Some died directly, while others wailed, waiting for death. After the smoke dissipated, the Wolf King's corpse lay on the ground, its silver-white fur charred and tattered, with some metal parts embedded in its body.
Gennō then descended from the air, patting non-existent dust from his clothes.
"Little girl, aren't you surprised?"
Gennō looked at Uchiha Ling's face, which showed no surprise, as if Gennō's performance was to be expected.
"Ah? Why should I be surprised? Are you surprised by the power of your Ninjutsu?"
Ling shook her head, patting off grass and dust from her body, looking completely unfazed.
"But aren't you surprised that I'm a Ninja? And that I disguised myself as a traveler? Aren't you afraid I'm some kind of spy?"
Gennō was a bit exasperated, finding the little girl's nerves unusually thick. Shouldn't she be questioning him immediately at a time like this?
Had only a few years passed, and the winds of the Ninja World had already changed? But clearly, the current tense situation indicated that the Third Shinobi World War was about to break out again.
"Oh, you mean that? Yanyang Village doesn't exist anymore, so what kind of spy are you? Did you join another Village?"
Ling's light remark almost made Gennō think he was dreaming. Every word the little girl said, he knew, yet when put together, they felt alien.
"You~! How do you know about Yanyang Village? And how do you know I'm from Yanyang Village?"
Gennō's expression at this moment was as if he had seen a ghost, like a girlfriend who, after a passionate moment, tells you she's a pseudohermaphrodite.
"Oh! That? Our organization actually noticed you a long time ago, because you're quite talented and can be listed as an eligible external recruit."
Ling poked her moist lower lip with her slender index finger, her peach blossom eyes curving into a crescent moon, and she turned her head, smiling as she spoke.
"But~~ but I've never revealed any information that I'm from Yanyang Village. My single-line contact at the time is already dead, and even Yanyang Village itself didn't know about my existence."
Although Ling threw out the idea of a mysterious organization, it still couldn't dispel the shock in Gennō's heart.
It was like someone who had never told anyone they had hemorrhoids being pointed out with irrefutable evidence in public.
"Actually, for our organization, there aren't too many secrets. You see, where there's a trace, there's a way."
Ling couldn't tell Gennō that she had watched the entire Naruto series. Aside from things not recorded in the manga, she knew almost everything.
"Then you also know my purpose for coming to Konoha Village, right? Why didn't you report me? And why are you playing with me here?"
Gennō gradually calmed down. Although his heart rate was still over a hundred beats per minute, his face had become absolutely serene. This was the psychological fortitude of a World War II veteran, absolutely able to withstand tests.
"Of course I know. Aren't you here to inspect those Exploding Tags that can blow Konoha sky-high?"
Ling narrowed her eyes, smiling, and waved her hand as if saying these were trivial matters.
"As for why I didn't report you, it's because you have value, of course."
Ling didn't treat Gennō as an outsider at all, directly telling him to his face that he had value.
Gennō was also at a loss, completely unsure what expression or thoughts to have.
"As for playing with you just now, that was merely to test if you met the qualifications to join the organization. To save the world, our organization would never recruit evil bad guys."
Ling's organization was still purely fictional, yet she was already talking about recruitment standards to trick people.
"Oh~ So that's how it is! No wonder Ling didn't plan to recruit me? What a shame!"
A suddenly appearing cold voice made both Ling and Gennō tense up. Ling never expected that scoundrel Orochimaru to be eavesdropping from behind the scenes.
And Gennō also didn't expect there to be a third person present. Was he doomed? Should he detonate the Exploding Tags buried in Konoha Village right now?
"Families, who understands! I was just showing off a bit, tricking a minor character, and suddenly I'm discovered, and by the early-stage big boss, the great villain Orochimaru."
Ling's internal thoughts were incredibly frequent, almost considering whether to release Mahoraga and kill Orochimaru.
Meanwhile, underground, where none of the three had noticed, Black Zetsu's face was solemn. He hadn't expected that in his thousand years of secretly controlling the Ninja World, there was still a mysterious organization unknown to him, beyond his control.
Originally, he was just following Old Man Madara's instructions today, as usual, to come to Konoha Village to choose a suitable successor for him. He never expected to find a surprise while observing Uchiha Ling in the Death Forest.
That's right, Uchiha Ling was also within Old Man Madara's scope of observation, along with Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Obito.
These three were the ones he considered most suitable. All three had great love in their hearts and were full of emotion; such people were most likely to awaken their eyes.
Among them, Uchiha Ling's talent, in Madara's view, was the best. Not only was her body powerful, but she also possessed all five elemental natures, learned Ninjutsu incredibly fast, and wielded a miraculous Bloodline Limit ability to summon animals from shadows.
Indeed, Ling had no secrets from Old Man Madara and Black Zetsu, just like that. Fortunately, Ling didn't have a habit of talking to herself, nor did she reveal more information she knew.
Otherwise, she might have already been directly possessed and controlled by Black Zetsu, or one day when she went far away, she would encounter a white-haired Ninja World Rose with no teeth left.
Ling also snapped out of her daze and then gave a forced smile, looking at the yellowish-brown snake that had emerged from the mud.
It seemed Orochimaru hadn't relaxed his surveillance of her during this time. She had been too careless. She still needed to be more vigilant. In the future, she must never talk to herself or expose her golden finger and origins.
"Hehe, it's not impossible for Lord Orochimaru to join, but the organization's rules might displease Lord Orochimaru."
Gennō said nothing, only maintaining full vigilance. He knew information about Orochimaru and knew that this was an opponent he couldn't resist.
"Hehe, Ling is as wary of me as ever. What a pity, I originally wanted to collaborate with Ling a few more times."
Orochimaru wasn't present, only a communication snake, making it impossible to ascertain Orochimaru's true thoughts from his words.
Black Zetsu used the Ephemeral Technique, hiding in the mud, listening intently to see if Ling would reveal information about that mysterious organization.
"Mainly, Lord Orochimaru's oppressive aura is too strong, too threatening to me. The organization is also afraid it won't be able to control Lord Orochimaru."
Ling couldn't possibly say that the organization she spoke of was entirely made up by her. No one would believe her if she said it. Neither Orochimaru nor Gennō would believe it, though Black Zetsu might.
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