Chapter 140: Hiruko’s Hunt
“Suzuhara Ai?” Menma pondered, stroking his chin.
Uchiha Hikari nodded: “According to the intelligence from Kari, this wandering ninja joined the Stone Village a year ago, excels in medical ninjutsu, is not particularly outstanding but is a rare talent among wandering ninjas, and the timeline matches what you said.”
“Then arrange for Kari to bring her back.” Menma rose from the recliner, preparing to head personally to the Land of Earth to pick her up.
He shook the back of his right hand: “I’ll leave the contact to you.”
“Mm.” Uchiha Hikari nodded, watching as Menma vanished from the courtyard with a whoosh.
Land of Earth.
Inside the Stone Village, the manipulated Kari also took a mission to leave the village at the mission hall.
Since the Third Great Ninja War, after ten thousand Rock ninjas fought the Third Raiden, the Stone Village was greatly weakened. To preserve the village’s living forces, Onoki would often commission some high-difficulty missions to the Akatsuki organization.
But it was only a portion of the missions. As the Land of Earth’s military force, the Stone Village still kept a low profile, accumulating its own ninja numbers and improving the quality of its ninjas.
Whether recruiting wandering ninjas or employing the Akatsuki organization, it was all to reduce casualties among the Stone Village’s homegrown ninjas, allowing them to grow better.
So it wasn’t that the Stone Village’s ninjas didn’t need to carry out missions; otherwise, how would they sustain themselves.
After taking the mission, Kari left the Stone Village, which was surrounded by layers of mountains, with heavy steps.
The world outside the village wasn’t much different from inside the Stone Village, mostly a heavy sense of barren land, but unlike the Land of Wind’s desert, this Land of Earth was more like barrenness after excessive exploitation of natural resources.
As Kari headed further southeast into the Land of Earth, trees gradually increased.
The fresh scent of mud and trees mixed, fallen leaves rustling underfoot, sunlight filtering through layered branches, casting mottled light and shadow.
Kari’s eyes remained vacant; he acted entirely according to Uchiha Hikari’s instructions, without any personal will.
Even upon waking, he would forget everything that happened during this time, thinking only that he had slept a long while.
Kari’s figure crossed through shrubbery, over shallow streams, heading deep into the dense forest southeast, gradually approaching the borderline of the Land of Rain.
Suddenly.
A strange figure appeared out of thin air beside Kari, launching an attack at him!
Kari’s combat instinct drove him to body flicker and dodge.
Boom!
A small patch of forest on Kari’s previous path was destroyed, and in the dust, a bizarre beast appeared in the forest.
“What’s this?” Kari frowned, and Uchiha Hikari also saw this strange beast through Kari’s vision.
It had a huge, ferocious dog head with exposed fangs and a horn, emitting a low growl; its back bore a pair of massive white wings that stirred up a gale with a light flap.
Its tail, however, was a double-headed snake with entwined scales, writhing and hissing.
This monster seemed like a grotesque amalgamation of multiple creatures, chilling to behold.
The monster’s appearance brought a nauseating scent of blood and decay; its massive dog head barked deafeningly at Kari, the sound waves shaking the surrounding leaves.
Whoosh—
While Kari focused on this monster, from the forest shadows, several bandages suddenly shot out toward him.
“Explosion Release: Landmine Fist!” He clenched his right fist and smashed toward the incoming bandages, chakra erupting instantly to form an outward-expanding explosion wave.
The frontal bandages were engulfed by the massive explosion, but bandages from other directions slithered like snakes, swiftly bypassing the explosion and continuing their assault!
“What?!” Kari had no time to react as several bandages precisely pierced his limbs and torso.
Splurt!
His shoulders and thighs were pierced by the iron-hard bandages, the scent of blood spreading.
Kari let out a muffled grunt, dropping to one knee, blood soaking through his torn clothes.
He looked up toward the bandages’ direction and saw a ‘boy’ emerge from the shadow of a big tree, wearing a white restraining robe, his body wrapped in bandages.
The white restraining clothes had a high collar covering the lower half of his face, while the upper half resembled a boy with scarlet eyes and a red dot on his forehead; his tied-up white hair swayed slightly.
“Who are you?” Kari was only under orders, but his body retained instinct.
The mysterious ninja snorted coldly, seemingly impatient with Kari’s resistance, raising his hand to finish him.
Kari’s body surged with power, breaking free from the bandages’ piercings, lunging in front of the mysterious ninja with his right fist already swinging!
“Explosion Release: Landmine Fist!” Kari’s right fist struck the mysterious ninja’s palm!
The moment their hands touched, Explosion Release triggered, the massive explosion instantly engulfing the mysterious ninja before Kari.
But just as Kari thought the enemy couldn’t escape, the explosion was sucked into the mysterious ninja’s palm.
“What?!” Even in his manipulated state, Kari showed surprise.
“Dark Release: Inhaling Mouth!” The mysterious ninja’s low voice rang out, sounding like a boy’s.
Kari’s Explosion Release was fully absorbed. At this point, Kari noticed two strange patterns glowing red on the opponent’s palm, like two overlapping openings.
The next moment, the bandages wrapping the mysterious person’s body shot out, binding Kari like a dumpling.
Instantly, Uchiha Hikari’s remote control became sluggish, gradually losing control over Kari.
“Heh heh, first prey.” The mysterious ninja looked at the unconscious Kari, a satisfied laugh coming from under the bandages.
Hum—
That bizarre summoned beast landed beside him, crouching submissively.
The white-haired mysterious ninja jumped onto the bizarre summoned beast’s back, carrying the bandage-bound Kari, and soon vanished into the forest.
Moments later, when Menma, wearing the White Three-Eyed Fox Mask, arrived, the battlefield held only mottled bloodstains and chaotic chakra traces.
‘Hikari, is this the place?’ The engraving on his hand back flickered faintly as Menma contacted the distant Uchiha Hikari in the Land of Stars this way.
‘Yes, the attacker was a white-haired boy-like ninja with a… very strange summoned beast…’ Uchiha Hikari detailed Kari’s encounter to Menma.
White restraining clothes, white-haired boy, red pupils, bandage attacks, Dark Release that absorbs ninjutsu, and a bizarre summoned beast.
“It seems Bishamon has made his move.” Menma pondered for a moment, clearly uttering a name with a hint of amusement and understanding: “Perfect, I wasn’t sure where to find this guy anyway.”
The White Three-Eyed Fox Mask lifted, Kagura Shingan—
Activate!
