The residents skillfully found cover at the start of the battle, hiding until the shinobi had left before rushing out to assess the damage.
In such residential areas, ninja skirmishes were always ill-timed and disregarded the surroundings.
Even if the combatants consciously avoided civilians, the aftershocks of battle would still scar buildings and roads.
Although a Hidden Village might provide compensation if there was conclusive evidence, it was often difficult to implement in practice.
Fortunately, the houses didn't suffer much damage this time; only a few tiles were broken, and the ground merely bore a large crater that could be restored with minor repairs.
Meanwhile, the battle in the jungle continued.
Yun Muyan's Secret Technique was extremely bizarre, powerful, and quick to control.
It possessed a massive attack range, treating ordinary Water Style and Fire Style as if they were nothing.
A small amount of blood, transformed into a thin film, could block the Great Fireball released by Naraku.
By changing its shape into sharp blood spikes, it could even pierce through a Water Formation Wall to target the caster directly.
Based on the intelligence gathered so far, only the massive and heavy Earth Style performed by the Jonin leader, Shimura Ro, seemed to have an elemental advantage against it.
Even so, the situation remained grim.
Chunin Yagyu, who had just released the Water Formation Wall, was too close and reacted too slowly.
He was pierced in several places by the blood.
The skin around his wounds began to blacken, and his limbs uncontrollably attacked his companions.
He severely injured another Chunin, Zuo Tang, who was standing right next to him.
If Yagyu hadn't shouted a warning at the last moment, and if Naraku hadn't provided timely treatment, Zuo Tang's life would likely have been lost.
However, Zuo Tang lost his combat effectiveness as a result.
After that, the poisoned and out-of-control Yagyu twitched a few times, quickly losing his ability to speak.
The strange blood that entered his body spread through him like a virus within seconds, turning him into a puppet completely controlled by the enemy.
Moreover, this puppet seemed to be overdrawing its life force, causing its chakra levels to skyrocket.
It allowed him to contend with Might Duy, who had opened the Third Gate.
Duy was hesitant to strike a killing blow and didn't know what to do, leaving him temporarily pinned down.
Naraku could sense that if this continued, Yagyu would die in less than ten minutes.
If the Cell Extraction Technique were used, he might still be saved, but that would require restraining him in a quiet, safe environment.
Under the current circumstances, treatment was impossible.
This was equivalent to losing three Chunin combatants in a row.
Now, the only ones capable of effective offense were Naraku and Shimura Ro.
From a purely rational perspective, Shimura Ro should have ordered Might Duy to quickly eliminate the irredeemable Yagyu.
Then, the three of them could gang up on the target to increase the success rate of the mission.
But he had no such intention, relentlessly attacking the target without even glancing back.
Rather, it was his deliberate indulgence that had led to this situation.
From the moment he received Danzo's order, he had been thinking about how to carry it out.
The success or failure of the mission, which was merely a diversion, was irrelevant to him.
His own life was also unimportant.
The most crucial thing was to follow the Lord's will and eliminate this Uchiha who threatened Konoha.
He wanted the Uchiha to die at the hands of the enemy—at least on the surface.
This way, he could eliminate Konoha's greatest threat and cleanly distance himself to avoid implicating Danzo.
To accomplish this, he first needed to shake off the extra Chunin.
He needed a situation where he and the Uchiha pursued the target alone, making it easier to act.
The time had come.
Shimura Ro's hand sign speed slowed slightly, giving the target an opening to escape.
But in Naraku's perception, the man's chakra had not diminished to the point of being unable to sustain ninjutsu.
He must have deliberately intended to let the target flee.
Seeing the man about to escape in the chaos, Naraku immediately raised his hands.
"Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!"
Flames roared up, blocking the gap.
The compressed attack range made the temperature even higher, and the rolling heat quickly scorched the surrounding trees.
Facing the fierce flames, Yun Muyan gritted his teeth and chose to retreat.
Naraku raised an eyebrow.
Every ninjutsu has its limits, and Yun Muyan's Secret Technique was no exception.
His blood reserves were limited, and he wasn't truly impervious to water and fire.
As long as the energy was sufficiently concentrated, powerful Fire Style and Lightning Style could counter him.
Naraku again pulled out shuriken, attacking Yun Muyan from all directions.
While the target controlled several blood blades to defend, a thin, white flame exhaled from Naraku's mouth.
"Fire Style: Wire Slice Technique!"
The thin white flame, containing super-high energy, directly pierced the edges of two blood blades.
It grazed past the side of the opponent's face, scorching his hair.
"Just as I thought!"
Naraku confirmed his theory.
Yun Muyan's face instantly twisted.
He knew his Secret Technique would eventually show weaknesses if the battle dragged on, but he didn't expect someone to discover them so quickly.
He couldn't let this drag on any longer.
With ruthless resolve, he again cut his arm to draw a large amount of blood.
He scattered it into the air and formed several complex hand signs.
"Blood Style: Violent Blood Rain Technique!"
The blood condensed into an overwhelming torrent of spikes.
They tore through the air as they fell at high speed, sounding like a torrential downpour echoing across the forest.
"Earth Style: Earth Flow Rampart!"
To ensure his plan to let the target escape succeeded, Shimura Ro only erected earth walls for himself and Naraku at the last moment.
He protected his own side while also completely blocking their vision, preventing any interception.
Yun Muyan took the opportunity to escape into the vast primeval forest.
Shimura Ro seized the moment to quickly assign tasks.
"The Uchiha and I will pursue the target!"
As he spoke, he had already chased far ahead, issuing a second command over his shoulder.
"Might, control Yagyu. If you can't, eliminate him! Then, you and Zuo Tang wait here!"
Naraku subtly shifted his gaze.
So, the Jonin's plan was to deliberately create a situation where they would pursue the enemy alone.
Was he planning to kill with a borrowed knife? Or do it himself?
It could only be one of the two.
"Yes!"
Might Duy selectively ignored the words "eliminate him."
In his view, a controlled comrade was still a comrade.
How could he heartlessly abandon, or even kill him?
But even if he hardened his heart and broke Yagyu's legs, the opponent would recover quickly through the blood virus and attack the injured Zuo Tang.
"Do I really have to kill Yagyu?" Duy thought painfully.
Naraku followed behind Shimura Ro, pursuing the target with a hesitant expression.
Still, he formed a hand sign and created a Shadow Clone to stay behind.
Firstly, he wanted to see if Yagyu was truly beyond saving.
Secondly, his Shadow Clone Jutsu had been improved by the system using popularity points.
This allowed the clone to expand its perception range, making it easier to sense Black Zetsu's location at any time.
Black Zetsu had watched this play long enough.
All its small actions were merely to find an opportunity to rescue Naraku and take him to Madara.
Once Shimura Ro made his move, Zetsu certainly wouldn't miss such a heaven-sent opportunity.
Shimura Ro saw the Shadow Clone rushing back.
His eyes flickered, but he didn't intervene.
Since the Uchiha wanted to waste chakra to save the dying Yagyu, let him; it would only weaken his strength.
The two split up, and relying on tracking tools and summoning beasts, they quickly pinpointed Yun Muyan's location again.
The target seemed very familiar with the nearby terrain, heading straight for a cliff.
Below the cliff was a turbulent, rushing river.
If one was a strong swimmer, escaping this way would not be difficult.
"It's a good place to destroy evidence," Shimura Ro and Naraku thought in unison.