Konoha's Mission Master

Nothing happened that night. Yakumo emerged from the wardrobe, his clothes slightly disheveled. He couldn't sleep in a bed and had to squeeze into the wardrobe. It gave off a feeling of...stealing.

Yakumo shook his head, and at the same time, all the shadow clones were deactivated, including the two that were keeping watch on the roof.

"Bad review, Night Raven didn't come."

Yakumo straightened his disheveled clothes in front of the mirror, then quickly cleaned himself at the washbasin. Gazing at his handsome face in the mirror, he smiled narcissistically before packing his things and heading downstairs to the inn.

After breakfast, the two set off.

The closer Yakumo got to Konoha, the more impatient he became. There was no reason for Night Raven to make a move in Konoha, so why hadn't he made his move yet?

"How about we rest by the river?" Aoyama Reiko suddenly asked as the two were already within a hundred miles of Konoha.

"Okay."

By the river, the two sat on a smooth, oval stone, with Yakumo gazing at the flowing water, lost in thought.

"What are you thinking about?" Aoyama Reiko asked with a smile.

"I'm thinking that it's not reasonable for you to slow down and delay the mission to accommodate my weaker strength, since the daimyo is in a deep sleep and his fate is unknown."

"When examining the Daimyo's body, they didn't pay attention to the head, which is the most likely source of problems... Could you be... Night Raven?"

Yakumo looked at Aoyama Reiko, his eyes darting to the river behind her, a hint of fear flashing deep within them.

"This joke... isn't very good." Aoyama Reiko stopped smiling, her face showing a hint of anger.

“Although I don’t want to analyze it this way, all the problems point to you.” Yakumo stood up and slowly drew the purple-flame short blade from his back.

"Are you serious...?" Aoyama Reiko's expression changed, and she finally stood up, took out a senbon from her ninja tool pouch and held it between her fingers, her whole body covered in bright white lightning chakra.

The seal within Yakumo's body shattered instantly, chakra surged, the four stars aligned and rotated around his wrist, and arcs of electricity flickered across his body.

Reiko Aoyama lunged at Yakumo with a senbon needle, but Yakumo unleashed a four-star alignment that blasted into the river behind Reiko Aoyama.

At the same time, Reiko Aoyama pressed down on the stone with one hand and instantly turned around, while the senbon, wrapped in lightning chakra, shot towards the river behind her.

"Water Release: Water Formation Wall".

The night crows hidden in the river quickly formed hand seals, and a two-meter-high wall of water rose up in an attempt to block the two people's attack.

When the thousand sticks collided with the water wall, they burst into a moment of lightning before losing kinetic energy and sinking to the bottom of the river. However, the combined power of the four stars aligning pierced through the water wall, and also pierced through the body of the night crow.

"Luckily, we have good chemistry." Yakumo sighed.

"Your eyes are practically glued to the river..."

On the other hand, the raven's pierced body turned into liquid and merged with the river water; what had just been pierced was merely its water clone.

Yakumo and Aoyama Reiko stood back to back, wary of the enemy's attack. A few minutes earlier, when he was sitting on the rock, he felt a pair of cold eyes sweeping over him. Finally, relying on his senses, he determined the enemy's location.

But that location was very close to Aoyama Reiko, so close that if the enemy launched an attack, she wouldn't have time to react.

After Aoyama Reiko spoke, he deliberately talked to distract Night Raven while secretly conveying information to Aoyama Reiko with his eyes. Fortunately, the two were quite in sync.

"A water-type ninja who has mastered extremely advanced concealment techniques..." Reiko Aoyama whispered to Yakumo.

"Let's move away from the river little by little; he definitely won't let us return to Konoha."

"Okay." The two of them, back to back, cautiously headed away from the river.

One step... two steps... three steps!

"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"

The enemy, as expected, lost their composure.

The river water converged into a giant water dragon, which soared into the air and crashed into the two of them. At the same time, the night crow, under the cover of the water dragon, rushed towards the two of them.

"Ninja Art: Earthly Needle!"

As Yakumo's hair grew longer, it wrapped around their bodies. At the same time, Yakumo pulled Aoyama Reiko back quickly to avoid the range of the Water Dragon Bullet.

"Water Release: Water Chaos Waves!"

The water dragon exploded in mid-air, then instantly coalesced into a waterspout, continuing to chase the two. Dense water droplets slammed into the defense formed by the Earth Needle like bullets.

"Sister Qingshan, you should step aside first, I'll take care of him..."

With a burst of power from his right hand, Yakumo flung Aoyama Reiko out of the waterspout's range. Yakumo stared at the night crow, then suddenly exerted force with both legs, creating two indentations in the grass beneath his feet. The purple flames in his hands erupted with intense white light, and in a very short instant, he unleashed a series of dense sword shadows, forcefully tearing the waterspout apart. He then surged upstream against the raging torrent!

"Water Release: Water Dragon Explosive Bite!"

Night Raven stood in the center of the waterspout, quickly forming hand seals. Two water dragons with gaping maws roared and charged towards Yakumo. At the same time, Night Raven stepped on the water and moved forward, his feet already in a swamp.

As the water dragon Yakumo's armor-like hair spread out, it began to grow back, resembling vines that gradually wrapped around the two ferocious water dragons.

"The Lion's Mane Technique!"

The immense power sliced ​​the two water dragons to pieces, and then all the hair danced in mid-air like a venomous snake or python searching for its prey.

"Water Release: Water Entanglement!"

Several water ropes, each as thick as an index finger, sprouted from the river beneath Yakumo's feet and slowly coiled upwards.

"bump!"

A dazzling white light appeared on its body, directly scattering the water rope. At the same time, the sky full of black hair bound the night raven, and then shattered into liquid in the next moment.

"Fog burial".

Yakumo formed hand seals, and a thick mist spread out, shielding the enemy's senses, suppressing their speed, and also serving as his own invisible scout.

Black hair coalesced into a spear, which suddenly thrust out. At the same time, Yakumo unleashed a four-star combo. Under the double attack, Night Raven immediately used Body Flicker Technique to dodge, but the black spear was always there, and he could only dodge. The most deadly thing was the four-star combo, which was incredibly fast but completely inconspicuous.

"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"

A massive amount of liquid surged towards Yakumo like a torrent. He quickly gathered his black hair, gripped the purple flames in his hands, and poured in a massive amount of chakra. He held his breath and concentrated... and instantly unleashed a crescent-shaped sword!

The torrent was cleaved by the sharp blade. Yakumo relentlessly approached Night Raven, annihilating any obstacle in his path with a single strike. As time passed, Night Raven's gaze shifted from calm to surprise. He suddenly felt as if nothing could stop that blade until his head was severed.

"Water Release: Water Chaos Waves!"

This time, he completely stirred up the swamp beneath his feet, forming three waterspouts about ten meters high. At this moment, he no longer cared whether Konoha would notice.

"Are you Night Raven?" Yakumo asked loudly through the waterspout.

“I am the Raven,” the man in black replied, his hands still forming hand seals, or rather, his answer itself was a delaying tactic.

When he finished forming the hand seals, the previously accumulated water tornado combined with the newly born gale to form a new ninjutsu, and the surrounding sky became even darker, as if a natural disaster had struck!

Chapter 52 Slaying the Tornado with a Blade

The three tornadoes formed the perfect defense; the transparent gales stung the skin like sharp swords, making one instinctively want to stay away.

But the three tornadoes released a terrifying gravitational pull, as if to drag people into the storm and then tear them to pieces. Faced with this terrifying gravity, he could not retreat.

This feeling was similar to a game he used to play, where every time the protagonist walked over a brick, that brick would fall into lava.

At this point, the protagonist loses the right to retreat. Even if there is a big BOSS with hundreds of thousands of HP in front of him, he can only grit his teeth and charge forward!

"I don't care if you're a night crow or a raven..."

"You're dead... I said..."

This storm provides the best cover, preventing Aoyama Reiko from seeing what's going on inside, so he doesn't need to hold back.

The transparent wind blades attacked, but vanished before Yakumo, as if some unknown force had devoured them.

That's chakra of Kage level substance!

With a roar of lightning, the flame-like patterns on the blade seemed to come alive, making the entire blade look like a burning purple flame.

Water splashed across the blade, revealing a subtle, almost imperceptible curve to the purple flames, giving it a delicate yet deadly appearance.

Swing the sword! Swing the sword! Swing the sword!!

Advancing forward, the attacks were fierce and brutal, forming a dense net of blades, filling the entire space with a chilling atmosphere.

He pushed forward step by step into the raging tornado, gradually increasing his speed as he adapted to the surge in chakra. His body became lighter and more agile, and his attacks became more powerful and forceful. Yakumo roughly estimated that he could sustain the battle for about forty minutes.

Finally, he broke through the thick wind wall and faced the black-clad Night Raven. Their eyes met, and in an instant, Yakumo moved, raising his purple flame.

"drink!"

With a soft shout, Yakumo pointed the purple-flamed blade straight at Night Raven's chest. He began to charge forward rapidly, his entire body accelerating like an arrow released from a bow... until he left behind a dense trail of afterimages.

Fast, extremely fast!

A gust of wind swept past his sides, leaving a thin purple trail in mid-air, like a sharp spear piercing through all obstacles in his path. In a flash, their weapons clashed, unleashing a deafening roar.

The raging water tornado slowly dissipated out of control, and the catastrophic pressure dissipated at the same time. The previously suppressed dense fog began to gather and churn, and Yakumo withdrew his chakra and began to wield his sword again.

The coordination of footwork, breathing, and sword techniques—this was a secret technique honed by the Hatake family for hundreds of years—unleashed its ferocious nature in Yakumo's hands at this moment.

Night Raven's swordsmanship was formidable, honed through hundreds of life-or-death battles. His skill was dangerous and sharp, like that of a swift and cunning assassin. However, he encountered an even stronger opponent and was completely crushed after a few clashes.

He could only use ninjutsu to keep the distance between them, but he was quickly caught by Yakumo. In this life-or-death struggle, his lack of combat experience was being rapidly made up for.

"Fog burial".

The mist, which had been suppressed by the waterspout, rolled and spread across the entire battlefield again. The Night Raven's attack speed became slowed down in the mist, and Yakumo seized the opportunity to hit the enemy repeatedly.

The sword shadows were chaotic and numerous. The two quickly separated, only to collide again in the next second. The only sound in the world was the howling wind.

"Boom!" "Boom!"

Night Raven throws out a kunai with an explosive tag attached. Yakumo will only temporarily retreat to avoid the range of the explosive tag, which gives him time to inject the forbidden drug.

Blood vessels are congested, and the corners of the eyes are red.

The calm water surface was disturbed again. Eight-part hand seals created two shadow clones, which used the Four Stars Alignment to suppress Night Raven's hand seals from a distance of several dozen meters away.

As long as the thick fog remains, the alignment of the four stars is as precise as if it were equipped with an automatic navigation system, always able to interrupt the Night Raven's hand seals. When a ninja loses the ability to form hand seals, their strength is reduced by six-tenths.

"bump…!"

One of Yakumo's clones was dealt with by Night Raven. Yakumo then created three more shadow clones by forming hand seals again after creating distance.

The night crow panted heavily, gazing at Yakumo.

He was doomed to die; it was only a matter of time.

He was thinking about how to take the enemy away...

Just then, a strand of black hair suddenly emerged from beneath Night Raven's feet and tightly wrapped around his ankle. Yakumo's speed suddenly increased, and he slashed Night Raven's throat with a single blow. The purple flames spun and changed direction, then viciously pierced Night Raven's heart.