Chapter 160: Strike
Takeshita was rushing back, chasing after his opponent.
After chasing for a while, he encountered one of the jonin's Water Clones. He immediately recognized it as a clone.
He wanted to ignore it and go around, but the Water Clone attacked him.
After a small skirmish, Takeshita successfully injured the Water Clone and dispelled it.
Returning to the place where he fought the jonin, he found another clone.
Takeshita looked around but saw no sign of the jonin, so he vented his anger on this clone.
The Water Clone saw Takeshita and immediately attacked him with water bullets. Takeshita formed a few hand seals and performed Earth Release: Mud Wall.
He created a mud wall in front of him, blocking the attack.
The mud wall blocked all the water bullets. Takeshita formed a few more hand seals and slammed his right palm on the mud wall. The mud wall immediately began to shoot mud shuriken at the Water Clone.
However, the Water Clone successfully dodged all the attacks. Due to the resistance in the water, the mud shuriken's speed slowed down.
The two's attacks became more frequent. As their battle continued, Takeshita's mood worsened.
Although the Water Clone couldn't inflict much damage on him, his pride was deeply hurt by being unable to defeat an unknown jonin's clone for so long!
A few minutes later, the Water Clone's chakra was nearly exhausted.
He stopped attacking and said, "No need to fight anymore."
Takeshita stopped, but his face was grim!
The clone saw his expression and sneered. He said, "My real body has already escaped far away, and you can't catch him. I can tell you that my real body has no intention of returning to the Land of Hot Water. However, if you continue to pursue him, he will give up living a peaceful life and occasionally return to the Land of Hot Water to hunt your civilians. Convey this message to your Daimyo."
Takeshita's face was grim. However, he didn't reply. It was pointless to talk to a Water Clone anymore.
After all, the information wouldn't be transmitted to the real body. Seeing his grim face, the Water Clone smiled.
His body began to dissipate. Hearing his laughter finally made Takeshita explode.
He moved forward. A mud spear formed in his right hand and instantly solidified. He threw it at the clone, thinking, "At the very least, I will dispel this clone!"
The Water Clone smiled and formed a hand seal. His water body began to deform.
The mud spear passed through his body without causing him any harm.
The Water Clone's body transformed into a water blade and slashed at Takeshita's face.
At such close range, Takeshita had no time to use Earth Spear.
He immediately tried to dodge, but the water blade still hit his right cheek, leaving a wound.
Although the wound wasn't serious, it was a harsh blow. It was a huge blow to his pride.
With such a poor performance, how could he possibly ask the Daimyo for more funds?
Unwilling to give up just like that, he continued to search for the jonin, but to no avail!
After eliminating the rogue leader, Renjiro collected the body and went to the place where the sensor and the shadow clone had fought to check for any traces.
At the same time, Kaito, Mieko, and Hodaka tried to find the others. Renjiro's shadow clone silently followed behind them.
After searching for a while, Hodaka finally saw one of the Yugakure ninja fighting an enemy.
Since there was no way to ambush in the middle of the sea, they decided to attack from the front. They immediately used Body Flicker toward them.
The Yugakure ninja and the rogue ninja were evenly matched. Both possessed Water Release.
The two had just engaged in battle a short while ago, a few meters apart, when the three suddenly appeared, launching an attack without warning.
Kaito was the first to attack. He used Air Bullet Jutsu to attack from a distance. Hodaka followed closely, attacking with Vacuum Palm.
The rogue ninja had just noticed the three when the attacks came. He hastily formed hand seals, performed Water Wall, and tried to dodge.
Kaito's Air Bullets easily pierced through the water wall, and many of them hit the rogue ninja, but not fatally.
However, he was still injured and bleeding.
The pain distracted him, and he couldn't avoid Hodaka's attack. Hodaka's attack hit his heart, making him cough blood.
Mieko didn't launch a long-range attack but accelerated toward him.
As Hodaka's attack hit the rogue ninja, she used Body Flicker in front of him and slit his throat.
The Yugakure ninja was stunned. His struggling opponent was easily eliminated by the three children he had suspected!
Kaito looked at the stunned ninja and asked, "Do you know where your teammates are?"
He shook his head and said, "I don't know, but what about your opponents?"
Mieko replied arrogantly, "They're clearly dead."
Unlike Kaito, Mieko found satisfaction in the ninja's shocked expression. She knew that the Yugakure ninja underestimated them. Answering them in this way felt very satisfying.
Kaito sighed and said, "We have to search for them in the vast ocean. What a hassle!"
Mieko and Hodaka nodded. Although the open sea had no obstacles, it was too vast.
Even with Hodaka's Byakugan and Kaito's enormous Chakra Field range, it was difficult to find them.
Mieko said, "Let's go look for others too."
Kaito nodded and said, "Okay, let's go."
As the three were about to leave, the Yugakure ninja asked awkwardly, "Can I come with you?"
Kaito looked at Hodaka and Mieko. Both their expressions indicated that they didn't want him to follow. He secretly chuckled inside.
Kaito replied, "No, we've never cooperated with you, so our teamwork would be affected. It would be better if we searched in opposite directions, doubling our chances of finding people and helping them."
Without waiting for his reply, Kaito, Mieko, and Hodaka used Body Flicker and left.
Renjiro's shadow clone, watching from a distance, chuckled softly and followed. The Yugakure ninja had never noticed Renjiro's shadow clone.
He looked at the three with a stunned expression. He thought to himself, "This is the first time I've felt three children looking at me as if I'm useless. The children in my village all respect me! Besides, how can my reconnaissance abilities compare to the Hyuga Clan?"
He shook his head, collected the bodies of the dead rogue ninja, and walked in the opposite direction.
The three continued to search for about ten minutes but found no one.
Mieko complained, "What's going on? How long do we have to search in this open sea? There's no one here!"
Hodaka nodded in agreement.
Kaito thought for a moment. He formed a hand seal and performed Shadow Clone Jutsu.
He used Shadow Clone Jutsu multiple times until he created six clones. The shadow clones immediately activated their Chakra Field and dispersed in different directions.
Mieko and Hodaka noticed this.
Hodaka said, "Kaito, that's a good idea!"
Mieko asked in an annoyed tone, "Why didn't you use this strategy earlier?"
Kaito shrugged and replied, "Experienced ninja can sense if they're being perceived. Especially sensor-type ninja. If they notice my clones, they'll run away. And we're far from the clones, so by the time we arrive, the enemy would have already escaped."
Mieko understood Kaito's reasoning. She said, "That makes sense."
The three waited in place. A few minutes later, one shadow clone dispelled itself. Kaito received its memories. He said, "One of my shadow clones found two Yugakure ninja carrying the body of their target."
Hodaka sighed. "Alas, that's no use to us."
Kaito nodded. He created another shadow clone to replace the dispelled one.
Kaito's shadow clones continued to search for about half an hour without any results.
As their chakra decreased, all the shadow clones dissipated.
Kaito received their memories and said, "No luck, they found nothing!"
He looked back at Renjiro's clone and said, "Even your real body didn't find anything, Sensei."
Renjiro's shadow clone appeared behind them and said, "This means they fought too far out in the sea. Don't worry about it, it's useless to search any further. Let's go back to the beach and meet up with my other clone."
The three sighed and followed behind him.
A few minutes later, they returned to the beach and met Renjiro's shadow clone, who was guarding two captured enemies. The other clone dispelled itself, transmitting its memories to Renjiro.
After meeting up, Renjiro's clone, who had been following the students, also dispersed.
Renjiro, far out in the sea, received the shadow clone's memories. He thought to himself, "Of the nine people we pursued, five chunin and their leader have been confirmed dead. The sensor escaped. The situation of the other two is unknown."
He sighed. "It seems this is the extent of this mission's completion. It's indeed difficult to eliminate every single person. Especially jonin."
Renjiro knew it was pointless to continue searching for the sensor and decided to return to the beach.