69: Chapter 69 Mantis, Cicada, and Oriole?Within the Land of Rice Fields, in the mountainous areas that were once the stronghold of the Sound Village, the atmosphere is noticeably different from before.
A sense of oppression, of being watched from all sides, quickly fermented.
The Tianqi Chamber of Commerce's temporary camp was set up in a relatively secluded valley.
The business escort team led by Tie Zhou was very efficient and quickly set up a camp with basic defensive capabilities.
Inside the camp, members of the Chamber of Commerce performed their duties in an orderly manner, patrolling, guarding, and analyzing intelligence, demonstrating a level of professionalism far exceeding that of ordinary caravan guards.
Wearing an orange mask, Afei was naturally one of the "busiest" people in the camp.
He carried supply boxes, moving between tents while humming off-key tunes, a typical carefree and optimistic guy.
"Afei, double-check the supply list for Warehouse No.3 on the west side!" came a squad leader's voice.
"Alright!Mission accomplished!"
Afei responded loudly and ran happily toward the relatively isolated western warehouse located on the edge of the camp.
The opportunity has arrived!
Obito sneered inwardly.
In the past few days, he has already used his position as a logistics staff member to figure out the layout of the camp and the patrol patterns.
This western warehouse is located in a remote area and mainly stores spare equipment that is not currently in use, as well as some unsorted scroll boxes that have just been transferred from the Sound Village base.
More importantly, there is a blind spot path here that allows patrol teams to briefly escape the camp's surveillance area.
He quickly entered the warehouse and closed the door behind him.
The comical expression on his face immediately vanished, and his eyes turned cold and silent.
He ignored the ordinary supplies and focused his attention on several scroll boxes bearing the mark of the Sound Village.
"It's here after all." he thought to himself, and quickly began searching.
Most of the items were ordinary ninjutsu records and supply lists, but he quickly found his target: a sealed black scroll box that emitted a faint chakra fluctuation and had a small snake-shaped mark on it, which was the mark of Orochimaru's core laboratory.
"Sealing technique.a little trick."
Obito's fingertips emitted subtle spacetime vortex fluctuations, cleverly bypassing the physical seal of the scroll box, directly probing inside, and precisely pulling out several of the thickest scrolls made of special materials.
He glanced at the incomplete data on "soul reincarnation" and "Sharingan cell compatibility" and a few tubes of culture medium with blurry labels.
The items were few, but they might offer some inspiration for him to perfect the "Eye of the Moon" and understand the mysteries of the Sharingan.
The whole process took less than three minutes and was very smooth.
Just as he was about to head to other warehouses to continue looting, a very subtle "sense of being watched," seemingly originating from the depths of his soul, suddenly descended upon him!
It had no origin, no form, yet it made the hairs on his body stand on end instantly!
It was as if an unseen pair of eyes were coldly observing his every move from a higher dimension.
"?"
Obito's body stiffened instantly, his expression behind the mask shifting between light and dark!
This feeling… it's that damn contract!It's in effect?It's warning me?
Damn it, what the hell is this thing?
A chill ran up my spine.
Naruto Uzumaki.how did he do that?
This kind of long-distance, zero-delay soul monitoring is simply unheard of!
The initial sense of arrogance that arose from the easy success was immediately extinguished.
He realized that his infiltration was more dangerous than he had imagined.
"Patience.we must be even more careful."
Obito quickly suppressed his shock and restored the scene to its original state, as if nothing had happened.
He became lively and mischievous again, and swayed out of the warehouse.
The warning he just received at the soul level made him decide to hold back for the time being.He needed more time to figure out the true strength of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
We need time to process the information we've obtained, so we can't act rashly anymore.
Just as he walked out of the warehouse, preparing to return to the core area of the camp.
"Enemy attack!Alert!"
Suddenly, from the eastern perimeter of the camp, the guards' urgent shouts rang out, followed by the sounds of kunai clashing and ninjutsu exploding!
Iron Boat's voice echoed throughout the camp: "First and second squads, frontal defense!Third squad, flank cover!Logistics personnel, retreat to the inner circle!"
Afei immediately covered his head and darted behind a pile of supply boxes to observe secretly.
On the east side of the camp, two groups of people appeared almost simultaneously, forming a pincer movement, and they even started fighting each other!
A group of people dressed in dark combat uniforms from Kumogakure moved wildly, their lightning chakra flashing; they were clearly an elite reconnaissance force sent by the Raikage.
The other group, dressed as Iwagakure (Hidden Stone Village), were skilled in Earth Release techniques and possessed strong defenses, attempting to break through Kumogakure's (Hidden Cloud Village) interception.
"Damn Iwagakure rat!How dare it try to steal our stuff?"
A Cloud Village Jonin roared and swung his hand, unleashing a dazzling lightning blade.
"The legacy of the Sound Village doesn't belong to your Cloud Village!You're plundering ninjutsu everywhere to expand your military, do you think we don't know?"
The captain of Iwagakure was not to be outdone; a huge earthen wall rose up from the ground to block the lightning strike.
Both sides had clearly discovered the Apocalypse Merchant Guild's camp and regarded each other and the guild as rivals vying for the inheritance.
The scene instantly descended into chaos, with the Hidden Cloud Village and the Hidden Stone Village attacking each other while simultaneously attempting to break through to the merchant guild's camp.
Tie Zhou stood at the front of the camp, his face stern.
He watched the two groups of men fighting and their increasing approach to the camp, and knew he couldn't wait any longer.
"Activate Response Plan Number Three," he instructed his deputy beside him.
The deputy immediately made several hand gestures.
Inside the camp, several chamber of commerce members who were already on standby quickly activated several pre-arranged devices.
Amidst the humming sound, a semi-transparent energy barrier rose around the camp.Although not strong, it was enough to temporarily block stray bullets and low-level ninjutsu, demonstrating the merchant guild's neutral defensive stance.
At the same time, Tie Zhou took a step forward, alone, and walked towards the chaotic battlefield.
He walked slowly, but each step was steady and powerful.
His right hand slowly gripped the seemingly simple and unadorned long sword at his waist.
This long sword was forged by Naruto after the formation of the merchant guild's armed forces.He mobilized a large amount of resources, hired a master craftsman from the Land of Craftsmen, and combined chakra metal, meteorite iron, and a special energy-conducting material extracted from the bones of a strange deep-sea beast.It took several months to complete.
The blade is engraved with an extremely complex wind-style chakra conduction circuit, which can convert the user's chakra into wind-style blade energy with extremely high efficiency and speed.
As a veteran of the Chamber of Commerce and a benchmark of martial prowess, Tie Zhou was personally planned by Naruto, with Tsunade providing body-enhancing drugs and Hibari collecting and providing various sword technique scrolls.Combined with his own talent, he created a special system that pursued "extreme speed" and "defense penetration".
Seeing Tie Zhou step forward alone, a bloodthirsty Chunin from Kumogakure didn't take him seriously.Roaring and brandishing a ninja sword crackling with lightning, he charged at him from the side: "You trash from the Apocalypse Merchant Guild, this is the territory that Kumogakure set its sights on first, get out of here!"
Tie Zhou's eyes narrowed slightly, and his body sank a little.
There were no hand seals, no roars.
Draw your sword and slash – a single line cleaves the sky!
"Clang—!"
The clear, melodious sound of the blade, like the roar of a dragon, echoed throughout the mountains and forests!
A slender, almost solidified silver-white blade of energy flashed past Tie Zhou's waist at a speed too fast for the naked eye to detect!
The Cloud Ninja's forward charge abruptly halted.His lightning blade snapped in two with a "crack," and a thin line of blood appeared on his chest armor.He was thrown backward, landing heavily on the ground without a sound.
Fast!Extremely fast!
This strike drew the attention of almost everyone on the battlefield.
The leader of the Cloud Village Jonin's pupils contracted, and a look of horror appeared on his face: "Such a fast sword!"
Tiezhou ignored him, his gaze fixed on a huge earthen wall blocking his view, and behind the wall several Iwagakure ninjas who were gathering large-scale earth-release techniques.
He took a deep breath, and his chakra surged like a storm into his right arm holding the sword, causing the ancient blade to radiate a dazzling, cold light.
"Iaijutsu - Severing the River".
A deep voice fell.
Tie Zhou suddenly swung his sword, slashing forward vertically!
There were no fancy moves, only a pure, extremely large, and breathtakingly large bone-white blade aura that suddenly erupted close to the ground!
The moment the blade energy left the blade, it swelled in the wind!Initially only a few feet long, it expanded in the blink of an eye into a huge arc of light spanning hundreds of meters, tearing everything apart with a shrill shriek, pushing forward along the ground!
"Boom—!"
Wherever the blade energy passed, trees and rocks were torn apart and annihilated like paper!It cleared away all obstacles in the fan-shaped area in front of it, and the huge earthen wall was cleaved open like tofu, with a smooth, mirror-like cross-section!Along with the several Iwagakure ninjas behind it who were forming hand seals, they were all swallowed up and pulverized by the blade energy.
The blade's energy stretched for over three hundred meters before slowly dissipating into the distant mountains and forests, leaving behind a shocking trail of destruction, as if it had ripped a huge gash into the earth.
The entire room fell silent.
Whether it was the Hidden Cloud Village or the remaining Hidden Stone Village, everyone was stunned by this earth-shattering strike.
Is this.is this a slash that a human could unleash?
Hiding behind the supply crate, Afei stared intently at the massive ravine with his single eye beneath the mask, his pupil contracting sharply.
His initial relief at obtaining the information was instantly shattered by this sword strike!
The power of this strike.has far exceeded the limits of an ordinary ninja!
This Iron Boat, this Apocalypse Chamber of Commerce.they actually had such a trump card hidden away?
If a figurehead has such strength, then what level must Naruto Uzumaki, who lives a secluded life, have reached?
His previous plans of "lurking" and "killing with one blow" seemed so pale in the face of this sword.
"I always thought I was on the fifth floor, but now I realize that this bastard has dug the basement to the eighteenth floor."
Obito slowly lowered his head, deeply concealing the horror and killing intent surging in his eyes.
He held the scrolls he had just stolen in his arms, feeling for the first time how hot they were to his touch.
A strong wind swept through, fluttering the hem of Tie Zhou's clothes.He slowly rose and sheathed his sword with a crisp click.
He then surveyed the deathly silent battlefield, his voice remaining calm and steady.
"The Apocalypse Merchant Guild is here on a business escort mission and has no intention of making enemies of any ninja village.However, if anyone dares to approach within 100 meters of the camp, it will be considered a provocation and they will be killed without exception."
The surviving Cloud Village and Iwa Village ninjas looked at each other, and finally, under the cold gaze of the huge ravine and the iron boat, they slowly retreated and disappeared into the dense forest.
The conflict has temporarily subsided.
Obito mingled among the logistics personnel, quietly helping to clean up the battlefield and repair damaged camp facilities.
He lowered his head and moved swiftly, even more "well-behaved" than before, as if he were completely frightened.
Only he knew that the turmoil in his heart was far from over.
Naruto's surveillance, Tesshu's martial prowess, and what else is he unaware of.
He touched the scroll in his arms.
Perhaps it's time to reassess my plans.
At least until he has absolute certainty, this "excellent employee" Afei will have to continue being a part of the job.
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