Scheming

Chapter 219: Scheming

"Sure was easy to fool."

The long merchant caravan stretched like a dragon, while Xu Yue sat in a fairly comfortable carriage, tallying up the gains from this trip.

Utakata had been relatively easy to handle. When he wanted to rest, Xu Yue hit him with an enhanced Tsukuyomi from C World and gave him a "nightmare."

He could pose him however he wanted. By the time Utakata woke up, everything had already been done.

With a tailed beast’s Chakra reserves, that tiny amount taken from him was practically negligible. At most, he would feel a little tired and sore, probably assuming he had not rested well because of the nightmare.

The Sealing Jutsu knowledge enhanced through experience infusion also gave Xu Yue the ability to extract a portion of a tailed beast’s Chakra.

Extracting the entire thing would still take quite some effort, but extracting only part of it was much easier.

He had now collected the Chakra of four of the nine tailed beasts. One more, and he would be past halfway.

As for the incidental gains, they were the coral and pearls in this caravan, used to conceal his true purpose.

Xu Yue had originally considered them merely an extra and had no real sense of how much money he had saved up.

But seeing the two Jonin guards constantly acting as though they faced a great enemy, he realized he seemed to have accumulated quite a bit of money. Wasn’t it just enough to buy a dozen Asumas? Was that really a lot…

The Taketori Clan was, after all, a prominent family in the Land of Water. Their journey through the Land of Water went smoothly without the slightest problem.

After leaving the Land of Water, they boarded a large seagoing vessel, intending to pass through the Land of Waves, reach the Land of Fire, and then travel through it to the Land of Wind.

The stretch of sea between the Land of Water and the Land of Fire was entirely ungoverned territory. Combined with the many islands that offered hiding places—

Rogue Ninja and pirates ran rampant there.

Even a convoy escorted by two Jonin chose to keep a low profile and disguise itself.

Beyond the crates of coral and pearls, they exposed hints of cheaper goods.

Did Jonin need to worry about bandits?

That was fucking embarrassing.

There was even a Jinchuriki here, all right…

Yet only three days after setting sail, Xu Yue discovered that his side really did seem to be quite valuable.

All kinds of strange ships, large and small, kept appearing around them.

The members of the two Chunin squads periodically slipped into the water, then brought up traces of red. Quite a few sharks had even gathered nearby.

As ninjas from the Land of Water, the Taketori Clan was well suited to this kind of battle.

"They’re probably just probing us. They won’t attack, right?"

Xu Yue emerged from the cabin and curiously asked Utakata, who was standing beside him with his usual cold, aloof demeanor.

"Who knows? But judging by the timing, even if they discovered the value of our cargo and began gathering people, they should not have been able to assemble this many so quickly."

Utakata gazed at the various ships escorting them from afar, his tone carrying a trace of confusion.

These pirates could not possibly belong to the same faction. Otherwise, the Land of Water would not permit a powerful organization to exist nearby. This was clearly a coordinated operation by several pirate groups.

But how had they learned in advance that this convoy would be heading out to sea, as well as the value of its cargo?

It seemed someone had deliberately contacted them and supplied intelligence!

If that was the case, then this battle was probably unavoidable.

Still, as the Six-Tails Jinchuriki, standing nearly at the top of the current shinobi world’s food chain, Utakata was not too worried about his own safety.

What concerned him was the village’s current state. Shinobi clans were taking jobs privately, and there were even intelligence leaks from within. This was clearly another factional struggle.

If this continued, what meaning would the village even have? Would they return to the shinobi clan model of the Warring States period…

The two Jonin of the Taketori Clan had yet to act. Instead, they stood at the bow with grim expressions, watching the two Chunin squads periodically hunt down infiltrators.

It was not that they did not want to act. The enemy was probing their combat strength!

They wanted to force the two of them into revealing themselves.

By allowing the two Chunin squads to handle things with ease, they could instead increase the intimidation factor.

But as the frequency rose, more and more formidable opponents began appearing.

Some figures had even run across the water to observe from nearby. The two men understood that this battle could no longer be avoided.

Sigh, such valuable cargo, yet the other side had only been willing to pay the escort fee for two Jonin. If they had not implicated the client before, and if they did not value long-term business, they truly would not have agreed.

Fortunately, Lord Utakata was also aboard. Though he had stated that he would only protect the employer, when a real crisis came, he would surely step in…

Corpse Bone Pulse Ten Finger Bullet

Corpse Bone Pulse Ten Finger Bullet

The two Jonin suddenly unleashed the Taketori Clan’s signature long-range attack.

Finger bones pierced through the air with sharp shrieks, plunging into the sea and instantly blooming several flowers of blood beneath the water.

Their attack seemed to light the fuse. The enemy stopped all their observation and probing, transforming in an instant into an overwhelming offensive!

Several small boats sliced through the white waves like arrows.

Along with them came dozens of Rogue Ninja running across the water.

Though they appeared to be only Genin and Chunin level, the members of the Taketori Clan did not dare let down their guard in the slightest.

"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"

However, at that moment, the hidden expert among that group finally made his move.

He opened with a high-level Water Release technique.

In this ocean environment, it became even more formidable.

A spiraling torrent rushed straight toward the ship!

Though they knew the enemy was doing it deliberately—they surely did not want to sink this ship either—

The two Jonin of the Taketori Clan could not ignore such an attack.

One of them could only helplessly use the Body Flicker Technique to appear before the Great Waterfall Technique. With a series of crackling sounds, countless bone spikes burst from all over his body.

Shikotsumyaku Karamattsu no Mai!

He then forcibly blocked the Great Waterfall Technique.

Though this was an exceptionally powerful defensive technique,

the gaps between the bone spikes could not effectively withstand a Water Release technique of such scale.

The enemy had been waiting for precisely this opportunity. The moment the two men acted, they seized the chance to use this targeted tactic.

It was as though they had long known they were from the Taketori Clan!

With a thunderous impact,

although the Great Waterfall Technique was shredded apart and interrupted by the Karamattsu no Mai, it still left that Jonin in a wretched state.

It had already fully achieved its purpose and effect.

"As expected of the Taketori Clan. You actually managed to block it."

A figure slowly emerged from the sea, taking human form and revealing a strange man with bandages wrapped around his face.

"Momochi Zabuza. So it’s you, brat."

The Taketori Clan Jonin who had not intercepted the attack showed a grave expression upon seeing the newcomer’s face.

This guy had killed every one of his classmates when he graduated. Since then, he had risen like a rocket. He was an undisputed assassination prodigy!

He had not expected this guy to be here.

Though Zabuza had always been arrogant and unruly, he showed no signs of betraying the village at present. Was this specifically aimed at the Taketori Clan…

That’s two updates… Nothing more today.

Note: Zabuza failed in the coup, then took Haku with him and encountered Kimimaro and Orochimaru. Therefore, that should have happened after the Taketori Clan massacre. It has not happened yet at this point, and he is still a Hidden Mist ninja.