Kunai after kunai flew towards him, and Maki dodged and retreated. When he couldn't evade, he used the Wind Blade in his hand to cut the kunai, but as a result, his hand got more wounds, and blood flowed out.
The other Hidden Sand Ninjas, like Maki, struggled at first because they weren't used to it.
But soon they maintained their attack and defense formation, and the rear Hidden Sand Ninjas quickly seized the opportunity with a sealing of their hands:
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
A fierce wind rose, lifting countless grains of sand into the air, wreaking havoc on the Debt Collectors ahead.
Using the Instantaneous Body Jutsu to dodge, some Debt Collectors put away their Shuriken Shooters, realizing that using such weapons couldn't really deal with the elite ninjas of the Hidden Sand Village.
If that were the case, Jonin and Chunin would really be worthless.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
The fiery momentum overshadowed the storm, and the Fireball quickly turned into a sea of fire, burning in the desert.
"Don't panic, maintain the formation!"
Maki remained calm under pressure.
Finding a breakthrough in the sea of fire, he casually used the Wind Blade to clear a path through the fire wall and sliced through the kunai attacking him.
Despite the numerous bloody marks on his hand, Maki did not mind.
The wounds appeared severe but were just superficial injuries that didn't affect his combat ability.
A Silver Debt Collector made a gesture, and everyone dispersed.
The Hidden Sand Jonin, Maki, even they had heard of him.
A trusted confidant of the Fourth Kazekage Rasa and one of the elite Jonin representing the Hidden Sand Village.
If such a ninja got close, things would become very tricky.
"You've really underestimated me! Cover me, I'll take care of this group of rats!"
Seeing that the Debt Collectors intended to retreat, Maki sneered and signaled the Hidden Sand Ninja beside him to prepare for covering actions.
Chakra with Wind Attribute gathered at his feet, and he was about to sprint forward.
A shadow flashed like lightning, overlapping with Maki's body and streaking across the sky.
Maki instinctively looked up, seeing something flying far in the sky like a bird, but he couldn't identify it clearly with the naked eye.
However, after these strange birds flew over, small black dots began to fall from the sky.
Seeing clearly what they were, Maki's expression drastically changed.
"Retreat!"
The black dots falling from the sky were increasing in size within their sight.
At a distance discernible by the naked eye, Maki finally saw that they were numerous kunai.
Moreover, attached to the loop of each kunai was a burning Explosive Tag.
The aerial attack was so sudden that even as Maki shouted the warning, it was already too late. The speed of the falling kunai exceeded his expectations.
The kunai hit the ground, and the Explosive Tags detonated just at the right moment.
Flashes and booms erupted together.
The fiery sea created by the explosions swallowed the desert; amidst the blasts, came the consistent yet chaotic cries of the Hidden Sand Ninjas.
The terrifying shockwaves from the explosions made it impossible for their shouted voices to reach the outside, drowned out by the blast noises.
The desert was whipped into terrifying waves of sand, further exacerbating the chaos among the Hidden Sand Ninjas.
After the explosion, ignoring the oncoming heat waves, twenty-three Debt Collectors surged forward together, becoming the final straw crashing down on the Hidden Sand Ninjas.
A few minutes later, twelve Hidden Sand Ninjas were all lying on the ground without exception, basically hanging on to their last breath; only Jonin Maki retained a sliver of consciousness, but even he was severely injured under the successive surprise attacks and explosions.
"I was too careless, never thought you could attack from the air..."
The sky was an area that very few ninjas could reach.
In the Hidden Sand Village, there were indeed ninjas capable of aerial combat, but none of them were in Maki's group.
This was a key reason for their defeat this time.
Without giving Maki a chance to speak more, a Silver Debt Collector stepped forward and knocked Maki unconscious with a hand chop.
"Administer first aid to them; it'll be troublesome if they die."
This victory was solely due to catching the opponents off guard.
If both sides had lined up for battle, victory would have been much more difficult, and there was a possibility of being countered.
"Having exposed the existence of new-style weapons, don't we need to eliminate them?"
"No need. Otherwise, we wouldn't have used Explosive Tags with high impact but limited lethality just now, to avoid killing this group of Hidden Sand Ninjas."
"That's really curious."
"The Shuriken Shooter and the flying devices aren't truly classified weapons, there's no need to worry excessively. Besides, we are ninjas retired from the military; let's not think with a soldier's mindset. The debt collection work allows for injuring others, but killing is out of the question unless absolutely necessary, that's the rule of the debt collectors. Since it's a principle of the rules, we must strictly adhere to it; we are not just ordinary ninjas."
The Silver Debt Collector leader spoke.
Even though he was puzzled by this issue, it was something for higher-ups to consider.
The Debt Collectors' job was merely debt collection.
Attacking this group of Hidden Sand Ninjas was for more effective debt collection.
If they killed these Hidden Sand Ninjas, the nature of debt collection would change.
This would violate the purpose of the debt collectors' work.
Quickly, the wounds of these seriously injured and unconscious Hidden Sand Ninjas were bandaged.
The leader of the Debt Collectors spoke again:
"Next, hang them all at the gate of the Daimyo's Mansion of the Land of Wind Capital, then the mission will be considered perfectly accomplished. Oh, and don't forget to attach a bill in the end, and throw in some more threatening letters, the debt must be collected. I'll report the debt collection situation here to the Gold Collector."
"Yes!"