At this moment.
Inside Tengen Town.
Sora stood dozens of meters high in the air. He had arrived at high speed, his form hidden in the air by Kido, evading the vigilance and detection of the Konoha's Ninjas on the ground.
Bakudo #26, Kyokko!
Its effect was to cover an object with a faint light, rendering it invisible and impossible to see. It was a top-tier stealth technique.
Moreover, unlike other survival rewards, Kyokko was the mission reward Sora obtained when he triggered a special mission, Defeat Terumi Mei, during the Chunin Exams.
It's just that special missions were very rare. Up to now, Sora had only encountered this one.
Simultaneously, after passing through the two Konoha's alert lines outside the town, Sora retracted the high-density Reishi platform under his feet and slowly landed on the ground.
It had rained heavily a few days ago. The ground in the town was very muddy, and the stone-paved roads were full of small puddles holding rainwater.
Many houses on both sides of the street had half their outer walls blown away.
Some intact walls were also pockmarked, with faint traces of shuriken scratches visible. The air was filled with a tense, murderous, and oppressive atmosphere.
This was also normal. In times of war, the world was in chaos. Civilians lived in constant fear and had no energy to repair their houses.
After all, they might finish the repairs today, only to have bad luck strike tomorrow and get blown to rubble by a few explosive tags.
Of course, Sora didn't care much about this. He was here to cause destruction anyway.
When he found the military supply warehouse, the blast's aftermath would only cause greater damage.
Hum!
Hum!
Hum!
Under the cover of Kyokko, several powerful Reiatsu suddenly radiated from Sora's body.
Reikaku!
This was a sensory skill similar to Karin's, but Sora's Reikaku was more effective. It could not only sense the Chakra reactions of Ninjas but also perform radar-like scanning within a certain range.
For a powerhouse of Sora's level, the town's area wasn't very large. His Reikaku continuously extended outwards and soon located a place surrounded by powerful Chakra reactions.
'One Jonin, four Chunin…'
'It seems the pressure on Konoha's battle lines is also immense!'
A thoughtful smile appeared on Sora's face.
According to standard practice, an important transfer warehouse on a supply line like this should typically be guarded by at least two Jonin and over ten Chunin and Genin.
But now, the force stationed by Konoha was less than half the normal number.
This could only mean that Konoha, fighting on three fronts, was also stretched thin in terms of manpower.
…
Meanwhile-
North of Tengen Town.
In an inconspicuous inn.
Konoha's Jonin, Mitarashi Kazane stood by the window, looking out at the overcast sky, an inexplicable feeling of unease in his heart.
His gaze fell on the backyard of the inn. Seeing the Ninjas at several hidden posts vigilantly on guard, the unease in his heart finally subsided a little.
"Captain Kazane, you don't need to worry too much. I heard that on the front lines, the village has repelled thirteen main assaults from Kirigakure, inflicting heavy casualties on their effective forces. I think the main force of Kirigakure is probably struggling just to defend itself and likely has no spare capacity to detour behind our lines to cause trouble."
At that moment, another Chunin in the room, wearing a Konoha's Ninja's flak jacket, suddenly spoke.
"I hope so…"
Mitarashi Kazane let out a deep sigh.
No one in this world liked war, and Mitarashi Kazane was no exception. If the situation weren't so dire, he truly wouldn't want to carry out missions in this war-torn land. Wouldn't it be better to be in the village with his wife, child, and a warm bed?
Thinking of his family, a rare smile finally appeared on Mitarashi Kazane's face.
'I wonder how that little girl Anko is doing with her training under Orochimaru-sama? I hope her talent doesn't disappoint Orochimaru-sama…'
However, just as Mitarashi Kazane was thinking of his lovely daughter and was slightly distracted, a sudden change occurred in the room.
Squelch!
The sound of a blade piercing muscle.
By the time Mitarashi Kazane sensed something and slowly looked down, he was horrified to find that, at some point, a long sword had brutally pierced through his chest.
'When!??'
Mitarashi Kazane was shocked.
He just wanted to resist, but he felt a terrifying cold instantly sweep through his entire body, shattering his heart and even directly freezing his bones and muscles solid.
'Who is it?'
Before dying, Mitarashi Kazane still wanted to turn his head to see what his assassin looked like. But before he could turn around, the vitality in his body was instantly frozen.
His eyes, which still had warmth a moment ago, instantly turned ashen.
Dead!
Instantly killed!
At this moment.
The other Konoha's Chunin in the room felt a chill run down his spine, his heart pounding as if it was about to jump out of his throat.
'Captain Kazane-'
'-is dead!?'
The Chunin felt this was utterly absurd because Mitarashi Kazane was an Elite Jonin of Konoha.
Aside from a handful like Minato and Jiraiya, few in the village were a match for him!
A Ninja of this level possessed extremely formidable combat power and was a true pillar of Konoha, worlds apart from ordinary Jonin.
And yet-
Now, Kazane had been inexplicably instantly killed.
'Who on earth was the attacker!??'
In that split second, the Konoha's Chunin saw the assassin slowly turn around.
Young.
Unfamiliar.
That face… aside from being handsome, there was nothing else to say.
For a moment, he felt confused, as if his memory held no record of such a person.
"You…"
"Who are you!??"
Just as the shocked question remained in his throat, the Chunin saw a white flash before his eyes.
Then, the view in his eyes spun rapidly, turning upside down 180 degrees.
In the last moment of his life, with a gaze full of terror and disbelief, he saw his own body slumped on the ground, his neck now empty.
'So…'
'This is death?'
At the end of his life, he felt a bone-piercing cold, as if his brain was about to be shredded to pieces by that chilling energy.
In the room, Sora had killed two people instantly, yet he was still chanting softly and slowly.
"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south…"
"Hado #31!"
"Shakkaho!"
Boom!
The next moment, a blazing, terrifying ball of fire rose slowly from Sora's palm and then exploded without warning.