Though there was no sign of anyone nearby, they trusted Kagura's judgment enough to act. The moment Kagura made that hand signal, the three immediately drew their weapons and took up defensive positions around Fuchuan.
Meanwhile, Hiruzen Sarutobi stood aside with his arms crossed, appearing completely detached from the situation. Seeing this, everyone understood clearly—this time, Sarutobi-sensei had no intention of joining the fight himself.
Kagura pulled out a kunai from her waist and stared fixedly ahead. An uneasy silence settled over the scene, though fortunately, it didn't last long.
A voice rang out from deep within the woods:
"You brat...
actually managed to find us?"
As if receiving orders, figures began emerging one by one from the trees as soon as the voice sounded.
Tsunade and the others grew somewhat tense because nearly a dozen shadowy figures had now begun to emerge slowly from the forest.
All wore gray ninja body suits. Their faces were entirely covered by black masks except for their eyes, which glared like those of starving wolves.
It was likely their leader. Now standing atop a tree branch, he gazed down at them with disdain.
Frowning slightly, he continued,
"Those eyes...
I see. So you're an Uchiha brat?
No wonder you found us."
By now, his subordinates had already begun slowly encircling Kagura and the others.
Kagura carefully examined the leader speaking above and noticed he bore no identifying insignia of any ninja village. He immediately realized these were exactly what people called "Nagare Ninja."
At this time, since the ninja villages had just been established, besides the five great villages, many other independent shinobi still roamed the lands outside the borders of the five countries. Without fixed organizations or beliefs, they mainly survived through hiring themselves out or plundering resources.
Retreat didn't exist in battles among ninja. The moment Kagura saw them step forth, he knew this fight would be unavoidable.
He calmly gave orders to the three behind him:
"Orochimaru, Jiraiya—you two will handle enemies on both flanks.
Tsunade, stay close to Mr. Fuchuan and protect him.
As for the enemies straight ahead, leave them to me."
There were approximately thirty to forty enemies present. About half of them positioned directly in front of their group.
Clearly, Kagura had willingly taken the most dangerous assignment.
Silence blanketed the battlefield. A single leaf drifted downward, gently falling with the wind.
Like the starting signal, the moment that leaf touched the ground, both sides transformed into streaks of shadows rushing toward each other.
Orochimaru and Jiraiya had already disappeared into the battlefield, following Kagura's orders and attacking their assigned targets.
Tsunade stood motionless in front of Fuchuan, gripping the weapon tightly in her hand.
Flashes of light flickered midair, and the sound of colliding shuriken constantly rang out from every direction.
Suddenly, a silver-haired figure appeared midair—none other than Jiraiya.
After quickly forming hand seals, his cheeks suddenly inflated.
[Fire Release: Blazing Bullet!]
Multiple fireballs struck the enemies chasing closely behind him.
The enemies caught in the attack erupted in flames and dropped to the ground, writhing and screaming in pain.
This technique worked by holding oil synthesized with chakra in the mouth, spitting it out, and igniting it with a Fire Release technique.
No matter how desperately those burning figures rolled across the ground, they couldn't extinguish the fire consuming them.
Seeing the incredible results of his single strike, Jiraiya's face couldn't help but show an excited grin.
But before he could even land, several kunai came flying straight toward him.
Still midair, Jiraiya's expression turned serious, though he remained calm.
As he formed another hand seal, his silver hair suddenly grew longer, extending like a cloak that completely wrapped around his body.
[Needle Jizo]
These hairs were as tough as steel armor, deflecting all incoming kunai.
The advancing ninja narrowed their eyes, immediately pulling out long blades and rushing forward.
Since ranged attacks with kunai couldn't break through his defense, they would switch directly to close combat!
Just when several shinobi reached above the half-circle "hedgehog", Jiraiya's voice rang out from within:
"Needle Hell!"
Those rigid, needle-like hairs shot outward like hidden projectiles.
With a series of swishing sounds, the ninja who had just been about to swarm over him were now sprawled on the ground covered in blood.
Meanwhile, Orochimaru was facing exactly the same situation as Jiraiya.
As soon as he landed, dozens of attacks composed of kunai and shuriken appeared before him.
Orochimaru made a single-handed hand seal, and suddenly a fierce gust of wind appeared before him.
This violent gale blew the dozens of incoming weapons completely off course.
[Wind Release: Great Breakthrough]
"It's my turn!"
He muttered softly, grabbing a few shuriken from behind his back.
After forcefully throwing the shuriken at the enemies, he quickly started forming hand seals.
[Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!]
This ninjutsu was one he had secretly copied from Sarutobi-sensei.
Before long, those few shuriken multiplied into thousands upon thousands, unleashing indiscriminate attacks against the forest ahead.
One dull thud after another sounded out as enemies hiding in the woods were struck down to the ground.
After finishing all this, Orochimaru turned his head toward Tsunade's direction.
Around Tsunade, cracks spread across the ground like spider webs.
Cracked beneath her feet were enemies who had tried to sneak up on her, but got punched straight into the ground.
But she didn't pay any attention to those she had defeated, instead staring forward with shocked surprise.
Following her gaze, Orochimaru also looked ahead.
When he saw what stood before them, his eyes widened in shock.
Right in front of them was the battlefield Kagura had claimed for herself.
The previously speaking leader along with his subordinates had already dropped down from the trees, standing right before Kagura.
Yet strangely, even until now, those individuals still maintained their upright stances.
They hadn't drawn their weapons, nor made any cries of war—the entire battlefield remained eerily silent and strange.
Upon careful observation, you could see the confusion lingering in their eyes.
It was as if they'd been hexed, frozen in place and completely paralyzed.
Kagura raised the kunai in her hand and slowly moved through the crowd.
Every time she passed an enemy, the arm that held her weapon would flash with a lingering afterimage.
A thin crimson line would then appear across their throat before they collapsed in a splatter of blood.
Kagura was like a [Shinigami] wielding a scythe, silently reaping lives.
The battlefield grew eerily quiet. The remaining enemies stood like lambs awaiting the butcher.
Before long, all the enemies except the leader had fallen.
Kagura stood before him, raised her right hand, and prepared to eliminate this final opponent.
Just then, the leader managed to speak.
As though he'd used every last ounce of strength, he rasped out words thick with regret and fear:
"You... this... is... Genjutsu?"
Kagura looked at him in surprise, not expecting this lowly enemy could actually break free from her illusionary control.
Indeed, this bizarre scene had been created through the Sharingan's Genjutsu she cast upon these people.
Although she possessed [Kotoamatsukami], known throughout Hokage history as the strongest Genjutsu ever,
for these weaklings who hadn't even reached Genin status, controlling them was almost laughably easy — merely using [Sharingan]'s standard Genjutsu sufficed.
While Kagura certainly had other methods to defeat them, this approach unquestionably required the least effort.
Clearly stronger than the rest, the leader managed to briefly break free from her illusion long enough to speak.
But that was all he had left.
Seeing the unwillingness in his eyes, Kagura unusually responded with cold reassurance:
"Blame fate for your bad luck. Choose better next time—if there is one."
Finishing her words, she raised her hand and slashed.
A thin line of blood slowly tore open the leader's throat. A jet of crimson burst forth as he collapsed onto the ground.
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