Chapter 21: Flying Thunder God?!
Nonō Yakushi's forehead protector was already drenched in blood. Struggling against the sandstorm, she pressed on, three shuriken deeply embedded in her left shoulder, with Hidden Sand Village's pursuers relentlessly giving chase.
"Just a little more. My conversation with Sasori of the Red Sand cost me extra time." Nonō Yakushi felt like she was dying, but her heart held no panic. This was the most basic quality of a top-tier spy: "If I can just bring this intel back to the troops on the front line, it will surely hasten the end of the war with Hidden Sand Village." Even one day sooner could prevent many deaths, and that was enough.
Suddenly, a large amount of sand and dust surged up out of nowhere, erupting into a localized sandstorm. Countless grains of sand pelted Nonō Yakushi like a sudden squall, and further obscured her vision.
Two puppets attacked silently amidst the swirling yellow sand. The acid mist they spewed from their mouths attempted to melt Nonō Yakushi into a honeycomb. Nonō Yakushi could barely open her eyes; as she instinctively rolled to dodge, a tail-like puppet part stabbed out from the sand beneath her feet, piercing her flank in a single strike, making her already dire situation even worse.
"An exposed spy, you don't really think you have a chance to escape, do you?" The Hidden Sand pursuit squad's Captain sneered from atop a rock wall, his hands maintaining the hand signs. This suddenly erupted localized sandstorm was clearly his doing.
"Hand over the intel you took from the Village, and we'll leave you a complete corpse. This is already the greatest mercy we can grant you. Who told you to be so audacious as to approach Sasori of the Red Sand? He is our Village's prodigy ninja."
"I won't give you anything." Nonō Yakushi looked up at the dozen or so people surrounding her, finally focusing her gaze on the pursuit Captain who was controlling the sandstorm. She recalled intel about this dangerous individual—Araki of the Sand, a man adept at creating sandstorms, who possessed unique combat abilities in a place like the Land of Wind.
"Hidden Sand Village has also produced many talents, and mastered unique ninjutsu." Nonō Yakushi thought silently. Suddenly, she crushed a glass vial hidden in her sleeve, while simultaneously covering her mouth and nose and retreating rapidly. Purple smoke exploded with a boom, spreading quickly through the sand and dust.
Araki of the Sand said coldly, "Do you think I'd be unprepared? You're a medical ninja, aren't you? I've already analyzed intel on Konoha's medical ninjas!" He immediately performed hand signs again, causing the surging sand and dust to suddenly change direction, sweeping the purple poisonous mist in one direction.
"This is Salamander Poison I obtained in the Land of Rain. Although it's not from the Salamander controlled by Hanzo, using it on you all can still achieve an unexpected effect." Nonō Yakushi held her breath, which would reduce her body's intake of the salamander poison; even her pores would absorb it. "I didn't release the poisonous mist to deal with you, but to wait for reinforcements. Before I lose my usefulness, those who assigned me won't let me down."
Whoosh! Three zombies rushed forward rapidly. With each sprint, large amounts of flesh and blood crumbled from their bodies, evidently pushing their physical functions to overload. The Sand Shinobi saw the zombies, quickly made a judgment, and excitement appeared on their faces.
"That's right, this is that Konoha ninja's Soul Death Technique!"
"Hmph, we originally planned to use this Konoha spy to see if we could lure some Konoha ninjas here. I didn't expect such a pleasant surprise." Araki of the Sand was also surprised. Who doesn't know Chiyo highly values Tsukasa Kaede? As a veteran elite jonin of Hidden Sand Village, and considered himself half a higher-up, he held many of the Village's secrets and had faintly sensed some inklings about the Human Puppet Creation Technique Experiment. With a little more thought, Araki of the Sand understood the necessity of acquiring the Soul Death Technique.
"Attack! First, destroy these three corpses from a distance! These three corpses most likely have explosive tags attached!" Araki of the Sand said sternly, his palm suddenly changing direction: "Magnet Release: Sand Dust Shower!" Large amounts of sand converged into sharp blades, stabbing towards the three zombies, and in an instant, pierced them like sieves.
"As expected, destroying the head truly destroys a corpse's vitality." Araki of the Sand took the opportunity to test it. In the end, only the zombie with a large hole in its waist and a broken spine could still maintain some mobility, but could only flail its arms in place. The other two zombies remained motionless. However, what surprised him was that none of these three zombies had explosive tags on them. Weren't they meant for self-detonation?
"Tsukasa Kaede seems to have grown too, knowing how to adjust his usual tactics. Though it's useless." Araki of the Sand snorted coldly, and commanded his squad to launch a siege against Tsukasa Kaede and his group. Two puppets, leading the charge and emitting a series of clattering sounds, rapidly pounced on Tsukasa Kaede and the others.
"The good news is, our comrade we're supposed to meet is still alive. The bad news is, the enemy's forces outnumber ours." Tsukasa Kaede opened his eyes. The failure of those three zombies was not enough to warrant much concern from him. He also carried a summoning scroll with him, ready to summon new zombies at any moment. He had also specifically ordered two zombies to burrow into the sand and play dead in two different directions, fifty and one hundred and fifty meters away.
Terai took in Tsukasa Kaede's abilities completely. "It seems your Soul Death Technique can also grant you a certain sensory ability? You've mastered a ninjutsu with significant tactical value, which certainly earns you such a grand welcoming ceremony from Hidden Sand." Under Terai's command, the Konoha ninjas moved quickly, their sole objective was to rendezvous with Nonō Yakushi and retrieve the intel she carried. As an elite jonin, Terai was the strongest in this retrieval squad. Naturally, he took the lead and confronted Araki of the Sand.
Tsukasa Kaede unfurled a scroll, summoning two zombies. He coordinated with his other teammates, while he cautiously followed behind the zombies, always under the cover of his teammates. In terms of fighting style, this was not a problem. Medical ninjas and sensor ninjas should naturally receive the highest priority protection from their teammates. However, the enemy would also prioritize attacking Tsukasa Kaede. Various ninjutsu began clashing from a distance. Fire and lightning collided, while gales and sand roared.
Tsukasa Kaede, taking advantage of the moment the enemy's puppeteer was entangled by Morino Idate and others, dispatched zombies to approach the enemy, and then suddenly detonated them. He wasn't as short on Ryo as before now; having gained military merit and been promoted to chunin, his authority had also increased, allowing him easier access to explosive tags and other ninja tools from the camp. He wished he could attach an explosive tag to every bone in every zombie's corpse.
Boom!
An explosion several times larger than previous ones, in this terrible environment filled with swirling sand and dust, briefly blasted open a silent vacuum, blowing a Sand shinobi to pieces. Large amounts of flesh and blood splattered everywhere, staining both friend and foe. No one paid attention to such details. Both sides, eyes red with bloodlust, sought to kill the other. Who would care if a little flesh and blood splattered on them?
"Be careful! The enemy's main target isn't me, it's you!" Nonō Yakushi shouted loudly. Tsukasa Kaede's expression remained unchanged. He had long anticipated this.
Several Sand shinobi rushed forward. Araki of the Sand further exploited the terrain's advantage, not hesitating to expend a large amount of Chakra, using a massive amount of dense sand and dust to interfere with Terai. To be honest, Terai was similar in type to Sakumo Hatake, both excelling in solo combat. Against enemies capable of sweeping large areas, he was more than capable of defending himself, but to completely restrict the enemy throughout the battle, he fell somewhat short.
In almost an instant, Tsukasa Kaede found himself in an absolute predicament. No matter how one looked at it, escaping seemed very difficult—his position was also somewhat advanced; if he had retreated just two steps, he would have had more room to maneuver.
"Hmph, we've got him." With one hand, Araki of the Sand controlled the sand and dust to interfere with Terai, and with the other, he created small sand and dust vortices to try and trap Tsukasa Kaede, creating opportunities for the other Sand shinobi.
But Tsukasa Kaede's face showed no panic. Instead, he calmly performed hand signs. Before the numerous enemies could subdue him with Taijutsu, his figure suddenly vanished from his spot.
Swish! Appearing in his original spot instead was none other than the zombie whose spine was broken earlier and had lost the ability to move its legs—this zombie was also performing hand signs with both hands. As for Tsukasa Kaede himself, he instantly appeared in the zombie's original position, approximately ten meters away from Araki of the Sand. Both could see each other's eyes.
"...Flying Thunder God?!"
Araki of the Sand was utterly horrified, his face filled with disbelief.
(end of chapter)