Konoha’s sky took on the color of ink, and this reception didn’t end until the evening.
“You’ve worked hard today, please rest well.”
Outside the guest room specially used for receiving foreign dignitaries, Reina smiled and bowed slightly to the three Hidden Cloud ninjas: “Subsequent activities will be led by me tomorrow.
Before then, you have ample time to relax from the journey’s fatigue, and no one will come to disturb you.”
After gently and softly giving instructions, Reina quietly closed the door.
Click.
Inside the guest room, two Hidden Cloud ninjas raised their hands and rubbed their cheeks, which had become stiff from smiling all day.
One of them then turned to look at Yurui, who was scanning the room’s furnishings with his eyes.
“Boss.” He curled his lips toward the guest room door and whispered, “That last sentence was a threat, right?”
Yurui silently withdrew his gaze, didn’t answer his question, stepped into the spacious living room, and plopped down heavily on the sofa.
Seeing this, the two Hidden Cloud ninjas exchanged a glance and tacitly dropped the subject.
Instead, they walked into the living room, glanced at the decor, and sighed with emotion: “As expected of Konoha, so rich, treating foreign guests to this standard.”
While saying this out loud, the two Hidden Cloud ninjas shoved their hands into their jacket pockets.
A small barrier blocking perception was triggered, invisible fluctuations created faint ripples in the air, and a voice sounded in the minds of Yurui and the other Hidden Cloud ninja.
‘Boss, is there surveillance and wiretapping?’
“It’s an absolute honor.” Yurui’s expression remained unchanged, his tone as usual as he said out loud, “It seems Konoha truly considers us ‘distinguished guests’.”
The two Hidden Cloud ninjas immediately understood, and started to echo with some unreliable talk, discussing where to go strolling these next few days.
Speaking of the FUNFUN street not far from Konoha, the two even let out somewhat lecherous laughs.
Meanwhile, Reina, standing outside the door with her back to it, slowly opened her closed eyes.
Despite knowing that as a ninja she shouldn’t be swayed by emotions, hearing filthy language fitting the crude style of the Hidden Cloud Village couldn’t help but make the young woman frown.
“No chakra fluctuations detected, nor any abnormal actions discovered…”
Reina quickly suppressed the displeasure in her heart, lowered her hands that were forming signs, but remained on guard.
If possible, she would have preferred Lord Third to search the three of them, or set up some eavesdropping and surveillance barriers in the room.
But this suggestion was gently but firmly rejected by Lord Third.
After all, the Hidden Cloud Village had indeed shown sincerity up to now.
If Konoha was caught playing dirty tricks, it would instead give them leverage.
However, Reina always had an ominous premonition, yet couldn’t articulate exactly why.
Perhaps it was a woman’s sixth sense.
At this moment in the room, Yurui stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of this high-floor guest room, looking down at Konoha, which remained bustling and busy even in the evening, watching the crowd flowing like ants on the streets below.
After a moment of silence, Yurui raised his hands and quickly formed signs, and the chakra he had long accumulated in his body surged out.
Ox-Dog-Dragon-Rat-Dog-Boar-Snake-Tiger.
Poof!
A puff of white smoke exploded silently, and a shadow clone appeared beside him.
“Do it.” Yurui’s true body said calmly, “For the Hidden Cloud Village.”
The two Hidden Cloud ninjas exchanged a glance.
At this moment, they knew very well in their hearts that regardless of whether this operation succeeded or failed, they definitely wouldn’t survive.
Only if all three of them died here would the “weight” to threaten Konoha be heavy enough.
“For the Hidden Cloud Village!”
The resolute voices of the two Hidden Cloud ninjas overlapped.
They simultaneously raised their hands and quickly formed signs, their internal chakra surging out at this moment.
BOOM!!
An explosion that shook the night sky sounded in Konoha at evening.
The building’s windows, the street-facing shop windows, the street lamps, shattered like rain under the sweeping shockwave!
“Ah!”
“What’s going on!?”
Pedestrians on the surrounding streets shrieked instinctively, looking in terror toward the direction of the distant roar.
They only saw countless birds startled into flight, and thick black smoke billowing out from the fifth floor of the guesthouse.
A huge hole was blasted open in the wall of the apartment building.
Countless wall bricks and debris fell from high above, smashing onto the ground.
Among them, three human figures also flew out and plummeted.
Thud!
Thud!
Falling from a height of tens of meters, they smashed cracks into the ground, and blindingly crimson blood flowed out.
By now, many villagers had heard the loud noise and ran out from shops and homes to check the situation, helplessly watching the three figures plummet from above.
Two of the figures lost all signs of life the instant they hit the ground.
Only one figure spat out a mouthful of blood, struggled to get up, and roared: “Konoha!
You dare betray the alliance treaty?!”
The anger in this roar didn’t seem faked, plunging the surrounding Konoha villagers into a daze as they watched that figure flee.
Snapping back to reality, someone finally recognized the two figures lying on the ground, and their facial expressions instantly turned to horror.
“Those two people are, are the envoys from Hidden Cloud!”
The second someone shouted this sentence with a trembling voice, Reina, charred black all over with torn clothes, flickered to the scene.
Seeing the two corpses, her face instantly turned pale.
How is this possible?!
Did someone plant explosive tags in the guest room of the Hidden Cloud envoy delegation in advance?!
“Oh no!
I must report this to Lord Third!”
Although she didn’t think that Hidden Cloud orchestrated and acted this out themselves, Reina instantly realized that things had gone terribly wrong.
Forcing her heavily injured body, which had been caught in the explosion, she raised her hands to form a sign, creating a shadow clone to chase the sole surviving Hidden Cloud ninja, and then dashed towards the Hokage building with all her might.
Meanwhile, the burning anxious Reina failed to notice that above her, amidst the thick black smoke, a figure concealed its presence and leaped out from it.
It was none other than Yurui, the sole survivor of the three Hidden Cloud ninjas.
And the “Yurui” that Reina sent her shadow clone to chase was nothing more than a shadow clone as well.
The other Konoha ninjas who rushed over were also led away by the shadow clone, all assuming he was trying to escape Konoha village.
But in reality, his true target was not escaping Konoha, but the Hyuga clan compound in the opposite direction.
“Rest in peace, you are all heroes of the Hidden Cloud Village, I will soon reunite with you.”
Yurui’s eyes were complex as he glanced down at the two corpses, executing the Body Flicker Jutsu with all his might.
Soon, he arrived at the woods near the Hyuga clan compound.
The entire process went incredibly smoothly.
But the next moment, as his figure was enveloped by the dense tree shadows, in the split second his vision plunged into sudden darkness…
A hand holding a short sword, its knuckles well-defined, suddenly thrust out from the deep shadows.
Almost entirely acting on the bodily instinct born from countless battles, Yurui subconsciously raised the kunai in his hand.
Clang!!
Blade clashed against blade, producing an ear-piercing screech.
A clear ringing occurred in Yurui’s ears, and a crisp cracking sound came from the wrist holding the blade.
Borrowing that immense force, he leaped backward to put distance between them.
“Who’s there?”
His face darkened as he raised his eyes to look into the distance, seeing a figure clad in a black robe stepping out of the shadows, the short sword in hand reflecting the cold moonlight.
“Dead end.” Looking at the “supporting character” who finally made an appearance before him, Yun Chuan Hyuga’s hoarse voice held only calm.
“Stop right here.”
(END CHAPTER)
Thank you for the support, friends.