Every oasis in the desert was precious.
Yōkō led Kanoe Squad into the desert.
Kanoe Squad had lost one member in the Land of Rivers and now only had three people left.
Each of them carried a large gourd on their back, filled with poison capable of destroying a small oasis.
Carrying a large gourd was a relatively common sight in the Land of Wind, as long journeys required fresh water.
Keeping a wide berth from the direction of the main battlefield, the group trekked over twenty kilometers through the desert.
"Squad Leader! There are corpses over there!"
A pair of feet belonging to a corpse appeared behind a sand dune.
Yōkō and the others went around to investigate. One corpse after another was revealed; there were actually over twenty desiccated bodies behind the dune.
The twenty-plus mummified corpses seemed to be from about three families, old and young alike.
The elderly were around sixty or seventy years old, with graying beards.
The young were still children, shriveled and wrinkled after being dried out by the sun, as unsightly as they were at birth.
Kanoe bent down to examine the bodies and reported to Yōkō, "Squad Leader, these people are civilians from the Land of Wind. For some reason, they were migrating with their families but didn't bring enough water and died of thirst in the desert."
The dry, hot wind swept up sand, stinging slightly as it hit their faces. It struck the desiccated corpses, making a rustling sound.
Hamo found a map on one of the old, dried-up male corpses.
The map marked an oasis, labeled 'Home'.
"Let's go, first check out this oasis on the map," Yōkō said.
Just as he turned his head, a piece of cloth swept past.
Yōkō stopped and walked towards that piece of cloth.
The others looked at the Squadron Leader.
It was originally a piece of leather covering a female corpse, and it looked extremely tough.
The leather flapped in the strong, dry wind, making slapping sounds.
Yōkō touched the leather and found it particularly windproof.
A thought suddenly occurred to him, and he said to Kanoe, "Kanoe, collect this kind of leather. I want to make something for our escape."
Kanoe picked up the leather, not understanding how it could help them escape.
Yōkō believed the key to this mission wasn't poisoning itself. Poisoning wasn't difficult; risking their lives would always present an opportunity to throw the poison gourd into an oasis.
The hard part was how to escape.
This was the Sand ninjas' home ground; they couldn't outrun Sand ninjas in the desert.
After collecting some leather, Yōkō, drawing on memories from his previous life, sewed the leather into the shape of a glider and tested it himself.
The wind was very strong, making takeoff easy.
He then trained the members of Kanoe Squad on how to control the glider.
The ninjas' physical coordination was excellent. After simple training, Kanoe Squad quickly mastered controlling the glider.
The ability to fly was a rare skill in the ninja world. If they could fly, the Sand ninjas wouldn't be able to catch them.
The squad continued onward, searching for the oasis on the map.
A few days later.
Yōkō was buried in the sand, using a monocular telescopic periscope to observe the Crescent Moon Lake in the distance.
A crescent-shaped lake shimmered under the moonlight.
It was a very beautiful small lake.
In the night, the small lake sparkled like a jewel, originally the fresh water source upon which a dozen or so households depended for survival.
But now, the area around the Crescent Moon Lake was filled with Sand ninjas.
An estimated 50 Sand ninjas, many of whom were wounded.
It seemed a large number of casualties had been withdrawn from a recent battle at the front lines. The fresh water from this small lake wasn't sufficient, so the Sand ninjas had driven out the villagers from the small oasis.
Those villagers had fled in panic, without enough fresh water.
Perhaps the Sand ninjas had given them just enough water to reach the next oasis, but the villagers encountered a sandstorm and were baked into desiccated corpses.
Yōkō had been transmigrated for quite some time now. Based on his general feeling, killing all ninjas might wrong some innocent people. But if you picked two out of three to kill, there would definitely be no unjust or false convictions.
The Sand ninjas had twice the manpower of Konoha, yet they were fighting so difficultly that they were now driving farmers from their oases.
After scouting the information, Yōkō retreated to prepare for the night's operation.
In the latter half of the night, Yōkō walked in front, followed by Hamo carrying the gourd.
The two disguised themselves as thirsty desert travelers, staggering unsteadily towards the Crescent Moon Lake.
The Sand ninja on duty quickly spotted them. One Sand ninja shouted from a distance, "Don't come any closer! This oasis has been requisitioned by Sunagakure!"
The Sand ninja's shout had no effect. He only saw two men on the verge of death from thirst desperately running towards the Crescent Moon Lake.
As they ran, they even flailed their arms and legs, their eyes fixed only on the water, paying no heed to any warnings.
The Sand ninja cursed his luck under his breath for encountering two people about to die of thirst.
He could see their lips were chapped and peeling, but that still didn't mean they could drink the Sand ninjas' water.
The Sand ninja drew a kunai and threw it at the ground near the two men's feet.
The kunai still didn't stop them. The two were now only a hundred meters away from the Crescent Moon Lake.
The Sand ninja pulled another kunai from his tool pouch, preparing to kill the two.
These two fools must not disturb the Battalion Commander inside the oasis.
He advanced to approach them. When he was about ten meters away, a kunai suddenly flew, striking the Sand ninja in the throat.
So fast! How could someone about to die of thirst possess such strength?
Before collapsing face forward, the Sand ninja saw with horror that the two men before him were clearly ANBU!
Above their masks was the symbol of Kirigakure's four water waves.
For poisoning missions, it was slightly shameful, so they should at least put on a bit of an act, not be so brutally direct.
Many Sand ninjas rushed out from the surrounding tents. Yōkō quickly shouted, "Action!"
Yōkō formed a hand seal, first creating a shadow clone.
He and his shadow clone simultaneously formed hand seals, using two Water Formation Walls.
The two Water Formation Walls rose like high walls, sandwiching Yōkō and Hamo between them and blocking the Sand ninjas' counterattacks.
The two Water Formation Walls headed straight for the Crescent Moon Lake, constructing a channel in front of Hamo.
Hamo grabbed the gourd and threw it forward with all his might.
After throwing it, he also formed hand seals and used a ninjutsu.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
A strong wind violently pushed the gourd, rapidly propelling it towards the Crescent Moon Lake.
By the time the Water Formation Walls fell, the Sand ninjas discovered a gourd had landed beside the Crescent Moon Lake.
The gourd cracked open, and black poison flowed out.
The Sand ninjas shouted, "Not good! Someone is poisoning the oasis!"
Yōkō and Hamo turned and fled.
Yōkō continuously used Water Formation Walls to cover their retreat. The Sand ninjas' kunai, explosive tags, puppets, and other attacks were all blocked by Yōkō's Water Formation Walls.
"This water style is at least at Jōnin level! They are elites from Kirigakure!"
Hamo craned his neck, constantly scanning the sky.
They're here!
Two black dots descended rapidly, flying towards Hamo and the Squadron Leader.
"Squad Leader!"
After releasing one last Water Formation Wall, Yōkō turned and ran towards the top of a sand dune, leaping into the air.
Kanoe, controlling the glider, clamped her legs around Yōkō's leg.
Yōkō hung upside down in the air, releasing Water Formation Walls from mid-air.
The Sand ninjas' various attacks were still blocked by the Water Formation Walls.
Kanoe felt relieved; the Squadron Leader's ninjutsu was powerful, his defense impenetrable.
On the ground, the Sand ninja Battalion Commander roared, "Don't use Wind Release! You fools!"
Yōkō had chosen the time to attack precisely to take advantage of the strong desert winds. The Sand ninjas' Wind Release techniques blew against the gliders, causing them to gain altitude even faster.
The Sand ninjas chased from below, while two gliders flew in the sky above.
Yōkō and Hamo occasionally used Wind Release: Great Breakthrough to accelerate their glide.
The Sand ninjas were powerless to stop them.
They chased for a long time, at least two hours, until finally, the Sand ninjas could chase no more, watching helplessly as the gliders disappeared into the darkness of the night.
***
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(Chapter End)