Ghost in the Wind (3K)

Kumogakure Jonin Ayai looked somewhat stunned. He stared at the broken kunai in his hand and the blood pouring from the web between his thumb and forefinger, confirming that he had not been caught in a Genjutsu just now.

This guy… had snapped his kunai with his bare body?

He often fought Iwagakure ninjas and was very familiar with Earth Release: Hardening Jutsu. That ninjutsu could likewise harden the body, but it could never achieve this level.

Ayai swiftly made several discreet hand signs toward the darkness, then slowly retreated into the shadows himself.

A ninja was someone who could endure any extreme environment and accomplish their objective.

Charging head-on to fight an enemy was always the worst option.

Bai Cangshu understood all of this perfectly. Unlike Wind Lord, who had possessed decent enhancements yet carelessly been assassinated, Bai Cangshu had merely exchanged a glance with the two people below through the window and spotted the anomaly.

A ninja was guarding a woman, yet had hidden her inside the house while standing outside himself.

In a one-against-many ninja battle, such a situation was practically a death trap.

The ninjas lurking in the dark could break through from different directions. Before real ninjas capable of using Chakra, a wooden house was no different from paper.

Rather than serving as a defense against attacks, the house seemed more like a prop.

A prop for a "stage play" meant to make the current situation appear tense and confrontational.

With his "keen eyes and ears," Bai Cangshu stepped two paces away from the woman, spread his hands, and exposed every opening on his body to the many ninjas concealed in the darkness.

The woman named Hiranaka Hana bit her lip tightly. She truly hated this tall ninja. Clutching the intelligence stained with her husband’s blood, she cautiously surveyed her surroundings.

Whoosh!

A piercing sound tore through the air. She had no time to react. Her vision went dark, and a figure had already stepped in front of her, catching the Shuriken between Two Fingers.

Ayai’s pupils contracted. The ninjas under his command continuously changed positions, firing Shuriken at the woman, yet that suspected Konoha reinforcement simply stood in place and caught every single Shuriken with both hands.

That kind of speed and precision almost made him think he had encountered a ninja from the Uchiha Clan.

He had never heard of Konoha producing such an expert recently.

He had not seen someone like this in the previous campaign either…

Elsewhere, Catherine and Ran let out breaths of relief. Less than thirty seconds had passed from Wind Lord’s flashy entrance to his unexpected assassination.

Watching a somewhat famous Reincarnator die before their eyes still left both of them tense.

The Naruto Derivative World was indeed one of the mission worlds Reincarnators were most enthusiastic about, for many reasons.

It had a complete power system, convenient channels for learning abilities, frequent missions and event-trigger opportunities, and Plot Characters with weak defensive capabilities, which was also advantageous for Reincarnators reliant on technological weapons.

Yet despite all these benefits, the Naruto Derivative World had never become a Paradise for farming points. Naturally, that was because this world concealed a high death rate that many Reincarnators overlooked.

Because of Naruto and his group’s performances in the anime, many Reincarnators overlooked the fact that ninja was a profession that hid in darkness and would stop at nothing to achieve its goals. They could indeed unleash powerful ninjutsu, but for Reincarnators, the greatest danger in this world was enemies lurking in the shadows at every moment.

Transformation Jutsu, Body Flicker Jutsu, Clone Technique, and all manner of disguises and transformations emerged endlessly. Poison, Explosive Tags, traps, and countless assassination methods were impossible to guard against.

One moment of carelessness, and they would be easily assassinated just like Wind Lord.

"Did you see that, Ran? This is the simple world you were talking about. Ha…"

With her nerves stretched tight, Catherine maintained her Mental Scan over a forty-meter radius. At that intensity, she could capture almost every detail while also monitoring beneath the ground.

Though she was mocking Ran, she was also mocking herself. When she had slaughtered enemies on the second floor with Ran using Barrier Technique, she too had felt that Reincarnators like them could take whatever they wanted in this world.

But soon afterward, a Jonin had used Clone Technique and Transformation Jutsu to outmaneuver them. Wind Lord, who had been slightly stronger than her, had died in an instant, leaving her on edge as well.

Ran, however, stared without blinking at Mercenary Tao. This man rumored to have destroyed Fifth Element, defeated White Face, and killed famous Reincarnators such as Flame Demon appeared to be full of openings right now.

Yet that relaxed, effortless posture made every hair on Ran’s body stand on end.

His excellent senses could easily detect the feeling emanating from Mercenary Tao: the contentment of someone standing at the center, as though he already held everyone’s lives in his grasp.

Looking at the seven or eight Shuriken in his hands, Bai Cangshu had lost any sense of novelty toward these ninjas’ fighting methods. The next moment, his hands flicked with such speed that they seemed to vanish.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…

The sound of objects tearing through the air rang out.

The ninjas hidden in the darkness all tensed and swiftly dodged.

Bang, bang, bang, splat…

Some evaded them. The overly fast Shuriken slammed into walls and the ground like cannonballs, exploding with thunderous impacts. Others, however, were pierced through the body by the spinning Shuriken as they tried to dodge.

Bai Cangshu watched the scene and found himself disliking weapons deliberately designed to spin. With his control over his body, even without specialization, he could easily throw weapons barehanded and hit wherever he aimed within a hundred meters.

But the Shuriken’s spinning nature caused most of their trajectories to veer off. Only two unlucky men happened to run into the deflected spinning Shuriken as they dodged, and were pierced through the body.

"Not coming out, you Lightning Release user?"

Ayai watched the other man stare directly at his position and knew that he had likely used some special ninjutsu capable of seeing through the darkness.

Moreover, these three surviving people all seemed highly skilled in sensing. Darkness had no effect on them.

In that case…

"Hey, no need to hide anymore. These guys are all sensory-type ninjas."

He spoke directly, his figure flashing as he appeared atop the collapsed wooden house. Kumogakure’s squad revealed themselves at the same time: six people in total. Including Ayai and the two dead men, they had originally been three full three-man squads.

Meanwhile, in the streets behind Bai Cangshu, closer to Catherine and Ran, Iwagakure ninjas wearing earth-yellow ninja uniforms also revealed themselves.

"Konoha scum, leave behind that woman and the intelligence now, and I can make the decision to let you return."

Ayai spoke, impossible to tell whether he was lying or telling the truth. But the ninja squad of more than ten people slowly advanced, applying pressure.

Hiranaka Hana grew nervous. Looking at the intelligence in her hands, she wanted to swallow it, but then remembered the cruelty of the ninjas her husband had once described.

A mournful expression appeared on her face. Even if she tore up the intelligence and swallowed it, they would most likely cut her open, retrieve it, and piece it back together bit by bit.

These were people who had completely lost their humanity for the sake of so-called missions.

Over nothing more than a piece of information, they had swiftly slaughtered hundreds of households.

Whoosh~

A gust of wind swept over. Hiranaka Hana’s hair was blown loose, and she instinctively closed her eyes, only to suddenly feel her hand empty.

"You!"

Ignoring the pain in her body, Hiranaka Hana instinctively lunged forward. But the man merely extended a hand and gripped her neck, rendering her unable to move.

Ayai’s expression changed. He saw that the tall man who had appeared last, dressed in a strange pink robe, had actually seized the intelligence from the target he was supposed to protect right in front of everyone and begun reading it.

"You… aren’t a Konoha ninja?!"

A ninja would never look at intelligence they were not supposed to know.

For ninja villages, intelligence was often far more important than human lives.

To preserve secrecy, most villages would make the most brutal choices.

Thus, even when ninjas suffered severe casualties in battle, they often could not know, even as they drew their final breath, what exactly was recorded in the intelligence they had fought desperately to protect.

Or whether it truly concerned the village’s fate.

Catherine and Ran were also stunned. They had not expected Mercenary Tao to make such a choice. This would absolutely cause Konoha reputation to plummet.

Why had he made such a choice?

Could Mercenary Tao not be part of the Konoha Faction?!

In an instant, a chilling speculation arose in both Catherine and Ran’s hearts.

Bai Cangshu was somewhat disappointed. The sheet of paper recorded coded text.

He tossed the so-called intelligence back onto the woman as though throwing away a scrap of waste paper.

But in the next instant, Bai Cangshu suddenly realized that since these ninjas were so eager to pursue this so-called intelligence, they must know how to decipher it. His trial mission only required him to ensure the woman’s survival; it placed no requirements on the intelligence.

And judging from the fact that both Kumogakure and Iwagakure ninja squads had gathered here, with even a Jonin dispatched, this intelligence was clearly invaluable.

He changed his plan to kill everyone.

The next moment, Bai Cangshu looked at the ninjas who still had not charged forward and revealed a savage smile.

He drew a deep breath, then stepped forward.

Ayai stared expressionlessly at Bai Cangshu’s movements. He had already realized this man’s strength, but he had also prepared a battle plan.

The reason he had everyone surround the other side was to continuously compress their space until they took the initiative to attack.

This was the most complete strategy when many faced few.

The surrounded side either had to strike first or could only watch as the enemy closed in on the person they were protecting.

Whoosh!

Like a violent gale descending, Ayai saw the man in the pink robe step into the wind and vanish.

The next moment, he turned and saw a hand appear before his eyes. As his pupils trembled, the moment that hand pressed toward his face, his body exploded into smoke and transformed into a fragment of the wooden house.

Ayai, who had escaped the attack using Substitution Technique, inwardly rejoiced. Luckily, this attack had targeted him. If it had been anyone else, they would certainly have been killed. Now, while he was being attacked, the others should be able to grab—

He turned to look where the woman stood, only to discover that she had not moved at all and was still standing where she was. Around her, several Kumogakure-clad figures were flying into the sky.

Ayai’s pupils shrank sharply. He turned back and happened to see that pink figure emerge from the gale…

Wind God Leg: Catching Wind and Chasing Shadows!

Bai Cangshu had now mastered the first three forms of Wind God Leg, and the move he excelled at most was Catching Wind and Chasing Shadows. Empowered by Wind Demon, he was swift and eerie like a Ghost in the Wind.

Ayai formed hand seals with both hands.

Lightning—

Crack! A hand silently appeared between his hands and suddenly seized his wrist. The next moment, tremendous force surged forth amid the sound of shattering bone.

Only then did the other ninjas’ screams finally erupt.

Bang, bang, bang, bang…

The Kumogakure ninjas were sent flying one after another, crashing into the ruins and spilling great pools of blood.

"This is…"

In the distance, Catherine, Ran, and the Iwagakure ninjas watched the scene in horror. In their eyes, Mercenary Tao seemed to have produced several afterimages in an instant. With only a single exchange, he had sent everyone flying and restrained Kumogakure’s Jonin.