Being fooled once is nothing! Being fooled twice, that's a bit inexcusable.
Whether he could save face was no longer important; what truly mattered was whether he could overcome the hurdle in his own heart.
Goto was a captain, and his strength among Sand Ninja was that of an Elite Jonin. A team consisted of over twenty people, including three regular Jonin, six Chunin, and the rest were Genin.
Under their combined efforts, to let a cooked duck fly away was very hard to accept.
A Ninja's reputation is both thick and thin. Thick, in that they will go to any lengths to kill their opponent. Thin, in that being repeatedly humiliated by something other than combat strength is truly difficult to bear.
If the opponent were also a Jonin, then Goto would have accepted defeat, but the opponent was very likely a Chunin, or even more, just a Genin.
However, fortunately, multiple teams were jointly searching, and he believed they could get this person out; the key was that he had to act first, whether to vent this anger or for the Uchiha's Sharingan.
...
How to escape the Sand Ninja's encirclement?
It's simple: you can learn from the revolutionary martyrs and break through in a direction unexpected by the enemy.
Where is the place unexpected by the Sand Ninja? Of course, it's towards the Land of Wind. The Sand Ninja would never imagine them entering the desert.
Simply put: knowing there's a tiger in the mountain, but still heading towards the tiger's den.
However, luck never favors only one person, and Inoyue's trio's good fortune finally ran out. Not long after entering the desert and preparing to detour back to Konoha, they encountered another Sand Ninja squad.
The leader was a woman with shoulder-length sandy-brown hair and indigo eyes. After spotting Inoyue's trio from afar, she chased after them alone. Her method of movement was very special, carried by sand waves, moving at high speed.
"Konoha Ninja!" The woman stood on the sand wave, looking down imperiously. The sand around her moved without wind, as if it possessed life.
Inoyue had never seen this person, but she had seen this sand! Gaara's sand was exactly like the sand before her. Without thinking, Inoyue knew she must be Gaara's mother: Karura.
Things are a bit bad! Legend has it that Gaara's sand manipulation ability didn't come from Shukaku, but from his mother's remnant power. Now seeing Karura, this undoubtedly confirmed it.
How powerful was Gaara in the later stages? Sand Coffin, Sand Burial, just thinking about them sends shivers down one's spine. Bones crushed and squeezed to death, and they were wide-range techniques, impossible to escape!
Encountering a quasi-Kage level Karura was unfortunate for Inoyue's trio, but heaven seemed not to let them off the hook. As the saying goes, when a person is unlucky, even drinking cold water can get stuck in their teeth.
The vast world, truly so, an extremely oppressive voice suddenly sounded behind the few people: "Got you!"
The newcomer was also a Sand Ninja, and even Inoyue's trio's nemesis: Captain Goto. His face was ashen, his veins bulged, his teeth ground audibly, and his eyes burned with intense hatred, fixed on Inoyue, as if he wanted to devour this Little girl alive.
Captain Goto was followed by over twenty Sand Ninja. These Sand Ninja knew that their captain was enraged again. Because no one expected that the person who intellectually crushed their captain was an Little girl not yet eight years old. If Karura hadn't been blocking them here, they probably would never have discovered the opponent.
A thirty-something Elite Jonin, repeatedly intellectually crushed by an eight-year-old Little girl, this...! Hard to say!
...Too damaging to self-esteem!
...
Karura and Goto, if forced to choose between the two, Inoyue would definitely choose to die by Karura's hand. Because Goto's eyes were very evil now, Inoyue didn't even dare to meet his gaze with her little head raised.
With just one look, it was full of evil thoughts, that look of wanting to devour her and be done with it. Inoyue could instantly imagine thousands of perverted tortures for a Little girl like herself. The imagination was too tragic, she truly didn't dare to face it, what remained was a nervous heartbeat.
"Karura, these three are my prey!" Goto was in a terrible mood, his voice cold, with a hint of command.
Karura looked at Goto, then at Inoyue, the Little girl, probably wondering what had happened between them to make Goto have such a man-eating gaze.
"I found them first." Although Goto had already spoken, Karura didn't seem to give him face.
"Seeking death!" Goto glared at Karura in a fit of rage. However, Karura smiled easily: "Oh! Is that so?" The sand around her had already lowered, like a beast ready to pounce at any moment. This simple action alone made the Sand Ninja behind Goto tremble with fear.
Who was seeking death, it was truly hard to say, that was the true thought of those Sand Ninja. However, this true thought was transmitted into Goto's already enraged mind during the sudden change in the sand around Karura, instantly making him sober up.
Looking at the sand preparing to attack, Goto felt some lingering fear: this woman must not be offended.
"I can support Rasa, as long as you hand these three people over to me." The sobered Goto immediately spoke to salvage the situation. Rasa was Karura's man, actively being considered for Kazekage. He believed that gaining the support of an Elite Jonin at this time would be a great advantage.
"Alright! This is a very worthwhile deal." Karura agreed without hesitation. "However, I'm very curious, what did this girl do to you? To make you hate her so much." A woman's curiosity is like her shopping ability, both are innate, and Karura is a woman, so she's no exception.
His veins bulged again, and Goto was about to flare up, but Karura immediately chuckled: "Just curious, it doesn't matter if you don't answer? Well then, I'll be going!"
Karura came quickly and left even faster, Inoyue's hopes were dashed. Karura was a tiger, Goto was a python. She would rather be bitten to death by a tiger than be swallowed alive by a python.
...
"Hehehe....! How do you want to play?" This was what Goto said to Inoyue. Although she was an adult, Inoyue was a little scared at this moment. A perverted uncle facing a Little girl, it's impossible not to be scared!
However, at this moment, Uchiha Suien, supporting Kimura Taku, made a heroic entrance, directly sliding in front of Inoyue, blocking Goto's line of sight: "If you want to touch her, kill me first!"
Uchiha Suien was fearless, as if death was nothing to him.
*Smack!* Inoyue's small hand slapped her forehead, as if to wake herself up.
An eight-year-old brat was so grand and unhesitatingly stood in front of her, yet what was she, an adult, like? She truly felt so ashamed!
That's right! Isn't it just death? It's not like she hasn't died before? What am I even afraid of?
Even if she died in this life, she should have earned it, right! Hmm, that's settled, even if she dies, she'll take someone down with her.
Inoyue mumbled to herself, no one could hear clearly, but finally, she shed her previous fear, and the whole person smiled confidently, without a trace of sorrow or fear before death.
...
"You two don't need to fight to the death yet!" A hoarse voice suddenly sounded. Kimura Taku, who had been unconscious, had woken up at some unknown point.
As he spoke, he grabbed Uchiha Suien and Inoyue's clothes, and threw them forcefully to the right. Then, he leaned forward and charged into the Sand Ninja ranks: "Secret Jutsu, Poison Stream Great Explosion!"
Forming a hand seal with one hand, a surge of Chakra, though not much, suddenly erupted from his severely injured body. His entire being swelled like an inflated balloon. With a loud boom, a huge explosion occurred, and blood rained down from the sky.
A Ninja's self-detonation, unless it's a special Ninja like Deidara, would not have more power than a single exploding tag. But Kimura Taku was different; his blood was highly poisonous. Although the explosion's power was not great, the range of the blood rain was very wide, and over ten Sand Ninja were unable to avoid it and died tragically under the blood rain.
Kimura Taku was Danzo's man, likely a member of Root, but he never expected that now, to save himself and Uchiha Suien, he would choose to self-destruct.
At this moment, Inoyue's heart was inexplicably touched: Kimura Taku, this temporary instructing Jonin of less than two days, had died to save her.
She was saved, but she felt as if she owed something in her heart. Inoyue stared blankly at the scattered blood and flesh, truly feeling for the first time that this was a cruel world. It was so real, so close to her.
She was already within this world, because this was not an unending dream!
The opponent still had over ten people, and Uchiha Suien and she were already exhausted. Perhaps they would fail Teacher Kimura's good intentions.
Inoyue's mood was low. Escaping might already be useless, because Karura was still outside.