Chapter 63: The Root

"You are not Kumogakure!"
The dark-skinned Cloud ninja roared in fury.
Shita Xuanyi lunged forward from beneath the tree, and after a flurry of blade strikes, the vision-impaired Cloud ninja was dispatched with a single fatal cut to the throat.
The other two Cloud ninjas had just broken free from the illusion. Seeing their comrade brutally murdered, they roared and charged straight at Shita Xuanyi.
On the other side, Uchiha Langyi was ecstatic. With a sudden twist of his body, he intercepted the left-hand Cloud ninja rushing toward him.
Puff!
Blood splattered as Uchiha Langyi easily cut one down. Meanwhile, the remaining two Cloud ninjas, having just shaken off the genjutsu, found themselves staring directly into Uchiha Langyi’s crimson, double-tomoe Sharingan.
Binding Jutsu!
The two Cloud ninjas were frozen in place. Although one broke free in a split second and leaped backward, blood still erupted from his chest where Uchiha Langyi’s blade had carved a deep gash, narrowly missing his heart.
As for the other Cloud ninja who failed to escape the illusion, he was kicked flying by Uchiha Langyi, and a precise shuriken instantly pierced his forehead.
At that moment, the three Cloud ninjas on the right who had been pursuing Yamanaka En were forced to turn back.
In just a short span of combat, three of their comrades had already died.
If they left now, there was a good chance the rest of their companions would be eliminated by these two kids as well.
After all, a moment ago, seven Cloud ninjas had surrounded and attempted to assassinate that genius, presumably named Shita Xuanyi, only to discover that the enemy had disguised themselves using transformation techniques.
They had been far too careless!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Shita Xuanyi and Uchiha Langyi stood back-to-back, surrounded by the six remaining Cloud ninjas.
Two of them were injured: one had a chest wound courtesy of Uchiha Langyi, and the other had a slash across his waist and abdomen from Shita Xuanyi’s short blade.
Even so, Shita Xuanyi felt an intense wave of danger wash over him.
Not a single one of these Cloud ninjas was weak; every last one of them was at least a Chūnin.
In the current situation, these Cloud ninjas would never give him the time to weave hand seals again.
Shita Xuanyi resolved that after this mission, he absolutely had to develop one-handed seal weaving.
Right now, however, they had to break through the encirclement; otherwise, they might very well die here.
As for their teacher, Hatake Sakumo.
Setting aside the unclear situation back in the town, Shita Xuanyi figured that before Hatake Sakumo could arrive, the other three Cloud ninjas would catch up first, making their plight even more perilous.
A direct frontal clash was out of the question.
"Langyi, let’s charge out first!"
Shita Xuanyi whispered.
Uchiha Langyi nodded.
Just as the Cloud ninjas were about to strike, several figures suddenly appeared.
A dense swarm of bugs descended like a dark cloud, shadows stretched rapidly across the ground, and a massive sword resembling a giant door swept forward.
The sudden ambush caught the Cloud ninjas completely off guard, instantly forcing them to abandon Shita Xuanyi and Uchiha Langyi.
Reinforcements!
Shita Xuanyi was overjoyed and immediately put away his blade to weave hand seals.
Genjutsu: Demonic Illusion - Descending Darkness Technique.
It was still a wide-area coverage technique. Even if the precision was low, at this moment, it could play a crucial role.
Uchiha Langyi had already lunged into the fray the moment Shita Xuanyi began weaving seals.
For a time, screams echoed continuously.
Within mere breaths, only two injured Cloud ninjas remained, leaping away to escape into the distance.
"Xuanyi, Langyi, are you guys alright?"
Yamanaka En appeared in front of Shita Xuanyi.
"We're fine!"
Shita Xuanyi shook his head, his gaze shifting toward the reinforcements.
These people all wore uniform masks, clearly belonging to the ANBU.
Yet... why weren't they pursuing the fleeing enemies?
At that moment, a masked man standing on a tree branch fixed his gaze on Shita Xuanyi and spoke, "Is the intelligence report on you?"
"Return to the village with us immediately!"
Hm?
Upon hearing this, Shita Xuanyi instantly realized that Yamanaka En had lied to these ANBU ninja.
"Xuanyi, they belong to Root."
Yamanaka En's voice sounded quietly in Shita Xuanyi's ear.
Shita Xuanyi's mind raced. He reached into his ninja pouch, balled his hand into a fist, and thrust it toward Yamanaka En’s chest, then quickly withdrew his hand and spun around. "En, take the intelligence and retreat first! Langyi, let's go support the captain!"
Uchiha Langyi nodded.
Yamanaka En wanted to go with them, but he knew that he had to bring the intelligence back himself rather than directly handing it over to the Root operatives.
Of course, the intelligence was actually already in his possession.
He had simply lied to the Root personnel.
Otherwise, if these Root ninja had only been dispatched to secure the intelligence bearer, they would never have bothered to rescue Shita Xuanyi and Uchiha Langyi.
Then again, perhaps these Root operatives had already guessed that he was lying.
Yet Yamanaka En knew they wouldn't dare to gamble.
...
"Xuanyi, did those Root ninja already know there was something wrong with this mission from the very beginning?"
Uchiha Langyi asked with an ugly expression.
Shita Xuanyi remained expressionless. "They might have known, or they might not have."
Even if they had deliberately used them as bait, what could they do about it?
"Damn it!"
Uchiha Langyi had already concluded that Root was shady.
Especially since the number of Root personnel who arrived was not small—six in total—they easily could have detached a squad to go with them to reinforce Hatake Sakumo, yet they showed no intention of doing so whatsoever.
Shita Xuanyi likewise believed in his heart that Root was problematic.
Although from the perspective of safeguarding intelligence security, what the Root ninja did could not strictly be called wrong.
However, where you stand determines what you see.
Why on earth should he stand from Root's perspective to consider things?
If they hadn't known beforehand that something was amiss, the Root operatives wouldn't have shown up with such impeccable timing.
It was useless to dwell on that now, however. Rescuing their teacher, Hatake Sakumo, was the most critical priority.
As for the problems surrounding this mission, Shita Xuanyi mentally pinned the blame on Danzō; they would settle accounts later.
"Langyi!"
With his thoughts turning, Shita Xuanyi let out a low cry and abruptly changed direction.
"Xuanyi?"
Uchiha Langyi followed, looking puzzled.
Shita Xuanyi said, "If the teacher wants to break out of the encirclement, he won't take the same route we did."
Could Hatake Sakumo really eliminate all the people hunting him down?
That was likely very difficult.
The Cloud ninjas were fully prepared this time, and their trap in the town was probably the core of the operation.
Shita Xuanyi guessed that if Teacher Hatake Sakumo wanted to break through, he wouldn't use their path, as doing so would only draw more enemies upon them.
Furthermore, if they returned along their original route, they would likely run into the Cloud ninjas who had just fled.
Thus, he steered toward the coastline.
Emerging from the forest, they headed along the coast in the direction of the town they had previously left.
Sure enough.
After a while, Shita Xuanyi spotted Teacher Hatake Sakumo, along with the Cloud ninjas in hot pursuit right behind him.
Elated, Shita Xuanyi immediately halted his steps and began weaving hand seals.
Uchiha Langyi dropped onto a protruding reef nearby, drawing his blade and preparing to pounce at a moment's notice.
However, as Hatake Sakumo reached the two of them, the pursuing Cloud ninjas suddenly stopped in their tracks.
Suppressing the activation of his genjutsu, Shita Xuanyi kept his eyes fixed on the Cloud ninjas while asking with genuine concern, "Teacher, how are your injuries?"
Hatake Sakumo’s face was somewhat pale, but his voice remained vigorous and steady, "No matter, just superficial flesh wounds."
Shita Xuanyi let out a breath of relief, then altered his hand seals, spawning a shadow clone to treat and bandage Hatake Sakumo's wounds.
The opposing Cloud ninjas stirred restlessly, but ultimately did not launch an attack.
Once Hatake Sakumo's injuries were treated, the three of them immediately fell back.
The Cloud ninjas trailed far behind them.
At the border of the Land of Fire, Shita Xuanyi and the others finally reunited with Yamanaka En and the rest.
Even so, the Cloud ninjas continued to shadow them from a distance.
Moreover, the number of Cloud ninjas had now exceeded twenty.
Shita Xuanyi knew that another clash with the Cloud ninjas was inevitable.
The Cloud ninjas would never willingly let them escape just like that.