A loud explosion shook all of Kusagakure. A large number of shinobi rushed to the scene—the explosion had occurred at the village's administrative building. A kunai, seemingly thrown from nowhere with an Exploding Tag attached, had blown a hole in the rooftop.
The entire village was thrown into chaos. They quickly sealed off the area and began investigating the culprit. It wasn't until late into the night that they suddenly realized one thing—this attack might have just been a diversion.
Because their valuable assets, the two Uzumaki blood supplies, had vanished without a trace.
Though they hadn't seemed to cherish these two blood supplies much before, now that they were gone, they realized just how important they were.
Medical-nin were high-level talents in any shinobi village. Aside from Konoha, where Tsunade had specifically promoted medical training, other villages lacked any systematic medical-nin program.
Thus, a large number of Kusagakure shinobi rushed out of the village, beginning the pursuit of the two missing blood supplies.
"Damn it, when we catch them, I'm going to teach those two bitches a lesson. How dare they run away, I—"
"Shut up, idiot. Didn't you see Kenjin's corpse in the room? He was killed head-on by a swordsmanship expert. They didn't escape—someone took them. Be careful. Kenjin didn't even get a chance to send a distress signal. The enemy might be a high-level shinobi."
The group of Kusagakure shinobi chattered as they tracked, their voices so loud that Aoba could hear them clearly from hundreds of meters away.
This squad happened to be on the right trail. Aoba, carrying two people and conserving Chakra by not running at full speed, wasn't moving particularly fast.
By dawn, the pursuing Kusagakure shinobi who had guessed the right direction caught up. But Aoba wasn't particularly concerned.Primarily, he wasn't actually very afraid of the Grass Ninja Village. Compared to the diverse array of ninjas in Konoha, these small villages had far too shallow foundations. Having a few secret technique users was already considered remarkable for them.
As the opponents approached, Aoba could clearly sense their chakra levels—the strongest among them was only equivalent to an average civilian Chunin from Konoha.
Even with his diminished chakra reserves, Aoba was still at Jonin level. Moreover, their practical combat experience wasn't even in the same league.
Aoba had spent three years in bloody battles against Cloud Ninjas at the border. His experience and tactical skills were on an entirely different level compared to these small-country ninjas who relied on major nations for survival.
He even deliberately slowed his pace, allowing them to catch up.
"There! We see them—stop!" One of the Grass Ninjas even comically shouted "stop" before charging straight forward.
The two sides engaged in a chase, leaping back and forth between trees as countless leaves scattered in their wake.
When the three Grass Ninjas passed through the falling leaves, their expressions suddenly changed. Unbeknownst to them, three Exploding Tags had been hidden among the drifting foliage.
Somehow, as they passed through, the tags were drawn to them like magnets, attaching directly to their bodies.
The next second, three consecutive explosions erupted. The Grass Ninjas died instantly. In truth, all three were members of the Grass Anbu—their basic skills were solid enough to pursue this far.
But there was no helping it—ninjas were inherently high-offense, low-defense characters. Even top-tier ninjas like Kakashi or Jiraiya could lose their lives to a single kunai if they weren't careful, let alone three ordinary Grass Anbu members.
After the explosions, Aoba and his group accelerated away, vanishing from the scene.
This time, he employed his wind-style ninja taijutsu. His body became light as a feather, no longer stepping on tree trunks but gliding effortlessly across the treetops.
To any pursuing ninja, it would appear as though Aoba's trail had abruptly vanished at this point.
In his arms, Karin blinked her large eyes at Aoba, her gaze filled with admiration. She had expected a fierce battle—after all, those Grass Ninjas had seemed like invincible figures to her.
Even if this big brother was strong, she thought it would still take some effort to deal with them.
Yet to her surprise, the three supposedly unbeatable Grass Ninjas didn't even make it within striking distance before being obliterated.
Far from being frightened, Karin felt exhilarated.
No one could imagine what she had endured during her time in the Grass Village. Countless times, she had fantasized about gaining power to kill all those who had tormented her and her mother.
Now, she was seeing the first glimmer of that power.
Aoba rarely named his techniques. The only officially named one was his most frequently used Air Cutting Flash.
In reality, Air Cutting Flash was just the basic application of this ninja taijutsu. In actual combat, he could execute it in various ways—in extreme cases, even using a hand chop instead of a real blade to perform Air Cutting Flash.
But those three worthless opponents hadn't even warranted him drawing his sword.This ninjutsu, which utilized wind to glide, was ultimately named by Aoba as Wind Release: Wind Chaser. It also perfectly matched his epithet, the Wind Chasing Sword.
However, Aoba rarely used this technique in front of others. Information about a ninja's own skills was extremely important. Just as Orochimaru would trade intelligence on Itachi Uchiha for the Kusanagi Sword.
Aoba didn't want his trump cards to become common knowledge. Thus, he only used this technique when traveling alone or after eliminating pursuers.
After running with Wind Chaser for a while, to conserve Chakra, he returned to the ground and tree trunks, maintaining a steady, rhythmic pace.
The pursuit capabilities of the Grass Village were far weaker than imagined. In fact, it wasn't until he reached the border of the Land of Grass that the second group of pursuers finally closed in on their position.
"Prepare yourselves. The second wave of pursuers is coming."
Aoba's words worried Karin's mother, who was on his back. But young Karin showed no fear at all—she was even a little excited.
Aoba knew that this little girl would later survive under Orochimaru's command and even independently manage a base. Aside from being somewhat superficial and obsessed with Sasuke Uchiha, Karin was undoubtedly a first-rate powerhouse.
This was also why Aoba had specifically gone to the Grass Village to rescue her. Beyond Karin's unique ability to heal injuries, she herself was an exceptionally talented individual.
Aoba had many plans for the future, and he couldn't handle everything alone. He needed some truly outstanding allies. Karin was one of his chosen targets.
This time, the Grass ninja pursuit squad was larger—six in total. Moreover, their objective was clear. They ignored the false trails Aoba had left and came straight for them.
"They must have a sensor unit. Be careful—this time, it's serious."
"Mhm!" Karin in his arms responded firmly.