Could it be that one day in the future, even if the Cloud Village threw the entire weight of its ninja force at him, they wouldn't be able to get close to Li Anshi at all?
It could be said that what Li Anshi had revealed in this battle had completely shattered the Cloud commander's dream.
Even if he eventually recovered, his strength would be greatly diminished from the loss of his will.
One flying dagger could kill three people. What did that even mean?
It meant that the price other ninja villages would have to pay to encircle and kill Li Anshi had suddenly tripled.
Even if Li Anshi wasn't carrying a sealing scroll for his daggers, it would take the lives of at least fifteen hundred people to possibly exhaust his supply.
Fifteen hundred people. Not fifteen, not one hundred and fifty, but fifteen hundred.
And that was the most conservative estimate.
Furthermore, it required hoping that Li Anshi's dagger skills had already reached their peak.
That in the future, he wouldn't be able to achieve one dagger for four kills, or one for five.
Even as one of the five great ninja villages, the Cloud could not afford to sacrifice fifteen hundred lives just to test if they could kill him.
After all, their last failure had already cast a shadow over the Cloud Village ninjas' hearts regarding Li Anshi.
If they failed again, it wouldn't just be their pride that was broken; their very spirit would likely be gone.
It was not impossible that their position as one of the five great ninja villages would be replaced by another in the future.
"There's no hope..."
"The Cloud Village is finished..."
The other ninja villages paid little attention to the Cloud commander's mental breakdown.
At this moment, they too were terrified by the four small mountains of corpses that had been piled up.
From the start of the attack on Li Anshi to its end, a little over two minutes had passed.
But in those two minutes, over five hundred ninjas had died so unremarkably, becoming part of the "mountain of corpses."
Before this, these ninjas had only heard the legends of Little Li's Flying Dagger.
Now, every ninja present had witnessed his terror firsthand.
Such an extreme killing speed was simply horrifying.
At this moment, they gained a much deeper understanding of the "special pardon" that had appeared in the ninja world.
When faced with a terrifying figure like Li Anshi, just being able to escape with one's life was a blessing. How could the village possibly punish them for a failed mission?
In fact, the village would probably debrief the ninjas who escaped, having them explain in detail to the other ninjas how they survived his attack, so that everyone could gain a better understanding of his character.
The next time other ninjas encountered him, they could use the intelligence provided by the survivors to formulate a targeted escape plan. The value of such information was immeasurable.
"Is someone like that... really a ninja?"
Amidst the roaring flames, a ninja couldn't help but ask in a daze.
The young ninjas were bewildered, while the older ones looked up at the sky, their expressions forlorn.
They were all relics who had survived the Warring States period.
For them, that era belonged to the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, and the Asura of the Ninja World, Madara Uchiha.
Under the will of those two, the Warring States period became history, and the entire ninja world entered the era of the ninja villages.
Just when they had finally outlived those two great mountains, Konoha had produced the even more terrifying "Little Li's Flying Dagger."
Oh, vast heavens, why are you so cruel to us?
And so generous to Konoha?
Turning to look at the young ninjas around them, the older ones wiped the tears from the corners of their eyes.
Forget it. We were suppressed by those two for an entire era.
This is no longer our time.
This is the era of the young.
It's time for these young ones to experience the terror of the ninja world.
As for themselves, they didn't have many years left to live.
From Konoha's recent actions, it didn't seem they had any ambition to unify the ninja world by relying on Li Anshi.
For the remaining days, let's just live out the rest of our lives happily!
…
"A miscalculation!"
As night fell, Li Anshi looked at the thirty-odd children around him and couldn't help but shake his head inwardly.
Because this was an emergency, after getting the leave-of-village permit from the Third Hokage, Li Anshi had rushed to the Land of Whirlpools at his fastest speed.
He was worried that if he was too slow, the country would be conquered by the other villages, making his trip a waste. That was a small matter. What Li Anshi truly didn't want was to give Tsunade hope, only to extinguish it with his own hands.
Now, he had indeed succeeded in bringing the Uzumaki children out of the Land of Whirlpools.
However, it had taken him three days to get from Konoha to the Land of Whirlpools.
The speed of these children was nothing compared to his.
At their pace, it would probably take a month to get back to Konoha.
"It seems I'll have to find a town next, to buy or rent a few carriages."
"Otherwise, if we only travel on foot, these children probably won't be able to take it."
Of course, that was an option for when they reached a town.
Out here, in a forest with no village in sight, he had to find a shelter for the children to rest, and enough food.
Looking around, Li Anshi came to a cliff face. A blue ball of chakra formed in his right hand.
"Rasengan!"
With a low shout, Li Anshi slammed the Rasengan in his hand against the cliff.
Boom!
The violent chakra erupted from the Rasengan, blasting a round crater over two meters wide into the cliff face.
"Hah!"
Li Anshi shouted again, pouring more chakra into the Rasengan, causing the energy within it to continue to explode.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom—
Pushing the Rasengan forward, Li Anshi carved a tunnel through the cliff.
Then, he attacked the sides of the tunnel. After about ten seconds, he had turned the cliff face into a cave two meters high, six meters deep, and four meters wide.
Li Anshi dissipated the Rasengan, letting it turn into a gust of wind that blew the pulverized gravel out of the cave.
"Alright, you can all stay in this cave for now."
"Does anyone know how to set up a defensive barrier jutsu?"
"I... I've learned some."
After Li Anshi's question, a young girl of about eleven raised her hand.
"Alright then, little one. Set up a defensive barrier at the cave entrance."
"Until I get back, I'm counting on you to protect everyone."
"Okay!"
The little girl nodded, walked to the entrance of the cave, and her hands quickly formed a series of seals.
The power of sealing jutsus was beyond doubt.
Even the Sage of Six Paths' "Planetary Devastation," used to seal his mother, Kaguya Otsutsuki, was a type of sealing jutsu.
Although this little girl had not yet become a true ninja, she already had a certain level of proficiency in the art.
Five seconds later, the girl completed the hand seals and slammed her palms onto the ground.
A series of ink-black, tadpole-like runes spread out from her hands, quickly covering the area around the cave entrance.
After the sealing runes faded, Li Anshi could feel a strange chakra at the mouth of the cave.
He reached out his hand, slowly extending it towards the entrance.
Just as his palm was about to enter, a translucent blue barrier appeared before him, blocking his hand.
Pressing lightly, ripples spread out from the center of his palm.
Seeing this, a flash of surprise appeared in the little girl's eyes.
She had tested the defense of this sealing barrier before. It could withstand several attacks from a Genin using a C-rank jutsu like the Great Fireball Technique.
From Lord Anshi's expression, it seemed he was truly just pressing lightly, not using much force at all.
But even this "light press" had caused the barrier to ripple.
If Lord Anshi used more force, could he break this barrier directly?
However, remembering the domineering way Lord Anshi had ignored the ninjas of the four great villages as he led them away from the Land of Whirlpools, the little Uzumaki girl understood.
This is Lord Anshi, after all. It's only natural for him to have such power.
What's there to be surprised about?
"Not bad."
After feeling the defense of the barrier, Li Anshi nodded slightly.
Although to him, this defensive barrier was no different from paper, for an ordinary Genin, breaking it would not be an easy task.
Considering the age of this Uzumaki child, to have such a performance, she could be considered a "genius."
"As expected. No matter what, the Uzumaki clan are descendants of Asura, the son of the Sage of Six Paths."
"In terms of bloodline, the Uzumaki are on the same level as the Senju and Uchiha, all belonging to the highest tier."
"It's just that the Uzumaki specialize in sealing jutsus and are not skilled in combat. Otherwise, if they were to learn elemental ninjutsu, they would be far superior to the likes of the Sarutobi clan."
In Li Anshi's view, the Uzumaki ninjas had a special constitution, and their chakra reserves were the greatest in the entire ninja world.
As long as an Uzumaki ninja grew up normally, their chakra would be more than five times that of other ninjas.
With such a large amount of chakra, no matter what kind of ninjutsu they practiced, they could quickly increase their strength.
Take Nagato Uzumaki for example. After training with Jiraiya for only three years, he had possessed strength comparable to a Jonin.
Although these children, chosen to represent the Uzumaki clan in joining Konoha, were not as good as Nagato, they were no worse than a Naruto Uzumaki of the same age.
Well, a Naruto Uzumaki without the Tailed Beast's chakra.
After all, although Naruto's bloodline came from Kushina Uzumaki, he was not considered "pure-blood."
A pure-blood Uzumaki had red hair.
Naruto's hair was yellow, inherited from Minato Namikaze.
If becoming a Jonin didn't require mastering two chakra nature transformations, Li Anshi felt that these Uzumaki children could become Jonin just by relying on their vast chakra reserves.