Naruto: From Novice to Grave

Chapter 90 - Counter-Encirclement

On the edge of the battlefield where the battle had just broken out, ten Cloud Ninja of varying ages watched the gruesome deaths of their comrades below, their faces contorted with rage.

Those damned bastards from Konoha are utterly shameless.

A fair-skinned young ninja from the Cloud Ninja clan, who was familiar with the deceased, murmured, "Even Jonin Boroi was defeated so quickly? He had mastered Lightning Release Chakra Mode and had been praised by the Third Hokage. Even his adorable student—"

The leader was a strong, dark-skinned, blond-haired Cloud Ninja. He angrily punched a large tree next to him, creating a dent, and said furiously, "Looks like the other team is in trouble too. Slihi, find those damned Konoha bastards right now."

The fair-skinned, blond-haired young ninja, who had just been lamenting the death of his comrade, suppressed his grief upon hearing this, closed his eyes to sense his surroundings, and said after a few seconds, "There are no chakra fluctuations nearby; they've already left."

"Hmph! These bastards are lucky; they ran as fast as mice. Let's clean up and continue our mission."

After receiving the order, the group of Yunren began to carefully collect the remains of their companions.

However, behind a few large trees not far from them, the Konoha bastards that the Cloud Ninja were talking about were gathered together discussing tactics.

Higashino Makoto whispered, "There are definitely 10 enemies. Two of them have strong chakra reactions and are at the Jonin level. Four others have chakra levels at the Chunin level, and the remaining four are at the Genin level."

The amount of chakra he mentioned was measured according to the standard of ordinary ninjas in the ninja world, and it usually matches up, except in special circumstances.

What is a special case? For example, someone might have a low chakra level but extremely high combat intelligence, capable of unleashing the combat power of a Jonin in a short period of time, but lacking endurance.

On the contrary, the most typical example is Naruto. From a young age, his chakra reserves were enough to make Jonin envious to the point of crying in the bathroom, but in the early stages, could you say that he had the fighting power of a Jonin?

Before he mastered the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, even a Chunin could kill him.

Mizuki: "————"

Moonlight Cloud immediately devised a strategy: "I'll deal with the two Jonin. You guys quickly take care of the others and then support me."

But Higashino disagreed: "I'll do it, teacher. You guys deal with the other eight."

After analyzing the balance of power between the two sides in his mind, Moonlight Cloud agreed, "That works too, Zhen. Be careful, just hold them off while I provide reinforcements."

Uzuki Yugao asked worriedly, "Brother Zhen, are you sure? Let's stick to the plan the teacher suggested."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. But you two, stick close to the teacher and don't rush around recklessly and ruin the plan."

Moonlight Cloud said, "Don't say anything more, just believe the truth. The time is almost up. The sound of the gifts will be the signal to start the war."

Akaya and his two teammates felt that this ninja world was completely unfamiliar. Was this the legendary world of geniuses? How could someone so young have the confidence to hold off two Jonin?

Have we been eating all these years for nothing?

In the ninja world, you have to be careful when cleaning up the corpses of both enemies and comrades, because they might explode.

The Cloud Ninja were naturally aware of this, so they were very careful when they touched it.

Higashino and his crew didn't expect a simple explosive tag trap to kill anyone; only a fool would fall for that. It was just a way to distract the enemy for a moment.

Sure enough, when a Cloud Ninja was lifting the corpse of a Jonin named Poroi, he suddenly let go and jumped away. Then, with a loud "boom," Poroi was blown to pieces.

Hmm—Higashino is really not short of money; he burned extra paper money for the Cloud Ninja who died at his hands.

As soon as the explosion rang out, Higashino rushed out from the left, taking advantage of the moment when the Cloud Ninjas were distracted and angry, and aimed directly at the sensory ninja named Slihi.

He was one of the two Jonin, and he had always been confident that his sensory ninjutsu would never go wrong, but now he was panicking.

No, I sensed it all. Where did you jump out from? Are Konoha ninjas this amazing now?

Beside him, a dark-skinned ninja of similar age to Higashino saw that the person rushing out was his peer and immediately charged over with a look of hatred and cruelty.

Let me test the strength of the Konoha genin.

Slihi immediately chased after him, shouting, "No!"

But it was too late. Higashino casually struck him in the chest with a small wind blade, and in his incredulous gaze, kicked him toward the rescuer, Slihi.

Slihi hadn't even finished his ninjutsu hand seals when he was rammed into by his comrade's body. So, if you're not strong enough, don't charge in blindly, or you'll become a useless teammate.

While Higashino Shin rushed out to draw the enemy's attention, Gekko Unmi and his six companions also rushed out from the right and began to slaughter the remaining Cloud Ninja.

Standing on the tree, the strong Cloud Ninja leader glanced at the current situation and made a decision instantly: he had no choice but to grit his teeth and rescue Slishi. Relatively speaking, a special Jonin with sensory abilities was more important to the village than the others.

Reality is cruel; there can be huge differences in value between companions.

He only had time to teleport Slihi aside, avoiding the deadly wind blades, while his severely injured junior companion was sliced ​​in two.

There's no need for further words now; only by killing the Konoha ninja before us can we avenge our comrades.

After being rescued, Slihi quickly formed hand seals, and his hands gathered dazzling lightning chakra.

[Lightning Release: Lightning Spot]

The chakra in his hands transformed into dozens of small lightning balls, shooting towards Higashino Makoto with bright trails, determined to electrocute this wretched Konoha brat into charcoal.

Higashino Makoto slashed repeatedly with his short sword, and the Shadowless Sword unleashed an equal number of wind blades to shatter the incoming lightning ball. But at that moment, a dark-skinned, strong cloud ninja rushed forward.

[Lightning Release: Heavy Flow Sword]

A longsword brimming with lightning chakra slashed down from above with the powerful leaping strike of a Cloud Ninja, its swift speed carrying a violent force.

He couldn't take it. Even if Wind Release countered Lightning Release, it wouldn't work. The enemy's immense power was beyond what his small body could withstand.

Higashino Makoto quickly jumped away to dodge, but the dark-skinned, strong Cloud Ninja flipped his sword upwards and slashed at Higashino Makoto's short sword. The enormous force sent Higashino Makoto flying into the air.

Black people are known for their strength; the Cloud Ninja are indeed a bunch of brutes who love to build up their physique.

"Die, you brat!"

While Higashino Makoto was fighting the strong Cloud Ninja, Slihi suddenly jumped from a nearby tree behind him and slashed Higashino Makoto's neck with his sword.

Once you're cleaved into the air and lose your mobility, let's see how you dodge it, unless you can fly like that old man, the Tsuchikage.

Then he watched helplessly as the person in front of him suddenly disappeared, followed by a chill down the back of his neck, and his consciousness began to fade.

As he fell, looking at the figure hovering in mid-air, Slich's last thought was: You fucking can actually fly? Why didn't you say so sooner?

The strong Cloud Ninja watched as this excessively talented young genius from Konoha was about to die at the hands of his comrades, when then, things took an astonishing turn.

The opponent can move quickly and freely in the air? He's clearly a flying ninja, just like that despicable Tsuchikage. How can we possibly fight him?

There's no way to fight; the enemy has air power.

There have always been few ways to deal with flying ninjutsu in the ninja world, unless you use Dust Release.

But the guy who can use Dust Escape can also fly.

He suppressed his anger, turned and ran decisively. Today's mission was definitely going to fail, but no matter what, he had to at least bring back the brat's information.

But before he could run a few steps, he was struck back by a sword wrapped in wind-attribute chakra by the arriving Moonlight Cloud, and then hit in the back of the neck by Higashino Shinichi's Wind Finger Pistol, losing his ability to move.

The sun was high in the sky, and it was nearly noon.

In the forest, the corpses of Cloud Ninja lay strewn everywhere, while the Leaf Ninja, all wounded, sat together to rest.

From discovering the Cloud Ninja's whereabouts and rushing to provide support, to eliminating 10 Cloud Ninja and then counter-annihilating 20 more, the continuous battles left everyone exhausted.

Even Higashino Makoto was no exception. You know, he had previously unleashed a burst of dense Shadowless Swords at full power. That move was cool, but it consumed a lot of energy.

At that time, six Cloud Ninjas escaped, but there was no time to chase them down one by one. So, while they were still relatively close to being scattered, a large-scale ground-cleansing ninjutsu was used to wipe them out in one go.

Then he kept his sensory ninjutsu active at all times and fought until now, even an iron man couldn't take it anymore.

If it weren't for his enormous chakra reserves, he wouldn't have been able to hold on until now.

Just look at your two teammates and the three members of the Fang Squad, and you'll know that they're even weaker than Higashino Makoto right now, with only Gekko Yunjian in slightly better shape.

From this perspective, Higashino Shin is still considered a regular ninja, not yet at the superhuman level.