I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 155 The harvest of diligent labor is usually not as good as the harvest of speculation.

Seeing the poisonous fog spread, Zeren's face turned extremely pale, because during this time, their Lord Hanzo had been fighting against the warriors of the Land of Iron on the northeastern border of the Land of Rain. Having not seen Lord Hanzo for a long time, they had removed their gas masks.

When fighting against Konoha ninjas, Konoha's honest and simple fighting style, which is unlike that of ninjas, means that they have no need to protect themselves from gas. In fact, in recent missions, very few of them have carried gas masks, let alone worn them.

However, to their utter surprise, they encountered Sand Ninja today. Poison is one of the Sand Ninja's important combat methods. However, Zeren's team had never fought against Sand Ninja before, since this was not their mission, so they were caught off guard.

Holding his breath, he rushed out of the poisonous fog's coverage area. Zeren took one from one of his rare subordinates who was carrying a gas mask, put it on his face, and looked at the center of the poisonous fog with an extremely grim expression.

The Sand Ninja whose face was mostly covered by a scarf did not seem to have escaped the poisonous fog.

This made Zeren wonder whether Katakuri was unafraid of the poisonous fog, or whether his original intention was to perish together with the enemy, and he committed suicide out of shame after his failure.

"You guys are really cautious and vigilant, but also just as sensitive and timid."

A voice came from within the poisonous fog. Tatsuma, disguised as a Sand Ninja, stepped out. His clothes and scarf were stained with a few purplish-black marks, but he didn't seem to care at all.

His appearance prompted Zeren to observe him closely. Soon, Zeren's expression turned increasingly grim. The purplish-black mist was not poisonous fog at all; it was clearly the toner used in the fax machine.

They were so frightened by a few tubes of carbon powder that they retreated en masse, which made many Rain Ninja feel embarrassed and angry, including Zeren. He took out a kunai and glared at Tatsuma.

"Swoosh~"

The next moment, his figure vanished, and he used an extremely skillful teleportation technique to appear next to Tatsuma. He then thrust his kunai at Tatsuma with such speed that Tatsuma could only slightly turn his neck and eyes to keep up with his movement.

However, his body was completely unable to keep up with Zeren's speed. As the kunai got closer and closer to Tatsuma's throat, Zeren could even see what this despicable guy would look like when he killed him in a second.

"You dare to harm my men while I'm still alive? Isn't that going a bit too far?"

A deep, somewhat deliberate voice rang in Zeren's ears. Even in his high-speed movement in a teleportation state, he could not stop the voice from getting closer and closer.

Danger! Zeren wanted to retreat, but his body needed a little time to react. However, the white-haired ninja wearing the Great Tengu mask seemed unwilling to give him that chance. Zeren watched helplessly as the ninja placed his hand on his elbow.

"Rip~"

The kunai that was supposed to pierce Tatsuma's neck only grazed his scarf, the sharp kunai cutting through the layers of scarf. Although he knew there was a dangerous enemy around, Zeren's gaze was still involuntarily focused on Tatsuma's face that was about to be revealed.

Zeren knew that with his strength, it was highly unlikely that he could get the ninja with the Ōtengu mask next to him to remove his mask. He also didn't know where the cat-face mask had gone. He could only focus on memorizing the face of the ninja named Katakuri.

If he survives, he will have a target to seek revenge in the future.

But when Katakuri's face was revealed, Zeren, who had seen countless scenes, couldn't help but freeze for a second.

The scar on her cheek, starting from the corner of her lip and running all the way to her ear, was a hideous, winding wound, as if her mouth had been ripped open. And this winding scar was then stitched up with ugly needle and thread.

Even so, the abnormality of Katakuri's mouth could still be seen, and his sharp, thorn-like teeth were deeply imprinted in Zeren's eyes.

Such teeth... Zeren had only ever seen them on one type of person—the Mist Ninja!

But aren't these people Sand Ninja? Could they be Mist Ninja disguised as Sand Ninja? I've never heard of them participating in this war.

Furthermore, the Land of Water, located southeast of the Land of Fire and overseas, should not come to the Land of Rain, which is northwest of the Land of Fire, if it wants to participate in the war. The Mist Ninja squad can come here, but the Mist Ninja army will not come here.

In other words, if the people in front of us are really Kirigakure ninja disguised as Sand Ninja, then their coming here is definitely not a preparation for participating in the war. So what is their purpose?

Or is it that the person in front of you is not a Kirigakure ninja, but only resembles some Kirigakure ninjas in appearance? Or perhaps they are of the same race, but grew up in Sunagakure and were trained to be a ninja?

In an instant, all sorts of doubts and guesses flashed through Zeren's mind, but before he could figure it out, the ninja who had grabbed his arm moved again.

A fierce gust of wind struck, and Zeren felt a chill run through his body, followed by endless pain. He was sent flying backward, his clothes mostly exposed.

On the exposed skin, there were wounds, from which blood was constantly gushing out.

"Bang!"

Zeren slammed his back against the trunk of a towering tree and passed out before he could even cry out in pain. The Rain Ninjas around him frantically began to treat him.

"Stop fooling around!"

Jiraiya's deliberately low voice rang out, as if he were scolding Tatsuma. Tatsuma nodded, grabbed the scattered scarf, and haphazardly wrapped it around his face. Then, several test tubes reappeared in his hand.

Jiraiya charged out again, finding the other four Rain Ninja Jonin and engaging them in a fierce battle. Although they were all Jonin, Jiraiya was clearly much stronger than these Rain Ninja Jonin.

Therefore, even against four opponents, they can be dealt with effectively, and their range of movement can be restricted.

Meanwhile, Minato, who had been roaming among the Rain Ninja disguised as Yoshikage Kira, returned to Tatsuma's side. The two gave each other a high five, as if passing the baton.

However, the test tube in Tatsuma's hand suddenly appeared in the air at that moment, and kept flying around, dodging the Rain Ninja's capture.

"It's chakra threads! It's a technique used by Sand Ninja puppeteers!"

A quick-witted Rain Ninja shouted a reminder, and Tatsuma let out a rather restrained laugh. Of course, he really wanted to laugh inside, because the more certain the Rain Ninja was, the more successful their operation would be.

As for why Tatsuma could use chakra threads? He couldn't, nor could Minato. After all, these were advanced techniques that were difficult to learn even in the Sand Village.

Minato just now acted as a go-between, using the thinnest wire to cover the rainforest area where the Rain Ninja lived.

This type of steel wire is difficult to spot with the naked eye. Even in bright light, enemies can only detect it with the help of certain lighting angles, let alone in the dim rainforest.

Furthermore, even in a large country like the Land of Fire, this kind of steel wire is extremely difficult to produce. Even the ninjas of Konoha may not have seen it before, let alone the ninjas trained in the Land of Rain.

To match the ninja's shout, Tatsuma deliberately raised his hands, and with the waving of his hands and the flicking of his fingers, the movement of the test tube became increasingly unpredictable.

Finally, under Tatsuma's strange hand gestures of six in one hand and seven in the other, the test tubes all reached the positions that Tatsuma wanted them to be in. Then, several test tubes fell from the sky and landed on the ground.

In an instant, almost all the Rain Ninjas chose to stay away from the test tubes. Only a few Rain Ninjas wearing gas masks rushed towards the test tubes as if their lives depended on it.

This is an extremely rational approach. A few people try to protect these test tubes to prevent the poison inside from leaking out, while most people try to get away as quickly as possible to avoid being affected by the poison.

Of course, this was on the premise that Tatsuma couldn't control these test tubes. Tatsuma formed the "Unfinished" hand seal and chose to detonate the explosive tags covering the test tube stoppers.

"Bang!"

After producing a large number of explosive tags to test Nawaki, Tatsuma's grasp of the explosive power of the tags was such that while he couldn't say he could increase the power, he was undoubtedly the one who knew best how to control it when it came to reducing the power.

There was no fire, but the moment the detonator exploded, it burst the test tube. The poison inside the test tube was also quickly atomized by the shockwave from the detonator. The Rain Ninja wearing gas masks could only watch helplessly as the poisonous mist engulfed them.

However, they were not too panicked, after all, they had gas masks, which were precision masks that could block out Hanzo's poison gas!

"Sizzle~"

However, the sound of tearing clothes and the distinctive pain of shards of glass embedded in their flesh made them realize that something was wrong. The surrounding poisonous mist also entered their wounds the moment they were injured, infecting them along with their blood flow.

The speed at which the poisonous fog spread far exceeded the calculations of the other Rain Ninjas. After all, Tatsuma had just used Wind Release ninjutsu in conjunction with carbon powder, giving them a false assumption about the speed at which the poisonous fog spread.

The blast wave engulfed most of the Rain Ninja, who were not foolish enough to inhale the poisonous fog. They held their breath and tried to escape, but Tatsuma, who was standing still, lowered his hands, like a conductor taking a bow.

The steel wire, which had been being pulled, became completely taut in that instant, and the rain ninjas crashed into it one after another.

The extremely thin steel wire was no match for the impact of the Rain Ninja and snapped instantly. But it was enough; although the Rain Ninja broke the wire, they were also wounded by it.

The taut steel wire, as it snapped and swayed, also scratched many Rain Ninjas.

"Thump~"

"Thump~"

"Snap!"

One by one, the Rain Ninjas whose bodies had been invaded by the poisonous fog could no longer control themselves and collapsed on the damp, sticky ground. The few remaining ninjas who had not yet been poisoned used their own methods to dispel the poisonous fog that had enveloped their companions.

A small amount of Wind Release techniques, the shockwaves from the exploding tags, and the wind generated by some special ninja tools continuously dispersed the poisonous fog. However, seeing hundreds of their comrades lying on the ground with their skin already turning purplish-black, their expressions turned extremely grim.

Jiraiya also retreated at the opportune moment. The four Jonin exchanged glances, realizing that the Sand Ninja didn't seem to intend to kill them, and decisively ordered, "Retreat!"

The remaining Rain Ninja who were still able to move quickly led their poisoned companions back to their own camp. Rain Ninjas were skilled in using poison, and naturally, they were also skilled in antidotes. As long as they returned to the camp, there was still hope.

Jiraiya and his companions did not stop them from retreating, because their operation had been a great success.

「叮~【体+463】、【速+376】、【贤+886】、【忍+476】、【印+268】，是否拾取？」

"Pick it up".

After answering in his mind, Tatsuma glanced at his system panel. Seeing that his [Ninjutsu] was about to reach 9,000 points, and his [Wisdom] and [Seal] were about to reach 8,000 points, he couldn't help but sigh. Indeed, the rewards of being cunning are much greater than those of honest labor.

Those who play tactics have dirty minds! Except for Tatsuma Sakamoto.

(End of this chapter)