Chapter 91: Land of Bears
Actually, Kiyoshi quite wanted to kill the Third Kazekage Iron Sand right there, and even felt a surge of excitement in his heart. But after weighing the pros and cons, he decided that while he could kill him, it wasn't necessary, so Kiyoshi gave up on this tempting idea.
After all, he had only accepted Hanzo's employment as a hired ninja to participate in the war. The price Hanzo offered wasn't worth him killing the Kage of a village in front of everyone. Furthermore, the Hidden Mist was about to take action against the Land of Whirlpools. Stirring up trouble by killing the Kazekage at this time would likely cause the Hidden Sand Village to attack the Hidden Mist Village like mad dogs to avenge their Kage. Kiyoshi wasn't afraid, but it was truly unnecessary.
As the victor, he just needed to take the benefits. There was no need for a life-and-death struggle. Everything was for the sake of peace in the ninja world!!!
While Kiyoshi and the others were fiercely fighting the Hidden Sand, the Hidden Mist's advance ninja forces had already arrived in the Land of Bears.
As a small country, the Land of Bears offered no effective resistance to the Hidden Mist Village's advance and quickly fell. Although there was a small ninja village called the Star Village within its borders, the Third Mizukage Ice had already specifically ordered the destruction of this village. At this moment, the Anbu from the Hidden Mist had already blocked the entrance to the Star Village.
Karatachi Yagura and Hōzuki Senno, as members of the advance team sent by the Anbu, were currently standing with all the members of the second squad of the Anbu's first division in the valley in front of the Star Village.
That's right, after Kiyoshi became a member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, Yagura's strength also improved by leaps and bounds, and he eventually successfully took over as the squad leader of the first division, with Hōzuki Senno still serving as the second-in-command.
"Lord Kagami! Lord Hana!" An Anbu member appeared instantly, knelt on one knee, and greeted the two respectfully.
"Hmm!" Yagura nodded in response. "Tell me about the Star Village's situation!"
"Yes!" replied the Anbu member codenamed "Blood." He had been sent to the Land of Bears by Ken a long time ago to gather intelligence. "Intelligence shows that there aren't actually many ninjas within this so-called Star Village. Although its leader calls himself the Star Kage, he doesn't possess the strength of a Kage at all, at most equivalent to our Jōnin." Blood's voice carried a hint of disdain.
However, this was normal. Coming from the Hidden Mist Village, one of the five great ninja villages, and being an Anbu elite, he had enough strength to despise such a small ninja village that didn't even have many Jōnin.
"Legend has it that more than a hundred years ago, a meteorite fell from the sky and landed near this valley. Later, a village gradually developed here. One day, the people in the village discovered that they could promote the growth of Chakra within their bodies through this meteorite, which was called 'Star.' So, this place slowly became the Star Village as we know it now," Blood continued to introduce to everyone.
"But it should be noted that our investigation revealed that they possess a special secret technique to transform Chakra into wings, allowing ninjas to fly in combat." Blood thought for a moment and added.
"Flight?!?" Yagura's eyes lit up upon hearing this. Originally, he only intended to have Murasaki lead his second squad to carry out the mission. He himself hadn't planned to take action, only coming here in person to oversee things in order to properly handle the matters entrusted by the Third Mizukage Ice. But now that he heard that the opponent actually possessed the ability to fly, Yagura couldn't help but feel a thrill of excitement.
Looking at the misty valley, Yagura now had a slight desire to take action. He really wanted to see what this so-called secret technique of transforming Chakra into wings was all about.
"Oh, and also, this valley is filled with miasma, which is extremely toxic. Our people once briefly entered to try, and there were no problems in a short time, but after a long time, even Jōnin couldn't resist it," Blood finally reminded Yagura.
"Since we can't pass through here, did you guys scout around the valley to find other paths?" Yagura asked casually.
"No, the people of the Star Village usually rely on their unique flying ninjutsu to directly cross the valley for their comings and goings," Blood shook his head and replied.
"Hmm..." Yagura fell into deep thought. "This is a bit troublesome!!! No wonder such a small, broken ninja village hasn't been destroyed for so long."
Just then, a sharp shout suddenly came from the sky, "Who are you! How dare you spy on our Star Village!!!"
Hearing the shout, everyone present subconsciously looked up. They saw more than a dozen figures with extremely conspicuous Chakra wings on their backs floating high in the sky in front of them, and everyone wore a forehead protector engraved with a five-pointed star pattern.
"Are these the ninjas of the Star Village? Their strength is indeed mediocre! But the ability to fly is indeed quite troublesome!" Yagura and the others exclaimed inwardly.
The group of Star Village ninjas who appeared in the sky were led by a person named Iwa Hoshi. They were the Firearm Corps, established by the Star Village in comparison to other ninja villages' Anbu, using exploding tags for attacks.
Iwa Hoshi wasn't like other Star Village ninjas who were content with their isolated corner and lacked knowledge. As the captain of the Firearm Corps, he had gone out for "advanced studies." Therefore, when Yagura and the others looked up at them, Iwa Hoshi recognized the Hidden Mist Village's forehead protector style at a glance, represented by the four vertical curves with flowing water.
Iwa Hoshi couldn't help but curse inwardly. The Land of Bears and the Land of Water were separated by the sea. He knew very well what kind of personalities these Hidden Mist Village ninjas had. Today would probably not end well.
However, before Iwa Hoshi could speak, a Chūnin behind him shouted angrily at Yagura and the others, "A bunch of trash ninjas who don't know where they came from dare to provoke our Star Village! You're really like an old man hanging himself – tired of living!!!"
"Hahaha!" Hearing these arrogant words, Yagura and the others couldn't help but laugh. This was truly a classic case of ignorance is bliss.
After all, we are all strictly trained Anbu elite ninjas. No matter how funny it is, we won't laugh unless we can't help it. (Manual dog head.jpg)
The smile that was about to appear on Iwa Hoshi's face froze instantly. He turned his head and glared fiercely, secretly resenting his subordinate for being so talkative, truly used to lording it over others in the Land of Bears. It was one thing for you not to recognize the Hidden Mist Village's ninjas, but you spoke before me, your superior. These people were clearly here with ill intentions. Originally, they could have talked to see if there was any misunderstanding, but now, with your mocking words, negotiations were directly broken.
Brewing his emotions for a moment, Iwa Hoshi prepared to speak again, but Yagura wouldn't give him the chance. Although he laughed at the other party's arrogance, the mockery just now had indeed ignited a surge of anger in Yagura's heart.
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