Konoha Notes

Chapter 74 Defection?

The Iwagakure Jonin's facial muscles twitched violently as he watched helplessly as his ninjutsu was countered by the enemy, turning into a grave for his comrades. Anger and horror almost overwhelmed his reason.

A sharp whooshing sound suddenly rang out from the other end of the canyon! Four figures swept in, accompanied by sand and dust. The ninja wearing the Sand Village headband seemed to emerge from the shadows of the rocks, cutting off the retreat of the two surviving Iwa Village members.

They were attacked from both sides, and their retreat was cut off.

The two Iwagakure ninjas' eyes flashed with a fierce light like trapped beasts. They abandoned the Konoha ninjas in front of them and turned around abruptly, fearlessly rushing towards the Sand Village ninjas who had just landed!
"Humph!"

The leading Sand Ninja snorted coldly. Facing the charging enemy, he neither dodged nor avoided. He reached out with his left hand, grabbed the wrist of an Iwagakure ninja holding a weapon, and twisted it! A tooth-grinding sound of bones cracking rang out, and the kunai fell from his hand.

At the same time, he swept his right leg across and kicked another Iwagakure member hard in the back of the knee!

"Ugh!"

Two cries of pain rang out almost simultaneously. One of the two Iwagakure members had his wrist twisted and deformed, causing him to kneel on the ground; the other was kicked and lost his balance, falling forward.

Without pausing, the Sand Village ninja stomped heavily on the back of the person who had fallen, pinning him firmly into the sand. Another person was quickly bound by two Sand Village ninjas, their arms twisted behind their backs and secured with ropes.

The Sand Village Jonin, whose technique was swift and skillful, looked at the Konoha members.

"Why are the ninjas of Konoha clashing with the ninjas of Iwagakure here?"

Shuji said, "This is the Land of Rivers. Konoha was on a mission here and was ambushed by Iwagakure. Why are you all here?"

The Sand Village leader replied, "The patrol received intelligence that Iwagakure ninjas were appearing in the Land of Rivers, so the village sent us here to investigate."

"I see. I am Shuji, a Jonin of Konoha. I was commissioned by the Daimyo of the Land of Rivers because there were a lot of wandering ninjas around. I didn't expect them to be Iwagakure ninjas, so I ended up fighting them." Shuji replied without changing his expression as he lied.

"Jonin..." The Sand Village ninja pondered the level for a moment, "So it was a request from the Daimyo. According to intelligence, there are also a large number of Iwagakure ninja nearby."

“We want to deal with these Iwagakure ninjas, and Jonin Shuji also has a mission. As allies with the same goal, how about we cooperate?”

"My name is Kazemaki, a Jonin."

Shuji glanced at the corpses on the ground, then at Iwagakure who was tied up, and suddenly smiled.

"Of course, there are quite a few enemies, so it would be great if allies were willing to help."

"Please wait a moment while we handle the body."

He waved his hand behind him, and the five people behind him began to deal with the corpses at the same time. Shuji ignored them and continued to communicate with Kazema in front of him while keeping an eye on the Sand Villagers behind him.

"Mr. Kazemaki, do you have an approximate figure for the size of the Iwagakure ninja force that invaded the Land of Rivers?"

"The exact number is unknown, but it's at least five standard squads, but Shuji..." He glanced at Shuji again, who was very young, "...the team led by the Jonin has already eliminated two squads."

Hongdou walked towards the three rough stone coffins, looking at the dark liquid seeping out and the shapeless outlines inside, and muttered under her breath, "Tsk, what a tragic death..."

His movements as he handled the corpse carried a ruthless, almost cathartic force, slamming the broken rocks down and kicking up a cloud of dust.

A Sand Village ninja standing next to the prisoners caught a glimpse of Anko's movements out of the corner of his eye. His brow furrowed almost imperceptibly, but he then turned to the Iwa Village ninja bound on the ground as if nothing had happened. He crouched down, seemingly to carefully examine the ninja tool pouches and headbands on their bodies.

"Understood." Xiu Si seemed not to notice these subtle movements and nodded to Feng Juan. "Let's go, there's still a long way to go."

Genma's gaze briefly met Shuji's, and he mumbled a "hmm" while keeping the senbon in his mouth completely still.

He nudged Namiya Raido lightly with his elbow, seemingly unintentionally, and then glanced quickly at Deivashi.

Lei Tong tightened his grip on the black blade, while Deivashi nodded almost imperceptibly.

Seeing that the Konoha ninjas had finished cleaning up the scene, Kazema spoke up: "Please follow me. Our base is just ahead. Let's go there to rest for a while." This time, Shuuji took the initiative to walk at the front of the group, with Anko and Itachi closely following behind on either side.

Genma, Raito, and Vashi tacitly fell to the back of the group.

The Sand Village's so-called temporary base was indeed not far; at a ninja's pace, it only took a few minutes to approach a depression backed by a huge rock wall. A dozen or so tents blending into the environment were faintly visible.

However, when he was less than a hundred meters from the camp entrance, Shuuji stopped without warning.

The wind demon leading the way, along with the Sand Village ninja he was leading, stopped abruptly and turned around, as if a pause button had been pressed.

The two Iwagakure prisoners who were originally bound by ropes have now broken free of their bonds. The ninja whose wrist was broken can now move his hands freely and is coldly staring at the Konoha people.

The Sand Village ninjas silently dispersed, forming a loose semi-encirclement, their kunai and shuriken gleaming coldly.

The atmosphere suddenly plummeted to freezing point, and the dry wind in the canyon whipped up fine sand, making a wailing sound.

Kazemaki stood at the front of the encirclement, the feigned politeness on her face completely vanishing: "Jonin Shuji, why don't you continue to follow?"

Shuji's gaze swept calmly over the loosened prisoners, the scattered Sunagakure soldiers, and the nearby camp.

"If we get to this point, we've reached the point where we need to go any further. To go any further would be to underestimate you."

Why would Sunagakure betray its alliance with Konoha?

Feng Juan smiled enigmatically: "The claim of betraying the alliance is quite serious. We only intend to complete the mission together with Konoha as allies of Sunagakure."

“That would be great, but if it’s just you guys, it would be better to surrender,” Shuuji suggested.

He wasn't oblivious to the anomaly; he even placed the Genma Squad at the back, preparing for a retreat.

However, it is necessary to confirm that Sunagakure and Iwagakure may have conspired to ambush Konoha ninjas here.

This involves the security of the entire western front.

According to his memory, Sunagakure and Konoha were allies until the Konoha Crush plan.

What's going on now...?

Xiu Si's words made Feng Juan's sneer even stronger.

The young Jonin calmly stated, "The ambush team consisted of one Jonin and seven Chunin. Ah, not to be overly contemptuous, but if I or any of my comrades unintentionally killed a Jonin, please let me know."

"After all, this is quite an achievement."

"If I'm not mistaken, your team consists of you and another Jonin from Iwagakure, while the rest are Chunin."

"So, would you like to consider it..."

"You ignorant fools!" Kaze roared angrily. "That's precisely why we can't stand you Konoha folks!"

"We chose this place on purpose just to save ourselves some trouble! You little brat! Who do you think we are!"

"Open your eyes and see clearly! The combined forces of Iwagakure and Sunagakure are enough to crush Konoha!"

"Your doomsday begins now!"

(End of this chapter)