Capítulo 141: Ch.141 Chaos from All Sides!
Clang!
The members of the Stone Village's Decapitation Squad lined up in formation, drawing their long swords in unison, the sound of the blades leaving their sheaths almost blending into one continuous note.
Shinnō took a small step back, his face showing signs of discomfort.
Having traveled far and wide, he knew very well that these Stone shinobi, dressed as they were, were likely members of the elite Decapitation Squad from the Hidden Stone Village.
This Decapitation Squad had gained great renown during the Third Shinobi World War, known for their numerous successful infiltrations into enemy territory and assassinations of high-ranking targets.
Sasuke, sensing the danger, asked, "Who are you people?"
The leader of the Stone Decapitation Squad replied calmly, "Uchiha Sasuke, come with us."
"Damn it, even the Hidden Stone Village is getting involved!" Shinnō thought anxiously.
The sudden appearance of the Mist Village's assassination squad had already alerted him that the situation was changing.
Now, with the Hidden Stone also making a move, it was clear that his operation to lure Sasuke had become more than just an Akatsuki affair. The other major shinobi villages were clearly trying to exploit the situation, likely hoping to pin the blame on him.
Realizing this, he knew he couldn't let Sasuke fall into their hands.
If he did, not only would the mission entrusted to him by the organization fail, but he himself might not be able to escape unscathed.
Neither the Mist assassination squad nor the Stone Decapitation Squad were likely to leave any witnesses alive.
At that moment, Shinji and his team burst into the forest and arrived at the scene.
Seeing more people join the fray, the Stone Decapitation Squad members exchanged glances and then silently spread out.
It was obvious they were prepared to leave only Sasuke alive and kill everyone else present!
Neji, noticing this, quietly warned his teammates, "Be careful, they seem to be the elite squad from the Hidden Stone."
Kiba, puzzled, asked, "First the Mist, now the Stone? Why are they attacking us?"
Kimimaro responded calmly, "Their target is Sasuke."
Swish!
Just as a fierce battle seemed inevitable, another figure descended from the sky, landing in the open space between the Stone Decapitation Squad and Shinnō and Sasuke.
Everyone looked over to see that this newcomer, like the one before, was also a member of the Akatsuki, wearing the organization's signature cloak with red clouds and a hood, along with a mask.
Seeing this, Shinnō was secretly pleased, thinking reinforcements from the organization had arrived. He quickly grabbed Sasuke and fled deeper into the forest.
Shinji, meanwhile, gave the Akatsuki member blocking the Stone Decapitation Squad a long, thoughtful look before leading his team in pursuit of Shinnō and Sasuke without saying a word.
In just a few breaths, Shinnō, Sasuke, and Shinji's team had vanished into the forest, right in front of the Stone Decapitation Squad and the Akatsuki member.
The leader of the Stone Decapitation Squad signaled to his team, and then with a swift movement, he tried to bypass the Akatsuki member to pursue Sasuke.
Clang, clang!
However, the sound of metal clashing soon echoed through the forest.
Two figures landed back on the ground—the leader of the Stone Decapitation Squad and the Akatsuki member who had blocked his path.
The leader of the Decapitation Squad was momentarily stunned.
He had already overestimated the Akatsuki member and had used up a significant amount of chakra to execute a full-power Body Flicker Technique.
Yet, to his surprise, the opponent was still fast enough to intercept him.
Realizing that he couldn't continue the pursuit of Uchiha Sasuke without first dealing with this Akatsuki member, the leader of the Decapitation Squad said, "If you want to die, I'll grant your wish!"
In an instant.
A fierce battle erupted in the forest!
...
Meanwhile, with Sasuke.
The series of unexpected events had left Sasuke feeling uneasy.
The appearance of the Mist and Stone shinobi could be explained as other villages coveting his Sharingan.
But the repeated appearances of Akatsuki members, helping them fend off the Mist and Stone shinobi, were much harder to understand.
After all, he was on his way to assassinate Uchiha Itachi, who was a member of the Akatsuki.
Thinking this, Sasuke glanced at Shinnō, who was running ahead of him, and asked, "Why is this happening? Why does everyone want to capture me?"
Shinnō replied with a clueless expression, "How should I know?"
Sasuke pressed on, "Why is the Akatsuki helping us?"
Shinnō casually asked, "What Akatsuki?"
Seeing that Shinnō seemed to know nothing about the Akatsuki, Sasuke's suspicions eased.
The main reason Sasuke was quick to drop his suspicions about Shinnō was that, until now, he still believed he was the one forcing Shinnō to cooperate, rather than the other way around.
As they sped along, they soon followed a small river and emerged from the forest.
Just as their view opened up, they found themselves confronted by a group of Cloud shinobi, who had somehow managed to block their path.
"Uchiha Sasuke!" The leader of the Cloud shinobi locked his gaze on Sasuke's active Sharingan, focusing intently on those three tomoe spinning in Sasuke's eyes. "Heh, what a beautiful pair of eyes!"
"Cloud shinobi, too?!" Shinnō groaned inwardly.
Sasuke, however, was unfazed, stepping forward with a kunai drawn from his ninja pouch. "Are you trying to start a war with the Hidden Leaf?"
The leader of the Cloud shinobi smirked. "You left the Hidden Leaf on your own. Can you still call yourself a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf? Maybe they've already labeled you a rogue ninja. Even if we kill you, the Hidden Leaf wouldn't be able to say a thing!"
Sasuke's resolve wavered for a moment.
His hatred had clouded his judgment, and he hadn't considered this issue.
Now, with the Cloud shinobi leader pointing it out, he began to realize that by leaving the Hidden Leaf without permission, he had committed a grave offense in the shinobi world.
If the village decided to punish him severely, they could brand him a rogue ninja. After all, the village wasn't a playground where one could come and go as they pleased.
But having come this far, Sasuke was willing to risk everything for revenge, even if it meant his death. So he steeled himself and said, "Don't try to stop me, or I won't hesitate to kill you!"
"Hahahaha!"
The Cloud shinobi burst into laughter.
Sasuke, now visibly angry, snarled, "Damn it!"
The leader of the Cloud shinobi raised his hand, signaling for his men to be quiet, then said, "Leave Uchiha Sasuke alive. Kill the other one! Make it quick; Raikage-sama is waiting for our report!"
Hearing this, Shinnō's face darkened, and he thought, "Looks like there's no choice but to fight! Damn, if I'd known this mission would be so troublesome, I wouldn't have played games with that kid. I should've just knocked him out and taken him away; it would've been much easier!"
Sasuke also prepared himself for battle, ready to face the Cloud shinobi in a fight to the death.
Suddenly, a figure appeared in the distance, walking toward them.
Both sides turned to look, and they saw a man in the Akatsuki's red cloud cloak with a hood, exuding a sinister aura, with countless dark purple tentacles swaying behind him.
Shinnō immediately recognized the newcomer as his partner and let out a sigh of relief.
Sasuke, on the other hand, tensed up like a startled cat.
He also recognized the figure and knew it was the demon Mōryō who had escaped from the Land of Demons!
"Akatsuki!?" The Cloud shinobi quickly assumed a defensive stance.
These elite Cloud shinobi had been sent to capture Sasuke, so just by sensing the terrifying chakra emanating from Mōryō, they knew this was not an opponent to be taken lightly.
But the Cloud shinobi were used to being dominant.
Especially since they were now near the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Hot Water, only a day or two's travel from their own Land of Lightning. So even though they knew this Akatsuki member was dangerous, they felt no fear.
Mōryō approached the two sides.
He first glanced at Sasuke, who was visibly frightened, his gaze lingering on the three tomoe in Sasuke's Sharingan, before turning to the Cloud shinobi. "If you don't want to die, get lost!"
The Cloud shinobi glared at Mōryō, and their leader even drew his blade, saying, "This is unbelievable! Just a member of some bounty hunter organization, and you dare speak to us like that!"
Mōryō sneered coldly and then made a gesture with both hands.
In an instant, the dark purple tentacles behind him surged forward, attacking the Cloud shinobi!
The Cloud shinobi either swung their swords or formed hand signs to release ninjutsu, not one of them backing down, all charging fiercely towards the dark purple tentacles.
Seeing this, Sasuke quickly said, "Let's go! That guy is a demon, very powerful! Even I might not be able to defeat him right now!"
Saying this, Sasuke took advantage of the battle between Mōryō and the Cloud shinobi and turned to flee in the opposite direction.
Realizing that he didn't need to get involved, Shinnō followed Sasuke, watching the fight between Mōryō and the Cloud shinobi as he ran.
In fact, Shinnō was also curious about the strength of his partner, Mōryō.
Given his sensitivity to chakra, he knew that this partner, forcibly assigned to him by the Akatsuki, was probably incredibly powerful.
But estimations were just that—estimations. He wasn't entirely sure how strong Mōryō really was, so he wanted to take this opportunity to gauge Mōryō's strength.
"Ahh!"
"Ahhh!"
Suddenly, the situation on the battlefield changed.
In just the blink of an eye, most of the Cloud shinobi who had charged at the dark purple tentacles were killed.
The entire battlefield was filled with the screams and cries of the Cloud shinobi!
Sasuke's face tensed as he urgently said to Shinnō, "Stop watching! I told you that demon is strong. If we don't get farther away, once he finishes off those Cloud shinobi, we won't be able to escape!"
"Oh, oh!" Shinnō responded absentmindedly.
He had known Mōryō was strong but hadn't expected him to be this strong.
Especially now, as Mōryō unleashed his chakra on the battlefield—it felt to Shinnō like the chakra of a tailed beast.
Meanwhile...
Shinji and his team emerged from the forest, arriving just in time to witness the battle between Mōryō and the Cloud shinobi.
Kiba was stunned. "The Akatsuki again!?"
Even Shino, who was usually calm, showed a rare expression of fear. "My Parasitic Insects are feeling fear. This has never happened before!"
Neji glanced at Shinji and Kimimaro. "What do we do?"
Clearly, Neji, having participated in the mission in the Land of Demons, immediately recognized the Akatsuki member currently slaughtering the Cloud shinobi—it was none other than the demon Mōryō from the Land of Demons!
Haku and Karin, who were also in the group, looked at the demon Mōryō, who was now brimming with malevolent chakra, and both displayed expressions of shock.
Although they had heard that the demon from the Land of Demons had joined the Akatsuki, seeing the demon in the Akatsuki's red cloud cloak, slaughtering Cloud shinobi, still left them deeply disturbed.
To them, this demon was tarnishing the name of the Akatsuki!
Shinji glanced at the battlefield and then at the distant figures of Shinnō and Sasuke. "Ignore the battle between the demon and the Cloud shinobi. We'll continue pursuing Sasuke!"
Everyone nodded in agreement with Shinji's judgment.
While Mōryō's appearance was unexpected, the fact that he was holding off the Cloud shinobi was, in a way, a big help to them.
After all, the Cloud shinobi would have killed all witnesses to cover up their capture of Sasuke.
If Mōryō hadn't shown up, it would be Shinji's team battling the Cloud shinobi now.
Soon, Shinji led his team around the battlefield where Mōryō was fighting the Cloud shinobi and continued to pursue Sasuke.
As they passed the battlefield, Haku and Karin exchanged glances, seeing the helplessness in each other's eyes.
Currently, their real bodies were each fighting elsewhere—one blocking the Mist assassination squad, the other the Stone Decapitation Squad.
The versions of them in the team now were just shadow clones. Even if they wanted to clear Mōryō from the Akatsuki, they were powerless to do so.
Not long after, the sounds of the battle between Mōryō and the Cloud shinobi faded into the distance.
Relieved that the demon wasn't following, the members of the team all let out a sigh of relief.
Mōryō's presence was overwhelmingly intimidating. Even Neji, Kimimaro, and Shinji found him troublesome.
At this point, Shinji focused on the path ahead, where Sasuke was running, analyzing the current situation in his mind.
Initially, he thought the Akatsuki was the only party involved in this incident, but now he realized that things had changed.
Sasuke had become a bait.
His three-tomoe Sharingan, in the aftermath of the Uchiha massacre, was particularly enticing.
As soon as Sasuke was lured out of the Hidden Leaf, it triggered a chain reaction, drawing in the Mist, Stone, and Cloud villages.
If he had been confident about bringing Sasuke back to the village before, now he could only take things one step at a time.
Just then, Sasuke and Shinnō were suddenly stopped by an Akatsuki member.
The newcomer carried a large executioner's blade over his shoulder and grinned. "Uchiha Sasuke, if you want revenge, come with me."
Sasuke asked, "Who are you?"
The figure smiled. "You don't need to know who I am. You just need to know that I can lead you to the person you're looking for."
Sasuke, no longer caring whether it was a trap or not, said, "Lead the way."
Shinnō followed Sasuke as well.
The Akatsuki member then swung his executioner's blade horizontally, blocking Shinnō's path. "Hey, you stay here. The kids behind us are yours to deal with!"
Shinnō glanced at the red cloud cloak the Akatsuki member was wearing and then at the executioner's blade in his hand. He nodded in agreement.
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