Naruto: Scourge of the Ninja World

A single slash cut through the yellow sand, splitting it as easily as paper.

The four Sunagakure shinobi instantly showed expressions of fear. This combination technique was something the four of them had practiced for a long time.

It had always been effective, yet today it was so easily dismantled.

And the method of breaking it was so simple—just one slash.

"Don't just stand there! Do you know who he is?"

"He's the White Fang of Konoha! Treat him like the Hokage!"

"Puppet Technique: Thousand-Needle Puffer!"

Kemaki's angry voice rang out immediately.

Four armored puppets activated in an instant, and sharp spikes erupted all over their bodies.

The already large, round puppets looked rather like pufferfish from a distance.

But don't underestimate these spikes. As a puppeteer, Kemaki wasn't just skilled with puppets—he was a master of poison.

All of those spikes were laced with his signature poison.

"Don't let those puppets touch you!"

"Chizan, Heichi, fall back now!"

Sakumo Hatake charged forward once more with his blade, followed closely by Tsuchi and Aoyama Ken.

"Earth Style! Fist of Stone!"

"The sand won't let me play? Fine! I'll make my own rocks!"

Tsuchi's fists were instantly encased in heavy rock, and without any flashy movements, he threw a punch directly into one of the armored puppets.

The solid hit sent the pufferfish puppet flying.

"Hahaha, Tsuchi, you're killing me!"

"Water Style: Surging Palm!"

Aoyama Ken's approach to dealing with the puppets was much gentler. He raised his right hand—without even forming hand seals.

A jet of water gushed from his palm, using water pressure to hold off the puppet.

At the same time, Gekko Chizan, Yamanaka Heichi, and the others turned and ran.

"Don't let them escape!"

"Send some men after them!"

"Our reinforcements are on the way! Don't be afraid! Hold them off!"

"Puppet Technique: Needle Shower!"

Seeing the enemy trying to flee, Kemaki hurled one of his puffer puppets toward Gekko Chizan's group.

At the same time, the spikes on the puppet exploded out like thousands of senbon, covering the area around Chizan and the others.

"Keep running!"

"Eight Trigrams: Air Palm!"

Hyuga Kōjin spun around and activated his Byakugan, taking in all the incoming spikes.

In the next second, several shockwaves burst into the air, shattering all the spikes coming their way.

It was the Hyuga Clan's Eight Trigrams Air Palm—a rare long-range attack technique that released vacuum shockwaves using the Byakugan's precision, and it packed quite a punch.

"Don't run!"

Besides the shinobi holding off Sakumo, six others broke off to chase Chizan and his group.

Seeing their leader's attack blocked, they launched their own offensive.

Countless shuriken and kunai flew through the air.

Some were even rigged with explosive tags.

"Damn!"

"There's too many of them!"

Hyuga Kōjin, who had volunteered to hold them off, suddenly found himself under overwhelming pressure.

Just as he prepared to defend, a figure appeared behind him.

"Go!"

"Water Style: Water Formation Wall!"

Spurred by chakra, a column of water erupted from the yellow sand, blocking all incoming attacks.

Boom!

The explosive tags hit the water wall and detonated instantly.

The resulting steam quickly enveloped the battlefield.

The newcomer was Aoyama Ken. As soon as he saw the enemy giving chase, he had rushed over to assist.

Though he missed the first wave, he had arrived just in time for the second.

"Aoyama!"

"No time for talk! Run! Take the kunoichi back, that's the mission!"

Seeing the determination on his comrade's face, Hyuga Kōjin felt his eyes sting with emotion.

But the mission came first. He clenched his teeth, turned, and ran.

"You Sunagakure bastards, I'll play with you myself!"

Aoyama Ken drew a kunai and charged headlong into the enemy. One versus six—he showed no fear!

Gekko Chizan glanced back at the scene, feeling a surge of emotion in his heart.

This era's shinobi really did value missions over their lives.

Sigh… and it was precisely because of this that, in the original story, Sakumo Hatake was later vilified for prioritizing comrades over a mission.

Thanks to Aoyama Ken's support, Chizan and the others quickly fled the battlefield.

He didn't know how long they had been running, but he felt utterly exhausted.

Come on, he was carrying someone, and holding them tightly to avoid dropping them.

"Up ahead is an abandoned ruin. It's one of the landmarks along the escape route we planned with Sakumo-sama. Let's rest there."

Hyuga Kōjin had kept his Byakugan active the entire way, and he soon spotted a relatively safe location.

Everyone nodded and rushed toward the ruins.

Leaning against a broken wall, Gekko Chizan instinctively rubbed his legs.

He usually flew when he traveled. Running this far in one stretch? It was killing him.

"I wonder how Sakumo-senpai and the others are doing…"

"Sigh..."

The medical-nin Nozuki looked gloomy.

"They'll be fine. Sakumo-sama's strength rivals the Hokage. His swordsmanship is unmatched. A few Sunagakure shinobi won't be able to harm him."

Hyuga Kōjin was full of admiration for Sakumo Hatake and had absolute confidence in him.

"That's enough talking. Let's rest first. Once we've recovered, we keep running."

"We can't waste time in this desert."

"I'll take the first watch. Kōjin, switch with me later."

Night continued on. None of them had expected that just moments ago, they were preparing for a mission, and now they were on the run, task completed.

Change always comes faster than expected. All they could do was accept it.

Gekko Chizan had long closed his eyes to rest, but he wasn't sleeping.

Instead, he was using a jutsu to sense Sakumo Hatake's position.

After all, Sakumo still carried the kunai engraved with his tracking seal, allowing Chizan to detect his movements.

Suddenly, he felt the kunai moving rapidly.

He snapped his eyes open.

"Kōjin! Nine o'clock!"

"Check if someone's coming!"

Chizan's sudden shout startled the group. Hyuga Kōjin, who was just about to nap, instantly snapped to attention and activated his Byakugan to scan the area.

One glance, and he spotted something.

"Someone's there! Wait—"

"Nozuki! Get ready, someone's injured!"

Through his vision, Sakumo Hatake was seen running toward them at speed, carrying Aoyama Ken on his back.

Soon, Sakumo and the others reached them.

His entire body was stained with blood, but his breathing was steady—it was clear none of the blood was his.

However, Aoyama Ken was in bad shape.

He was slung over Sakumo's back, with kunai and shuriken embedded in his back.

Tsuchi also looked pretty rough, his body covered in wounds—but they were mostly surface injuries.

"Sakumo-sama!"

"Quick, lay Aoyama down. I'll treat him!"

"Tsuchi, wait over there. Once I'm done with Aoyama, I'll tend to you."

Nozuki immediately got to work. As a medical-nin, healing her comrades was her duty.

"Sakumo-sama, are you okay?"

Yamanaka Heichi approached Sakumo and noticed his grim expression.

Sakumo shook his head.

"Nozuki, you'll need to hurry. There are still pursuers."

Everyone was slightly shocked. More pursuers?

"Kemaki and the others were never a threat to us."

"Sakumo-sama took out six of them in minutes."

"But just as we were about to retreat, that old hag Chiyo showed up."

"Ten puppets! Damn it, if I hadn't used rocks to block them, I'd be dead!"

"And there was this swarm of black things in the sky. Their destructive power was insane—even my stone defenses couldn't stop them."

Tsuchi grabbed the water flask Chizan handed him and gulped it down.

Clearly, the recent battle had shaken the big man.

"Black things? Sakumo-sama, was it the Third Kazekage?"

Gekko Chizan felt a jolt in his heart as he thought of the Kazekage hailed as the strongest in history.

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Pls Drop some Power Stones

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