"Why hasn't he co back after so long?"
An A ninja looked ahead at the empty desert with worry.
Mizu furrowed his brows. His heart was also full of concern, but as the captain, he couldn't show it, otherwise, it would only make the other ninjas more uneasy.
He took a deep breath and forced himself to stay calm. "We'll wait five more minutes. If we still don't see any sign of him, Shuzo and Gyoja, you two will go search."
"Yes!"
"Yes!"
Shuzo and Gyoja nodded firmly when he called their nas.
Ti ticked by, second by second.
He closed his eyes. His brows were furrowing deeper, and terrible thoughts flashed through his mind.
"Captain!"
"He's back!"
Suddenly, the excited voices of the ninjas erupted in his ears. His eyes flew open.
Riding his broom, Shiratori and Number One were rapidly approaching them. He landed steadily in front of Mizu. Number One ca to a stop behind him.
"I'm back!"
Shiratori flashed him a brilliant smile.
Mizu finally let out a deep breath of relief.
"That's great!"
"I'm glad you're safe!"
He could finally relax.
"We found Suna ninjas lying in ambush ahead, but they've all been taken care of."
"There's no more danger ahead. We can go in and set the traps now."
His voice carried a hint of excitent, and his eyes still held a childlike innocence.
But what he had done completely contradicted his lighthearted tone. The entire trap squad froze upon hearing his words.
Mizu's pupils dilated, his lips parted slightly, and he stared hard at the boy in front of him.
"You…"
"Did you kill those ambushing Suna ninjas?"
Mizu swallowed, the words extrely difficult to get out.
Shiratori nodded.
All the ninjas fixed their eyes on him.
"You killed them alone?"
He shook his head and then nodded, answering precisely, "It was Number One and my cursed spirit."
The ninjas exchanged glances.
"Thank you."
Mizu thanked him sincerely.
Seeing the gratitude in everyone's eyes, Shiratori scratched the back of his head. "You guys don't need to thank . We're comrades, right? Comrades should help each other, shouldn't they?"
[Affection detected]
[Multiple sources: 2000 points each]
[Total accumulated: 100,000 points]
[Energy transferred to Rika]
[Developnt progress: 91.6%]
"You're right! Comrades help one another!" Mizu said solemnly.
"We can't waste any more ti. The first ambush unit, which has been standing by, is still waiting on the results of our mission!"
His gaze swept across the ninjas in front of him, then he gave a firm wave of his hand. "Move out!"
"Yes!"
The voices of the group echoed in the air.
Shiratori mounted his broom and took to the skies once more.
Within the wind-eroded rock formations, a crow pecked gently at its feathers atop a stone, its dark eyes alert to every movent in the desolate desert.
Dressed in black ninja gear, the squad silently stepped into the rocky terrain.
Mizu raised his hand and made a gesture. With that silent command, all the ninjas in the trap unit imdiately sprang into action.
Shiratori stayed by Mizu's side, waiting as the other ninjas completed the task of setting the traps.
Mizu looked at him. After Shiratori had completed one impossible mission after another, he could no longer see the boy as just an ordinary ninja.
"Do you know how many camps Suna has set up between their village and the border of the Land of Wind?"
Shiratori nodded. He had seen it on the sand table in Hanzō's war tent. He even counted it on purpose at the ti: "Four."
"That's right." Mizu nodded. "Four."
His eyes turned toward the distant Suna camp at the gorge, a determined light shining in them. "As long as we take those four camps, we're already halfway to winning this war against Suna. So no matter what it costs, we must seize them."
Shiratori nodded firmly, his expression just as resolute. "Mm! I'll do my best!"
[Affection detected: Mizu 3000 points]
[Energy transferred to Rika]
[Developnt progress: 91.63%]
"Let's work hard together!"
A warm smile appeared on Mizu's usually serious face.
Shiratori nodded again.
"Once the traps are set, I want you to retreat with Shuzo and the others back to the safe zone."
"What about you?" Shiratori asked imdiately.
Mizu smiled lightly. "Ten of the trap unit ninjas will serve as bait to lure the Suna ninjas out of the camp and into our traps."
Shiratori looked him over carefully. At that mont, Mizu looked just like soone calmly prepared to sacrifice himself.
"Being bait is really dangerous, isn't it?"
Mizu didn't answer directly. He simply placed his hand on Shiratori's shoulder and said, "Every ninja's final fate is death. We're all prepared to sacrifice ourselves. To die for sothing you love, that's a kind of happiness."
"..."
Bro, you're stealing my lines now?
"But I don't want anyone to die," Shiratori said.
Mizu froze slightly, a flicker of reluctance flashing in his eyes.
For Shiratori, accepting the death of those around him still seed to be a difficult process.
But this was war. Eventually, he would have to co to terms with it. So Mizu didn't say much more.
"I've worked hard to control my cursed energy, pushed myself to learn more jutsu, even secretly learned enemy jutsu, and developed new techniques day and night…"
"I've done all this so that everyone can live!"
"I want to be able to do more on the battlefield, to reduce the danger everyone else has to face…"
Rin lowered his head, almost on the verge of tears.
"But I care so much about everyone else's lives… and yet you don't even care about your own…"
[Affection detected: Mizu 5000 points]
[Energy transferred to Rika]
[Developnt progress: 91.68%]
"Have you forgotten? My puppet can act as bait! There's no need for anyone to put themselves in danger!"
Shiratori looked at Mizu, his eyes reddening.
The ninjas who had just finished setting the traps stood silently beside them.
[Affection detected]
[Multiple sources: 3000 points each]
[Total accumulated: 150,000 points]
[Energy transferred to Rika]
[Developnt progress: 93.18%]
Hearing the conversation, the ninjas spoke up hoarsely, "One puppet isn't enough to lure out the Suna ninjas. We still need to go…"
Shiratori looked at them and asked in return, "Who said I only have one puppet?"
His sudden words once again plunged all the ninjas into silence. They wanted to speak but didn't know what to say, didn't even know how to begin.
Shock and confusion tangled together in their minds.
"What do you an?"
After a long mont, one of the ninjas finally spoke.
All the ninjas turned their eyes to Shiratori. They looked at the boy who had brought them miracle after miracle.
"It ans that Number One wasn't my only puppet. I have many more, they're just sealed in scrolls."
As he spoke, he pulled out a sealing scroll from the ninja tool pouch tied around his thigh.
The ninjas blinked, struggling to digest the news. All they could do was stare blankly at his movents. If this was real, then the surprise was simply too sudden.
Shiratori spread the scroll flat on the ground, squatted down, and ford hand seals.
Poof!
Several bursts of white smoke instantly spread before the ninjas' eyes.
Outlines began to take shape within the smoke. The desert wind howled by, quickly sweeping away the white haze. Several puppets appeared in front of the ninjas.
These puppets were dressed in neat black ninja uniforms, their faces covered by masks with only their eyes exposed.
At first glance, they looked almost indistinguishable from real people. The ninjas stared in stunned silence at the puppets before them.
If Shiratori hadn't said anything, they never would've believed these were puppets.
Mizu looked at the puppets in shock. These… these were puppets?
"Did you make these yourself?"
The ninjas still didn't quite believe these were actually puppets.
They looked nearly identical to real people.
They reached out, wanting to touch them, but afraid of damaging them with a careless hand, they hesitated.
"Yes!"
Shiratori nodded at them.
Noticing their eagerness, he generously waved his hand. "Go ahead, you can touch them."
With his permission, countless hands imdiately reached toward the puppets.
When Mizu's hand landed on the puppet's arm, he realized that it wasn't the sa as a human's.
The puppet's arm had no warmth. It felt harder than a human body, and pressing it revealed a certain springiness. More importantly, he noticed that the puppet's clothing seed to be grown onto its body, including the facial mask.
Shiratori let the ninjas study the puppets he had built using Construction techniques.
He had learned puppet-making from observing Akasuna.
As a result, he could construct puppets extrely quickly using his cursed energy. Even though he was already fast at puppet construction, the ti he could devote to building them was still limited. So to save ti, he hadn't even bothered crafting the puppets' facial features or any body parts aside from limbs, he just used black fabric to cover everything else, as long as it didn't affect their combat ability or mobility.
"When did you make these puppets?"
"What materials did you use to make them? They're incredible!"
One question after another was thrown at him by the ninjas.
"..."
Materials?
The material was highly elastic rubber.
How the heck was he supposed to explain where the rubber ca from? After all, the rubber had also been constructed by him.
"We can begin the mission now!"
He decisively changed the topic and said to Mizu, "We can't keep the ambush team waiting too long."
"You're right."
"I'm counting on you."
Mizu looked at Shiratori seriously.
He nodded with a big grin on his face. "Don't worry!"
Ti to farm emotional points again!
"Let's go then. Let the puppets begin executing the decoy plan," Mizu said.
"Hm?"
He looked at the boy, then glanced at Number One, his expression gradually becoming more serious. "Can these puppets move independently like Number One?"
If they couldn't move freely, he wouldn't assign the mission to Shiratori. It would be far too dangerous. He wasn't about to let the boy take that kind of risk.
After a brief pause, Shiratori nodded and said, "Yes, these puppets can move independently."
Mizu let out a breath of relief. "Good."
"Once the puppets begin the assault, we'll imdiately retreat. Then the ambush team can take the stage."
Shiratori thought it over and agreed for now. He followed Mizu and the others as they withdrew from the wind-eroded rock formations.
anwhile, under his command, three puppets charged swiftly toward the Suna camp.
After they had retreated to a safe distance, the first ambush squad, led by Takigawa, appeared.
"We're clear to move."
Mizu nodded.
Takigawa made a hand signal, and the ninjas behind him imdiately surged forward, splitting into two groups. They flanked the rocky terrain and moved toward the Suna camp from both sides.
Shiratori stepped out from beside Mizu. "I'm going too."
Takigawa paused. "No."
"I'll protect myself."
"If I run into an enemy I can't defeat, I'll retreat imdiately," he said, raising the broom in his hand as reassurance.
Takigawa was about to refuse again, but then he rembered the incredible feats Shiratori had already pulled off.
Once, he snuck into the battlefield. Another ti, he secretly joined Chiba on a dangerous mission. Rather than letting him vanish into the battlefield and appear who-knows-where again, it was better to keep him within sight.
"…Fine."
He relented.
Mizu looked at him in understanding.
Takigawa shut down any argunt with one sentence: "Better I keep an eye on him than have him sneak into the Suna camp on his own."
Mizu was speechless: "..."
Shiratori soared into the sky on his broom, excitent in his eyes as he flew toward the Suna camp.
He was here to bring back emotional points!
---
anwhile, at the gates of the Suna camp, a sharp tearing sound suddenly burst from directly in front of the main gate.
One after another, shadowy figures, swift as phantoms, skimd across the ground as they raced toward the gate.
Their entire bodies were wrapped in black ninja uniforms, even their heads and faces were fully covered, only a pair of emotionless eyes was exposed.
These shadowy figures moved with uncanny agility. They passed through the web of traps the Suna ninjas had laid with wires, kunai, and throwing blades. As they neared the camp gate, they raised their arms.
Kunai with explosive tags tied to them were thrown out with pinpoint accuracy.
BOOM!
Scarlet fireballs erupted with searing heat and flying sand and debris. Burning fragnts scattered in all directions, igniting the dry canvas tents. Flas shot into the sky.
"Front gate!"
"Enemy attack!"
"It must be the A ninjas, prepare for battle!"
A Suna ninja inside the camp shouted without a trace of panic, fury flashing in his eyes from the ambush.
Just as he finished speaking, several black shadows shot out from the camp's gate, pursuing the fleeing, black-clad figures retreating toward the wind-eroded rock formations.
Reviews
All reviews (0)