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After sensing the surroundings, Yamato frowned and reported, "There's no one here."
It was unusual for a village known for selling information to have no guards at its outskirts.
"The village is also completely silent," Kurotsuchi said, narrowing her eyes as she scrutinized the village ahead.
Had the people of Jōmae Village already relocated? Had their mission been compromised? Both Kurotsuchi and Yamato considered this possibility.
Regardless, the mission had to proceed.
Yamato gestured, and the group immediately moved into the village, sneaking forward.
Click.
The sound of a lock being picked echoed softly.
With the massive lock on the door falling away, Naruto and Sakura quickly entered the house, sweeping their gaze from left to right.
Finding nothing of note, they returned to the entrance, where Yamato, Sai, Kurotsuchi, Akatsuchi, Bunya, and Ichiha emerged from the houses they had searched. After exchanging glances, the group continued their search through Jōmae Village.
One by one, giant locks were opened. One by one, houses and secret chambers were inspected.
Still, no useful clues were found.
Everything was too clean.
"Sasuke…" Naruto, having finally gotten some news of Sasuke, clenched his fists, unwilling to let this opportunity slip away again. He quickened his pace, searching the village with increasing urgency.
Sakura, seeing Naruto's determination, also sped up.
...
Time passed quickly.
Having searched most of the village, the Konoha and Iwa shinobi gathered at the entrance of a large underground base. Together, they ventured into the base, moving swiftly through rows upon rows of densely packed rooms, continuing their search.
This was once the intelligence storage center of Jōmae Village.
Room after room contained scrolls meticulously organized by time period, displayed neatly on shelves—a truly impressive sight.
Now, however, the rooms were empty.
The few scrolls that remained were blank.
"There's nothing… nothing at all…" Naruto ran through corridor after corridor, pushing open door after door, only to be met with disappointment time and again.
Just as he was starting to lose hope, the group pushed open the last door of the underground base.
Blinding sunlight streamed in, causing everyone, who had been in the dark for so long, to instinctively lower their eyes.
In that instant, Naruto's eyes widened, his face lighting up with joy.
"Sasuke."
He saw him!
Outside, bathed in sunlight, was the person he had longed to see—the one who had grown taller and looked more mature.
"Sasuke!!!" Naruto finally couldn't hold back his emotions and shouted.
"Sasuke?" Sakura looked in disbelief, her eyes welling up with tears.
Yamato, Sai, Kurotsuchi, and the others quickly tensed, realizing they had finally caught up.
"Sasuke, do you know those people?" asked Yuikei, the captain of Jōmae Village's security squad, who had just finished the final tasks and was preparing to leave according to plan. He glanced at the newcomers and questioned Sasuke.
Sasuke turned around, his gaze calmly passing over Naruto and Sakura. Though it had been two years, he still recognized them immediately.
He nodded calmly and said, "They were my teammates from my time in Konoha."
Upon hearing this, Izumi, dressed in her ninja attire, looked over the group, focusing particularly on the emotional Naruto and Sakura. Smiling faintly, she said, "It's clear you had a close bond."
"Indeed," Sasuke replied without hesitation. He had long abandoned the belief that severing bonds was the only way to grow stronger, as Itachi had once told him. While he no longer had strong feelings toward Konoha, the bond he shared with Naruto, Sakura, and Team 7 still existed.
Of course, while there was still camaraderie, Sasuke's new identity meant he wouldn't let those bonds hold him back if it came to a fight.
"Sasuke…"
Hearing Sasuke's words, Naruto was overwhelmed with emotion. He had so much he wanted to say, but when the moment came, he didn't know where to start.
"Should we say goodbye before we leave?" Uchiha Jin, the only one from Jōmae Village who hadn't spoken yet, asked. Having married and had children, his previously sharp demeanor had softened considerably, allowing him to speak with more calmness.
As for the potential danger ahead… the pride of the Uchiha still remained.
As members of the squad responsible for wrapping things up, Jin, Sasuke, and Izumi all had three-tomoe Sharingan, while Yuikei, the captain, was an elite jōnin.
The incoming group stood no chance of stopping them.
This was why Jin and the rest of the squad were so confident, even making light jokes with Sasuke.
Hearing Jin, Sasuke gave a casual nod, his gaze briefly sweeping over the unfamiliar Iwa shinobi.
"Iwa shinobi, huh," he muttered, easily guessing their purpose for being here. After all, he had been the one to capture the Iwa jōnin that Gensou used as a sacrifice for Edo Tensei.
Sasuke turned his attention back to Naruto, Sakura, and the other Konoha shinobi he didn't recognize. He spoke calmly, "It's been a while, Naruto, Sakura."
"Where's Kakashi? Didn't he come?"
Sasuke was slightly suspicious that Kakashi, known for his sneak attacks, might be hiding somewhere nearby.
Yamato stepped forward and answered, "Captain Kakashi isn't here. I'm leading the mission this time. The objective is to bring you, Sasuke, back to Konoha."
The mission to investigate Jōmae Village had already failed. For Yamato, the next best thing was to bring Uchiha Sasuke back.
Sasuke surely had valuable information about Jōmae Village.
Not just Sasuke, though—his companions might also have information.
Yamato's eyes briefly scanned Izumi and the other two.
Though they gave him a vague sense of danger, the addition of the Iwa team put them at a numerical advantage.
At that moment, Kurotsuchi spoke up, "Uchiha Sasuke, right? Let me ask you, what happened to Iwa shinobi Ishikawa, who came here a week ago?"
Sasuke turned his head. "Ishikawa? If you mean the big guy who specialized in Doton, he's no longer with us."
"What do you mean 'no longer with us'?"
"Obviously, I killed him."
Crack!
Kurotsuchi clenched her fists, her gaze instantly turning cold.
"A missing-nin like you dares to be so arrogant!"
"Doton: Dosekibari!"
Not wanting to waste any more time, Kurotsuchi swiftly formed hand seals, and bamboo shoot-like rocks erupted from the ground, aiming to pierce through Sasuke and the others from Jōmae Village.
Seeing this, Yamato and the others had no choice but to join the fight.
The battle had officially begun.
(End of Chapter)
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"Mokuton: Daijurin no Jutsu!"
Yamato extended his right hand, and multiple wooden tendrils shot out from his arm, aiming to capture Sasuke, who had just dodged Kurotsuchi's Doton: Dosekibari and leapt into the air.
"Mokuton?"
Sasuke, having witnessed Gensou's battle with the Edo Tensei version of Senju Hashirama, was no stranger to Mokuton. He just hadn't expected that the legendary Wood Release would be wielded by a relatively unknown Konoha shinobi, who had replaced Kakashi as the leader of Team 7.
Sasuke activated his Sharingan, and his body twisted mid-air, narrowly avoiding the pursuing wooden tendrils.
However, the wood still relentlessly followed, bending and stretching towards him again.
Clang!
Sasuke landed on the ground, unsheathing his sword. Infusing it with Raiton chakra, he unleashed a Chidori Blade, slicing through the incoming wood effortlessly.
"Doton: Gōremu no Jutsu!"
Kurotsuchi charged at Sasuke, her right hand covered by a massive stone fist, ready to deliver a heavy punch.
A figure flashed before her.
Clang!
A short blade blocked her stone-covered punch. Izumi stood before her, smiling faintly as she said, "I'll be your opponent from here on."
On the other side of the battlefield, Yamato prepared to engage further, only for a massive Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu to suddenly fly at him from close range.
Yamato didn't hesitate and pressed his hands to the ground.
"Mokuton: Mokujoheki!"
Wooden pillars erupted from the ground, curving to form a dome that shielded him. The fireball collided with it, scorching the wood black but ultimately dispersing.
Watching his Gōkakyū fail, Jin wasn't disappointed. Instead, he smirked, intrigued. "So, this is Mokuton? Interesting. Let's see if it's really as powerful as the legends say."
"Leave this guy to me, Sasuke. You should go catch up with your old friends," Jin said with a casual nod.
Given their camaraderie, Sasuke had no objections. But at this moment, he was already surrounded by Naruto, Sakura, and the unfamiliar young boy who seemed to have taken his place in Team 7, leaving him no room to respond.
"Do these people really think they're so invincible?" Yamato couldn't understand the confidence of Sasuke's teammates. Two of them were facing him and Kurotsuchi, while the last one was single-handedly dealing with Akatsuchi, Bunya, and Ichiha. Yamato couldn't fathom where their self-assurance came from.
But soon, Yamato understood.
To his surprise, the first disruption in the battle didn't come from the smaller group but from Akatsuchi's side, despite their numerical advantage.
"Well, I guess since I'm the captain, they gave me the bigger challenge," Yuikei muttered, looking at the three Iwa shinobi waiting in formation. He clicked his tongue in mild annoyance.
He had wanted to test his skills against Mokuton, but unfortunately, Jin had beaten him to it.
"Oh well, let's get this over with." Yuikei's hands moved, his chakra surging.
As a descendant of the Sage of Six Paths, the Hagoromo Clan was known to rival the Uchiha and Senju clans, thanks to its unique heritage.
Unlike the Uchiha, who inherited Indra's Sharingan, and the Senju, who inherited Ashura's physical prowess, the Hagoromo Clan inherited the Sage's profound understanding of chakra.
This meant that members of the Hagoromo Clan had an easier time comprehending and manipulating chakra nature transformations and shape transformations, giving them superior control over the seven chakra elements compared to other shinobi clans.
Coupled with their naturally large chakra reserves, members of the Hagoromo Clan could adapt to various situations by using different elemental ninjutsu, making their fighting style both elegant and versatile.
This was why, during the Warring States period, the second most feared enemy after an Uchiha with a Sharingan wasn't a member of the Senju Clan but someone from the Hagoromo Clan. After all, if an opponent excelled in Katon, the Hagoromo shinobi would immediately counter with Suiton. If the opponent used Raiton, they would counter with Fūton, and so on.
For most shinobi, facing an opponent with elemental superiority made victory nearly impossible, unless the difference in power was overwhelming.
Gensou's ability to create so many kekkei genkai and his deep mastery of the seven chakra natures was certainly aided by his Hagoromo Clan bloodline.
Of course, not all members of the Hagoromo Clan were equally gifted.
Yuikei, though not as prodigious as Gensou, had still mastered all seven chakra nature transformations to a significant degree, thanks to his bloodline.
"Katon: Gōka Mekkyaku!"
"Fūton: Tatsumaki Kyūfū!"
Yuikei's hands moved rapidly, combining Katon and Fūton techniques in quick succession. The fire and wind fused into a massive, devastating combo technique that surged toward the three Iwa shinobi.
In an instant, a sea of flames roared to life.
The firestorm was so intense that both Uchiha Jin and Yamato had to momentarily retreat to avoid being consumed by it.
"Did the captain have to start with such overkill?" Jin sighed as he glanced at the rolling inferno. Understanding Yuikei's power well, Jin didn't need to look any longer. Instead, he flashed back toward Yamato, resuming their fight.
Yamato, now more concerned, refocused on the battle ahead.
"Doton: Doryū Jōheki!"
Faced with the massive sea of flames, Akatsuchi and the others quickly reacted. Together, they slammed their hands into the ground, summoning towering earth walls to block the incoming fire.
Boom!
The clash of powerful techniques created an explosion of dust and debris.
Feeling the strain as their earth walls finally held back the flames, Ichiha exhaled in relief. But before he could fully relax, a hand shot up from the ground.
Boom!
In an instant, Ichiha was yanked underground, the force of the earth's compression knocking him out cold.
"One down."
Yuikei rose from the ground and immediately charged toward Bunya.
Bunya, not taking any chances, activated Doton: Kōka Jutsu, encasing his body in hardened stone for a close-quarters brawl.
Seeing this, Yuikei quickly formed hand seals.
"Raiton: Kaminari no Yari!"
A blinding lightning spear formed in his hand, shooting forward with incredible speed and piercing through Bunya's hardened skin.
Crack!
A hole opened in Bunya's stone armor.
"That's two."
Yuikei pressed his advantage, blood spraying as he prepared to finish off his injured opponent.
Suddenly, a massive fist came barreling toward him.
Yuikei blocked the attack, but the sheer force of the blow pushed him back several steps. He looked up to see Akatsuchi, his large, seemingly gentle frame now imposing.
"This one's not so simple," Yuikei muttered, shaking his reddened hand, his expression becoming more serious.
(End of Chapter)
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