An ordinary person would need a full day to traverse the mountain roads; for ninja, it took only a moment.
Before long, the trio of Higashino Makoto encountered the squad that had come seeking help. It was the genin team led by Ritsu, but at this moment only the two brothers, Yūta and Yūtō, were present.
Both of them looked anxious and at a loss.
After seeing the three of them, Yūta looked them over, failed to find the main person he was expecting, and asked in disappointment, "Where is your jōnin leader? Why isn't he here?"
Higashino Makoto replied, "Our sensei has something to attend to. Did you run into some kind of danger? Where is Ritsu-senpai?"
At this point, Yūta could no longer worry about anything else. "Yes. We encountered a powerful black bear. The captain—Captain Ritsu—he drew the black bear away by himself in order to save us."
His younger brother Yūtō had already sunk into deep self-blame. "It's all because we're too weak. If we were stronger, the captain wouldn't have fallen into danger. Maybe… maybe he's already dead."
"Enough talk. Hurry and lead the way. There might still be a chance to save Ritsu-senpai."
Yūta could only agree. "All right. Follow me. Thank you."
Led by the two brothers, the five of them rushed in the direction Ritsu had gone. Before long, they found the tracks left by the black bear's massive body as it forced its way through the forest.
Following the trail, the group soon arrived at the entrance of a cave. From inside, there seemed to come the black bear's roars and the screams of a human.
Without a second thought, the two brothers charged in anxiously. The expressions of Higashino Makoto and the other two were identical, as if carved from the same mold. They merely surveyed the surroundings briefly, then followed them inside.
The cave was fairly deep, and the farther they went, the darker it became. After they had gone more than halfway in, the roars and the screams stopped at the same time. It seemed the outcome had already been decided.
Yūta and Yūtō could not help but burst into the fastest speed of their lives. Unfortunately, when they reached the end, in the dim environment they saw only the corpse of a black bear lying on the ground.
Yūta looked around. Not seeing Ritsu's corpse, he guessed, "Could it be that the captain won? But where is he?"
Yūtō let out a breath of relief. "That's great. The captain will definitely be fine. There must be another exit here—let's look around. The captain should be injured; he needs our help."
Higashino Makoto and the other two turned their heads at the same time to look at the brothers. With reactions this dull, they should stop being ninja in the future—if they even had a future.
"I didn't expect you two to follow me in as well. Were you worried about me? You really haven't improved at all—no strength, no brains. The only thing you have is this bit of usefulness."
Ritsu's voice suddenly came from behind them.
The two brothers spun around in surprise and delight.
"Captain, you're still alive?"
"It's great that you're okay."
After saying that, the two of them were about to run toward their captain. If they could have a passion-filled hug, then it really would be a perfect, happy ending.
Higashino Makoto grabbed the two of them. "Aren't you two curious why he's behind us?"
"Heh. As expected of the top graduate of the ninja academy this year—you're much smarter than my two idiot teammates. If only Konoha's ninja were all like them. As for outstanding people like you… you should die sooner rather than later."
"Captain, what are you talking about?" x2
Boom, boom, boom!
What answered them was the sound of consecutive explosions.
While Ritsu was speaking, he activated the trap without the slightest hesitation. The five people in the cave—himself included—were all caught in the explosion of an explosive tag formation.
Unfortunately, he was only a clone. After completing the mission, he turned into a pile of broken earth.
Earth Release: Earth Clone Technique—a type of clone technique in which Iwagakure ninja specialize. However, it seemed Ritsu's mastery of earth nature transformation was not quite there yet; otherwise, after the clone dispersed, what should have been left behind would be a pile of hard rock.
At this level, it was no longer an earth clone, but the rock clone that the Tsuchikage Ōnoki specialized in. It had stronger offensive power and greater resistance to blows, making it extremely practical.
Being able to use this kind of distinctly styled ninjutsu made Ritsu's identity very obvious. Even the brothers Yūta and Yūtō, as dull as they were, noticed that something was wrong.
Higashino Makoto did not think much about it. He immediately raised his left hand forward, spread his five fingers, and in an instant, a hemispherical blue, transparent chakra shield enveloped all five of them.
Hayate and Yūgao dragged the two brothers along. Under the protection of the chakra shield, the five of them ran toward the exit, pushing through the explosions of the explosive tags and the countless falling rocks.
Fortunately, this cave was fairly sturdy and was not blown apart by the explosive tags. The blast flames and falling rocks slammed into the chakra shield as if striking a highly flexible protective membrane—able to compress and deform it, but unable to penetrate it.
Water Release: One-Horn Tranquility.
A defensive ninjutsu developed by Higashino Makoto. Chakra infused with water nature transformation sprayed from his five fingers and, under the restraint of sealing runes, became a practical chakra shield.
In order to develop this series of techniques, he had even gone out of his way to study the fundamentals of sealing techniques.
Did the shinobi world have chakra shields condensed into solid form?
It did, brother, it did. The inspiration for Water Release: One-Horn Tranquility came from Granny Chiyo of Sunagakure's Mechanical Light Shield Block.
...
Boom!
The sound of explosions inside the cave echoed through the forest, startling a flock of birds into flight.
On a large tree in the distance, Ritsu felt the faint vibrations and was quite satisfied. With a trace of smugness, he muttered to himself, "Consider it a parting gift. Wiping out the most outstanding class among this year's Konoha graduates—at least that gives me something to report when I return to the village."
However, just as he turned to leave, he discovered that on the tree ahead, Gekkō Hayate and Uzuki Yūgao stood holding ninja blades, staring at him with murderous intent.
"So you really are no good!" Uzuki Yūgao was furious. If they had not been prepared in advance, they would already have been blown to death.
Ritsu realized something was wrong and immediately tried to flee in another direction. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain at the back of his head, lost consciousness, and his body fell straight toward the ground.
"Oh my, that was dangerous. A 'parting gift'—what an unsettling thing to say. You really scared me; I thought you might throw out some huge Rasengan or something."
Appearing behind Ritsu was, naturally, Higashino Makoto. As for the people who had been following behind the two brothers, they were all transformed from his shadow clones.
So long as one had sufficient chakra, all kinds of physical clones were extremely useful techniques. Unfortunately, the vast majority of ninja in the shinobi world could not afford such luxury.
Gekkō Hayate was already used to the strange things that occasionally popped out of Higashino Makoto's mouth. Too lazy to ask about them, he went straight down to the ground, put on his gloves, and quickly searched Ritsu's body—checking the teeth, collar, sleeve corners, and every other place where poison for suicide might be hidden.
The result proved that this guy might have been an unqualified spy. He did not have any of those things at all, so Hayate had no choice but to put what he had learned to use, varying his use of steel wire to bind him so tightly that he was completely immobilized.
Seeing that the danger had been resolved, Uzuki Yūgao asked curiously, "Hey, Makoto-nii, what is a 'big Rasengan-whatever'? Is it a very powerful ninjutsu?"
"It's nothing you'd understand."
"You're saying things we can't understand again."
Higashino Makoto had not struck very hard. Before long, Ritsu woke up.
Seeing his situation, he struggled with all his strength. The more he struggled, the tighter the steel wire became, and a burning, cutting pain spread across his entire body. At that moment, he regretted not listening to what those seniors had told him.
To be a spy, one had to be prepared to die at any time. Otherwise, if captured alive by the enemy, the outcome would only be a hundred times worse than death.
Unfortunately, it was already too late for regret. He looked at Higashino Makoto. "What an impressive junior. As a reward, kill me. You haven't killed anyone before, have you? Imagine it—slitting my throat with a blade, or stabbing through my heart. That would be a truly wonderful feeling."
Ninja were raised from childhood on education centered around killing.
Ritsu's words were like bait, tempting out the beast hidden in the hearts of the three.
The ninja world was just such a warped place. Ninja were taught from a young age that before adulthood they could not drink alcohol, could not indulge in lust, could not be obsessed with money—yet they were allowed to kill.
There were especially many deviants among ninja. Just look at Kirigakure. Why? Because of being immersed in slaughter too early, their minds became completely twisted in bloodshed.
Fortunately, Gekkō Hayate and Uzuki Yūgao had both been well educated since childhood. Although there was a faint stirring in their hearts, it could not affect their judgment.
Higashino Makoto had always been very clear about what he wanted: to become stronger, to live a brilliant life—anything was fine, as long as he did not become a cold, emotionless killing machine.
Killing was a means, not an end.
He looked at this bastard who, even at the brink of death, still did not forget to dig a pit for them. "You just want to die a little more easily, don't you? You don't need to look for us for that. Go talk to ANBU yourself."
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