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The ANBU ninja was startled. Haori had spotted the enemy, but they hadn't found anything. But they didn't doubt Haori's words. Each ninja had their own unique strengths. As an ANBU ninja, he wouldn't underestimate any ninja just because they were young.
Not underestimating any ninja was the first creed of the ANBU. Those who didn't follow this creed were no longer in this world.
"I'll take care of them." He was the captain of the ANBU. He quickly made his decision.
"No," Haori continued to communicate with the ANBU using hand signals. "You continue to stay vigilant. There may be other undiscovered enemies. As for those in the woods… I'll deal with them."
The ANBU hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement. He didn't forget that his primary mission was to protect the Nine-Tailed Jinchūriki, and the secondary mission was to protect the medical ninjas. As for killing the enemy, that wasn't part of the mission.
He left taking down the enemy to Haori alone. This wasn't because he trusted Haori's attack power. It was because it didn't matter if Haori died.
That was the truth.
Haori didn't know the ANBU's thoughts. He quickly disappeared into the darkness and walked towards the enemy's location.
According to his perception, the four enemies weren't clustered together. In enemy territory, they were very alert. The four were hiding in four different places, which gave Haori a chance to defeat them one by one.
As he walked, Haori put on his blank mask.
It was truly a blank mask. There were only two holes for the eyes. The mask didn't have any patterns.
As he walked, Haori began to speak in a low voice.
The night was very dark. Although his voice was very low, because of the wind direction, what he said could be clearly heard in the Konoha camp.
"The bell of the Gion Shoja temple rings…"
"Telling us of the impermanence of all things…"
"The flowers of the twin sal trees have faded…"
"Showing us that all evil must be cut down…"
"Good evening, everyone."
"Konoha's genin, Shiraishi Haori, reporting…"
(ShixT9: damn is dude going to use Domain Expansion or Banka?)
The shadows were dense in the woods, but Haori's eyes had quickly adjusted to the darkness.
He moved silently to within about 20 meters of one of the enemies.
Perhaps the enemy didn't think they had been exposed yet. The ninja hiding there remained motionless.
"Sure enough, they're not Konoha ninjas."
He continued to move quietly, his distance from the enemy increasing instead of decreasing. He reached a tree before reaching into the ninja tool bag behind him and taking out a kunai and three shuriken.
Then, without hesitation, he exerted force with his wrist. The three shuriken were thrown out.
In the silent night, the sound of the projectiles cutting through the air was obvious. But the night also provided more favorable cover. When the first enemy didn't immediately understand the direction of the attack, it meant that he wouldn't have the chance to understand it in his lifetime.
The three shuriken hit him directly in the face, pierced his neck, and another pierced his chest!
"One down," Haori counted silently.
After taking down the first enemy, Haori didn't even look up. He threw the kunai towards his upper side.
The second enemy was hiding in this tree!
The enemy heard the sound of the attack and immediately pushed aside the foliage to look at the location of the first enemy. But the moment he peeked out, he was killed by a kunai!
This was an inexperienced guy. Otherwise, he wouldn't have acted so recklessly!
Haori leaned slightly to the side. Then, with a "bang," the enemy's corpse fell beside him.
"Two down."
From the reactions of these two, it was clear that they were only genin. Experienced chūnin and jōnin wouldn't be easily caught off guard by their reactions.
This meant that at least one of the remaining two was a jōnin. A team like this wouldn't be able to infiltrate the Land of Fire without a jōnin leading them. If there were only chūnin and genin, it wouldn't be an infiltration mission it would be a suicide mission.
"One jōnin? Or two jōnin?"
Although Haori heard through his perception that his companions had possibly been killed, the remaining two didn't act rashly. They stayed in place for now.
"Good judgment. In this kind of situation, the more you move, the easier it is to be killed. Nighttime is advantageous for both sides… But that's only true if there's no sensory ninja!"
At this point, Haori didn't need to hide himself anymore!
Bright lightning flashed in Haori's palm, revealing his location along with a piercing sound.
In the darkness, he was as obvious as a target.
Almost simultaneously, several shuriken flew towards Haori! But it was too late. Just by using Chidori Flow, Haori's speed could increase to four or five times its original level.
Haori's body moved with an afterimage and rushed under another large tree. Then, with his lightning-charged palm, he slammed into the tree!
Lightning effortlessly pierced through the tree, which was more than 40 centimeters in diameter, and then pierced the heart of the ninja hiding behind the tree!
Haori's entire arm was buried in the tree. Lightning turned the pierced part into charcoal, but he felt a wet sensation at his fingertips. The air was filled with the smell of blood.
Haori knew that his palm had pierced the enemy's body.
But he wasn't satisfied.
"Was I wrong?"
Haori frowned. He had been hoping to take out the enemy's jōnin with this lightning strike. But the fact that his arm had pierced the tree, and the enemy's body had only moved a few centimeters, showed that it wasn't a jōnin. If it were a jōnin, he should have at least avoided being hit in a vital spot.
Even though it was lightning fast, a jōnin should have been able to dodge that.
After taking out two genin and one chūnin, Haori didn't relax at all. He knew that the enemy's jōnin was about to attack!
The enemy saw that Haori's arm was stuck in the tree. He couldn't pull it out. They would definitely choose to attack at this moment.
Sure enough! A long sword pierced down towards Haori's forehead!
Perhaps this jōnin was sacrificing their own chūnin in order to take out Haori, who was an unknown enemy!
This was a trap that Haori had intentionally created. How could he not take advantage of it?
Honestly, he didn't have confidence in fighting a jōnin head-on. But he wasn't sure he could take out a jōnin in an opportunity he had created.
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