"Very good."
"In the name of Konoha's Little Li's Flying Dagger, I recognize your joining Konoha."
"From this moment on, you are now villagers of Konoha."
Li Anshi nodded in satisfaction.
It was clear that these children held no resistance towards Konoha in their hearts.
Evidently, the Uzumaki ninjas had not blamed Konoha for failing to send reinforcements.
Therefore, the children did not resent Konoha or believe the destruction of their country and village was Konoha's fault.
This would greatly aid the complete integration of the Uzumaki clan into Konoha.
"Now, follow me. I'm taking you home!"
After speaking, Li Anshi turned and walked out of the Land of Whirlpools.
The Uzumaki children hurried to follow.
To make sure no one was left behind, the older children each held the hands of one or two of the younger ones.
Li Anshi, naturally, would not deliberately make things difficult for them.
He moved at a slow pace, and the thirty-or-so Uzumaki children, even those leading the smaller ones, could easily keep up.
…
"Lord Li Anshi, it is an honor!"
As Li Anshi led the Uzumaki children out of the Land of Whirlpools, they were already surrounded by thousands of ninjas from the four great villages.
A Jonin from the Cloud Village, standing over a hundred meters away from Li Anshi, bowed and greeted him.
Because of the great distance, the ninja had to use chakra to amplify the muscles in his throat, ensuring his voice could reach Li Anshi's ears.
"Oh? I remember you."
Li Anshi's eyes narrowed slightly. His five senses, several times sharper than a normal person's, allowed him to clearly see the Cloud ninja from a hundred meters away.
"A few years ago, you seemed to be the one who escorted the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki away."
"To be remembered by you, Lord Li Anshi, is my honor."
Li Anshi scanned his surroundings and snorted coldly.
"What? Are you trying to stop me?"
"Lord Li Anshi, if I'm not mistaken, you are not carrying a sealing scroll for your flying daggers this time."
"When you charged our lines earlier, seventy-one Stone ninjas died at your hand."
"The number of daggers you have on you now is only a little over two hundred."
"If you were to charge through alone, Lord Li Anshi, we certainly could not stop you."
"However, with just over two hundred daggers, you cannot protect these people from the Land of Whirlpools."
"If you send these children back, Lord Li Anshi, we will not stop you from leaving."
"But if you insist on charging through with these children..."
"The lives of over two hundred ninjas is a price we can afford to pay!"
"Please reconsider, Lord Li Anshi!"
At first, the Cloud Jonin was very respectful towards Li Anshi.
But as he spoke and felt that his side held the advantage, his tone became increasingly forceful.
In fact, a part of the Cloud ninja's heart even hoped Li Anshi would ignore his advice and charge through with the thirty-odd Uzumaki children.
If they could take Li Anshi down at the cost of two hundred lives, he would undoubtedly become a legend in the Cloud Village!
In the battle three years ago, the Cloud's spirit was nearly broken by Li Anshi.
Therefore, on one hand, the Cloud ninjas revered him like a god of death, while on the other, they desperately wanted to kill him and wash away their own shame.
"And you? Do you all think the same?"
Li Anshi ignored the Cloud ninja, turning instead to the commanders of the Sand, Stone, and Mist.
"Hahaha, who in the ninja world doesn't know of the fame of Little Li's Flying Dagger?"
"To fight you would be worth it, even in death!"
The commanders of the Sand and Stone exchanged a glance with the Mist commander and did not reply.
Only after Li Anshi had made his name on the Cloud battlefield did the Sand Village realize that he had also spent a year on the battlefield between Konoha and the Sand.
From the bodies of the Sand ninjas he had killed, they had found no signs of a struggle.
Therefore, they did not doubt Li Anshi's battle record.
At most, they thought it might be slightly exaggerated.
They were immensely grateful that they had not engaged in any large-scale battles during their war with Konoha.
Otherwise, the battle that made Little Li's Flying Dagger famous might have been fought on the backs of the Sand ninjas.
As for the Stone, when Li Anshi had charged through earlier, he had come through their defensive line.
The lives of those seventy-one Stone ninjas were a constant reminder that the reality of Li Anshi was even more terrifying than the legends.
The horror of dying instantly and silently was enough to drive an ordinary person mad.
Only the Mist ninjas had yet to fight Li Anshi. Although they knew of his fame, they had no concrete reference in their minds.
"Is that so?"
"It seems that is your answer."
"Are you afraid?"
After a slight nod, Li Anshi turned back to the thirty-odd red-haired children behind him and asked.
"No, we're not afraid!"
Although their legs were trembling, one of the children still spoke up.
"Yeah, we're not afraid!"
Then, more children began to speak out.
After they uttered the words "not afraid," it was as if they had truly drawn strength and courage from them, and their legs no longer trembled.
"Very good."
"Then, stay behind me."
"Leave the rest to me!"
"Yes, sir."
Seeing that the children had mostly overcome their fear, Li Anshi nodded and stepped forward.
"Since the Warring States period, the Senju and Uzumaki clans have been the closest of allies."
"I have come to the Land of Whirlpools this time to take back the Senju clan's allies, the Uzumaki, and bring them home to Konoha."
"Anyone who dares to stand in the way of the Uzumaki clan's return to Konoha will be my enemy."
Seeing that Li Anshi was ignoring his persuasion and was determined to charge through with more than thirty children, the Cloud Jonin was overjoyed.
"Kill them!"
With a wave of his hand, a large number of Cloud ninjas swarmed down, charging towards Li Anshi and the group.
As the Cloud ninjas began their charge, the ninja forces of the Stone, Sand, and Mist also erupted with battle cries, launching an assault on Li Anshi and the children at the center from all directions.
"Charge—"
As they ran, the ninjas formed hand seals, preparing to unleash ninjutsu on Li Anshi.
The more aggressive ones prepared the seals for offensive jutsus.
The more conservative ones prepared seals for defensive or evasive jutsus.
Many Chunin even formed the seals for the Clone Technique, attempting to confuse Li Anshi's vision and give themselves a better chance of survival.
"Naive!"
Li Anshi sneered as he saw the ninjas attack.
Swish, swish, swish—
Eight flashes of white light shot from Li Anshi's hands.
In an instant, the daggers sliced across the necks of nearly forty men in front of him, and they fell to their knees, clutching their throats.
After Li Anshi had come to understand his own "ninja way," his flying dagger technique had broken through the shackles of Li Xunhuan's style, and he had forged his own path.
Of course, this was not to say that Li Anshi's current technique surpassed Li Xunhuan's.
In terms of his current "ninja way," there was still a great gap between him and Li Xunhuan.
But because Li Anshi's "ninja way" was "freedom," his daggers, once thrown, were far more elegant than Li Xunhuan's, which were driven by "sentiment."
When Li Anshi used the spirit of "sentiment" to drive his daggers, their attack power was stronger.
When he used the spirit of "freedom," the daggers' paths were elegant, and they could even make slight turns under his control.
The specific difference between the two was manifested in their attack strength and trajectory.
Using the spirit of "sentiment," one dagger killed one person; not even the Third Raikage or a Tailed Beast Jinchuriki could escape.
Using the spirit of "freedom," Li Anshi had not tested whether the attack power could pierce the defenses of the Third Raikage or a Tailed Beast.
But the ninjas surrounding him now possessed no defense comparable to the Third Raikage's.
Against these ninjas, using the spirit of "freedom" was perfect. With his current control, one dagger could kill two or three of them.
In the moments that followed, Li Anshi's feet never stopped, and his hands danced like lotus flowers. Streams of white light flew from his hands, covering the hundred-meter area around him.
In just a few breaths, all the ninjas from the great villages who had charged into his hundred-meter range had fallen under his daggers in various postures.
The Mist ninjas, seeing his technique for the first time, drew in a collective cold breath.
Hearing the rumors and actually witnessing the extreme killing speed of Little Li's Flying Dagger were two completely different experiences.
Of course, what terrified them even more was that before his daggers, there was no difference between a Genin, a Chunin, or a Jonin.
They had trained hard for twenty or thirty years to become the top powerhouses in their villages, figures of some renown in the entire ninja world.
But now, a single small dagger could kill them, making all their years of training seem utterly meaningless.
Fortunately, the Cloud commander was, after all, a ninja who had clashed with Li Anshi twice before.
That's right, this Cloud ninja had been present both on the battlefield between the Cloud and Konoha, and during the Cloud's attempt to encircle and kill Li Anshi.
And both times, he had been lucky enough to survive.
Compared to the other ninjas who were witnessing Li Anshi's slaughter for the first time, he already had a resistance to it.
A hint of pride even rose in his heart, feeling that the Jonin from the other villages were simply too inexperienced.
However, despite patting himself on the back, the Cloud ninja did not forget what he was supposed to do.
"Keep going! He's running out of daggers!"