Hogoromo Clan's territory.
Rumble!
Bang!
Clang, clang!
Facing the sweeping storm, the attacking enemies were prepared. The three of them simultaneously used a combination of Fire Release to break through the Wind Release and advance towards the Hogoromo Clan's high-ranking members.
Pfft!
The Hogoromo Clan's high-ranking member tried to counterattack with Ninjutsu, but a Kunai pierced through his inner armour and penetrated his chest.
"Heh, I know the Hogoromo Clan's Ninjutsu is powerful, and they have Ninjutsu to counter Fire Release.
But... a Ninja is an experienced professional. No matter how much Chakra you have, or how strong your Ninjutsu is,
Without combat experience, you are just lambs to the slaughter."
The assassin, wearing a Hidden Rain Village headband, pulled out his Kunai and sneered.
Bang!
The Hogoromo Clan's high-ranking member spat out a mouthful of blood, fell to the ground, and died.
As a famous noble clan in the Land of Fire, how could the Hogoromo Clan be unprepared? It took a lot of effort to deal with them.
They also had a way to counter the Hogoromo Clan's large Chakra reserves and powerful Ninjutsu.
That was the Hogoromo Clan's combat experience, which was too weak compared to the Village Ninja who frequently carried out dangerous missions.
If the Hogoromo Clan's high-ranking combatants hadn't been transferred, they could have supported each other, but that's not what happened.
But... there are no ifs.
"Elder."
Whoosh, whoosh!
Various parts of the Hogoromo Clan were attacked by unknown Ninja forces.
Upon seeing the death of the high-ranking Ninja guarding the clan, their eyes were filled with rage.
Pfft, pfft!
Blood splattered everywhere.
One by one, members of the Hogoromo Clan fell, and the hired guards also fell successively.
The leader of the attackers, leading his team, looked at the corpses scattered on the ground, his eyes revealing a crazed excitement.
"There are ten more youngsters, they are training in Wind Breath Valley, right?
Next, should we ambush them, or directly attack?
Forget it, let's ambush them. Too many losses wouldn't be good."
The leader looked at the remaining team and made a judgment in his mind.
...
"How interesting, I didn't expect such an unexpected gain."
After the group left, a figure emerged from the darkness, looking at the corpses on the ground and licking his lips.
...
On the way to Wind Breath Valley.
Swish, swish!
Hogoromo Ken squeezed the Chakra within his body, advancing quickly with the help of the strong wind.
The gold-rimmed glasses on his nose were shattered, and his suit was covered in blood, with a little blood flowing from his forehead.
"Damn it, that damn Gato."
Now he regretted trusting his strength when Satoru suggested raising the mission's difficulty.
But there was no time for regret.
Now he only wanted to inform the Konoha people to take the younger generation of the Hogoromo family away.
Since Gato dared to use such methods, the high-ranking clan members who went for the transaction were probably already in grave danger.
Now he could only place his hope in Konoha, hoping they would take the clan members to escape.
Behind him, four figures were in hot pursuit.
All of them wore gas masks, looking somewhat cruel towards Hogoromo Ken.
...
Satoru, who was in the middle of his research, suddenly stopped what he was doing.
He put away everything.
"Eh, why did Captain put things away?" Inuzuka Tsuyoshi asked.
Satoru sighed, "No choice, our mission reward might be gone."
His previous worries had come true.
Bang!
Inuzuka Tsuyoshi wanted to say something, but he had already disappeared from his spot.
"Why did Captain say that? Does the Hogoromo Clan dare not pay the reward?" Inuzuka Tsuyoshi was puzzled.
This was not a foreign country; in the Land of Fire, even many nobles of the Land of Fire would not dare to refuse payment.
Aburame Shikyō said to Hyuga Chong, "The Captain must have discovered something. Get ready for battle, and bring them all back first."
Hyuga Chong nodded, "Eight o'clock direction... Nine o'clock direction..."
After he stated the coordinates of the ten Hogoromo Clan members, Inuzuka Tsuyoshi and Aburame Shikyō were responsible for dragging them back.
"What's wrong? I still have energy, why did you drag me back?"
"Yeah, I was just starting to feel something about the nature of wind. This will ruin my understanding, you know."
"Hey, what's going on with you guys?"
The ten Hogoromo Clan members, being dragged back while still having plenty of stamina, felt dissatisfied.
They questioned them.
"Shut up and stay put."
Countless insects surged from Aburame Shikyō's body.
They scattered in a dense black swarm.
Though the ten Hogoromo Clan members were frightened and dissatisfied, they dared not say anything more.
They just thought to themselves that they must complain.
How could Konoha threaten an employer?
...
On the rock wall at the edge of Wind Breath Valley.
Hogoromo Ken had one leg pierced by a large senbon, enduring the pain, he tried to escape into the valley on one leg.
"Hmph, is this Wind Breath Valley?
Are you trying to ask the Konoha guys for help?
That's too naive. Even if they knew,
facing us, the four Hidden Rain brothers, they would still die by our hands outside."
The pursuing Ninja captain sneered.
Looking at the valley inside, he was very disdainful.
He took out three senbon from his Ninja tool pouch, ready to finish off Hogoromo Ken.
Whoosh, whoosh!
Pfft, pfft, pfft!
Clang!
"Not good."
The Amegakure captain secretly thought it was bad. He flicked the senbon he was about to throw at Hogoromo Ken, blocking the Kunai aimed at himself.
But his three teammates were not so lucky; all three were pierced through the throat, killed instantly.
"Who?"
After the Amegakure captain spoke, he pulled out a few round balls with his right hand, slammed them onto the ground, emitting a thick smoke.
In a moment, the thick smoke was blown away by the strong wind, but he had already disappeared from his spot.
When he reappeared, he was behind a rock, observing everything from his original position.
But he found no trace of the enemy, only Hogoromo Ken in his hand, and his fallen comrades on the ground.
This made cold sweat stream down his back.
He almost, almost died.
Who exactly was that person?
"Hey, didn't you ask who I was? Why did you run so fast?"
Satoru appeared beside him, smiling.
Swish!
His left hand reacted quickly, stabbing a Kunai towards Satoru.
Bang!
"Let me see what happened?"
He understood Amegakure's methods very well. Satoru instantly severed his four limbs, choked his neck, pinned him against the rock wall, and placed one hand on his forehead.
A time tunnel emerged.
Countless memories, like droplets in a long river, were distributed within the tunnel.
And Satoru quickly scanned them, his over nine years of experience allowing him to quickly find the key points.
"So that's it, they received an assassination mission to cooperate with others to assassinate members of the Hogoromo Clan!"
In his memories, Satoru quickly understood the whole story.
The Hogoromo Clan's confident strength, and the equipment and mercenaries brought by money, were instantly disintegrated when targeted specifically.
Not only was the intelligence completely leaked, but there were also spies disguised as enemies who instantly turned on them during protection, assassinating most of the resistance forces.
This left the Hogoromo Clan without mercenary support, and they were beaten to death.
This was the purpose and mission of this Amegakure Ninja.
Crack!
His neck was twisted and broken. Satoru brought him to the remaining three corpses, and after verifying the previous intelligence using the Mind Reading Technique, he took out a scroll specifically for collecting corpses and sealed the four corpses within the scroll.
Four 'Corpse' characters were surrounded by runic formulas in the centre of the scroll.