In the desert, every single oasis is precious beyond measure.
Yagami led the Flower Deer squad into the desert.
The Flower Deer squad had lost one member in the Land of Rivers, leaving only three people now.
Each of them carried a large gourd on their back, filled with poison capable of destroying a small oasis.
Carrying a large gourd was a relatively common sight in the Land of Wind, as long-distance travel required fresh water.
Giving the main battlefield a wide berth, the group trekked over twenty kilometers through the desert.
"Captain! There are bodies over there!"
A pair of feet belonging to a corpse appeared behind a sand dune.
Yagami and the others circled around to investigate, and one after another, more corpses were revealed. There were actually over twenty mummified bodies behind the dune.
These twenty or so corpses seemed to come from three families, with both elderly and young among them.
The elderly were in their sixties or seventies with white beards.
The young ones were still children; once dried out, they were shriveled and wrinkled, looking as unsightly as the day they were born.
Flower Deer leaned down to inspect the corpses and reported to Yagami:
"Captain, these people were civilians of the Land of Wind. For some reason, they migrated with their whole families but didn't bring enough water, and they died of thirst in the desert."
The dry, hot wind whipped up sand, stinging their faces. As it hit the mummified corpses, it made a rustling sound.
Leaf Monkey found a map on an old mummified man.
An oasis was marked on the map, labeled with the word "Home."
Yagami said, "Let's go. We'll check this oasis on the map first."
Just as he turned his head, a piece of cloth swept past.
Yagami stopped in his tracks and walked toward the piece of cloth.
The others all looked at the squad leader.
This was originally a piece of leather covering a female corpse, and it looked very tough.
The leather swayed in the dry gale, making snapping sounds.
Yagami touched the leather and found that it was particularly windproof.
A thought suddenly rose in his mind, and he said to Flower Deer, "Flower Deer, collect this leather. I want to make something to help us escape."
Flower Deer picked up the leather, not understanding how it could help them flee.
Yagami believed the key to this mission was not the poisoning itself. Poisoning wasn't hard; if one was willing to risk their life, there would always be a chance to throw the poison gourds into the oasis.
The difficult part was how to survive the escape.
This was the Hidden Sand's home turf; they couldn't outrun the Hidden Sand ninja in the desert.
After collecting some leather, Yagami followed the memories of his past life to sew the leather into the shape of a paraglider and tested it himself.
The wind was very strong, making takeoff easy.
He then trained the members of the Flower Deer squad on how to control the paraglider.
The coordination of ninja was superb; after simple training, the Flower Deer squad quickly mastered controlling the paraglider.
The ability to fly was a rare skill in the shinobi world. If they could fly, the Hidden Sand would be unable to catch them.
The squad continued forward, searching for the oasis on the map.
A few days later.
Yagami was buried completely in the sand, exposing only a single-tube telescopic telescope, watching the Crescent Lake in the distance.
A crescent-shaped lake shimmered under the moonlight.
It was a beautiful small lake.
In the night, the small lake sparkled like a jewel; it should have been the fresh water that over a dozen households relied on for survival.
But now, around the small Crescent Lake, there were Hidden Sand ninja everywhere.
He estimated about 50 Hidden Sand ninja, many of whom were wounded.
It appeared a large number of wounded had retreated after a battle on the front lines. The fresh water of this small lake was insufficient, so the Hidden Sand had driven out the villagers of the small oasis.
Those villagers had left in a panic without bringing enough fresh water.
It was also possible the Hidden Sand had given them just enough water to reach the next oasis, but the villagers had encountered a storm and were roasted into mummies.
Yagami had been transmigrated for some time now. Based on his general feeling, killing every ninja might wrong a good person, but if he picked two out of three to kill, there would definitely be no wrongful executions.
The Hidden Sand had twice the military force of the Hidden Leaf, yet they were fighting so miserably that they were now driving away the farmers of the oasis.
After scouting the information, Yagami retreated to prepare for tonight's operation.
In the middle of the night, Yagami walked in front with Leaf Monkey carrying the gourd behind him.
The two disguised themselves as thirsty desert travelers, their steps staggering as they walked toward the Crescent Lake.
The Hidden Sand ninja on duty quickly discovered them. One Hidden Sand ninja shouted from a distance: "Do not approach! This oasis has been requisitioned by the Hidden Sand Village!"
The Hidden Sand ninja's shout had no effect; he only saw two people on the verge of dying of thirst running desperately toward the Crescent Lake.
The two danced and gestured as they ran, their eyes only on the water, completely ignoring the warning.
The Hidden Sand ninja cursed his bad luck for encountering two people about to die of thirst.
He saw their lips were cracked and peeling, but even so, they couldn't drink the Hidden Sand's water.
The Hidden Sand ninja pulled out a kunai and threw it at their feet.
The kunai still didn't stop them; the two were only a hundred meters away from the Crescent Lake.
The Hidden Sand ninja pulled another kunai from his tool pouch, prepared to kill the two.
These two fools could not be allowed to disturb the Commander inside the oasis.
He stepped forward to approach them. When he was about ten meters away, a kunai suddenly flew out and struck the Hidden Sand ninja's throat.
Such incredible speed—how could someone about to die of thirst have such strength?
Before falling face-first, the Hidden Sand ninja saw in horror that the two before him were clearly Anbu!
Above the masks were the four water wave symbols of the Hidden Mist.
Since poisoning was a bit shameful, he had to go under a different guise; he couldn't be too cruelly direct.
Many Hidden Sand ninja rushed out of the surrounding tents, and Yagami quickly shouted, "Action!"
Yagami formed a seal and first created a Shadow Clone.
He and the Shadow Clone formed seals simultaneously, using two Water Wall jutsus.
The two Water Walls were like high walls, sandwiching Yagami and Leaf Monkey in the middle and blocking the Hidden Sand's counterattack.
The two Water Walls rushed straight toward the Crescent Lake, constructing a path in front of Leaf Monkey.
Leaf Monkey grabbed the gourd and threw it forward with all his might.
After throwing it, he also formed seals and used a ninjutsu.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
The strong wind pushed the gourd hard, rapidly driving it toward the Crescent Lake.
By the time the Water Walls fell, the Hidden Sand ninja found a gourd had landed beside the Crescent Lake.
The gourd cracked open, and black venom flowed out from inside.
The Hidden Sand ninja cried out, "Not good! They poisoned the oasis!"
Yagami and Leaf Monkey turned and ran.
Yagami continuously used Water Wall to cover their retreat. The Hidden Sand's kunai, explosive tags, and puppets were all blocked by Yagami's Water Wall.
"This Water Style is at least at the level of a Jonin! They are Hidden Mist elites!"
Leaf Monkey tilted his head, constantly searching the sky.
There they are!
Two black dots descended rapidly, flying toward Leaf Monkey and the unit leader.
"Captain!"
After Yagami released his final Water Wall, he turned and ran toward the top of a sand dune, leaping into the air.
Flower Deer controlled the paraglider and clamped her legs around Yagami's legs.
Yagami hung upside down in the air, releasing Water Walls while airborne.
The various attacks from the Hidden Sand were still blocked by the Water Walls.
Flower Deer was happy in her heart; the unit leader's ninjutsu was very strong, and his defense was impenetrable.
On the ground, the Hidden Sand Commander roared, "Don't use Wind Style! You idiots!"
The timing Yagami had chosen for the attack was precisely when the desert winds were strong. The Hidden Sand's Wind Style blew against the paragliders, causing them to gain altitude even faster.
The Hidden Sand chased from below, while the two paragliders flew through the sky.
Yagami and Leaf Monkey occasionally used Wind Style: Great Breakthrough to accelerate their glide.
The Hidden Sand were helpless.
They chased for a long time, at least two hours, before the Hidden Sand finally could not chase any longer, watching helplessly as the paragliders disappeared into the dark night.
***
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