Hiru watched as Nakamura Takumi slowly collapsed before him, his eyes filled with hatred towards Niga.
However, there was no time to think too much; this was the time his comrade had bought with his own life.
He could only quickly rush towards Daisuke, who was severely wounded and lying collapsed to the side.
Ryoma had just recovered from the earlier clash, shaking his head.
He couldn't help but sigh; it seemed that anyone with a name in the original manga wasn't so easy to deal with.
Sure, he was instantly defeated by the Yellow Flash back then.
But that was the Yellow Flash, after all, a man whose looks alone would make him the protagonist in any other manga.
His abilities were also extremely cheaty.
Being instantly defeated by the Yellow Flash wasn't embarrassing at all, right?
It was then Ryoma suddenly noticed that Hiru's earlier technique, Severing Cliff, was not as simple as it had appeared on the surface.
Besides its powerful offensive capability, what was even more terrifying was that Ryoma saw the parts of his body that had been affected by the explosion and the blade's aura of Severing Cliff were gradually, uncontrollably turning to soil.
Some parts had even begun to crack, with fissures appearing one by one.
And fragments of earth continuously fell from them.
Hiru glanced at Ryoma in the distance, thinking to himself:
"Damn Konoha brat, just die already. My secret technique, at the cost of my life force, can produce an effect similar to the Third Tsuchikage's Particle Style."
"Once hit, you can only watch helplessly as your body continuously turns to soil, bit by bit, dying in extreme agony!"
Hiru felt the anger pent up in his chest dissipate quite a bit; regardless, at a terrible cost, he had finally killed this Konoha genius brat here.
Hiru couldn't bear to imagine how much Ryoma would grow if he were allowed to train for a few more years.
Ryoma finally understood the source of the intense feeling of death that the secret technique Severing Cliff had brought him.
So this was its special effect.
Seeing the joy in Hiru's eyes, Ryoma knew that for most people, getting hit by this technique probably meant certain death.
However, Ryoma was no ordinary person; he was a disciple of the one person in the entire Naruto world with the most survival skills, the longest lifespan, the man who truly trained himself to become immortal... well, the disciple of the man who trained to become immortal.
Orochimaru indicated that if you're with him and get easily killed out there, don't ever say you're his disciple.
His disciples aren't that easy to kill!
Ryoma slowly raised his head, opening his mouth wide.
His two hands gradually grasped his own upper and lower jaws, pulling his mouth open to a startling size.
Suddenly, a hand reached out from Ryoma's mouth.
A completely new Ryoma was seen slowly standing up from within the original mouth, his entire body covered in mucus.
The original Ryoma had turned into a pile of shed skin, gradually eroded by Hiru's secret technique into a heap of dirt and debris.
It was Orochimaru's Great Snake Substitute Technique!
Using the outer body as a substitute, spitting out the original from the mouth.
Not only does it require no hand signs, but Orochimaru using this move can even evade Amaterasu.
Apart from the technique's enormous chakra consumption, Ryoma really couldn't find a flaw in it.
Oh, and of course, it's also pretty weird and sticky, but having followed Orochimaru for so long, Ryoma had already become what he once hated~
Orochimaru indicated that when it comes to survival techniques, thank goodness for me!
Hiru stared in horror at the completely unharmed Ryoma reappearing before him.
Ryoma, at that moment crawling out of his original body, also inflicted tremendous psychological damage on Hiru's not-so-young mind.
This damn technique didn't even seem like something a human would use!
Meanwhile, Samo, with his overwhelmingly menacing stride, had pulled up a large tree from somewhere and was using it as a weapon, hurling it directly at Hiru and Daisuke.
A tree so thick it would take several people to wrap their arms around was thrown by Samo like a javelin, shooting rapidly towards the two.
Hiru dared not be careless; grabbing the unconscious Daisuke, he tossed a bunch of smoke bombs behind him.
He fled without hesitation, carrying Daisuke.
The large tree whistled through the smoke, followed only by a muffled grunt and the sound of impact.
As the smoke cleared, both Hiru and Daisuke had vanished, leaving only the already deceased Nakamura Takumi lying there with his eyes wide open.
By then, Hiru had used the force of enduring Samo's attack, relying on his agility and the recoil, to propel himself away from the battlefield.
But Samo's immense strength still broke several of Hiru's ribs, rattling him so badly he spat blood and lost half his life.
Hiru could only rely on his strong will, carrying Daisuke who was barely hanging by a thread, and flee rapidly towards the Iwa-nin assembly point.
This mission was a complete failure.
A young brat from the Nara clan in Konoha, suspected of possessing a strange Kekkei Genkai, had appeared, with incredibly bizarre abilities.
His combat prowess was also extremely formidable!
Furthermore, he could summon two equally powerful non-human entities to assist him in battle; this information absolutely had to be brought back to Iwagakure.
The supplies being transported were destroyed, and the secret weapon was stolen as well.
Every single one of these incidents impacted Iwa-nin's next moves.
It was no exaggeration to say that Ryoma and Team 6's intelligence mission had unexpectedly stumbled upon the Iwa-nin's secret operation.
And by choosing to intercept, Ryoma and Team 6 had inflicted such heavy losses on the Iwa-nin.
Every single action had caused the Iwa-nin's recent operations targeting Konoha to fail at the final step!
It greatly delayed the Iwa-nin's preparation progress and their attack timeline.
Although in the original plot Ryoma knew well, the Third Great Ninja War didn't break out at this time either.
But in this world, with Ryoma's arrival, changes were happening, more or less.
This little butterfly named Ryoma had begun to stir up a storm of his own.
And this time, the reason the Third Great Ninja War didn't occur so early was indeed closely related to Ryoma's actions this time!
With Hiru's escape carrying Daisuke, the tension in Ryoma's strings finally loosened a bit.
His exhaustion was even greater, and coupled with the constant erosion and temptation from the mask originating from the Shadow Realm, after using the Great Snake Substitute Technique, Ryoma had even begun to wonder just how much longer he could resist the mask's erosion.
But thankfully, Ryoma held on; in the end, he was the victor.
Niga, his face full of guilt, came before Ryoma and knelt directly on one knee, his tone laced with shame:
"My King, this general has failed your expectations. Not only did I fail to capture the enemy, but I also caused you injury. Please punish me!"
Ryoma's scarlet eyes swept indifferently over Niga, who was kneeling on the ground.
Unconsciously, a feeling of brutality and bloodlust rose within Ryoma's heart.
He took a samurai sword from the shadows and swung it straight down at Niga.
Even though Niga sensed it, he didn't dodge; he just lowered his head and knelt there silently.
Samo also stood quietly by Ryoma's side, not making a sound.
Just as the blade was about to strike Niga, Ryoma suddenly snapped out of it and immediately stopped his hand.
The samurai sword halted above Niga's head, and Ryoma's hand was covered in cold sweat.
He didn't know why, but in that instant just now, Ryoma suddenly felt he had been affected by some inexplicable influence.
The way his brain thought had changed, filled with brutality and bloodlust that he simply couldn't control, leading to the scene that just happened.
Ryoma knew that the mask's erosion was affecting him more and more deeply.
He couldn't maintain this state any longer; he had to deactivate it immediately!
Ryoma withdrew the samurai sword, his tone still full of coldness.
"I'll let it slide this time, considering it's your first time fighting out there and your strength hasn't fully recovered. Next time such a mistake occurs, it won't be so simple."
Niga's voice rang out: "Thank you, my King. Niga will definitely not disappoint you again!"
Whether Shadow Soldiers or the Generals, the Shadow Corps' obedience was absolute!
Afterwards, Ryoma had Niga and Samo return to the Shadow Realm.
He himself found a relatively safe cave nearby, preparing to deactivate his fusion with the mask.
After all, Niga had said that with Ryoma's current strength, there would be side effects.
He didn't know what those side effects were; if they were too severe and he ended up half-dead on the spot, never mind whether ninja from other villages would find him, even the various poisonous insects and wild beasts in the forest would be enough to finish him off.
Ryoma entered the cave, did some simple camouflage work on the entrance, and then severed his fusion with the mask.
At first, Ryoma didn't feel much, but then he opened his eyes.
The cave, which had previously been lit, was now pitch black.
Ryoma's eyes were wide open, but all he saw was nothing but darkness.
Then, an intense wave of dizziness, nausea, and accumulated fatigue instantly erupted inside him.
It was like hypoglycemia, high blood pressure, and intracranial pressure spiking to 180!
It was hard not to see darkness; it would be strange if he could still see anything!
Ryoma's last thought before losing consciousness was,
"What the hell, who was so inconsiderate and turned off my lights!"
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