'Now is the time!'
Sora instantly entered a half-beast transformation form. His right arm and half his shoulder were instantly covered in blue-green dragon scales. His five fingers transformed into ferocious and sharp dragon claws.
Almost at the same moment he completed the half-beast transformation, Sora's figure also vanished from his hiding spot like a ghost.
Too fast!
It surpassed the scope of ordinary Body Flicker Technique. Sora almost appeared in front of that Root Jonin as if teleporting.
That Root Jonin was truly an experienced elite. The moment Sora erupted with killing intent, he sensed a lethal crisis.
His pupils contracted sharply. The chakra within his body instinctively surged wildly as he tried to form hand seals to defend.
However, it was too late!
Sora's dragon claw seemed to pierce through space, moving at a speed surpassing the limits of visual capture, accurately clamping onto his throat!
"Crack!"
All movement of that Root Jonin instantly froze. The shock and disbelief in his eyes had not yet fully appeared before his life force dissipated.
Instant kill!
A true instant kill!
Facing Sora's absolute power and speed in his half-beast form, an experienced Root Jonin could not even last one second.
Only then did the other two Root Chunin react, a mix of shock and fury. One flung out several shuriken, while the other quickly drew a short sword, preparing to face the enemy.
Only Yamato, perhaps due to his lack of experience, was half a beat slower.
But their reactions appeared pale and powerless in the face of Sora's half-beast absolute speed!
'First one!'
Sora's heart was icy, his movements without the slightest pause.
The instant he killed the Root Jonin, his body twisted at an impossible angle, his dragon claw instantly shooting out.
"Gush!"
That Root Chunin who had just charged forward with a short sword only felt his vision blur and his throat turn cold, followed immediately by boundless darkness swallowing his consciousness.
Sora's dragon claw easily tore through his windpipe.
At the same time, his left leg swept backward like a steel whip, accurately kicking the head of the last Chunin who had thrown shuriken.
"Bang!"
Like a watermelon shattering, that Chunin could not even scream before his head instantly exploded.
Like a rabbit leaping and a hawk swooping, in the space of a breath!
Four Root ninja, already three dead!
The entire valley instantly fell into deathly silence, only the heavy smell of blood remaining.
Sora slowly turned around, his icy gaze falling on the only figure still standing in the area, Yamato.
Yamato at this moment was clearly stunned by this sudden terrifying assault.
The hand holding the kunai trembled slightly. His body was tense, his eyes filled with shock and disbelief.
The captain, a ninja he viewed as incredibly powerful, had actually been instantly killed by the opponent in a single encounter!
The two other experienced Chunin seniors had also died instantly, as if made of paper!
What kind of terrifying strength was this?!
'Calm down... calm down... I am a Root ninja!'
Yamato screamed in his heart, forcing himself to calm down.
At this life-or-death moment, Yamato erupted with all his potential, his hands quickly forming hand seals.
'Wood Style, Tree Binding Eternal Burial!'
He shouted in his heart, slamming both hands onto the ground!
In an instant, the ground shook. Several thick trees broke through the earth, like living giant pythons, wildly entangling towards Sora!
This was the strongest binding Wood Style jutsu Yamato could currently master!
However, Sora directly struck with a dragon claw, thrusting it right into the entangling trees.
"Crack! Crack!"
The tough Wood Style was easily torn apart like paper in the face of the sharp dragon claws!
But the Wood Style still seemed to have a slight "hindering" effect, causing Sora's claw to deviate from its original trajectory aimed at Yamato's throat, brushing past his shoulder!
"Rip—"
The clothing on Yamato's shoulder was instantly torn. Five claw marks deep enough to see bone were left on his shoulder, blood immediately gushing out.
Intense pain made Yamato grunt, but he also seized this opportunity, leaping backward forcefully, trying to create distance.
This was exactly the effect Sora wanted!
The instant his dragon claw swept past Yamato's shoulder, his fingertip moved imperceptibly. A small fragment stained with blood and some muscle tissue was skillfully peeled away by him with extremely delicate force, and instantly wrapped and sealed in an extremely thin layer of wind-nature chakra, silently collected into a pre-prepared sealed container.
The entire action was completed in a flash, faster than the limits of visual capture. Coupled with the cover of flying wood chips and spraying blood, Yamato, in the midst of intense pain and shock, could not possibly detect it.
'Success!'
With the cell sample obtained, Sora felt a sense of relief in his heart.
Next, it was how to let Yamato go reasonably.
He deliberately showed dissatisfaction at being hindered, swiping with his dragon claw to completely shatter the remaining Wood Style, his icy gaze locking onto Yamato again.
Yamato, clutching his shoulder which was bleeding profusely, felt his heart turn cold.
Even Wood Style could not block a casual strike from the opponent. The gap in strength was too great! Today, he would probably die here!
However, contrary to his expectations, that terrifying enemy did not immediately pursue.
Sora stood in place, as if sensing something.
Suddenly, he frowned slightly, tilting his head as if listening to some distant sound.
"Hmph... you're lucky, 'Root' brat."
Sora uttered this inexplicable sentence in a hoarse voice. Then, he took a deep look at Yamato, his figure flickering, vanishing on the spot like blue-green smoke.
The next moment, his presence was already dozens of meters away. After a few more flickers, he completely disappeared deep into the dense forest.
He came suddenly, and left decisively.
Only leaving behind a scene of utter devastation, three companion corpses, and a badly shaken Yamato.
Yamato stood dumbfounded in place. Only after several seconds did he confirm that the terrifying enemy had truly left.
His legs went weak, almost collapsing to sit on the ground. He gasped for air in large breaths, the relief of surviving a disaster and the grief of his companions' deaths intertwined.
'He... why did he let me go?'
Yamato's small head was filled with big questions.
Was it because of my Wood Style? Didn't seem like it, he broke it very easily.
Was it because he heard some commotion? Sensed Konoha reinforcements? But I didn't sense anything.
Or was it... he didn't come to kill in the first place?
Yamato looked at his teammates' bodies on the ground, then touched the wound on his shoulder, and immediately shook his head.
He couldn't figure it out.
But Root training made him quickly calm down. The urgent task was to immediately treat the wound, then bring the intelligence back to the village at the fastest speed!
An unknown enemy with terrifying strength, whose arm could transform into a dragon claw form, had appeared, and held hostility towards Root!
Yamato endured the pain and weakness, bandaged the wound simply, did not dare to stay, and after determining the direction, immediately stumbled towards the direction of Konoha Village.
As for why the enemy let him go, perhaps it could only be attributed to luck, or the opponent had something more important to attend to temporarily.
He could never imagine that the opponent's true target was merely that tiny, insignificant piece of cellular tissue from his shoulder.
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