Intel on Kage-Level Powerhouses (First Update, Please Subscribe)

Gold Sand Wave Surge was a large-scale ninjutsu, which meant its binding power could not be too great. The two jonin and several Special Jonin responsible for the temporary camp below, along with a small number of elite chunin, still managed to struggle free in a sorry state.

They avoided the ensuing killing blow, Gold Dust Funeral.

But after that wave, far too few people remained alive.

Facing the Sand Ninja already swarming in, they were doing well enough just to find one another, organize themselves, and form defensive formations. There was no question of stopping them!

In one of the outlying corners, within a cannon fodder camp that had luckily not been wiped out by that attack, Chu Yingxiong’s face was terrifyingly grim as he looked at the golden sand filling the sky ahead.

Even the joy of obtaining a B-Rank Plot point earlier had been completely swept away.

He fully understood that he had been abandoned.

But he had never imagined that this attack had been planned in advance. Had Konoha and Sunagakure reached some kind of tacit agreement?!

As that thought crossed his mind, he stopped caring about the cannon fodder mission entirely and roared at the elite squad from the Beiyang Army,

"If you don’t want to die, stay close to me!"

Before he had even finished speaking, his round body was already rushing up the mountain like the wind.

As for the other cannon fodder Reincarnators, he did not even have time to say another word to them.

After their initial shock, the nine elite members of the Beiyang Army immediately followed him up the mountain.

They simply could not imagine that the combat level of a Ninja War could reach such a terrifying degree!

This was true destruction on a world-ending scale!

In the blink of an eye, the main camp ahead had turned into a golden desert. It was simply horrifying.

Missions, working hard to complete them, struggling against fate—all of it was thrown to the back of their minds.

The pride that came with being elites had also been cast aside. There was only one thing left.

Run! Run! Run!

As they fled upward, several powerful ninja above who had reacted quickly had already moved to provide support. Their speed was so great that they soon crossed paths with them.

A few of them cast indifferent glances at the fleeing group.

But they did not stop or hinder them. At this level of battle intensity, these cannon fodder scattered out as bait could no longer be of any use.

Yet perhaps because the appearance of those powerful ninja had blocked the Sand Ninja who might have pursued them, or perhaps because of those looks they interpreted as mockery, they still stopped halfway up the climb and did not enter the camp.

Instead, they watched the battlefield below, which was on the verge of erupting, with complicated expressions.

Just then, one of the team members suddenly spotted a familiar figure nearby and could not help exclaiming in surprise.

"Huh? Isn’t that kid the one Bao Ji took away?"

The others looked over and indeed found Xu Yue not far from them.

"Captain Chu, is he really from our army? Could he be a traitor?"

"A woman like Bao Ji could turn anyone into a traitor, even if they weren’t one to begin with."

"That eunuch Gao and that woman must have known something beforehand. Damn it!"

"…"

The nine members of the Beiyang Army’s Promotion Mission squad had been carefully selected as elites. They were no fools.

From Captain Chu’s reaction and the chain of events, they could piece together some of what had happened.

Now that they saw Xu Yue, there was naturally no way they would treat him kindly.

Xu Yue had been a last-minute addition to begin with, and they had never been fond of people cutting into the line.

Moreover, during his very first mission, he had gained such a uniquely favorable advantage and won Captain Chu’s appreciation.

Captain Chu had even mentioned that Wu Pei had recognized him in the real world.

Right from the start, he had latched onto a powerful patron. His innate advantage was far greater than that of an elite squad like theirs!

If he gained enough benefits during his first mission, he might even be groomed as a future core member.

The difference in their mission counts was not great. It was very possible that he would end up taking resources that would otherwise belong to them.

To this group of naturally proud people, that was simply envy, jealousy, and resentment. He was just a little luckier—why should he get all that?!

And now, not only had Captain Chu taken a liking to him, even Bao Ji, that peerless beauty, regarded him differently and had taken him away from danger in advance.

They had barely escaped with their lives, while he had been leisurely watching from the sidelines all along.

How could they possibly feel balanced about that!

"He probably isn’t. Xu Yue’s a pretty good guy."

"Yeah, don’t go suspecting this and that. You’ll just make everyone panic."

The twin brothers had received help from Xu Yue, and they also had some goodwill toward his kind and helpful personality, so they spoke up for him.

That surprised the other members of the Promotion Mission squad. These brothers were usually rather sharp-tongued. They were actually saying good things about someone else?

Fortunately, more survivors from the cannon fodder camps gradually fled over at that moment, ending their unfriendly exchange.

Among them were the Promotion Mission squads from Shogunate Gate, Imperial Guard, and Eight Banners Valiant, who had likewise been abandoned.

But every one of those groups had suffered casualties to varying degrees.

No matter how elite they were, during their first Promotion Mission, the gap between their strength and that of Sunagakure’s advance forces was simply too great.

If they were even a little too slow, they would be killed in a single strike!

Had those Konoha elites from the mountain not come down, it would have been perfectly normal for those who had reacted just a little too slowly to be wiped out entirely.

As for the other independent Reincarnators, only four remained now. Their equipment was also strangely similar.

The light constantly flickering in their chests marked them as Kabaneri, while the Omni-directional Mobility Gear at their waists gave them the means to survive.

Kabaneri using Omni-directional Mobility Gear!

It was one of the latest practical packages released by the Penguin Chamber of Commerce. Its effects were outstanding—absolutely explosive.

Even Chu Yingxiong could not help glancing at the group, silently calculating the terrifying cost-effectiveness of such equipment.

A few independent Reincarnators who had saved up enough money to buy the set had actually survived an environment that many elites had failed to escape from.

"Captain Chu."

At that moment, Xu Yue’s Wood Clone walked over on its own and greeted him.

It drew hostile looks from the Beiyang Army’s Promotion Mission squad, aside from the twin brothers. Several of them were clearly harboring ill intentions.

"It should be fine. Don’t worry, I believe you. That woman probably took an interest in your connection with Uchiha Yue. It seems they learned something about that native through other channels. He must not be simple."

Unlike the others, Chu Yingxiong was an old hand. Of course he knew that Bao Ji would not act without reason. There had to be some purpose behind it.

Perhaps she had even casually planted a seed of discord between the two of them.

But knowing that was one thing. Regardless, Bao Ji had succeeded, because he could no longer trust this newcomer completely. He could still offer trust, but it would definitely be accompanied by appropriate caution.

Even if Xu Yue had originally been someone who could be regarded as a future core member and receive concentrated resources from the army, this time they would probably need to observe him more carefully.

Even if Chu Yingxiong felt somewhat disheartened by the army abandoning him and did not want to report this matter, there were too many witnesses. He could not keep it hidden.

"Is that so? I thought… Heh heh, I was overthinking it. Overthinking it. No wonder."

Xu Yue revealed a disappointed and embarrassed smile, chuckled a few times, and looked as though he had suddenly understood and was forcibly holding himself back.

That only made the members of the Promotion Mission squad beside him look at him with even more disdain. This guy really dared to dream.

Even the twin brothers could not help laughing, though they meant no harm by it.

Did he really dare to set his sights on a woman like Bao Ji?

Unlike Captain Chu, who was a veteran, Bao Ji was currently only an official Reincarnator. Her potential and talent were first-rate, and the one pursuing her was an extraordinary genius from Japan, a favored son of heaven known as the Young Marshal back home.

When encountering a woman like that, the first thing one needed was sufficient caution. Yet he actually had such naive thoughts. She would not even let him touch her hand!

However, at that very moment, fierce combat suddenly erupted within the newly formed golden desert.

The support team here had not even taken their positions yet. They had only just encountered Sunagakure’s advance forces, yet someone had already arrived at Sunagakure’s core ahead of them. A golden figure of light crossed paths in battle with a figure wearing a Miko Robe atop the golden sand.

Using the terrain to get a better look at the battlefield, Chu Yingxiong’s face filled with astonishment.

"This, this… No wonder they could make such a grand move! The Fourth Kazekage came personally!"

"A Kage-level powerhouse?"

"So this is the strength of a Kage-level powerhouse?"

"That’s terrifying!"

Remembering the fear of being dominated by that golden sand, terror appeared not only in the eyes of the Beiyang Army squad members, but also in those of the other squads and the four independent Reincarnators.

They fully understood just how small they were.

In their eyes, jonin were already unreachable existences. A Kage-level powerhouse was even more like a mythical figure!

"Then who is fighting the Fourth Kazekage? He can actually restrain a Kage-level powerhouse?"

After hesitating for a while, Chu Yingxiong decided to reveal some confidential information. They had barely gone through life and death together, so giving them a hint would not hurt.

"Remember what I’m about to say. This is the most cutting-edge, detailed intelligence I went to great lengths to obtain. Without a certain level of status and the backing of an army like ours, don’t even dream of getting it."

That immediately made the Beiyang Army squad, and even the Reincarnators nearby, light up.

The most cutting-edge detailed intelligence?! This was the kind of thing money might not even be able to buy!

Everyone even consciously accepted the deduction of the intelligence tax.

If it was only broad, cutting-edge intelligence, it was not particularly difficult to gather. Reincarnators who specialized in studying the Ninja War could learn, if they put in the effort, that the final boss was someone named Orochimaru.

But that was as far as it went. So what if you knew the general trend and inertia? So what if you knew Konoha would win this war? Without the details, it was of no use whatsoever!

Could you just go to Konoha or Sunagakure and tell them that the outcome of this war would turn out this way or that?

Other than being captured by the Yamanaka Clan and turned into an idiot, there probably would not be any other result.

It was like historical knowledge. If a modern person who only knew the sequence of dynasties traveled back to a specific dynasty, they would still be utterly lost without knowledge of specific people and events. They could only rely on other modern knowledge.

Information about broad trends could be said to have been openly available all along.

But information about the details was a lesson others had paid for with their lives.

After receiving those admiring looks and hearing about the intelligence tax deductions, Chu Yingxiong did not keep them in suspense any longer.

"That’s the Yellow Flash, Minato Namikaze, the future Fourth Hokage. But he died young. His strength should be rather average among those of the same rank. Still, remember that even so, don’t think about using this information to cling to him. His status is what it is. Even though his time as Hokage was short, he’s still not someone we can reach. The Space won’t let us easily grind enough status and fame to get close to him either. Don’t waste your time and effort for nothing."

After giving a simple introduction, he offered them a warning.

Still, he had not expected this future Fourth Hokage, whom the intelligence did not regard highly, to completely restrain the overwhelmingly powerful Fourth Kazekage. It seemed he had some real skill after all. As expected of a Kage.

According to intelligence purchased from those specializing in the Land of Wind, the Fourth Kazekage could subdue enraged tailed beasts, while the future Fourth Hokage had to die together with one just to seal it. Their absolute strength should differ greatly.

Yes, there was nothing wrong with that logic, right? Definitely nothing wrong!

"Speed really is a wonderful thing. Even if your strength is lacking, you can still easily restrain a far stronger opponent."

Chu Yingxiong muttered with a faint sigh, looking at the battlefield with an expression that said he had seen through everything, as though he already understood the truth and could comment freely on the situation.

Xu Yue, who had been about to say something but accidentally overheard his muttering, was so startled that he did not dare speak…