The battle in the forest quickly came to an end.
Only Rokusho Aoi and the three Rain Ninja remained standing at the scene, while the surroundings were already filled with the corpses of mountain bandits.
In direct combat, the suppression of ordinary people by ninja is nearly absolute.
Rokusho Aoi closed the umbrella and glanced at the client who had collapsed on the ground out of fear.
It was likely that they wouldn't recover anytime soon.
"You guys go collect the things on them."
"Yes!"
The three Rain Ninja received the order and immediately started moving.
Amegakure wasn't wealthy. They rarely received commissions, and even when they did, they didn't get much money. These mountain bandits could at least be a little bonus for them.
Pa!
The sudden muffled sound startled Rokusho Aoi and the others.
Among the three Rain Ninja who were scavenging the bodies, one of them suddenly collapsed without any warning.
"Yumehi!"
The other two Rain Ninja exclaimed and were about to rush over.
"STAY ALERT!"
Rokusho Aoi immediately called out to the two of them, his face full of caution as he looked around.
He took out a sword hilt from his hand.
It was the Sword of the Thunder God.
But everything around was calm and peaceful, he didn't detect anything unusual.
"What happened?", Rokusho Aoi frowned, "Could he have gotten injured earlier by accident?"
The three of them left the client behind and moved toward the Rain Ninja called "Yumehi." They didn't have the time to care about the client now.
Not every ninja village was like Konoha, willing to risk their lives for a commission.
"Kagari, Oboro, check his condition," Rokusho Aoi instructed the two.
"Yes!", The two immediately began checking the condition of their fallen comrade upon receiving the command.
"What's going on?", After the two had finished their inspection, Rokusho Aoi asked for a report.
Their expressions behind their masks were difficult to understand.
"There's nothing wrong with his breathing. He must be under a genjutsu. But I tried to disrupt his chakra, it had no effect at all."
One of them reported to Rokusho Aoi, voice full of confusion.
"Genjutsu?", Rokusho Aoi was also puzzled, 'Yumehi was already quite skilled in genjutsu, who can control him silently without a trace?'
Just then, he suddenly saw the fallen Yumehi open his eyes.
His gaze was blank.
"Watch out!", Rokusho Aoi shouted immediately.
Yumehi slid out two kunai from his sleeve and stabbed toward Kagari and Oboro, who were checking his condition.
Although Rokusho Aoi had shouted in time, the two still had slashes appear across their chests.
They quickly retreated, and Rokusho Aoi immediately struck the back of Yumehi's neck with a knife-hand chop.
Yumehi instantly lost consciousness, and Rokusho Aoi, by sheer coincidence, had broken the genjutsu on him.
Kagari and Oboro stopped, the wounds on their chests flowing with blood.
"You two, bandage your wounds first," Rokusho Aoi's expression turned grim. He had completely failed to sense how Yumehi fell under genjutsu.
Crack!
At that moment, the sound of a branch snapping underfoot suddenly rang out.
"Who's there?", Rokusho Aoi heard the footsteps and looked around, growing more alert.
Aoba stepped out from the shadows carrying Zangetsu.
"Who are you?", Rokusho Aoi immediately noticed the figure emerging from the shadows.
His face showed unease as he gripped the Sword of Thunder God tightly.
'Chakra input.'
Buzz!
The lightning-coated blade extended outward.
But Rokusho Aoi suddenly paused, his expression turning somewhat stunned.
"A kid?"
Aoba had a smile on his lips, completely unbothered by the Aoi's underestimation.
"Rokusho Aoi, former Chūnin of Konoha, defected to Amegakure after inciting others to steal the Forbidden Sealing Scroll and the Second Hokage's Sword of Thunder God, and became a Jōnin."
"A Konoha genin who just graduated?", Rokusho Aoi's eyes narrowed as he noticed the forehead protector on Aoba's head.
"Where's your team leader?"
Aoba looked like a rookie who had just graduated from the ninja academy.
Although Yumehi was also a genin, there was no way a newly graduated brat could silently cast such a high-level genjutsu to control someone.
There had to be a team leader ninja nearby.
Crack!
Crack!
At that moment, two more sets of footsteps sounded.
Hinata, with her Byakugan activated, and Yakumo, holding her sketchpad, walked out together.
"Byakugan!"
Rokusho Aoi didn't expect there to be a member of the Hyūga clan as well.
"Hmph, we don't even need our teacher to deal with you guys," Yakumo huffed proudly.
She casually drew a stroke on her sketchpad with the brush in her hand.
A bolt of lightning suddenly fell from the sky, striking toward Kagari.
Faced with such a sudden event, not only did the genin Kagari fail to react, even the Jōnin Rokusho Aoi didn't have time to respond.
The lightning struck him, and his entire body was immediately charred and fell unconscious.
"W-What kind of ability is this?"
Not giving them a chance, Hinata, with her Byakugan activated, rushed toward the isolated Oboro.
"Damn it!", Rokusho Aoi cursed under his breath. He realized now that they had likely run into one of Konoha's elite squads.
Without the slightest hesitation, just like when he abandoned Morino Idate before, he turned around and ran, leaving behind his comrades and the client.
He would never feel burdened by such a decision.
But just as he turned and ran a few steps, Aoba was already standing in front of him.
Aoba's left thumb was pressed against the tsuba(hand guard), and Zangetsu was slightly unsheathed.
The wind chakra enveloping the blade exuded a sharp presence that made Rokusho Aoi instinctively halt his steps.
His expression turned cold. Even though he feared the possibility of a Jōnin teacher behind Aoba, that didn't necessarily mean he wasn't a match for him.
After all, he held the Sword of Thunder God.
"Brat, you think I'm just another pushover like them?"
"To me, there's no difference."
Zangetsu drew out another half inch, the sharpness increasing.
"Arrogant brat!", Rokusho Aoi bent his legs slightly, his body like a fierce tiger, and charged at Aoba.
The Sword of Thunder God in his hand sliced through the air, producing a buzzing sound of friction.
Aoba shook his head.
In Rokusho Aoi's stunned gaze, a cyan flash swept past, the blade cutting through the air.
The sword blade, wrapped in wind chakra, clashed against the Sword of Thunder God in Rokusho Aoi's hand.
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