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Corpse Bone Pulse Willow Dance

Corpse Bone Pulse Ten Finger Bullet

The two elite Chunin coordinated flawlessly, attacking first without fear from both near and far. Rather than targeting the enemy leader, they chose an armored knight on the flank.

Wounding all ten fingers was better than severing one outright!

As elite Chunin of the Taketori Clan, they possessed considerable combat experience.

Yet the ranged Ten Finger Bullets were deflected the instant they arrived by a layer of enchanted runes on the armored knight’s armor!

Though the powerful impact still dealt heavy damage to the armor, denting it inward and sending the knight skidding backward, it failed to inflict a sufficiently fatal wound.

The melee slash that followed barely broke through the armor’s defense, with the enchanted runes dispersing most of its force.

Their coordinated assault and preemptive strike had driven the knight back step by step, even staining his visor red with spurting blood, but they had failed to achieve their intended goal and could not finish him off!

Before they could make another move, the Veteran Reincarnator leading the group—the only one not wearing armor—suddenly appeared between them with an altered aura. He let out a strange cry, drew two broadswords, and attacked both at once.

Clang! Clang!

Both attacks were blocked by bone spikes, but they also prevented the pair from continuing their pursuit.

Then a row of armored knights resembling iron cans appeared and surrounded them, completely cutting off any possibility of completing their tactical objective.

Xu Yue vaguely understood. Each of these armored knights had probably used something like a one-use defensive scroll. Combined with their heavy armor, they had entirely abandoned agility in order to specifically counter the Taketori Clan.

They relied on their numerical advantage to offset their disadvantage in agility through coordinated formations, while their leader was fast enough to keep the two occupied.

These were completely targeted countermeasures.

Using an advantage that was not overwhelmingly absolute to make such precise arrangements and achieve this result—they had truly gone to great lengths.

These two were beyond saving. Playing dead would be easiest. Xu Yue had no concerns about so-called pride, so long as he could preserve his current identity…

"Send two men out to silence everyone else. Remember, leave no survivors. Stab the bodies a few more times too."

After forcing the two Taketori Clan members into a desperate situation with the armored knights’ assistance, the leader wielding twin broadswords spoke with steady experience.

Xu Yue silently glanced at him and decided not to play dead after all…

As he watched the two armored knights approach with sinister grins, Xu Yue’s eyes swiftly turned blood-red through the gaps left for vision in their helmets.

Endless scarlet expanded and spun within the two men’s eyes, and the knights’ gazes immediately turned blank.

Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?

Then their bodies began trembling uncontrollably. They abruptly descended into a frenzy and started hacking at each other.

"What are you doing?! Have you gone mad?"

Seeing the armored knights suddenly slashing at each other, the twin-sworded leader shouted in rebuke.

Yet at the sound of his voice, the two armored knights abruptly focused on him and charged at him in a frenzy, looking determined to fight to the death.

The twin-sworded man’s face turned extremely grim.

"It’s an Illusion Technique! Damn it!"

As the two armored knights charged into the formation in a frenzy, the encirclement that had forced the two Taketori Clan members into a bitter struggle instantly loosened, allowing them to catch their breath.

Though they did not know what had caused the enemy’s internal conflict, their extensive experience allowed them to immediately seize the initiative again.

The two of them had originally been above the enemy’s average level in strength. Now, with the equivalent of two additional allies, the battle immediately returned to a stalemate.

"Retreat!"

After realizing that success was impossible, the twin-sworded leader gave the order to withdraw, filled with intense unwillingness.

Though they still held the upper hand for now, they had timed their operation carefully. If the deadlock continued, the commotion would draw the patrols here, and then they would be unable to leave.

The two elite Chunin of the Taketori Clan, who had already been fighting with all their strength, had no intention of pursuing the retreating figures. They merely sighed in relief.

Clang!

Once the battle ended, the two frenzied armored knights dropped to their knees and then collapsed without another sound.

The two Taketori Clan ninja exchanged a glance, then tacitly lowered their heads and lifted the knights’ helmets. What met their eyes were only the lingering reflections in the dead men’s unclosed eyes, blood flowing from all seven orifices.

It was as though, within those wide-open eyes, they saw the same fate awaiting themselves!

Not good!

But just as that thought flashed through their minds, the two lost consciousness and collapsed as well.

Their deaths were nearly identical to those of the two armored knights.

Blood seeped from all seven orifices, their eyes left unclosed in death.

The Illusion Technique cast through the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan was more than enough against enemies of this level, even if it was merely a simple genjutsu he had temporarily learned from Fugaku.

If his merchant identity had not still been useful, there would have been no need for so much trouble. Now, dealing with things would be much more convenient.

The laborers nearby also knew that this group had come specifically for the Taketori Clan.

Xu Yue only needed to display the same attitude as them.

As for what had happened, how could ordinary people possibly know?

Besides, it was the Taketori Clan that had dragged him into this.

No mission had been triggered, though. Their actions apparently did not count as reversing or interfering with the plot.

They were probably just trying to get a share of the spoils during the Taketori Clan massacre…

Xu Yue had been attacked, and two clan members had died, so the Taketori Clan took the matter quite seriously. As the employer, Xu Yue naturally could not be subjected to any measures, but they had no such reservations toward the drivers. After confirming the circumstances through them and learning that Xu Yue’s group had instead been implicated, even the dim-witted Taketori Clan felt rather embarrassed.

They had originally been protecting others, yet now their employer had been dragged into trouble by them instead.

Compared to the loss of reputation, the matter of two elite Chunin and two enemies being killed by indiscriminate Illusion Technique attacks did not seem particularly important.

Xu Yue took the opportunity to throw a fit. Still, he magnanimously showed no intention of ending the agreement between the two sides, merely using the chance to lower the price somewhat.

Behind the scenes, however, he quietly began asking around the village for news of Utakata, who had just returned. It seemed he intended to pay him a visit after his return.

Using a few taels of reward money to openly make covert inquiries in places like taverns was a crude method of gathering information in the eyes of ninja, and it did not attract any attention.

Most likely, that miser was planning to ask the renowned Lord Utakata about prices.

The other party’s series of previous actions had already been enough to define what sort of person he was.

Thus, Xu Yue managed to meet this Six-Tails Jinchuriki fairly smoothly.

Though Utakata had the aura of a cold and aloof male idol and held a very high position, meeting him as a ninja and meeting him as an employer were worlds apart in difficulty.

That was why Xu Yue had always carefully maintained and cultivated his current merchant identity…

Both updates are complete. There have been so many trivial matters lately; please forgive me.