"Hurry, hurry, run!"
"You guys, go check over there-"
In the budding Otogakure, piles of construction sand could be seen everywhere. Occasionally, there will be uneven road bases lying incongruously in the middle. With chaotic and vigorous running, teams of recruited Samurai were ordered by Ninjas, rushing into suspicious areas.
"Sir, two more people passed out here!"
Someone shouted loudly, and a middle-aged Ninja leader swiftly arrived, his face twitching. Approaching the discoverer like a gust of wind, they found an ordinary residence where a couple had fainted on the bed. A quick glance allowed him to see that everything was filled with traces of being rummaged through.
"Damn it..." The middle-aged Otogakure's Ninja gritted his teeth in frustration. This was already the fifth location. If he hadn't happened to patrol the western outskirts of the village and noticed a particularly rigid and mechanical Ninja in the area, he wouldn't have known that the village had been invaded.
Thinking of the clone of that Ninja disappearing into smoke, the middle-aged Otogakure's Ninja's face flushed with embarrassment. The Ninja Village had just been established, and it was the time when they needed to give confidence to the Daimyo and the sponsors behind the scenes.
But now, they don't even know who invaded them and how long they had been lurking... How could they survive if this scandal got out?
The Samurai holding torches clamored as they crowded into the streets and alleys. Several familiar Otogakure's Ninja colleagues traversed anxiously through the night sky above. A Genin climbed over the high wall. Apparently, he hadn't mastered chakra control well, as he stumbled on the wall, and fell to the ground, rolling in the dirt.
"S-Sir..." The young Genin panted heavily and crawled to his side. He opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly, he saw the murderous look on the middle-aged Otogakure's Ninja's face, and he became submissive again.
Feeling extremely annoyed, the middle-aged Ninja waved his hand and said coldly, "Speak."
"The administrative building... has also been infiltrated!" The genin said urgently, "Sensei asked me to tell you that all the important documents on the top floor... have all been opened..."
The middle-aged Ninja felt a surge of blood rush to his head. His vision darkened for a moment, and he almost couldn't stand steadily. His steps wavered, but he steadied his mind and spoke with a trembling voice, "Are you sure?!"
'Those were the documents containing information about Daimyo and countless high-ranking officials and investors. If this information got out, the village's funding... could Otogakure still be established?'
The expression of the middle-aged Ninja was very ferocious, it's as if he wanted to eat someone. The Genin was so frightened that he dared not speak out, but he still said incoherently, "Y-Yes, sir, I'm sure."
Buzz!
A burst of Chakra-tuned sound waves suddenly erupted, sweeping in all directions. Everyone's eardrums instantly felt extremely painful. The Genin nearest to the source even fell to the ground in agony, with blood flowing from his mouth and nose.
"Who the hell is it?! I'll definitely find them and kill them!" The middle-aged Ninja cursed in frustration, completely disregarding his image.
Meanwhile, the perpetrators, whom the ninja detested so much, were mostly engaged in another massacre outside the village, while the remaining one was in a certain underground base...
Boom!
An explosion much stronger than the enraged sound wave of the middle-aged Ninja resounded through the night sky. The air flashed for a few seconds like a tripped circuit breaker, which looked like an abnormal phenomenon that gave the illusion of a great power of the universe. When the light of day dimmed, everyone turned their heads and saw a towering black smoke rising from a certain part of the village.
The flames mocked everyone as they burned brightly in front of them.
'Did the attacker detonate hundreds of Explosion Tags so wantonly?'
"Follow me!" The middle-aged Otogakure's Ninja was stunned for a moment, then he shouted loudly when he realized what was happening. Regardless of whether it was a plan to divert their attention away, his anger has overwhelmed his reason. He leaped high and rushed towards the explosion site.
Looking down from the sky, pushing through the dark clouds, the small square of Otogakure occupied a corner of the Land of Rice Fields. Within the small area, a large number of people scurried around like ants, heading towards the most conspicuous light spots.
…
At the center of the explosion.
Clattering sounds echoed as rocks and the original ground structure crumbled and fell to the ground. The air was filled with the smell of charred debris, and sparks occasionally burst out. The original underground space had been completely destroyed, with a huge opening blasted open above, allowing moonlight to filter in, only to be scattered by the burning flames.
There are almost no intact things in the room. The tables and chairs were overturned and burned, and tattered scrolls were scattered on the floor. The previously overwhelming tide of snakes was nowhere to be seen. In inconspicuous corners, perhaps a trace of organizational debris could be found.
Both Logan and Orochimaru were thrown into the rubble by the initial explosion. At this time, they slowly crawled out, seeing each other's disheveled appearance and then... staring at each other blankly.
...
Logan hadn't expected things to turn out like this. He had thrown the kunai in a moment of desperation, naturally employing the trajectory construction of the Railgun technique.
However, perhaps due to the different shape of the kunai and the coins, the energy propulsion of the electromagnetic rail was disrupted. After the kunai, which was not being in the center of the rail, was thrown, a violent explosion occurred.
The obstruction of the snake tide altered the direction of the kunai, and the kinetic energy, unable to dissipate, directly blasted through the rock between the underground space and the ground. The original Railgun had extremely strong penetration, and the kunai Logan accidentally regarded as a coin, caused the current huge commotion.
"Cough, cough..." Orochimaru, who was at the forefront of the explosion, coughed uncontrollably due to the black smoke.
Silence was broken, and the warm night wind blew into the now-blasted 'well'.
Orochimaru looked towards Logan not far away. His mask was covered in dust, but it remained intact. Right now, Orochimaru really wanted to know the face behind the mask and what technique was used just now... He had never seen it before.
'Damn it, where did Konoha get such a character?'
'Perhaps kunai can really serve as a substitute for the coins...' Logan thought in his heart, 'But if it were replaced by kunai, the electromagnetic track would need to be reconstructed, and the starting action would also change. Going from a static to a dynamic approach would greatly increase the difficulty.'
Then he put aside this thought for now, as there were more important things to do.
Although the technique had deviated, the consumption of Chakra was still real. Logan had also activated Lightning Release Chakra Mode earlier, so there was not much Chakra left in his body. He put on an imposing demeanor, walked up to the still-dazed Orochimaru, exhaled deeply, and said, "Now, can you listen to me?"
Orochimaru's eyes turned cold. This was just one of his clones, and is severely weakened in Chakra and strength. Judging from Logan's strength, Orochimaru knew this clone was no match of him, but even so, he had no intention of being intimidated.
Seeing Orochimaru remain silent and showed no sign of fear, Logan didn't bother with idle talk either. He glanced at the gaping hole above their heads, where they could see the sky and the ground, and after the echoes of the explosion faded, the faint sound of voices approaching quickly became audible.
"Orochimaru, give me the 'Sky' ring that the Akatsuki left with you."