temporary squad sent from the front lines to investigate... not from Konoha Village or other Konoha outposts. If it were still people sent from the Konoha front lines, there would definitely be a time lag between us... which means that after those six disappeared, the Konoha higher-ups didn't hesitate or doubt for a moment; they didn't even wait for the follow-up battle reports from the front lines before immediately confirming our existence... their judgment was incredibly accurate!"
"They have a certain level of understanding and analytical ability for sudden abnormal situations on the battlefield, regardless of size... this also indirectly confirms that the entire Village of Konoha has extremely rich war experience and contingency plans. They have long since honed instinctive ways of solving and responding to things."
"It makes sense... without such skill, Konoha would have collapsed long ago facing the offensive of the other four Great Hidden Villages, one against four."
Yubi felt the pressure, thoughts racing in his mind.
This time, no matter who Konoha sent, they would definitely be a formidable enemy for them!
They were in danger!
"Faster."
Arai's tone was heavy as he urged them.
His idea was simple: to run with all their might and try to shake off the opponent.