Chapter 44: Konoha's Arrivals
"Konoha's moves are pretty quick. Just a few days and they've already sent spies."
Uchiha Yasushi finished today's treatment, grinning as he leaped down from the high tower toward the direction Pain indicated.
Killing Konoha shinobi and such—Yasushi loved it most. This game never got old.
Rain continued pattering endlessly from the sky. People on the streets all wore straw raincoats and conical hats, hiding their faces beneath the hats' shadows, blending among pedestrians—indeed very difficult to detect.
But unfortunately, catching spies in Rain Country didn't rely on eyes at all!
Under the "Rain Tiger at Will Technique," no one could infiltrate.
Yasushi swaggered straight toward his target—a man dressed as a merchant who'd entered the village with a merchant convoy. But the chakra presence on his body completely betrayed him.
Yasushi approached the convoy's front, pointing with one hand and shouting loudly:
"Hey, you. Yes, talking to you."
"Your cover's blown. Come take a trip with me!"
The spy's pupils suddenly contracted. Still stubbornly resisting, he dry-laughed while extending a bag of money with an apologetic smile:
"We just entered the village and haven't opened for business yet. Wait until later..."
"No need to wait!" Yasushi directly interrupted, waving dismissively. "You're a Konoha Village shinobi. Think I can't tell?"
"Be smart—just surrender obediently. Otherwise I don't mind killing you on the spot and taking your head to report."
The shinobi's identity exposed on the spot, his expression immediately changed. Waving his hand, several pills smashed to the ground with a "bang," splashing out large amounts of thick smoke.
But before he could seize the chance to escape, a strong wind struck—a foot heavily kicked his right knee.
With a "crack," his right leg broke. The fractured tibia pierced through skin, gleaming with pale white luster.
The shinobi involuntarily pitched forward like a felled cedar tree.
"Ahh..." He'd barely screamed half a cry when a hand reached over, pinching his jaw to dislocate his temporomandibular joint.
Yasushi's fingertip flicked. A fingernail-sized poison sac flew out along with his molar.
Yasushi casually pulled out the poison tooth from his mouth too.
Still stubbornly resisting, his hands rapidly reached into his pouch. But before he could draw out shuriken and short blade, a pair of large hands pressed on his shoulder joints, lightly shaking to dismantle both arms.
This entire sequence flowed like water, as if disassembling an intricate puppet toy.
Yasushi seemed to know his combat methods even better than himself. Everything was like they'd rehearsed many times, coordinating exquisitely.
After easily subduing this spy, Yasushi grabbed the man's collar with one hand and casually tossed him to a Rain shinobi by the roadside.
"Hey, take him to the high tower and hand him to the people there for interrogation. I still need to catch the next batch."
"Oh, yes." The Rain shinobi hastily stood at attention saluting, reaching out to receive the spy.
"Hey, be careful not to let this guy commit suicide. Though dead ones can still yield intelligence, living ones are more valuable."
"I understand. Please rest assured!"
After handing over the person, Yasushi leaped onto rooftops, transforming into an afterimage as he headed in another direction.
Unlike the original story where Jiraiya ventured in alone at great risk, this time Konoha had sent quite a number of people, all infiltrating through different routes.
After entering, these people displayed their talents.
Some infiltrated others' homes, replacing ordinary villagers; some directly transformed into village shinobi; some didn't appear themselves but released summoned beasts to run around everywhere; others brazenly appeared as shinobi escorting merchant convoys into the village.
The earlier ones were all easily subdued by Yasushi and handed to other shinobi for interrogation. Only the last one openly appearing with the merchant convoy was somewhat troublesome.
According to current shinobi world rules, even if two nations warred, they wouldn't touch shinobi escorting merchant convoys on missions.
After all, every nation needed shinobi executing missions to earn rewards. If they killed each other indiscriminately, the economy would collapse.
The usual practice was for one nation's shinobi to escort convoys to the border, then have another nation's shinobi take over for the second half.
But this practice usually only applied to the Five Great Nations. Small nations like Rain Country weren't considered in the handover scope.
So if Konoha Village accepted a mission to Earth Country, they'd deliver all the way to Earth Country's border for handoff to Earth Country shinobi, rather than withdrawing after reaching Rain Country.
Precisely because of this unwritten rule, shinobi escorting merchant convoys dared appear openly in Rain Country.
Usually such openly visible people would be closely monitored until they left the territory.
Whether this person could obtain desired intelligence depended on who was more skilled.
If he could deceive monitoring Rain Country shinobi eyes and ears, secretly sneaking out to scout desired intelligence, that counted as his win.
But if he was caught red-handed, he'd bear corresponding consequences and be secretly disposed of.
However, this was just general circumstances. Meeting someone unreasonable like Yasushi, he'd be unlucky.
Yasushi didn't care about any unwritten rules, much less whether Rain Country's economy collapsed or not.
Rain Country's economy— not my business!
War was about to start anyway. After fighting, who knew what the shinobi world would look like. Who cared!
"Hey, you there. Konoha shinobi, come take a trip with me!"
Facing Yasushi's such naked hostility, the Konoha shinobi was clearly somewhat dumbfounded.
"You... doing this isn't according to rules."
"Rules?" Yasushi laughed coldly. "Starting today, we decide shinobi world rules!"
He didn't waste words with the shinobi. His figure flashed, arriving beside the man and kicking out.
First waste his mobility—everything else would be simple.
But to Yasushi's surprise, the shinobi's body suddenly leaped backward, actually dodging his attack.
"Oh my, nice skills!" Yasushi's eyes lit up, finally gaining some interest. "Though I didn't use full strength, ordinary shinobi can't dodge my attacks."
"With your agility and speed, you're at least an elite jonin."
"But your face is quite unfamiliar. Don't tell me you're Danzo's dog?"
"Haha... No matter who you are, since you came, don't think about leaving!"
Yasushi laughed heartily, drawing his short blade to engage in close combat.
Though treating Nagato had consumed considerable energy, he still had ability to activate Susanoo. However, this was inside Rain Village with too many surrounding buildings. Throwing caution to the wind wasn't convenient for all-out fighting.
So if he could solve problems with taijutsu, he'd try avoiding ninjutsu.
The opposing shinobi, for unknown reasons, also didn't release ninjutsu but turned and fled toward outside the village.
Luring the snake from its hole?
This thought flashed through Yasushi's mind before he extinguished it.
Didn't matter!
Conveniently, going all-out wasn't convenient inside the village. Going out to rampage suited his intentions perfectly.
He immediately followed behind the shinobi, not urgently catching up, only leisurely tailing him.
One ahead, one behind—they left Rain Village, arriving at an open clearing. The shinobi finally stopped.
Yasushi also halted, landing not far before him. Looking left and right, he laughed coldly:
"Well, call out your ambush troops!"
"Let me see what kind of characters came!"
Sure enough, before his words finished, two figures "swooshed" out from the nearby forest. Together with the earlier shinobi, they flanked from three directions, surrounding Yasushi in the middle.
Yasushi looked left and right.
Oh ho, all acquaintances.
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