Chapter 61: Breakthrough

"Understood!"

Gen'ichi Shita also released his Transformation Technique, then vanished from the spot using the Body Flicker Technique.

Up on the mountain, En Yamanaka released the Mind Body Switch Technique and regained consciousness: "Lang'i, break through from the nine-o'clock direction. Gen'ichi will rendezvous with us at the foot of the mountain."

Swish! Swish!

The two figures bounded agilely like rabbits and falcons, rushing down the mountain.

True to expectation, the three reunited at the foot of the mountain and continued to press forward toward the nine-o'clock direction.

"En, how many enemies are there?" Gen'ichi Shita asked.

"Many!"

En Yamanaka's expression was grave. "Two squads at the twelve-o'clock direction, two squads at the seven-o'clock direction, and an unknown number inside the small town."

"The enemy definitely has sensory ninja. We must break through before they form a complete encirclement."

Gen'ichi Shita frowned and said, "Once we break through, En, find a way to scout and see if the enemy has a second line of encirclement."

"This is a trap." En Yamanaka nodded. "Understood."

"However, in that case, could the intelligence be false?"

Gen'ichi Shita replied, "The intelligence should be correct."

"If there were a problem, the trap should have been set inside the town."

"The enemy likely only knew that something was wrong somewhere in the town, but couldn't pinpoint the exact location."

"The error must have occurred during the previous stage of intelligence transmission."

The three crossed a river, swept rapidly across a wasteland, and plunged headlong into the forest.

Meanwhile, outside the town, after Gen'ichi Shita left, Sakumo Hatake had already fought his way into the town.

His figure leaped and flashed, and bodies plummeted from high vantage points.

The crowd in the town scattered in terror.

"Watch out, it's the White Fang of Konoha!"

A Cloud ninja clutched his abdomen and shouted to his comrade, "Don't fight him alone!"

Sakumo fought his way back to the general store, arriving just in time to see the store owner being dragged away as a hostage by two Cloud ninja.

Rip!

Lightning crackled across his body, and a blazing white light emerged from the White Fang short blade in Sakumo's hand.

His speed surged dramatically.

One of the two Cloud ninja immediately turned back, attempting to intercept Sakumo.

However, as their figures crossed, Sakumo continued his pursuit without the slightest pause, while that Cloud ninja slumped heavily to the ground.

Behind him, seven or eight Cloud ninja gave chase at full speed.

The White Fang of Konoha was simply too formidable; he had brutally sliced his way through their defenses, only for them to watch helplessly as he rescued the captive and then turned around to slaughter his way back.

"Surround him!"

An upper ninja of Cloud barked furiously.

Boom, boom, boom—

A massive barrage of lightning descended from the sky, striking the ground and the buildings, enveloping Sakumo.

Following that came a dense volley of shuriken, accompanied by a significant number of explosive tags.

After another round of deafening detonations, four Cloud ninja plunged into the billowing smoke and dust.

A flurry of intense clashing sounds rang out, occasionally punctuated by muffled grunts and cries of agony.

A moment later, as the smoke gradually cleared, the four outer-ring Cloud ninja spotted a figure charging outward, closely pursued by two more Cloud ninja.

The four immediately executed the Body Flicker Technique to intercept.

Clang, clang, clang!

The clash was over in a flash.

Blood sprayed into the air as two corpses plummeted downward.

Sakumo broke through the interception and sprinted wildly out of the town.

Only now, both his left arm and right flank bore deep gasps, blood rapidly staining his clothes.

"Pursue him! He's wounded!"

The remaining four Cloud ninja immediately leaped into action to hunt him down.

...

Deep in the woods, Yuzhiha Lang'i suddenly uttered a low cry: "They're here!"

En Yamanaka's expression shifted: "So fast!"

Swish, swish, swish—

Faint sounds of air being rent reached them. Gen'ichi Shita turned his head to see figures closing in fast from both the left and right rear.

"En, Lang'i, you two go ahead!"

Gen'ichi Shita handed the intelligence scroll to En Yamanaka, then halted his steps and stood poised upon a tree branch.

Three of the pursuing Cloud ninja immediately veered toward Gen'ichi Shita, while the rest maintained their course.

Illusion: Darkness Technique!

Gen'ichi Shita formed hand seals with both hands, directly shrouding the collective vision rather than targeting just one or two individuals.

Not only did this consume a massive amount of chakra, but the precision of the illusion was also relatively low, meaning the difficulty of breaking free would drop drastically.

However, all Gen'ichi Shita wanted was to buy some time against these Cloud ninja.

As for chakra—

Immediately after executing the Darkness Technique, he unlocked the Strength of a Hundred Seal.

"Watch out, it's an illusion!"

"An illusion that strips away vision! This guy might be proficient in Water Release!"

"He could be the disciple of the White Fang of Konoha, Konoha's genius Gen'ichi Shita."

Voices rang out one after another through the forest.

Sudden deprivation of sight caused some Cloud ninja to step into empty air, others to halt their stride instantly, and a few to rely on their last visual memory before blindness to dash and hide behind tree trunks.

Reactions varied wildly, but without exception, every Cloud ninja stopped in their tracks and immediately attempted to dispel the illusion.

"It seems my profile has already been thoroughly researched by Cloud..."

Gen'ichi Shita rapidly formed hand seals, though he was hardly surprised.

Following the battle on the ocean last year, there was no way Cloud Village wouldn't investigate him.

Thus, it was entirely unsurprising that the Cloud ninja knew his name.

And the vision-stripping Darkness Technique was indeed quite distinctive; even among Konoha ninja, few would excel at it.

In fact, they were exceedingly rare.

After all, ninja who chose to specialize in illusions were already an extreme minority.

As for ninja who weren't specialized in illusions, none would waste so much time cultivating an A-rank Darkness Technique, nor would they possess the innate talent required to learn it.

One by one, the Cloud ninja broke the illusion and regained their sight.

Meanwhile, Gen'ichi Shita, standing upon the tree branch, swiftly completed his hand seals.

First the Ping incantation, then the Jie incantation, followed by the Zi incantation, and finally clapping his hands together.

Water Release: Water Severing Wave!

Gen'ichi Shita exhaled a torrent of water that cascaded downward and rapidly expanded, surging wave upon wave. The water rose up and swirled around his form, lifting him higher.

Then, Gen'ichi Shita swept his clasped hands outward. The massive, churning surge of water immediately spread forward, pouring forth with a thunderous roar. Wherever it passed, towering trees were uprooted and swept away by the sheer impact.

A Cloud upper ninja gazed at the overwhelming, cataclysmic wall of water, and his expression shifted dramatically: "To be able to use such a Water Release technique in terrain like this... this bastard is even more formidable than the intelligence reports claimed!"

Swish, swish, swish!

Figures soared into the air, leaping up into the tree canopy.

Other Cloud ninja resorted to Earth Release techniques for defense.

The area swept by Gen'ichi Shita's massive wave was so vast that it once again pinned down all the Cloud ninja. Although this wave failed to inflict casualties among them, for Gen'ichi Shita, the jutsu served a dual purpose: not only did it stall the enemy anew, but it also carved out an advantageous combat environment of his own making.

Therefore, as the final wave of water crashed outward, Gen'ichi Shita roared into action, hurtling straight toward the three Cloud ninja closest to him.

In his mind, he had marked these three from left to right as Cloud Ninja A, Cloud Ninja B, and Cloud Ninja C.

Swish, swish, swish—

His hands danced as he unleashed a flurry of shuriken, all of which were deflected by the Cloud ninja.

At that moment, shuriken whistled in from both flanks, but Gen'ichi Shita dodged and parried them effortlessly with his blistering speed.

Boom!

The leading crest of the wave collided with a massive fireball, sending steam hissing into the air.

It was a Fire Release technique cast by Cloud Ninja B.

Immediately following this, two figures closed in on Gen'ichi Shita from the left and right in a pincer maneuver—Cloud Ninja A and Cloud Ninja C, both wielding ninja blades.