"Nagato-sama, won't setting up camp here be too conspicuous?"
Nakamura Daiki looked across the vast yellow loess plain with a troubled expression.
This place clearly didn't seem like an appropriate location for camping at all.
"That's exactly what he wanted."
"Otherwise, how anxious would Iwagakure's fools get if they couldn't find us!"
Nagato was nonchalant—he wanted that effect.
"Uhh... well then."
Since Nagato had intentionally chosen this spot, Nakamura Daiki didn't feel right arguing further.
Still, his face remained filled with hesitation.
"Don't worry. Nothing will escape his perception, no matter how slight the disturbance."
Nonou pointed at Nagato, easing Nakamura Daiki's unease.
"No, I'm not worried."
"I'll go help over there."
Nakamura Daiki waved awkwardly, hastily making up an excuse to leave quickly, his footsteps unusually quick.
"This guy's all talk."
Watching Nakamura Daiki walk away, Nagato shook his head in amused frustration.
"If it weren't because I trust you, I wouldn't have agreed to camp like this either."
Although Nonou wasn't particularly experienced in warfare, she still understood basic common sense.
"Haha~Thank you for your trust, Lady Nonou."
Nagato laughed heartily, clearly delighted by their alone time with Nonou, as if he'd forgotten why he was here.
"You're getting more and more shameless."
Nonou shot him a glance, oozing feminine charm.
"For safety, maybe stay with me tonight?"
Nagato scooted closer to Nonou, changing the word at the last second.
"Hmph~Dream on."
Nonou blushed deeply. She hadn't yet experienced such intimacy with Nagato.
"You've got the wrong idea. I just want to protect you, purely."
It had been years. Nagato was no longer that innocent high school boy.
"Please—If you don't think that way, how do you know I'm misunderstanding?"
Nonou contemptuously dismissed Nagato's smooth words, though her blush deepened.
"Takes one to talk."
"If you don't want to, fine."
Nagato played the victim first, shooting her a defiant glance, as if to say, "Don't regret it later."
"Get real, little brother. Maybe in a few years, big sister will cave in."
To his surprise, Nonou—who seemed shy moments ago—suddenly turned the tables.
Standing up, she gently patted Nagato's shoulder before quickly walking away, leaving Nagato standing alone, caught off guard.
That was definitely not part of his plan!!!
By the time he snapped back to reality, watching her slightly hurried pace, Nagato smiled again.
Sister, you don't seem quite so calm either!
While Nagato was enjoying this playful interaction between lovers, Rōshi and Kitsuchi were practically burning up the ground with impatience.
"How much farther?"
No sooner had Rōshi spoken than a voice responded from behind.
"Lord Rōshi, about fifty kilometers more."
Because Nagato had deliberately made their presence obvious, their current campsite was wide open.
"Exactly—a brash kid who still can't tell sky from earth."
A faint smile appeared on Rōshi's lips, thinking Nagato was just brawn with no brains for strategy.
"I've got a strange feeling about this..."
Ever since learning the Akatsuki ninja's exact camping location, Kitsuchi's frown hadn't relaxed.
He couldn't believe that someone who had won a unification war could make such a basic mistake.
"Don't overthink it. Like we have any other choice, right?"
Rōshi shot Kitsuchi a glance. His tone wasn't particularly harsh—it was actually kinder than how he usually treated Ōnoki.
"Tch~"
Kitsuchi sighed and found himself speechless.
Even if what lay ahead was a wall of fire, they had no choice but to bite the bullet and push through.
This was the Land of Earth's territory—they had to stop the Akatsuki ninjas in their tracks.
If Nagato had employed any tactics, this would be a textbook example of open and clever strategy.
The night gradually deepened.
Lying in the tent, Nagato's eyes suddenly snapped open. His Rinnegan glowed ominously in the darkness.
He didn't rush to wake the team. Instead, he carefully packed away the tent before slipping into Nonou's tent.
"Hey, time to work."
Nagato gently pinched Nonou's nose until she stirred awake.
For Nonou, a former spy, this was almost unbelievable.
"Disgusting."
Nonou batted his hand away and yawned.
"The Iwa ninja are almost here. Get up now."
Nagato's tone was gentle, filled with affection as he looked at Nonou.
"What?"
"Why did you wait so long to wake me? Hurry up and notify everyone else!"
Upon hearing Nagato's words, Nonou immediately became fully awake. She simply didn't match Nagato's level of composure.
"Alright."
"Let everyone prepare for battle. The Iwa ninja won't arrive for a while yet."
After leaving the tent, Nagato and Nonou split up to help wake the others.
Three minutes later, all the Akatsuki ninja were already in combat readiness.
"Stop."
Rōshi raised a hand and halted their advance first.
"Nagato, the leader of the Akatsuki Village, is not easy to handle. Me and Kitsuchi will draw him away."
"And then you all attack."
Rōshi didn't act arrogant—he was extremely cautious.
He knew exactly how devastating a fighter of Nagato's caliber could be against ordinary ninjas.
"Understood."
Kitsuchi stepped forward, standing beside Rōshi, while the large troop behind silently nodded.
"I can already sense a great number of chakra signatures ahead."
"Let's let them taste some hardship first."
After saying that, Rōshi covered himself in a dark red tailed-beast chakra cloak.
As his released tailed-beast chakra grew stronger, Rōshi's entire body underwent a massive transformation.
He dropped onto all fours, completely enveloped in dark red chakra, with four tails raised high.
Ohhh…!
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[Half-Tailed Beast Form]!!!
The overwhelming pressure forced Kitsuchi and the Iwagakure ninjas to instinctively step back in unison.
"Just being near Lord Rōshi feels suffocating."
"This is the power of a tailed beast?"
"How terrifying."
Some Iwa ninjas, experiencing a tailed beast's power for the first time, couldn't help but exclaim in awe.
But Rōshi paid no attention whatsoever to these murmurs. A massive amount of tailed-beast chakra began to gather in front of his mouth.
He was preparing to unleash a Tailed Beast Ball from a distance, launching a devastating long-range attack at the Akatsuki ninja.
They were enemies—there was no reason to hold back.
"You're certainly not holding back at all!"
"Protect yourselves well."
A scornful smile flickered across Nagato's lips as he cast a final remark toward Nonou and instantly vanished from the Akatsuki ninja's sight.
Though still quite a distance away, Rōshi in his half-transformed Tailed Beast state stood out to Nagato's sensing ability as clearly as a flare burning in darkness.
Nagato understood his intent perfectly.
"This is bad."
[Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!]
By the time Kitsuchi noticed someone rapidly approaching, it was already too late. He barely had time to raise a thick earthen wall before the attacker struck.
Meanwhile, Rōshi's Tailed Beast Ball had only just reached half its full size—there was no way he could release it yet.
[Shinra Tensei!]
Before he could even identify who the attacker was, four words roared into his ears like thunder.
Right after came an overwhelming surge of repelling force that burst forth.
The earthen wall raised by the Iwagakure ninja offered no protection—it shattered into pieces, caught up and carried along by the very force it was meant to block.
Rōshi and Kitsuchi were hit head-on, pummeled by flying debris, their bodies hurled backward.
The team behind them suffered no better fate, crashing to the ground in chaos.
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