Chapter 95: Conspiracy
This shocked both Hodaka and Mieko. Both looked at Renjiro at the same time. Kaito's alertness deeply impressed Renjiro. He said with a smile, "Well, this is your B-rank mission. Or rather, it should be. This looks more like an A-rank mission."
Then he became serious and commanded, "You prepare to deal with the bandits and genin-level attackers. I will deal with the stronger ones. You don't need to worry about the goods. Prioritize your own lives and your teammates' lives first. Then the merchants' lives."
The three nodded and stood up.
Seeing them stand up, the merchants also knew something was wrong and became vigilant.
Iha Toshio, in particular, was very worried. Everyone immediately stood up and hid behind the wagons.
Two Days Ago—
Two people stood in the clearing, surveying the deserted open space.
Both of them were jonin. One of them was Kairan Tomio, from the Wasabi Family's rival clan. The other was Tamae Norio, a rogue shinobi from the Land of Rivers. His bounty was 5 million ryo.
Kairan Tomio said, "According to the intelligence from our spies, five escort teams are traveling from Konoha to Degarashi Port. One of these teams will pass through here and will inevitably rest at this location."
Tamae Norio asked, "Who is escorting them?"
Kairan Tomio replied, "The weakest team—a genin squad."
Tamae Norio was stunned, then laughed arrogantly, "Just genin? They'll die quickly."
Kairan Tomio was annoyed by his arrogance. He warned, "Don't underestimate them too much. Their leader is Senju Renjiro, an elite jonin. The Senju Clan and the Wasabi Family have deep ties, so it's possible they're trying to use this method to sneak him in. Moreover, their genin squad has a Byakugan user, so we must be very careful."
Tamae Norio frowned upon hearing this. He thought for a moment and said, "An elite jonin is difficult to kill. The only way to succeed is if he desperately tries to protect the genin. As for the Byakugan, I have a method. One of my subordinates has a rat summoning contract. He can use them to monitor from a distance. Once they relax their guard and rest, we can take action."
Kairan Tomio nodded.
This plan was suitable. They might not be able to kill Renjiro, but killing the merchants should not be a problem.
Just as the genin were about to enter battle, Renjiro recalled his meeting with the Hokage before accepting this mission.
Hokage's Office - Two Weeks Ago:
Renjiro walked into the Hokage's office and saw the Hokage and another elderly man.
Hiruzen said, "Renjiro, come meet Wasabi Daichi."
Renjiro looked at the old man and asked, "Wasabi? From the Land of Tea?"
The man nodded and replied, "Yes, from the Land of Tea."
Hiruzen continued, "A power struggle is underway in the shadows of the Land of Tea. There seems to be a conspiracy against the Wasabi Family, and perhaps also against the Daimyo."
Renjiro analyzed the information and asked, "The Wasabi Family has had good relations with Konoha and the Senju Clan for decades, so you want to help them?"
Hiruzen nodded and said, "Yes. Unfortunately, we cannot directly intervene. This is political maneuvering. If we interfere openly, it will damage our relationship with the Land of Tea's Daimyo."
Renjiro nodded—he had already reached this conclusion.
Hiruzen continued, "This man, Daichi, holds an important position in the Wasabi Family. He manages the Wasabi Family's finances and many important transactions, so their opponents want to eliminate him. I hope you and your squad will escort him safely."
This surprised Renjiro. He asked, "This seems like quite an important mission. Why send a genin squad to execute it?"
Hiruzen replied, "Their opposing forces have hundreds of shinobi. Even if I send an ANBU squad, they won't be able to protect him against those numbers. The only way to protect him is to send a larger team, but..."
Renjiro took over and finished his sentence, "But you can't do that—the Land of Tea's Daimyo wouldn't like it."
Hiruzen nodded and added, "And if I send a large force with him, the enemy won't attack but will hide instead. So it won't be very effective."
"So we will adopt this strategy. First, divide the enemy forces. There are five routes from here to the Land of Tea. You will take Wasabi Daichi and carry out a C-rank mission to escort merchants. Your squad will depart via the fifth route, as it is furthest from the sea and prevents interference from Kirigakure."
"Soon after, I will dispatch three chunin squads along three other routes to form similar escort teams. Finally, an ANBU team will escort a decoy along the middle route. They should send most of their forces to oppose this decoy team, because the decoy team is assigned a stronger escort force."
"This way, we can divide their forces into five parts and have a legitimate reason to eliminate those who attack us. The other four teams can retreat after eliminating as many enemies as possible, or employ hit-and-run tactics if feasible. And you need to rush to Degarashi Port as quickly as possible, so that their remaining forces will not regroup and target you."
Then Renjiro and the Hokage further discussed and refined the strategy, and formulated specific actions to implement it.
Back to the Present—
The leading bandits were only about a hundred meters from the edge of the clearing.
Hodaka said excitedly, "Finally, a real fight!"
Mieko was also very excited.
Kaito, who had been thinking, suddenly said, "Don't activate your Sharingan or Byakugan. I think they want to disguise themselves as ordinary bandits, so let's pretend we haven't noticed them. I have a technique I want to try."
With that, he walked toward the forest.
Hodaka and Mieko wanted to argue with him, but the bandits had already started rushing out of the forest. Some people also began descending from the hill and shooting arrows.
Hodaka and Mieko noticed this. Hodaka quickly formed hand seals and performed Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall.
An earth wall appeared behind the merchants. All the arrows shot at them were blocked by it.
At the same time, about fifty bandits, fifteen of whom were shinobi, ran toward them from the forest.
Since these shinobi were disguised as ordinary bandits and wanted to attack by surprise, their movement speed matched the bandits. More and more bandits emerged from the forest every second.
Kaito drew his sword and held it in his right hand. Chakra immediately began flowing through it, instantly transforming into Wind Release chakra.
Then he gripped the hilt with both hands, pulled the sword back, and then swung it with all his might in a wide arc, sweeping toward the approaching bandits.
As he swung his sword, a crescent-shaped blade of wind energy appeared and moved rapidly forward.
When close to Kaito, the slash was relatively small, but as it traveled, it expanded exponentially! Along its path, fierce winds kicked up dust and debris.
Here's Chapter 96 translated and adapted with proper Naruto elements:
Chapter 96: Slash
The bandits and shinobi did not understand what this technique was. But considering it was performed by a mere child, they did not take it too seriously.
This slash was invisible, composed purely of wind, so they could not actually see the incoming blade of chakra.
Instead, they only noticed a powerful gust of wind blowing toward them at high speed, kicking up dust as it approached.
The bandits had never seen any ninjutsu, so they just relied on their numbers and continued to rush forward.
However, the shinobi were very wary. As the slash approached them, they jumped two to three meters high into the air to dodge it.
When the wind blade reached them, it was a full fifty meters wide!
The first to be struck were the bandits, who were charging forward recklessly. They were cut in half directly at the abdomen.
The bandits who followed closely behind them were bisected before they could even react.
Next, the sharp wind generated by the slash struck the jumping shinobi, causing shallow wounds all over their bodies.
Some shinobi had their throats or wrists cut, while others screamed in pain as their fingernails and skin were torn by the wind blade. Almost all of their eyes were scratched by the cutting wind.
In total, only four genin and two chunin were lucky enough to survive. One chunin and two genin lost both eyes, while the other two genin each lost one eye. They were all terrified.
The first wave of fifty bandits and shinobi were all defeated by a single sword strike. But it wasn't over yet.
The second wave of bandits had just arrived at the edge of the forest, and they were horrified by what they witnessed happening to the others. Their faces turned pale at the sight of this carnage.
The originally invisible slash was now tinged with a hint of blood-red.
Soon, it struck the forest, flying through it, cutting down bandits and trees alike.
Unlike the bandits, this group of shinobi reacted quickly. Some burrowed underground using Earth Release. Some gathered together to create layered earth walls for protection. Others climbed to the treetops, jumping as high as they could.
After penetrating about forty meters into the forest, the slash lost its sharpness and gradually dissipated due to the large number of trees in its path.
This attack left the battlefield covered in blood and body parts. The forest next to the open ground was completely reduced to ruins!
Although this strike was witnessed by many, no one knew that this was the beginning of a legend! In the future, this technique would create a brand new fighting style for that young man, making waves throughout the shinobi world!
Hodaka and Mieko were stunned by the result of Kaito's sword strike! Their mouths hung open in shock!
Unlike their shock at Kaito's attack, the fifty bandits on the hill were utterly terrified by the sight.
The scene was like an extremely horrifying nightmare. Several bandits fainted from fear and trauma. One bandit screamed in horror. This scream woke up the rest, and they began to flee in a panic.
Even the shinobi were scared and retreated along with the bandits.
Tamae Norio, who was leading them, wanted to stop the retreat, but he realized that stopping them was meaningless because their morale had already collapsed. So he decided to withdraw and regroup.
As he retreated, he looked at the boy wielding the sword and thought to himself, "Is that really a genin?"
Seeing them about to retreat, Renjiro sighed and created a Shadow Clone.
"I knew Kaito's wind blade attack would have such a devastating impact."
He sneered as he looked at the scrambling bandits and shinobi.
"These guys are really unlucky."
He and his Shadow Clone pressed their hands on the ground, and massive amounts of chakra poured into it. They performed Earth Release: Earth Flow Avalanche and Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld respectively.
As soon as their hands pressed to the ground, a rock avalanche formed and began rolling down the mountain.
As the shinobi were about to flee, the ground beneath their feet turned into deep mud, causing them to lose their balance and fall.
One by one, they all fell into the mud swamp, including the jonin. A few seconds later, the rock avalanche began flowing down.
Both the bandits and the shinobi saw the terrifying scene before them. They were unable to move, their legs trapped in the mud swamp.
The mud began dragging them down the slope, toward the base of the mountain.
And before them, huge rocks were rolling down the mountain, heading straight toward them.
They cried out in despair, but in just a few seconds, they were all crushed to death. Only one person survived!
Seeing the huge rocks rolling toward him, Tamae Norio was also terrified.
He was about to leap away, but his legs were caught by the mud swamp that suddenly formed beneath him. Then the mud began flowing down the mountain rapidly. He quickly formed several hand seals and performed Water Release: Water Prison Technique.
Soon, a water barrier formed around him.
The next second, a rock rolled onto him. It struck the water barrier and pushed it to the bottom of the mud flow, but the water barrier did not break.
Seeing that the rocks were about to stop rolling, Norio breathed a sigh of relief.
Unfortunately, the next second, a stone spear appeared at the bottom of the mud flow, piercing upward. It quickly penetrated the water barrier.
Norio noticed the spear at the last moment and tried to dodge. Although it still pierced his body, he avoided his vital organs.
Renjiro was surprised when he sensed the man was still alive, but he wasn't worried.
"He's just prolonging his own suffering."
Although he barely survived, being stabbed by the spear interrupted his control over the water barrier. The water barrier collapsed, and he was buried in the mud.
Norio gritted his teeth, blood flowing from his mouth, and with great effort against the flow of the mud, tried to pull the stone spear from his body.
Unfortunately for him, his struggle, courage, and determination to survive would never be witnessed.
The next moment, tiny spikes began growing on the spear that had pierced him.
This immediately made him freeze, causing him to scream in agony and spit out large amounts of blood.
As he screamed, mud from the swamp entered his mouth.
Soon, those small spikes transformed into additional spears, protruding from his body.
His struggle finally ended, and he died, with a dozen stone spears protruding from his body, buried ten meters deep in the mud swamp.
As Renjiro cleared the rear, Kaito, Hodaka, and Mieko launched an attack on the injured shinobi.
Of the fifteen shinobi in the first wave, only six were still alive, and only one chunin was still able to fight. They were terrified by their injuries and fled into the forest.
And of the ten shinobi in the second wave, only two had jumped high into the air, above the destroyed forest. The remaining eight shinobi, although not injured, were buried in the forest ruins.
Hodaka activated his Byakugan and said, "Those eight shinobi are trapped and will take some time to get out. Let's attack the fleeing ones first."
In an instant, all three used Body Flicker toward the retreating shinobi.
Mieko appeared behind the chunin who could still fight and tried to stab him with a kunai. However, he turned in time to defend himself.
He shouted menacingly, "Even though I'm injured, don't you brats underestimate me!"
However, his thoughts were quite the opposite.
"Just give me a chance! I can rendezvous with the others and escape safely."
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