Traveling through Naruto with Heroes of Might and Magic

Chapter 43 Takigakure Ninja, Iwagakure Ninja, Murder!

at the same time.

A clearing in the woodland.

The three-man team of Takigakure ninja was surrounded by six Iwa ninja.

Takishinobu's voice trembled as he said:

"We've already given you the reel, why won't you leave us alone?"

"Hehe~!" The leader of the Iwa ninja stroked his unusually large beard, a rarity among the genin examinees. "Tell me the location of Takigakure, and I'll let you go."

"Don't even think about it!" Shibuki gritted his teeth and refused, his hand gripping the explosive tag tightly.

Located between the Fire and Earth nations, Takigakure's survival depends on its seclusion.

As a buffer zone between the two great powers, Iwagakure has wanted to control Takigakure for a long time, and Shibuki certainly knows the consequences of exposing their location.

"snort!"

The bearded Iwatobi snorted coldly: "I can tell your two guards are quite strong, but there are six of us."

As they spoke, the Iwa ninja surrounded them, ready to attack.

"Konoha will not let you get away with this!"

Takigakure and Konoha are allies, so Shibuki can only issue a weak and ineffective threat at this moment.

At this moment, he was already prepared to die. Once the explosive tags in his hand were triggered, they would be enough to ruin the plans of the Iwa ninja.

however……

"Earth Release·Yellow Spring Marsh!"

The bearded Iwa ninja used a long-prepared Earth Release technique, causing Shibuki to lose his balance.

The explosive tag fell onto the swamp.

By the time he tried to pick it up, it was too late.

"Kill the other two Takigakure guards, but spare him."

The bearded Iwa ninja directed his teammates' actions while continuously channeling chakra to maintain control of the "Swamp of the Underworld".

The battle ended quickly.

The two Water Ninja guards were quite skilled in Water Release ninjutsu, but the Earth Release of the Rock Ninja was a perfect counter.

Moreover, it was a case of more players fighting fewer.

Seeing his guards fall in pools of blood, Shibuki, who was stuck in the mud, gritted his teeth.

"Alright, now it's just you left."

The bearded Iwatobi grinned maliciously. "I have countless ways to make you talk. Now, let me see how tight your mouth is—huh?"

Sensing the wind, Big Beard Iwatobi subconsciously looked up.

"Ninja Technique: Hidden Shadow Multi-Snake Hand!"

The red beans burst open.

He recognized both of their headbands.

Born into a ninja family, she knew that Takigakure was an ally of Konoha, so she immediately unleashed her ultimate move in the face of this situation.

More giant pythons than the Hidden Shadow Serpent Hands flew out from her two arms.

In an instant, they entangled all the Iwa ninja.

"open!"

The bearded Iwa ninja is quite strong and has temporarily broken free from control.

Immediately afterwards...

Whoosh, whoosh!

Qingwu and Iruka landed on the ground.

"It's Taki Shinobu."

Iruka ran over, briefly learned what was going on, and then returned to tell Qingwu and Hongdou what had happened.

"So that's how it is."

Qingwu glanced at the two Takigakure ninja lying in pools of blood on the ground. "You Iwagakure people are pretty tough."

"Six against four, the advantage is in my hands!"

Despite his shouting, the bearded Iwashinobu was very clever in his actions.

"Earth Release·Yellow Spring Marsh!"

He resorted to the same old trick, his real purpose being to draw the attention of the Konoha ninjas before rescuing his trapped comrades.

"Wood Release: Swamp of the Underworld!"

Qingwu shouted something incoherently.

As the bearded Iwashinobu paused for a moment, the [Slowness Technique] formed by vine-like patterns was instantly activated, taking effect on his location first.

"This is……"

The bearded Iwa ninja felt that not only was his physical speed slowing down, but even the flow of chakra was becoming sluggish.

Most importantly, Qingwu's magic is a "disengagement skill".

No need for a continuous input of natural energy.

Without wasting any more energy on unnecessary skills, Qingwu drew his short blade and instantly pierced the chest of the bearded Iwa ninja.

"ah--"

Amidst screams of agony, "Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld" was interrupted.

Since the Iwa ninja had committed murder first, and that murder was against one of their own allies, Qingwu no longer held back.

The remaining five Iwa ninjas were firmly controlled by Anko's powerful attack.

"ah--"

"Ah—" "Ah…"

Qingwu quickly and efficiently killed them all with his short sword.

Blood splattered everywhere, and Shibuki and Iruka stood there, pale-faced and stunned.

"Qingwu..."

Iruka still couldn't get used to seeing his peers die one by one in front of him.

He then recalled the last time he went out of the village on a mission, those "rogue ninjas" were also swiftly killed by Qingwu.

At this moment, the once familiar Qingwu seemed somewhat unfamiliar to Iruka.

Takigakure was in even worse shape. He was already on the verge of collapse, and the bloody scene before him made his body tremble like a leaf.

Red Bean didn't feel anything; following Orochimaru, she had seen many more bloody scenes.

"20, 21, 22..." Hongdou counted on her fingers.

"Captain Qingwu, we've already seen 22 teams eliminated."

Upon hearing this, Shibuki from Takigakure Village looked up at the three of them in horror and asked, "Are you devils?"

There are 36 squads in total. How many people did your squad take down?

Iruka snapped out of his daze, as if guessing what Shibuki was thinking, and explained, "We didn't kill anyone before these two Iwagakure squads."

"Huff..." Shibuki gasped for breath.

Just now, he thought he had "escaped from the jaws of a wolf only to fall into the jaws of a tiger."

"Leave the scroll here, you can go."

Although Red Bean saved her ally, she didn't give Shibuki a friendly look.

"It's...it's on the Iwa ninja." Shibuki turned his head away, not daring to look at the corpses scattered on the ground.

Hongdou scoffed and stepped forward to search through all the reels.

She seems to have developed a peculiar "collecting obsession": "I want to collect all the reels."

Qingwu stroked his chin and thought for a moment, "Someone should be coming to clean up the mess soon, let's leave first."

The three continued their ascent towards the tower.

Iruka remained silent for a moment before finally speaking: "Qingwu, actually... there's no need to kill them all; just enough to have a deterrent effect."

"Baka!" Anko raised her thin eyebrows. "Iruka, those Iwa ninja killed people first, so they should be prepared to die."

Iruka: "..."

"He who kills will be killed by men!" Qingwu suddenly said, quoting a phrase his teammate only half-understood.

"Iruka, what are your dreams? Is it to become a powerful ninja? Or would a stable job be enough?"

Red Bean also looked at Iruka curiously.

In the past, Hongdou thought Qingwu and Iruka were the same kind of people, but in the past two days, Qingwu has made Hongdou look at him in a new light.

"..." Iruka seemed to be thinking seriously.

"An ideal..." he pondered, "I don't actually like fighting and killing. I became a ninja because of my parents' wishes, and then..."

Iruka scratched his head and forced a silly smile. "I actually like being a teacher, or any other clerical job."

"Hahaha!" Hongdou burst into laughter.

Coming from that "bloody scene," hearing such words really made her laugh.

Qingwu did not make fun of Iruka.

He simply patted the latter on the shoulder and said, "Iruka, you will achieve your dream."