Silence!
The entire village was just too quiet.
Shibuki had just let out a sigh of relief deep in his heart, only for it to immediately tighten again.
Shibuki's body crouched slightly as he surveyed his surroundings, then cautiously walked toward the nearest house.
Just as Shibuki was about to approach the house, a sharp sound of a weapon suddenly rang out.
Following that, a kunai suddenly thrust out from the room.
Shibuki's face showed a panicked expression as he quickly retreated.
Although he had already moved backward, his reaction was still a bit too slow. This kunai pierced one of Shibuki's arms.
Intense pain shot through him, causing Shibuki's face to pale slightly. After retreating several steps, Shibuki could finally clearly see the ninja who had walked out of the room.
No forehead protector, and even dressed casually—he must be a rogue ninja!
"What a shame, I almost managed to pierce your heart completely."
After this ninja walked out of the room, seeing that he had only pierced Shibuki's arm, his face showed an expression of regret.
Swish! Swish!
Along with this ninja's voice, faint chuckles suddenly erupted from around the once-quiet surroundings.
With a difficult expression on his face, one ninja after another slowly emerged from their hiding spots.
"Heh, lucky you only got his arm. If you had killed this guy, be careful the leader would kill you."
This ninja's companion walked over from the side, letting out a low laugh.
Step! Step!
Light footsteps suddenly came from behind Shibuki. His body stiffened, and before he could react, a heavy impact landed squarely on his back.
Shibuki spat out a mouthful of blood as he was kicked to the ground.
After rolling several times on the ground, Shibuki finally stopped.
Ignoring the pain from his body, Shibuki quickly raised his head to look behind him. Only then did he see the figure who had attacked him—it was a woman with a cold smile on her face.
"Oh my, I thought you were stronger than this. I didn't expect you to be so weak. The Hidden Mist must be getting lazy, letting someone of your caliber escape."
This woman with a cold expression shook her head and said with a smile.
"What about everyone! What have you done to everyone?"
Shibuki didn't even bother to wipe the blood from his mouth, showing an angry expression as he looked at the cold-faced woman.
"Oh, as expected of the leader of the ninja village. Your strength might be lacking, but you're quite concerned about those ants, aren't you?"
Hiyu raised an eyebrow, looking at Shibuki across from her with a cold smile.
"Don't worry, they're just ants, not worth my effort. But if you don't cooperate from here on out, who knows what might happen."
Hiyu raised a finger to her lips and spoke softly. Although the gesture was somewhat suggestive, her voice carried undisguised killing intent.
Calling everyone in the village ants?
Hearing this, Shibuki couldn't help but clench his fists tightly, staring at Hiyu with angry eyes.
Although Shibuki was furious inside, he also felt a sense of relief.
The meaning in this woman's words just now proved that everyone was currently unharmed.
"How did you people get in here anyway? How could outsiders possibly find the village entrance!"
Shibuki looked at Hiyu, his voice filled with anger and confusion.
Hiyu's face showed a faint smile as she gently pointed upward with her finger, chuckling:
"That's a question you should ask the person up there."
Shibuki was stunned, then quickly raised his head to look upward.
There, standing on a branch of a large tree not far ahead, a figure was standing with a cold expression, observing Shibuki below.
When he saw this figure, Shibuki's face showed an expression of disbelief, and he stammered:
"Teach... teacher, why would you do this?"
Seeing the stunned look on Shibuki's face, Suiren's eyes flashed with deep disdain.
Suiren applied a slight pressure with his foot, and his figure instantly disappeared from the branch. When he reappeared, he was already standing in front of Hiyu.
"You're still as weak as ever, Shibuki."
Suiren looked at the expression on Shibuki's face, speaking with a hint of ridicule in his voice.
"Why... why would you do this? Everyone respected you so much!"
Shibuki's face still wore an expression of disbelief, his entire body trembling with agitation.
"Respect? What's that! I want power. Tell me where the 'Hero's Water' is."
Suiren waved his hand impatiently, his voice filled with disdain.
"And Fu? What have you done to her? She trusted you so much!"
Shibuki tremblingly stood up, his voice filled with resentment.
However, as soon as Shibuki finished speaking, Suiren used the Body Flicker Technique and appeared in front of him.
Suiren suddenly raised his fist and struck hard at Shibuki's stomach, making a heavy muffled sound.
Shibuki's eyes widened as he spat out a mouthful of blood.
"I don't want to hear your nonsense. Bring them all out."
Suiren raised his arm and blew on his fist, speaking to the other ninjas nearby.
Hearing Suiren's command, the other ninjas around him nodded slightly and instantly left their positions.
After a short while, civilians who were bound and gagged were pulled out of the surrounding houses by these ninjas.
Suiren walked in front of one civilian and reached out to remove the gag from her mouth.
"You bastard, Suiren! Everyone trusted you so much, and you would do something like this to the village! Shibuki-dono, run! Don't worry about us!"
As soon as the gag was removed, this civilian cursed at Suiren while looking toward Shibuki, quickly warning him.
"So much nonsense."
Suiren frowned, then kicked the civilian hard to the ground. Stepping on the civilian's head, he looked at Shibuki:
"Hand over the 'Hero's Water', or all of these people will die!"
Shibuki's face was filled with anger as he rushed toward Suiren.
However, as soon as Shibuki appeared in front of Suiren, he was kicked away at an even faster speed.
"Run, Shibuki-dono! You're no match for these people."
The civilian being stepped on by Suiren called out to Shibuki with difficulty.
"Everyone..."
Shibuki bit his lip hard enough to draw blood.
The next moment, Shibuki suddenly turned around and quickly jumped into a pond not far behind him.
A figure quickly appeared at the edge of the pond, and when they saw that there was no figure at the bottom of the pond, Hiyu suddenly turned her head, her face looking vicious as she said to Suiren, who remained calm:
"You let him escape!"
Suiren's eyes flashed with disdain as he kicked the civilian under his foot aside, speaking casually:
"If I don't let him go, how will he bring out the 'Hero's Water' to fight me to the death?"
Hiyu was slightly stunned, and her originally displeased expression gradually faded.
At this moment, no one noticed that not far from the group, in the canopy of a large tree, two figures were standing quietly.
"Lord Yuto, don't you need to help with the situation below?"
Konan looked down at Hiyu, slightly raising an eyebrow, and spoke softly.
"They're waiting, and we're waiting too. I'm sure you're also curious about that thing that can increase chakra tenfold."
Yuto smiled faintly, his face showing an interested expression.
Konan glanced at the civilians below, who were currently not being attacked, and nodded slightly.
Meanwhile, Shibuki, who had jumped into the river bottom, wasn't escaping. Instead, following the route his father had told him in his mind, he quickly swam deeper into the bottom of the lake.
After a short while, Shibuki saw a small cave in the lake bottom that only one person could pass through.
Without any hesitation, Shibuki plunged into it. After a moment, he suddenly surfaced in a lake.
Shibuki emerged from the water, taking several deep breaths, then raised his head to look around.
This was inside a giant tree's hollow, not a large space.
Therefore, Shibuki could immediately see in front of him, placed in the center, something that resembled a cabinet.
Shibuki quickly climbed out and walked in front of this cabinet. When he saw the familiar patterns on its surface, Shibuki's eyes became slightly moist.
His father's voice from before his death echoed in Shibuki's mind:
"The Hero's Water is both power and poison. Those who use the Hero's Water have already prepared themselves for death.
Promise me... Shibuki, don't let the people in the village use such power again."
"Father, I'm sorry, I ended up using this after all. But now I need this power to save everyone!"
"I will defeat the teacher and show him he's wrong! Even if it costs me my life!"
Shibuki clenched his fists, speaking with determination. After speaking, Shibuki quickly formed several hand seals.
In an instant, the patterns on the cabinet suddenly lit up, and then the originally closed cabinet slowly opened on its own.
Inside the center of the cabinet, a transparent gourd was placed.
At this moment, this transparent gourd still contained nearly two-thirds of a transparent liquid.
At the very top of this gourd's opening, an extremely ancient branch was placed.
Shibuki didn't know when this branch had appeared here.
He only knew that it seemed that when Takigakure was founded, this ancient branch had already been here.
Every six months or so, a single drop of liquid would fall from this ancient branch.
And the transparent liquid in the glass gourd was what dripped from this branch.
More than half a gourd of transparent liquid—who knew how many years the village of Takigakure had accumulated it.
With a solemn expression, Shibuki slowly picked up the transparent gourd.
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