At this moment, the encirclement was rapidly forming.
Killer B's speed was particularly astonishing. He was approaching at high speed from the flank, attempting to block his path towards the southern sea.
The Kumo-nin from other directions were also quickly closing in.
The situation became extremely critical in an instant!
'Cannot let them complete the encirclement!'
A cold light flashed in Sora's eyes. He instantly pushed his speed to the limit. His entire person shot forward like an arrow released from its bow, trying to slip through the gap before the encirclement fully closed.
However, Killer B's speed far exceeded his expectations.
The violent chakra aura on the flank suddenly surged, its speed increasing once again. Like a blue bolt of lightning, it crossed several miles in just a few breaths, appearing squarely on Sora's intended breakout route!
Simultaneously, the Kumo-nin from other directions adjusted their positions with seamless coordination, completely sealing off all his possible escape paths on land.
Ten powerful chakra auras, like ten invisible mountains, pressed in from all directions, firmly locking Sora in the center.
The air seemed to solidify, filled with a murderous atmosphere.
Sora was forced to stop. He stood in a relatively open forest clearing, his gaze calmly sweeping over the faintly visible figures surrounding him.
His mind was racing.
'Troublesome... Ten Jonin, plus a perfect Jinchūriki, Killer B. In a direct fight, unless I use the Azure Dragon form and Azure Dragon Eight Gates, there's no chance of winning.'
'But even if I use my trump cards, with so many strong opponents, I might not be able to retreat unscathed. Moreover, the Azure Dragon Fruit would definitely be completely exposed.'
'Also, how exactly did they find me? If I don't figure out this problem, even if I escape this time, I'll fall into the same danger next time.'
The flight ability granted by the Azure Dragon Fruit was Sora's greatest trump card and escape route at the moment.
As long as he flew high into the sky, unless the enemy had ninja who could fly or powerful anti-air ninjutsu, it would be very difficult to keep him.
But he was unwilling to just leave like this.
Kumogakure had clearly come prepared this time, mobilizing such a large force, and possibly even using some new type of detection technology.
If he couldn't figure out the principle behind how they locked onto him, then he would find it difficult to move freely in the Land of Lightning, or even in all countries, in the future.
'Must figure out their tracking method!'
Sora quickly made a decision.
First, try to maneuver and figure out their method. If things turn impossible, then rely on the flight ability to disengage from the battle.
He took a deep breath. Chakra flowed slowly within his body. The first three gates of the Eight Gates opened quietly, adjusting his physical condition to its peak, ready to respond to any sudden attacks at any moment.
At the same time, he was also prepared to beastify and take to the skies at any moment.
His gaze swept over the ten Kumogakure elites slowly emerging from the forest, surrounding him, finally settling on the tall man with sunglasses, dark skin, and seven swords strapped to his back.
That wild, tailed beast like chakra originated precisely from this man.
Kumogakure's Eight Tails Jinchūriki, Killer B!
Beside Killer B stood a middle aged ninja wearing a strange dark hat. It was Muchi, who possessed the "Lava Release" Kekkei Genkai.
Muchi's gaze was sharp, firmly locked on the Green Snake mask on Sora's face.
"Konoha's 'Green Snake', or should we call you... Sora? You really came."
Sora's heart tightened. Not only did they know his Anbu codename, they even knew his real name!
And they also knew the details of this mission!
Kumogakure's intelligence work and their interest in him were even stronger than he had imagined.
Sora did not answer. He just calmly observed Muchi, especially whether Muchi was holding any special instrument in his hand, or forming hand seals to maintain a tracking ninjutsu.
But Sora found nothing.
Muchi seemed to see through Sora's thoughts. A look of having everything under control appeared on his face as he slowly said,
"No need to keep looking. You won't find it. We prepared for a long time to wait for you to walk into the trap."
"Surprised why we can pinpoint you so accurately?"
"This is thanks to one of your own from Konoha... one of the 'Legendary Sannin', Lord Orochimaru!"
Muchi's words were like cold kunai, precisely stabbing into the most vigilant corner of Sora's heart.
Orochimaru!
It was actually him!
Sora's expression instantly turned as dark as water. The figure of that snake like man immediately surfaced in his mind.
He had considered every possibility, thinking Kumogakure might track him through battle traces, intelligence analysis, or even some unknown secret technique. But he never expected the problem would actually come from Orochimaru, with whom he had just traded not long ago!
Muchi did not keep him in suspense. He took out a palm sized, intricately designed device from his chest.
At the center of the device, a faint, dim red light point was slowly flashing. And the light point pointed directly at Sora!
"This is..." Sora's gaze fixed deathly on that device.
Muchi looked at the surrounded Sora and slowly explained,
"A blood trace tracker. Modified based on a long lost secret technique of the Uzumaki clan."
"It can lock onto a specific blood sample and perform ultra long range tracking within a certain area. Of course, the prerequisite is having a sufficiently fresh and pure blood sample."
Muchi raised his eyes to look at Sora, his gaze carrying a trace of mockery.
"And that blood sample of yours, kindly provided by Lord Orochimaru, although the amount was a bit small, and it seems to have been scorched by some kind of high temperature energy, greatly reducing its activity, causing this tracker's effective range and duration to be significantly diminished, it was still sufficient to lock onto you, who would sooner or later enter our Land of Lightning."
A blood sample provided by Orochimaru.
Sora instantly understood. That bastard Orochimaru not only secretly collected his blood for research, but actually sold it to Kumogakure as a bargaining chip.
Muchi's voice continued,
"Lord Orochimaru not only provided this crucial blood sample, but also incidentally informed us of the approximate time of your infiltration into the Land of Lightning. In exchange, his demands were not many, merely half of your body, after you are captured alive."
Half his body.
Sora inwardly sneered. Orochimaru indeed never gave up on treating him as an experimental subject.
This deal was simply immensely profitable for Orochimaru.
First, use Kumogakure, this sharp knife, to capture Sora, this treasure trove, for him.
If successful, he could get half of Sora for research, and also earn a favor from Kumogakure. Although given the current war situation, this favor seemed a bit laughable. But Sora knew Orochimaru would eventually defect from Konoha.
Second, even if it failed, such a powerful encirclement by Kumogakure would definitely force out all of Sora's trump cards and strength, and most likely severely injure Sora.
Then, Orochimaru could appear as the savior or the mantis catching the cicada, to clean up the situation, and still have a chance to succeed.
Regardless of success or failure, Orochimaru sat securely on the fishing platform, in an invincible position.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📖 Like the story? Read 120 chapters ahead!
🔗 patreon.com/atomelectron
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━