Konoha: The Absolute Justice of the Uchiha.

Chapter 490 Wind-Eroded Red Rock

He won't die.

"Father! Father!!"

The rescued little boy ran out from behind the rock wall, crying, and threw himself into the arms of the middle-aged businessman whose face was covered in blood.

The middle-aged businessman, trembling, reached out his freed hands and hugged his son tightly, wailing loudly.

The other two surviving merchants collapsed to the ground, frantically kowtowing to the three young Konoha ninjas in gratitude: "Thank you, ninja masters! Thank you, Konoha sirs! We will never forget your life-saving grace!!"

Lu was a little embarrassed by the scene and scratched the back of his head: "Oh, uncles, please get up, please get up. It was nothing, we are Konoha ninjas, protecting the trade route is our duty—ouch!"

Before he could finish speaking, Lu was lightly tapped on the back of the head by a hard wooden cane.

Lu jumped up, clutching his head: "Who dares to ambush this tactical mastermind?! Teacher Chi Quan!"

Before anyone knew it, Chi Quan had already walked through the billowing black smoke, leaning on his cane, and slowly walked to the center of the battlefield.

His trench coat swayed slightly in the wind and sand, and his gold-rimmed glasses were spotless. He looked as neat and clean as if he had just stepped out of a teahouse.

The three boys immediately stopped laughing, straightened their backs, and stood properly with their hands at their sides.

Chi Quan did not look at the weeping merchants, nor at the scattered gold coins and goods not far away.

He slowly walked to the bald, rogue ninja who was lying on the ground, clutching his ruptured knee tendon and groaning in pain, and knelt down in front of him.

Chi Quan extended two fingers and gently pressed them on the incision behind the bald, muscular man's right knee.

"The incision was smooth and six millimeters deep, precisely severing the attachment points of the long heads of the semitendinosus and biceps femoris muscles, while avoiding the popliteal artery and vein deep in the popliteal fossa."

Chi Quan stood up and turned his gaze to Black Crow: "The angle at which he drew his sword was even more decisive than when we practiced in the training ground."

However, when you slide in, your left heel slides excessively laterally on the gravel, causing the blade to deviate by 0.3 millimeters in the last millimeter of the cut.

If the tendon tissue of this target is 20% thicker than normal, this one cut will not be able to completely sever the kinetic chain.

Black Crow bowed slightly: "Yes, teacher."

Next time, I will estimate the target's skeletal and muscle density in advance.

Then, Chi Quan turned around and walked to the rock cell that was tightly sealed by hardened rock slabs. He gently tapped the rock surface three times with his cane.

"The thickness is uniform, and the chakra penetration is sufficient." Chi Quan looked at Hui Mei, "But when you sealed the top ventilation hole, the ventilation cross-sectional area you reserved was only five square centimeters."

The two people inside have inhaled a large amount of smoke, and their respiratory mucosa is already damaged. At this rate of ventilation, they will suffer brain death from carbon monoxide poisoning and hypoxia before you finish the interrogation.

Hui Mei's expression changed slightly, and she lowered her head in annoyance: "I'm sorry, teacher. I was so focused on preventing them from retaliating with poison needles that I forgot to calculate the air volume and oxygen consumption rate inside the rock cell."

"Now double the size of the ventilation openings," Chi Quan said calmly.

"Yes!" Huimei immediately formed hand seals, and the gap at the top of the rock cage silently widened, and the coughing and panting of two rogue ninjas came from inside.

Finally, Chi Quan's gaze fell on Lu, who seemed somewhat guilty.

Lu shrank back, chuckled dryly, and said, "Teacher—my calculations for the explosion angle and shockwave of my silent detonator should be accurate, right? I guarantee not a single hair on the hostage's head was burned!"

"There's no problem with the mechanics of the explosion," Chi Quan said, looking at Lu. "But the knot you used to secure the detonator to the hollow stone marrow was a standard single dead knot."

In hot, dry, and windy weather, the coefficient of friction of hemp rope fibers will decrease by 15%.

"At the moment those two stone marrows struck the top of the carriage, one of the detonating tags slightly slipped, causing the explosion's center to shift five centimeters to the left."

Chi Quan adjusted his glasses, his gaze behind the lenses calm as still water: "If it weren't for Hui Mei's swift replacement of the rock prison, the splashing..."

Burning wood splinters had already struck the hostage on the head.

Lu's smug expression froze completely, cold sweat poured down his face, and he swallowed hard, still shaken: "I—I'll definitely use a double reverse slipknot next time."

Chi Quan withdrew his gaze and slowly swept it across the three faces.

Although his words were full of nitpicking and meticulous correction of details, a hint of barely perceptible relief shone deep within his usually cold and serious eyes.

"but."

Chi Quan's tone shifted slightly, and he tapped his cane lightly on the gravel ground.

"In a sudden encounter without any intelligence support, being able to complete physiological assessment, tactical division of labor, rescue hostages without injury, and completely paralyze five rogue ninjas with rich combat experience within three minutes—as the first real combat outside the training ground, it barely passes the test."

Upon hearing the words "barely passed," Lu, Huimei, and Hei Ya finally felt their hearts settle back down. They exchanged glances, and a small smile involuntarily appeared on their lips.

Hearing the word "pass" from this devilish pathology teacher is no less difficult than getting a perfect score in the Chunin Exams.

"Don't just stand there like an idiot." Chi Quan glanced at the sky; the sun was already beginning to set, and the shadows in the canyon were growing longer. "Clean up the scene."

Huimei, you are in charge of stopping bleeding and fixing fractures for the merchant; this is your clinical work.

Black Crow used chakra wire to lock the elbows and knees of all the prisoners, and dislocated their jawbones to prevent them from committing suicide by hiding poison.

Lu, go and move the wreckage of the caravan's horses, inventory the captured supplies, and write a standard "Report on the Situation of the Sudden Encounter."

"Yes!!" The three of them immediately sprang into action with renewed vigor.

Half an hour later, the smoke and blood in the canyon were finally mostly dispersed by the strong wind.

Huimei's technique was extremely skillful. Using two flat wooden boards and thick bandages, she fixed the middle-aged businessman's fractured ribs securely and gave the frightened little boy a calming salt water solution.

Black Crow, like the most professional and cold-blooded jailer, skillfully tied the arms of the five rogue ninjas, who had been stripped of all their ninja tools, together, and cleverly dislocated their jaws. They knelt neatly at the foot of the rock wall, completely deprived of even the ability to commit suicide.

Lu Ze lay on a flat rock, biting a charcoal pencil, and wrote furiously on a piece of white paper, recording every detail of the battle, the time points, and the amount of chakra consumed.

The middle-aged merchant, holding his son, tremblingly presented a heavy leather bag to Chi Quan: "My lord Jonin—I was blind to your greatness, unaware that you are all esteemed disciples of Konoha! This small amount of gold is a token of our appreciation, please..."

Please accept it, sir!

Chi Quan didn't even glance at the leather bag, simply waving his hand dismissively: "Konoha ninjas are strictly prohibited from accepting unauthorized or uncertified payments during missions."

You are a legitimate caravan, following us with your goods and the wreckage of your wagons.

"The White Stone outpost is just 20 kilometers ahead, where joint troops from both countries are stationed."

The middle-aged businessman was so grateful that tears streamed down his face, and he repeatedly bowed and agreed.

After packing up, the group set off again.

As the sun sets, it paints the entire desolate and vast Red Rock Gobi Desert in a magnificent and dazzling crimson gold.

A long wind howled, blowing up everyone's clothes and hoods.

Five dejected rogue ninjas were led by Black Crow to one end of a rope and followed obediently in the middle of the group. Two damaged but barely manageable carriages were pushed by merchants at the back of the group.

With a dry blade of grass dangling from his mouth, Lu walked briskly forward, his hands behind his head, stepping on the rough gravel.

Although he had just gone through a fierce battle and his muscles were slightly sore from excessive tension, his eyes shone with an unprecedented confidence.

"Hey, Black Crow." Lu turned his head and nudged Black Crow's shoulder. "How much force did you use when you stabbed him in the chest with the hilt of your knife just now?"

Dao? I saw that guy's eyes almost pop out when he fell down.

Black Crow pulled his face mask tighter, his gaze fixed on the faint outline of the white outpost appearing on the horizon ahead, and calmly replied, "Forty percent."

As Teacher Chi Quan once said, blunt force trauma to the xiphoid process cartilage, with an instantaneous impact force of 30 kilograms, is enough to induce a vagus nerve reflex that inhibits the heartbeat.

Overuse can cause irreversible fractures, with fragments piercing the pericardium.

"Pervert." Lu rolled his eyes, but then grinned. "But—it was really fun."

"I spent six years in school, throwing shuriken and jumping over wooden stakes every day. I thought war was just about who could shout the loudest and whose fireball could shoot the most fiercely."

Hui Mei, walking beside him, also slightly raised the corners of her lips, her long ponytail swaying gently in the wind: "If it were just a matter of shouting and fireballs, that little boy would have been dead long ago."

Although what Teacher Chi Quan teaches is cruel and tedious, it can truly save lives when blood is actually drawn.

Walking at the very front of the group, Chi Quan held his smooth, warm wooden cane and strode steadily and calmly along the gravel path.

The wind and sand blew through his gold-rimmed glasses and ruffled his dark gray trench coat.

Listening to the three boys behind him arguing in hushed, tired yet energetic voices, a rare smile appeared on his lips.

A warm curve.

On the horizon ahead, the towering watchtower of the White Stone outpost and the flags bearing the insignia of both countries fluttering in the wind were already clearly visible in the golden light of the setting sun.

The morning at Baishi Outpost was awakened by a desolate and distant bugle call.

The morning light pierced through the fine dust that filled the sky, coating the edges of the wind-eroded rock face with a cold, bluish-gray hue.

Outside the main gate of the outpost, two Sand Village ninjas, wrapped in thick, sandy-yellow windproof cloaks and holding long iron spears, performed a crisp ninja salute to Ikezumi after verifying the Land of Fire's official seal.

"The final copy of the joint medical research document from Konoha's Izumi Special Jonin is still en route from Sunagakure headquarters." The Sunagakure Chunin on duty lifted a corner of his veil, his voice hoarse and rough. "Last night's storm blocked the Stone Ridge Pass to the north, and the Sand Camel Caravan from headquarters is not expected to arrive at the outpost until the afternoon of the day after tomorrow."

During this time, you can rest at the free market near the outpost, or stay overnight in the oasis town.

Suzuki Riku, standing behind Ikezumi, was brushing sand off his shoes with his fingers when he heard this and suddenly looked up: "Two and a half more days?! What are we going to do for the next two days? Just sit here in this rocky hut and eat dry, hard military rations every day?"

"Shut up, Lu. This is beyond our control." Hui Mei dusted off her windproof cloak, turned to Chi Quan, and asked, "Teacher Chi Quan, should we wait at the guesthouse at the outpost, or—"

Chi Quan leaned on his cane, his gaze sweeping from the towering border marker to the boundless expanse to the west, shimmering with golden light in the morning glow.

The desert sweltering in the heat, and the distant, faintly visible, dark blue-green mountain shadows.

"Since the documents haven't arrived yet, there's no need to sit idly in this stone barracks," Chi Quan said calmly, tapping his cane lightly on the hard, alkaline ground. "The ecological environment of the Land of Wind is fundamentally different from that of the Land of Fire."

The extremely dry climate, the diurnal temperature range of up to 30 degrees Celsius, the extremely low suspended humidity in the air, and the mineral-rich sand particles place drastically different physiological demands on the human body's skin and mucous membranes, blood viscosity, and thermoregulation mechanisms.

Lu blinked. "Teacher, what do you mean by that in plain language?"

"What I mean is, I'll take you to the market." Chi Quan turned around, the hem of his dark gray trench coat fluttering slightly in the wind and sand. "Let's see how the people living in this wasteland compromise with their environment on a physiological level."

While you're at it, try the local lamb.

Lu's eyes lit up instantly: "You should have said so earlier, teacher! Lamb! I'm all for it!"

Black Crow stood to one side, silently pulling his face mask up to cover his nose. His gaze swept across the vast expanse of yellow sand in the distance, and he whispered, "Teacher, should we plan our defensive and evacuation routes in advance?"

"Not today." Chi Quan glanced at him. "Put away your guarded posture, Black Crow."

Lower your shoulders and remove your hands from the hilt of the knife.

In a civilian market in a non-combat zone, your posture, radiating a sense of murderous alertness, will not bring a sense of security; instead, it will make you as conspicuous as a torch in the dark.

Black Crow paused for a moment, then relaxed his arms as instructed, letting his hands hang naturally at his sides.

Although his back remained straight, the cold, sharp edge that had lingered on the edge of the shadows for so many years finally dissipated somewhat in the morning breeze.

Traveling about five kilometers southwest from Baishi Outpost, the terrain gradually sinks, forming a huge natural basin.

As the group of four rounded a stretch of wind-eroded red rock that resembled a giant animal bone, the scene before them suddenly changed.

The desolate landscape of endless yellow sand was instantly torn apart by a surge of vibrant life.

At the bottom of the basin, a crescent-shaped pool of azure water lies quietly nestled in the embrace of sand dunes, surrounded by lush jujube trees and tall poplars.

Hundreds of flat-roofed houses, built from a mixture of earthen yellow adobe bricks and clay, are situated along the water, their exterior walls painted with white lime that reflects the dazzling sunlight.