"Pfft!"
Black Crow spat out a mouthful of blood wildly. His entire body was sent flying backward at a speed several times faster than when he was retreating.
He tumbled and bounced across the sea surface over a dozen times, creating huge splashes, before finally barely managing to steady himself. He knelt on one knee on the water, breathing heavily, with blood continuously gushing from his mouth, nose, and the broken part of his arm.
With just one strike, he was already severely injured!
'Power, speed, completely not on the same level...'
Endless chill and despair surged in Black Crow's heart. This wasn't a fight at all, it was a crushing defeat!
Huff!
Huff!
Black Crow gasped rapidly, a trace of madness slowly appearing in his eyes!
Sora's massive body followed closely, ready to crush Black Crow to death with one swipe of his claw.
But at that very moment, Sora keenly caught sight of Black Crow's hand, hidden behind his back, arduously and eerily forming an unfamiliar hand seal!
At the same time, the absolutely resolute, mad, even slightly relieved look in Black Crow's eyes instantly triggered an unpleasant memory in Sora's mind.
That was three years ago in the Land of Grass. He was also surrounded. Although he managed to kill all the enemies in the end by pushing himself to the limit, he was almost blown up by an Iwagakure ninja who rushed at him covered in explosive tags during the cleanup.
'A forbidden technique for mutual destruction?!'
Alarm bells rang loudly in Sora's mind. Without any hesitation, he immediately abandoned his plan to crush him at close range.
The enormous dragon head suddenly raised, and scorching high temperature instantly gathered deep within its throat!
Black Crow, who was at the critical moment of forming seals, ready to detonate all his chakra to drag Sora down to hell with him, saw that familiar, despair-inducing flame light flare up again. A flicker of astonishment and extreme unwillingness flashed in his eyes!
"No!"
He let out a despairing roar, trying to accelerate the completion of the technique.
But it was already too late.
Boom!!!
A concentrated pillar of fire, like a sword of divine punishment, tore through space at a speed surpassing sound, completely engulfing Black Crow and his unfinished, dangerous hand seal!
Terrifying flames and shockwaves completely covered his location.
When the light faded, only a slowly swirling whirlpool and billowing steam remained on the sea surface. Nothing else.
The elite Jonin of Kumogakure's "Raven" unit, Black Crow, was dead.
The six elite Kumo-nin were completely annihilated.
The sea gradually returned to calm. Only the burnt smell lingering in the air proved what a fierce and one-sided battle had just occurred.
Sora's massive body slowly shrank. The green steam gradually receded, and he finally transformed back into his human form.
He stood on the sea surface, breathing slightly heavily, his face somewhat pale. Simultaneously maintaining the complete Azure Dragon form and opening the Fifth Gate placed an immense dual strain on both his chakra and body.
Fortunately, his physique far exceeded ordinary people. Relying on his robust physical foundation, he managed to barely hold on and didn't collapse from exhaustion on the spot.
After swiftly scanning the area, Sora confirmed there were no survivors or obvious leftover items. He quickly dove into the sea, retrieved the bodies of the several Kumo-nin, burned them all, once again achieving the feat of reducing them to ashes.
Not daring to linger any longer, he immediately turned and raced at high speed towards the direction of the Land of Fire.
...
Sora pushed his speed to the limit, not daring to let his guard down in the slightest along the way.
After all, no one could guarantee that the huge commotion from the earlier battle wouldn't attract other ninjas operating in the nearby waters.
Only when he confirmed there were no pursuers behind him and the coastline of the Land of Fire was faintly visible on the horizon did Sora's tightly strung nerves relax a little. He slightly slowed his high-speed sprinting pace and began to have some mental capacity to think about everything that had just happened.
'This mission really was... a disaster out of nowhere.'
Sora smiled bitterly to himself.
Infiltration into the Land of Lightning to investigate the movements and supply points of the "Thunder Blast" unit was a task personally assigned by Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen. It belonged to routine wartime intelligence gathering work. Theoretically, there was no possibility of being set up or framed by someone inside.
Squad C Five's preliminary reconnaissance had also gone smoothly, successfully pinpointing several locations suspected to be supply points. That valley camp at the end was just the confirmation step.
'Can only say our luck was too bad, to run right into Kumogakure's "Raven" unit, and the leader was even Black Crow who recognized this mask of mine.'
Sora thought helplessly. Perhaps that supply point itself did have some issues, otherwise there wouldn't have been members of "Raven" present. But the main target definitely wasn't him. It was purely a coincidence.
He recalled Black Crow's excited and murderous gaze when he recognized his "Green Snake" mask.
'Toroi's position in Kumogakure is obviously not low. This bounty has probably been posted within Kumogakure for a long time. Being recognized this time means the risk factor for carrying out missions wearing this mask will greatly increase in the future.'
'Should I change to a different mask?'
Although Sora wasn't afraid of Kumo-nin, he thought it was quite cost-effective to reduce targeting by just changing a mask. After returning, maybe he could prepare some other masks as backups.
Furthermore, this time they were discovered by Kumo-nin. As long as the Kumo side weren't fools, they would definitely realize the movements of the "Thunder Blast" unit had been exposed. The related intelligence lines and supply points would inevitably undergo large-scale adjustments and transfers.
'Subsequent investigation tasks will probably be even more difficult, and most likely won't be assigned to Squad C Five anymore.'
Sora speculated. After all, their team had already alerted the enemy. Going to the Land of Lightning again would make them too big a target.
Sarutobi Hiruzen would most likely hand this task over to other Anbu teams with deeper cover or those just recently transferred.
'Just don't know how Fox and the others are doing...' Sora's thoughts turned to his teammates.
At that time, the situation was critical. Splitting up to escape was the best option.
Fox deliberately drew the main force of the pursuers towards himself, creating a chance for Grey Wolf and Night Owl. But the ones chasing them were three Jonin and three Special Jonin respectively. Their strength was not to be underestimated.
Although Fox lost an arm, he was experienced and cunning, and should have plenty of self-preservation methods.
Grey Wolf and Night Owl's strength was slightly inferior, but if they cooperated, it wasn't impossible for them to escape.
'I hope they can return safely to the base.'
Sora could only wish in his heart. In a war of this scale, an individual's power was too insignificant. Even he couldn't guarantee he could retreat completely unscathed every time.
After all, not long in the future, the Third Raikage, praised as the "Strongest Spear" and "Strongest Shield," would also die on the battlefield.
Shaking his head, Sora temporarily suppressed his worry for his teammates and began reviewing the earlier battle.
The battle location was at sea, with an open view all around. He had carefully sensed and observed. Besides Black Crow and his five men, there were indeed no other living people or obvious reconnaissance ninja tools.
After the battle ended, he also quickly checked the scene. All corpses were vaporized by the dragon's breath, leaving no obvious identity markers or equipment remnants.
'But...' Sora frowned slightly. 'Can't be one hundred percent sure.'
He remembered Yumiko from the Land of Wind. Back then, when he killed her instantly, she still managed to leave a contingency. Let alone these units from Kumogakure specifically responsible for intelligence and assassination. They definitely also had some strange self-preservation or communication methods.
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