The dense fog completely obscured the forest, and from a bird's-eye view, only faint green specks could be seen within the mist.
The white mist, like a living entity, continuously stretched and rapidly spread in one direction, devouring the green expanse before it like a greedy beast.
Within the thick fog, numerous shadowy figures moved at an extremely fast pace.
This speed was unnatural.
The mist provided protection for the Fog Shadow Anbu, but it also blocked their vision.
In complex terrain like a forest, one wrong move could lead to colliding with an unexpected tree.
Furthermore, traversing on tree branches using Shinobi foot techniques, without accurate distance estimation, made it very easy to jump too far or too short, leading to a misstep.
Fighting in such harsh weather conditions was impossible without extreme familiarity with the terrain.
For Shinobi from other countries, this was an extremely terrifying and tricky tactic.
That is, if they didn't have sensory abilities.
They would be left helpless in the dense fog, waiting to have their heads severed by the Mist Ninja.
At this moment, a clear, melodious ringing continuously echoed through the fog.
This device was called a Fog Bell.
It was commonly found on ships; when fog rolled in at sea, visibility would be extremely low, making it difficult to see even what was directly in front of you, as even light could not penetrate the dense fog.
Therefore, sound was needed to alert surrounding ships to avoid collisions.
In other words, for positioning.
This was the essence of Fog Shadow's silent assassination technique.
Using sound to pinpoint targets while moving through the dense fog.
Thus, the way to counter it was to create noise, by setting up more sound sources.
The Shinobi ringing the Fog Bell at this time served as a navigator; without a doubt, this was a sensory Shinobi.
And not a Chakra sensory type.
But rather, a Red Eye.
A pair of blood-Red Eyes moved rapidly through the forest, and as they advanced, a string of wind chimes under their straw hat continuously jingled.
They navigated through the dense fog to prevent the forces behind them from losing their way.
The Red Eye clan, the natural nemesis of the Hyuga Clan, could see through objects and long distances, viewing dense fog as if it were clear.
They could sense danger, thus achieving actions similar to predicting the future.
Then there was Chakra sensing.
They could also create Chakra illusions to interfere with the Byakugan's insight, preventing the Byakugan from detecting the true enemy.
In other words, even if the Hyuga Clan were present, they wouldn't easily be able to break through Fog Shadow's Fog Shadow tactics.
It was similar to Naori's Yin Release: Illusion Projection.
The Byakugan would only see a pervasive dense fog, making it extremely easy to be interfered with during combat and attack the wrong target.
Which would be their comrades.
Finally, the Red Eye possessed the ability to heal with Chakra.
Miki recalled this information when she saw these eyes through her insects.
Without a doubt, these were extremely powerful eyes.
The position of the Fog Bell-wielder was the most dangerous and important in Shinobi wars, not to mention that they were also a sensory Shinobi.
In current Shinobi warfare, they were the primary target for elimination.
In future Shinobi wars, the priority target for elimination would be Medical Ninja.
Therefore, being in this position meant either being cannon fodder or a confident strong individual.
In the hands of a powerful Shinobi, the danger-sensing ability of these eyes surpassed the dynamic vision of the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan.
Miki hadn't expected such an existence among these Shinobi beforehand and now secretly rejoiced that she hadn't deployed Hitomi to this battlefield.
Compared to Sunagakure, the situation here would be trickier for Hitomi.
As for Sunagakure, the appearance of Puppet Shinobi had long been anticipated, and Miki's plan was for Hitomi to quickly pinpoint the Puppet Master's true location using the Byakugan, then assassinate and eliminate them.
Given the Puppet Master's operating range, it would be a few hundred meters at most, certainly not exceeding the Byakugan's two-kilometer observation range.
And these Red Eyes...
Miki couldn't help but suspect if they were an evolved mutation of the Byakugan, similar to the Sharingan.
At this moment, Miki pulled her thoughts back, refocusing her attention on the Fog Shadow forces.
The leading Red Eye Shinobi stopped, then turned and charged straight towards Miki's position.
She had been discovered.
With a visual range of five kilometers, they would engage in combat within one minute over this distance.
Miki remained in place, making no particular movements, seemingly unaware.
The charging Red Eye Shinobi drew their Ninjato in the dense fog.
Was it a Genjutsu-Taijutsu type Shinobi, like those of the Hyuga Clan?
But in the next second, as the Red Eye Shinobi leaped from a tree trunk in the forest, their body brushed past leaves on the branches.
When they landed on a tree trunk ahead, their body swayed, and they silently died.
Vibrant purple blood flowed from the five holes beneath their mask.
Immediately, a swarm of Insects flew out, grabbed the straw hat, and flew away.
Mimicking the Shinobi's leaping and running posture, they bobbed up and down through the forest.
The Fog Shadow forces became blind.
But in the next second, a sharp whistle sounded.
This was a signal, meaning enemy attack.
The Fog Shadow corpse retrieval unit had other sensory types.
How cautious they are.
It makes one unable to be careless at all.
However, the detection range of this sensory type was not as wide as the Red Eye's.
Miki expressionlessly had the Insects drop the straw hat.
In the dense fog, dozens of flying Kunai precisely covered the range of the bell's sound.
Seeing this, Miki deciphered the new meaning of the previous signal: the Fog Bell-wielder had been attacked and killed.
Quite impressive, aren't they?
In all aspects of tactics and combat proficiency.
However, the Mist Ninja had already stepped into Miki's death trap.
Hidden beneath the leaves in the forest, obscured by the dense fog, were scattered black Insects.
There weren't enough Parasitic Micro-Insect to cover the entire forest at once, so death traps were just dotted along the inevitable paths.
Miki utilized the Fog Shadow's dense fog.
Randomly selecting lucky individuals, whoever was willing to take the bait.
Under normal visibility, this trick would only work once.
But in dense fog, it was difficult to notice such subtle anomalies.
Miki clapped her hands and quickly sank underground.
Iwagakure Ninja used the Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique to observe the ground.
Miki, on the other hand, relied on her insect swarm for positioning.
At this moment, Miki had already guessed the opponent's sensory type.
Sonar detection.
That is, ultrasound.
Miki had once tried to equip her insect swarm with this ability.
But she had bad luck.
Therefore, she had conducted numerous tests.
Miki wouldn't be surprised if ultrasound could detect over a hundred kilometers in an underwater environment.
But in an atmospheric environment, the detection range of ultrasound was limited.
The bats Miki tested had a detection range of about ten meters.
Although the ability was excellent, they were basically still blind.
Considering the possibilities and wonders of Ninjutsu, Miki would not underestimate its detection range too much.
What was certain was that the opponent had not yet discovered her, and their range was smaller than the Red Eye's.
But in an underground environment, the sound waves could only penetrate a limited amount of soil and would be quickly absorbed by the soil and rock layers.
Submerging ten meters in one go using the Earth Release: Underground Projection Fish, this distance was theoretically safe.
At this time, Miki opened the seals on her body, and the prepared oxygen flowed out, providing her with air to breathe underground.
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