Sora's gaze fell upon the sole surviving Iwagakure Chunin.
The other had completely lost the will to fight, collapsed on the ground, eyes glazed, unconsciously muttering:
"Monster... don't come near..."
Sora felt no ripple of emotion in his heart. His figure moved, appearing like a ghost before the Iwagakure Chunin, a dragon claw sweeping past.
Thud!
After the dull sound of a blade cutting into flesh, the valley fell into complete silence.
Warm blood splattered onto Sora's dragon-scale-covered hand, bringing a sticky sensation.
Sora stood in place, slightly stunned.
It had been two and a half years since transmigrating to the Naruto world. There had been plenty of fights and training, and he had done things like quickly slitting throats before. But like today, using this method to eliminate so many people in one go, it was a first.
During the life-and-death struggle just now, adrenaline was surging. He only focused on fighting for his life and didn't feel anything special.
Now, with all strong enemies eliminated and only him left alive in the valley, the heavy smell of blood hit his face. Looking at the corpses strewn across the ground in various postures, an indescribable, physiological discomfort finally welled up belatedly.
'Tsk, still a bit...'
But the feeling came quickly and left even faster.
Almost the next second, the power of the Azure Dragon Fruit within Sora seemed to circulate on its own. A barely noticeable wild instinct quietly suppressed that bit of discomfort, and his heart returned to a state of icy calm.
He even felt a strange... acclimatization to the smell of blood in the air?
Sora frowned, shaking the blood droplets off his dragon claw.
'This Azure Dragon Fruit, it seems it doesn't just grant abilities. It's also subtly influencing me... But now is not the time to delve into this.'
Sora took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down, quickly scanning his surroundings.
The top priority was to deal with the scene. He absolutely must not leave any clues pointing to his abilities!
Then Sora carefully sensed the area once more, widening his eyes to scan the entire valley and the surrounding forest.
'Good, no other chakra reactions.'
'Right, the location chosen by Root, it must be remote and hidden. Bumping into one team of Iwa-nin tracking Dandelion was already a low-probability event. It's impossible for there to be a second wave.'
Confirming safety, Sora's brain began operating at high speed, thinking of a plan.
'Old dog Danzo set a trap for me. This matter definitely won't be hidden from Sarutobi Hiruzen later, but I can't let him know all my cards.'
'Run away directly? Leave Konoha?' This thought was instantly dismissed as soon as it flashed.
'No, it's mid-year 39 in Konoha calendar now. There's still over three years until the Third Shinobi World War breaks out. With my seven-year-old child's body, without the village's protection, even with the Azure Dragon Fruit, growing up would be too difficult and dangerous.'
Sora deactivated the Eight Gates, leaning against a large tree to slowly consider.
He didn't really want to leave Konoha. People like Yuhi Kurenai, Nono Yakushi, the Guy father and son, and the stable life he had finally managed to build up a bit, he didn't want to give it up just like that.
After all, he had already lived in Konoha for two and a half years. The people he was familiar with, cared about, wanted to protect with all his strength, were all in this village.
As Hatake Sakumo had said, the people Sora truly cared about were currently all in Konoha.
And this was precisely what Sarutobi Hiruzen often referred to as "bonds."
...
'I must go back! And I need to find a reasonable, explainable reason to go back!'
Sora's gaze swept over the corpses on the ground, a plan rapidly taking shape in his mind.
Simply put, it was that Root encountered Iwa-nin tracking a spy by accident while capturing Sora. Both sides erupted into a fight to the death.
And Sora, a mere seven-year-old child with only Chunin-level strength who happened to be at the scene, seeing the situation turn bad, opened the Eight Gates and desperately escaped while they fought to a mutual standstill!
'Right! I simply don't know who won in the end, nor do I know if the Iwa-nin took the intelligence. I only cared about saving my own skin! That's the most reasonable!'
The more Sora thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.
'My apparent strength is Chunin-level taijutsu plus the Fourth Gate of the Eight Gates. Suddenly bursting out and instantly killing a Tokubetsu Jonin can still be explained as a life-or-death struggle. But if I appear too strong, it would instead raise suspicion.'
'So, I must be the one who "fled in a panic"! And when I fled, the battle was still ongoing. I know nothing!'
Plan confirmed!
Sora hesitated no longer, immediately starting to create the fake scene.
He first walked to the corpse of Leopard.
"First is you, sorry, still need to use you a bit."
Sora said in a play-acting manner, then recalled the strike he used to instantly kill Leopard earlier, controlled his strength, and threw another punch from the same direction.
Bang!
Leopard's head directly exploded like a watermelon.
Next, Sora began focusing on creating traces of the Iwa-nin's withdrawal.
'The Iwa-nin were the "victorious side." They definitely had to withdraw. And with their Jonin dead, their condition wouldn't be too good. The traces can't be too perfect.'
Sora set it that the tall and thin Chunin on the Iwa-nin side survived, while the other three died on the spot.
Then he chose a direction opposite to Konoha, partially dragonized his foot to a suitable size, put on the shoes of the tall and thin Chunin, and created some disorderly footprints on the ground, with varying depths, imitating the tall and thin Chunin's hasty retreat.
He also left a few small, torn pieces of cloth bearing the Iwagakure symbol on several bushes.
It looked like a surviving Iwa-nin, wounded and carrying intelligence, had hurriedly fled from here.
Afterwards, Sora continued forward until he encountered a river, pretended to jump into the water, then flew back to the valley from the air in a wobbly manner.
Finally, his gaze swept over the corpses of the other Root members.
'These can't remain. Best to leave no evidence.'
Sora took a deep breath, his chest swelling, a red glow lighting up deep in his throat.
Whoosh!
A blast of scorching dragon breath spewed forth, accurately covering the corpses of Dandelion, Wild Boar, Tanuki, and Baku.
The terrifying high temperature instantly turned flesh, bones, clothing, and even ninja tools into charred remains, finally becoming a pile of unrecognizable ashes.
A gentle breeze blew, scattering them into nothing, truly managing to scatter the ashes...
'Done! Except for Leopard with the exploded brain, all Root corpses are disposed of, leaving no evidence! Even if Sarutobi Hiruzen suspects, he can't find any proof!'
Next, Sora took out an empty sealing scroll and sealed the corpses of the four Iwagakure shinobi into it one by one.
The ashes of these few needed to be scattered somewhere far away...
After finishing all this, Sora let out a long sigh of relief.
Looking around, the valley was still bloody, but the biggest hidden danger had been eliminated.
The battle traces and that pile of ashes were enough to show a great battle happened here. And the traces of the Iwa-nin withdrawal could complete the story.
After all, the Third Shinobi World War was going to break out in a few years. Currently, relations between Konoha and Iwagakure were already tense. They definitely wouldn't verify this matter with each other over what happened in the Land of Grass.
In the end, both sides would only conclude that the other side had eliminated their own ninja team.
Sora gave the valley one final check, confirming no oversights, then fixed his direction towards Konoha, his eyes sharpening.
"Eight Gates Release Technique, Fourth Gate, Gate of Pain, open!"
Boom! The green energy steam erupted again, but noticeably weaker than during the battle earlier, clearly lacking stamina.
Sora gritted his teeth. Opening the "Gate of Pain" three times in a short period, even with the rapid recovery ability of the Zoan-type Azure Dragon Fruit, felt unsustainable. He would inevitably need to rest for a while after returning.
Thud!
He stomped the ground hard, leaving a deep footprint, his whole body shooting out like an arrow from a bow. The speed was extremely fast, but his posture was deliberately made to appear somewhat staggering and hurried.
'Run! Use this speed, run all the way back to the border of the Land of Fire!'
Sora's figure quickly disappeared into the depths of the forest, leaving behind only a meticulously forged battlefield that seemed puzzling yet could explain itself.
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