ACSP: Chapter 213: Dungeon BOSS, the Corrupted Uchiha Obito!
"Hidden Mist!"
Jiang Chen didn't hesitate for a single fraction of a second, decisively locking in his choice.
In truth, this faction selection didn't actually alter the fundamental trajectory of the instance. No matter which banner they chose to align with, they would eventually have to clash with three specific entities within this dungeon space.
The first was Rin Nohara, currently transformed into a ticking time bomb as a Tailed Beast Jinchuriki. The second was Hatake Kakashi, the brilliant young Jonin who already wielded the [Sharingan]. And the third was the absolute, most formidable boss anchoring this entire instance—the newly corrupted Uchiha Obito.
Anger pushes a man to pure madness. Although the Uchiha Obito manifested in this dungeon had only just fallen into darkness, the psychological trauma of witnessing the brutal death of the person he loved most would trigger a catastrophic, explosive spike in his combat output. Many unprepared teams who didn't understand the spatial-phasing properties of [Kamui] were completely annihilated the moment they faced Obito in this berserk state.
The moment the faction confirmation registered, Jiang Chen, Ronan, and the rest of the party dissolved into pillars of brilliant white light, plunging directly into the vortex.
When their vision finally cleared, the five of them materialized inside a dark, dilapidated underground outpost. Deep within the shadows of this base, three Hidden Mist Ninjas were huddled together, keeping their voices low as they finalized their strategy. Directly behind them, a young girl lay completely unconscious on the damp ground. She had short, straight brown hair, and the unmistakable purple camouflage markings painted onto her cheeks.
It was none other than Rin Nohara.
For the parameters of this dungeon, the system had integrated Jiang Chen's five-man squad as elite Anbu operatives originating from the Hidden Mist Village. The moment they stepped into the room, their system logs flashed as the three Mist Ninjas pushed a primary objective onto their interfaces.
[Primary Mission Unlocked: Hostage Transport]
[Objective: Safely transport the comatose hostage, Rin Nohara, to the designated perimeter of Konoha Village within the specified time limit.]
On paper, it looked like a standard, straightforward escort mission. But only veterans who had previously broken their teeth on this instance knew the brutal truth—this path was littered with absolute ruin.
"Time is tight. The Three-Tails will not remain dormant within the hostage for long. You need to deliver her to Konoha Village as soon as possible..."
The older Kirigakure Ninja barked out his final command, waving his hand to urge Jiang Chen's squad into immediate motion. Simultaneously, the system interfaces for the party flashed, updating with two critical tracking metrics:
[Mission Logs Updated]
Three-Tails Awakening Timer: 23:59
Current Mission Completion: 0%
[Mission Hint]: Secret Realm rewards will be calculated dynamically based on your final mission completion rate.
Reaching 50% Completion grants a chance to obtain a Silver Chest.
Reaching 80% Completion grants a chance to obtain a Gold Chest.
Reaching 100% Completion guarantees a Gold Chest and unlocks a high-probability drop for additional premium rewards.
"I didn't expect the reward mechanism for this high-level Secret Realm to operate on a completion grind," Jiang Chen muttered under his breath.
This was his first time encountering an instance that scaled its loot strictly against a percentage tracker. Zhao Xuansu hadn't mentioned this particular detail back at the pavilion, likely because the old man's previous teams had never managed to push far enough to worry about optimal optimization.
However, none of that mattered now. Since they had already crossed the threshold, their only objective was to maximize their returns and push for an absolute 100% clear.
Stepping out of the humid, dilapidated underground base into the open air, Jiang Chen wasted no time. Biting his thumb, he slammed his hand down to execute the [Summoning Jutsu]. With a massive eruption of white smoke, the colossal form of the giant eagle, Garuda, materialized. Jiang Chen scooped up the comatose Rin Nohara, effortlessly leaping onto the avian's broad back.
Seeing the legendary summon, the twin sisters Nangong Fei and Nangong Hong didn't hesitate, immediately following his lead and scrambling onto the giant eagle's feathers to secure themselves.
Li Dala was just about to spring upward and join them, but Ronan tightly gripped his shoulder, pulling him back down. "Although the system constraints for this escort mission don't explicitly prohibit flying summons, a narrative trap like this is bound to trigger heavy anti-air ambushes along the route. Putting the entire party on a single target is a tactical blunder. The two of us will handle escort security from your clay birds."
"Fine, fine," Li Dala grumbled, casting a highly reluctant, lingering glance toward the Nangong sisters.
Despite his internal protests, he obediently channeled his Chakra to forge a swift clay bird. There was no helping it; Ronan's tactical assessment was flawless, and he wasn't about to risk a wipe over a bit of proximity.
Backed by the extreme velocity of their respective flying mounts, the squad's transit speed skyrocketed. Under normal ground-travel parameters, navigating the rugged terrain indicated on the instance map would have required a brutal three-hour sprint. Moving through the unobstructed airspace, they obliterated the distance, reaching the designated perimeter in a mere thirty minutes.
However, crossing this massive stretch of land only ticked their mission completion tracker up by a meager 5%!
Having finished this leg of the journey, they had officially breached the border territory of the Land of Fire. Up ahead, the dense canopy gave way to a cleared perimeter where several heavily fortified wooden watchtowers loomed in the distance. These were the frontier outposts established by Konoha Village, staffed by hyper-vigilant sentries constantly scanning for foreign incursions.
"There are no specialized sensory-type Ninjas stationed at this specific checkpoint," Nangong Fei suggested in a hurried whisper, leaning in close behind Jiang Chen. "As long as we ground our mounts, drop into the dense undergrowth, and proceed carefully, we can slip right past their blind spots."
Nangong Hong nodded rapidly in agreement. "She's right, Boss! Killing these frontier guards doesn't give a single percentage point toward the mission completion. Most of the veteran teams who run this Secret Realm use this exact bypass to avoid burning through their stamina and resources early on!"
Having banged their heads against this specific instance in the past, the twin sisters naturally relied on their established meta-knowledge. They knew the routing, the patrol pathings, and which engagements were deemed "unnecessary."
But Jiang Chen had absolutely no intention of crawling through the mud.
Creeping through the bushes and dragging out the timer? What a colossal waste of efficiency.
"There's no need to overcomplicate a straight line. We fly straight through," Jiang Chen commanded calmly, his eyes locking onto the twin structures ahead.
The Nangong sisters' eyes threatened to pop out of their sockets.
"Wait, if we maintain this altitude, we'll be completely exposed in the open sky!"
"The sentries stationed in those towers are all elite Tokubetsu Jonin NPCs with high scaling! There's no mechanical reason to take a high-risk gamble like this, right?!"
The twins frantically tried to talk him down, desperation creeping into their voices. But Jiang Chen didn't even blink, steering Garuda forward without a single deviation in course. Realizing their leader was entirely unmovable, the Nangong sisters gritted their teeth, instantly drawing their Kunai and snapping into a rigid combat stance. The frontier guards ahead were notorious for their high burst damage; they couldn't afford a single micro-mistake.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The millisecond the giant eagle crossed into the towers' aggro radius, the defensive mechanisms triggered. Several massive, ballista-sized crossbow bolts—each tightly wrapped in high-yield explosive tags—screamed out from the slitted windows, tearing through the airspace with astonishing, whistling momentum.
Jiang Chen stood entirely motionless at the vanguard of the eagle's crest, his coat fluttering in the wind.
He didn't need to move.
Screeech!
A flock of miniature clay birds flapped past his ears at hyper-velocity, cutting a path through the sky. Without a shred of hesitation, Li Dala's creations precisely intercepted the incoming ballista bolts mid-flight.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A chain of violent detonations ripped through the upper atmosphere, neutralizing the projectile threat in a cloud of fire and shredded paper. Before the smoke could even clear, a secondary wave of clay birds surged through the blast radius like a cluster of homing missiles, driving straight into the heart of the wooden fortifications.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A deafening roar shook the valley as both watchtowers were blasted into kindling and matchwood on the spot, engulfed in a roaring column of thick, black smoke.
"Enemy ambush...!"
"Anyone who trespasses into the sovereign territory of the Land of Fire... will be executed without exception!"
Through the billowing embers, several soot-stained Tokubetsu Jonin clad in iconic Konoha flak jackets leaped from the collapsing platforms, attempting to regroup mid-air.
But they never touched the ground.
Before their boots could establish friction with the earth, Ronan's silhouette materialized directly within their falling shadows like a specter of death.
Puff! Puff! Puff!
In the literal blink of an eye, a series of clean, lethal arterial sprays painted the air. The Konoha sentries collapsed heavily onto the grass one after another, their bodies instantly going rigid as their health bars plummeted to absolute zero.
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