The battle had lasted for only a few seconds, yet another Kirigakure ninja was dead!
And this time, even the surviving Kaguya Jonin was stunned into confusion.
He began to wonder if he had inadvertently set his own teammate up to die.
Fortunately, the Hozuki Jonin kept his wits, roaring angrily, “Don’t just stand there, you fool!
Fall back!” Only then did the Kaguya Jonin snap out of his daze.
But by now, escaping was far easier said than done.
A roar like a dragon echoed through the forest once more— This time, Tomoe had completed a longer sequence of hand seals, summoning an even larger and thicker Water Dragon.
Water surged with grand momentum, blocking their retreat path ahead of time!
Rinfu Gekko glided over, his sharp killing intent making the Hozuki Jonin feel as if blades were pressed against his back.
Even the Uchiha who had been fleeing earlier snapped back to their senses, demonstrating impressive combat proficiency as they turned back to join the joint attack!
Battle between shinobi was extremely fast-paced.
In a duel between high-level fighters, any minor flaw caught by the opponent could be rapidly torn open into a gaping wound.
Not to mention that the Kirigakure squad’s blunder this time was absurdly huge!
Three people took turns, yet they failed to take down a single Byakugan kid, ending up with two dead and one severely wounded instead.
In a desperate corner, the Kaguya Jonin lost his mind to frenzy.
“Damned Konoha scum, die!!” He prepared to burst forth with his full power and execute his strongest technique, the Dance of the Larch!
Jonin forged in the Village of the Bloody Mist were ruthless killers—even in death, he would drag someone down with him!
Just then, a flash of crimson barged into his field of vision, instantly occupying his entire pupils.
“Damn it, the Sharingan…!” In the heat of battle, he had actually forgotten to guard against those disgusting red eyes.
Three spinning tomoe expanded in his vision, revolving faster and faster until they swallowed his consciousness whole…
Before sinking completely into genjutsu, the Kaguya Jonin felt a sudden, inexplicable pain in his calf.
That was Anko’s summoned venomous snake seizing the opportunity to score an assist, just to get a piece of the action.
Otherwise, she felt all the spotlight was being stolen by the new Hyuga kid.
Although Anko was the youngest in the squad, she had joined earliest, which was why she had previously declared—quite unilaterally—that she was taking Inaba Hyuga under her wing as her junior.
Inaba had let her have her way.
But this time, Anko’s confidence was wavering.
Especially now, as the fight neared its end, Inaba picked up his blade and rejoined the pursuit.
Skillfully using Lightning Style, he dispatched the final enemy: the Hozuki Jonin.
With that, the brief skirmish in the forest came to an end.
Out of four Kirigakure enemies, Inaba Hyuga had fought three, killed two, and severely wounded one!
Combined with his earlier intelligence reporting, his performance as a rookie was monumental—a textbook MVP display!
By comparison, little Anko felt a bit downcast.
Though both were Chunin, her style was on an entirely different level from this new Hyuga junior.
Fortunately, given Anko’s personality, that gloom lasted for only a moment before being pushed aside.
Right now, there were more important matters at hand!
Once the battle concluded, Inaba remained highly cautious, keeping his Byakugan fully activated to scan 360 degrees around them, ensuring no summoned beasts or hidden traps remained before returning.
Meanwhile, both he and Rinfu Gekko tactfully refrained from sheathing their swords right away.
Even Captain Ba kept his body tense, ready to cast ninjutsu at a moment’s notice.
Having dealt with the Kirigakure enemies, they turned their gazes toward the Uchiha clan members they had just saved.
Their expressions remained as grim as before, without the slightest carelessness.
This was a four-man Uchiha squad, though only two still possessed combat capability.
One Uchiha was critically wounded and unconscious, needing to be carried to move.
The Uchiha carrying the wounded man was also in terrible shape—one arm hung limply, clearly broken, and his forehead was drenched in blood that stained half his face, leaving him unable to open one eye.
Yet none of this gave them an excuse to act recklessly!
Captain Ba looked at them and demanded in a heavy voice, “Why were you running in this direction?
Didn’t anyone instruct you when you took the mission not to approach this area?” In the overall strategy, the recent actions of the Uchiha and all front-line clan squads were meant to cover Inaba’s four-man team as they penetrated deep behind enemy lines to reach the coastline.
They shouldn’t have led the enemy onto Inaba’s route!
If Inaba hadn’t performed beyond expectations tonight and allowed one or two Kirigakure ninja to escape with information, Konoha’s strategic plan to sever the enemy’s maritime supply line would have collapsed entirely!
Although this Uchiha squad had displayed excellent tactical awareness just now by immediately turning back to assist—and one of them had used genjutsu to finish off the Kaguya Jonin who was trying to unleash a big move— None of that could cover up the sheer foolishness of their initial decision!
They had almost ruined everything!
Yet when faced with questions from Inaba’s teammates, one of the fit Uchiha spoke up with righteous arrogance: “So what?
We’ve already completed our mission.
Whatever else happens is none of our concern.” His attitude blared loud and clear: *Now that my mission is done, I can do whatever I want.
What does your mission have to do with me?* It made little Anko so angry she wanted to jump forward and bite him.
The Uchiha were truly begging for a beating!
Standing to the side, Inaba sighed silently.
No wonder the Uchiha Clan was so disliked in the village.
At the same time, he couldn’t help but feel exasperated again by the ninja village’s backward form of military organization.
Such a loose structure meant commanders possessed weak control over rank-and-file shinobi in the first place!
Coupled with years of deliberate indulgence from the village upper echelon, these Uchiha had long grown accustomed to acting alone without coordinating with non-clan members.
Why did he suddenly feel a surge of sympathy for Lord Orochimaru?
It was no wonder Orochimaru had only trusted a mission this perilous to the squad containing his personal disciple.
It wasn’t that Orochimaru didn’t want to send more personnel; he was likely terrified that any extra ninja sent would harbor their own ideas, just like these Uchiha.
This was going to be troublesome…
Inaba couldn’t help sighing in his heart.
Just as Captain Ba was about to step in and physically thrash the guy, a different voice suddenly sounded from the Uchiha team.
“I’m sorry.
We didn’t lead the enemies here on purpose.
We lost our bearings while fleeing and caused trouble for you.” The tone was so warm and polite that everyone was momentarily caught off guard.
Is this…
really an Uchiha?
A moment later, the dark clouds parted, and moonlight bathed the woods.
When everyone finally saw the face of the speaker clearly, Inaba was startled and blurted out: “Are you…
Shisui?” The polite Uchiha turned his head, asking in surprise, “Do you know me?” It really was him!
At that moment, a bold idea suddenly popped into Inaba Hyuga’s mind!