Chapter 90: Carnage
Chapter 90: Carnage
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A group of over ten Anbu ninjas, clad in black robes and masks, swiftly navigated through the forest.
Konoha, or the Village Hidden in the Leaves, was established within an endless expanse of lush forest. Even after many years of development, the village still boasted an abundance of greenery.
To accommodate this, Konoha had designated numerous training grounds and established highly confidential institutions deep within the forest, hidden from the light of day.
One such infamous location was the Anbu headquarters.
The Anbu ninjas traversing the forest at this moment were acting under Danzo's orders to capture Cang Jie and those closely associated with him, including his son, colleagues, and friends.
However, before they could split into two teams to carry out their mission, an unexpected figure entered their line of sight.
"A single person approaching, identified as Cang Jie, with a 90% likelihood of resisting capture. Proceed with the capture plan immediately."
Upon recognizing their primary target, the Anbu ninjas wasted no time in assessment and sprang into action.
"Wind Release—"
The leading Anbu ninja was about to unleash their specialty wind-style jutsu.
Suddenly!
A gust of wind howled.
Before he could react, a hand clamped down on his neck.
"Too slow."
As the Anbu ninja heard these words, his neck was snapped with a crisp "crack," and his body fell limp to the ground. His eyes closed for the last time, and the final image he saw was his killer effortlessly slaughtering his well-trained comrades like a lion among sheep.
"He's definitely not Cang Jie!"
The dying Anbu ninja's eyes narrowed with suspicion and worry as he breathed his last.
And he wasn't alone. Many of his comrades shared the same thought as they met their end.
Before departing on this mission, they had all reviewed Cang Jie's profile.
He had rarely set foot on the battlefield, spending most of his time as a medical ninja at the Konoha Hospital. Even his recent rise to fame was due to his expertise in medicine.
The person before them, decisive and ruthless, bore little resemblance to the profile.
Initially, the Anbu ninjas were confident in their ability to capture the target with ease.
But now, as they witnessed their comrades falling one after another, unable to withstand even a single exchange with "Cang Jie," it became clear that the person's strength far exceeded their expectations and was beyond what their team could handle. The remaining Anbu ninjas, fearless in the face of death, nonetheless abandoned their futile efforts and turned to flee.
Scorching blood splattered across the sky, with a few drops staining the thick trunk of a nearby tree, starkly vivid against the bark.
Tossing aside the ninja sword in his hand, the Anbu ninja standing next to the tree, his neck bleeding profusely where a hand had been clamped moments ago, began to slump downward. However, instead of pursuing and finishing off the escaping ninjas immediately, Hui Yi Xuan Yue casually followed at a leisurely pace, trailing behind them.
Zhong Shan Feng was among those fleeing in the front.
Having narrowly escaped the previous calamity, he turned back, his demeanor calm as he analyzed the situation: "The person suspected to be Cang Jie intends to use us as a diversion. His true destination is the Anbu base."
A comrade beside him said in a cold voice, "We must never give the enemy what they want."
"I understand," Zhong Shan Feng nodded. "I'll try to hold him off. No matter the outcome, the rest of you head in the opposite direction. Anbu reinforcements will arrive soon."
With a new plan swiftly devised, one of the Anbu ninjas made the ultimate sacrifice, using a jutsu to distract "Cang Jie" and buy time for their escape.
"Are you deliberately changing your route because you know my intentions?"
Although Ali had copied a lot of information about Konoha from Zhong Shan Hai, it did not include the location of the Root base.
As the deepest and darkest part of Konoha, Root was something that could never be brought to light. Aside from the true higher-ups of Konoha, even someone with Zhong Shan Hai's status was not allowed to pry too much into their affairs.
Of course, even if he had the ability, Zhong Shan Hai's cautious nature would prevent him from delving into Root matters.
"Looks like I'll have to find out for myself."
Regretting that he had killed too quickly earlier, Yuyi Xuan Yue sped up, no longer intending to play cat and mouse with the remaining Root ninjas.
Boom!
As he passed by a large tree, a hidden explosive tag trap suddenly detonated from the shadows.
Yuyi Xuan Yue emerged from the thick smoke unscathed and unfazed, his pace unchanged as he prepared to continue on his way.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
More kunai knives came flying from all directions.
Yuyi Xuan Yue, not wanting to damage his clothes further, easily intercepted them and casually flicked the kunai in his hand, not even bothering to look as he impaled something that was approaching from behind, pinning it to a tree further back.
"Got it!"
The one pinned to the tree was a cursed puppet intentionally left behind by Zhong Shan Feng.
At this moment, his soul was in the puppet, and his usually calm demeanor was stirred with excitement.
"Heart Transfer Puppet Curse Seal Technique!"
One of the secret techniques of the Zhongshan clan.
By having the cursed puppet attack the enemy, the technique would activate as soon as the puppet was struck by the enemy.
The enemy's soul would be sealed within the puppet, and the caster's soul would enter the enemy's body.
Zhong Shan Feng was about to control Yuyi Xuan Yue's body, even if it meant sacrificing his own life to force him to commit suicide, regardless of the fact that his own body would suffer the same fate.
But the next second, his expression suddenly froze.
"My technique... it failed?"
He realized that his soul was still inside the puppet.
And "Cang Jie" calmly turned his head to look at him and said indifferently, "I have experienced the cycle of life and death, my soul traveling from the underworld to the mortal realm, tempered by countless trials. How could your technique possibly pull me out?"
If the opponent had used an illusion technique on the level of the Mangekyo Sharingan to confuse him, his incomplete soul might have fallen for it.
But to try and directly yank his soul out of his body, Yuyi Xuan Yue could only say that the other party was thinking too highly of themselves.
"Cycle of life and death? Underworld to the mortal realm? Are you Yuyi Xuan Yue?!?"
Hearing "Cang Jie" say this, Zhong Shan Feng's eyes narrowed in shock as he realized the truth.
If it was indeed as he suspected, then Root and Danzo were in grave danger!
"You..."
Zhong Shan Feng wanted to say something more, but he could not.
As the puppet crumbled, his soul dissipated along with it.
This overwhelmingly powerful soul technique, which forcibly swapped the soul's positions, would bring about severe backlash if it failed.
Without Yuyi Xuan Yue doing anything, facing the other's soul was like Zhong Shan Feng crashing into a mountain with his own head, and now he was as dead as he could be.
Yuyi Xuan Yue glanced at the scene and continued his pursuit of the remaining Root ninjas.
(End of Chapter)
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