19. Encounter in the Forest
Akio quickly aims the gun and shoots a bullet at the incoming creature. He jumps to the side and rolls.
BANG…
A wolf falls on the ground with a bullet lodged in between its brows
Phew…
Akio heaves a sigh of relief.
"I have to be mindful of wild beasts. The shinobis can easily ignore them because of their speed."
[1 System point credited]
System's voice rings in his head.
[Every time the host kills a relatively dangerous threat with the weapons from the System store, he will receive system points. The amount depends on the level of threat to the host.]
"Oh!"
Akio is pleasantly surprised to hear it.
"Hehe! Looks like I have found a perfect place to both train and earn system points."
Akio thinks of the training ground filled with various creatures.
He continues his journey while scanning the area with his radar and killing wild beasts on the way.
------------------
At the camp of bandits,
The bandits are resting after sorting out their loot. The prisoners are shivering in fear in a nearby cell.
"Boss! What should we do with them?"
The bandit asks the leader while the latter stroke his new saber.
"Let's wait for Daicho to bring the representative of the group to buy these weapons. Once we sort it out, we will shift to a new location."
The captain sheathes the sword and turns towards the hostages.
"This location isn't safe anymore. We might grab unwanted attention from the nearby shinobi village. As for them, once we sell everything…"
He performs a cutthroat gesture, deeply scaring the hostages.
"Alright boss!"
The rest of the bandits prepares to relocate.
In the nearby bushes,
Kakashi, Rin, and Obito monitor their activity.
"This is our opportunity! They are busy packing their stuff. We can take them by surprise."
Kakashi whispers to Rin and Obito.
"Rin, you will free the hostages while Obito and I will clean up the bandits."
"Yes, Captain!" Rin and Obito nod.
"Let's go!"
Swoosh… swoosh…
Kakashi and Obito flicker towards the bandits with incredible speed.
Swish… swish…
Kakashi takes out three kunai from his holster and swiftly aims it towards the bandits.
Puchi…
Puchi…
Clang…
The kunais stabs through the throat of the two bandits, killing them in the process. But the third bandits react quickly and blocks the kunais with his giant blade.
"What the…"
Before the stunned bandit could react, Kakashi closes the gap and slices his throat with his chakra blade.
On the other side of the camp,
Slash…
Obito slices a bandit and turns towards Kakashi.
Tch…
"I only managed to take two down!"
He compares himself to Kakashi and his mood turns sullen.
AH!
The rest of the bandits are alerted by the sudden attack of the duo.
Whoosh… whoosh…
They quickly brandish their weapons and surround the duo.
Swoosh… swoosh…
Kakashi and Obito stand with their back against each other as they warily stare at the encirclement of the bandits.
"There are a total of 23 bandits in this group. One of them is away from the camp, while both of us took five of them by surprise. There are still seventeen of them. Tch…"
Kakashi clicks his tongue.
"This won't be easy."
The leader of the group warily stares at the duo. He notices the Konoha headband on their forehead.
"Shinobis?!"
The leader frowns and orders his men.
"Be careful everyone! These kids are shinobis. A single mistake and all of us might die here!"
Swoosh…
Kakashi and Obito nod at each other and take out smoke bombs from their holster.
Bang… bang…
They slam the smoke bombs on the ground.
"Watch out!"
The leader prepares for the incoming attack. He brandishes his saber as his eyes turn red.
"Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu,"
Obito jumps out of the smoke and launches a giant fireball at the group of bandits.
Whoosh…
Kakashi also flickers towards the leader of the bandit group with his white chakra blade.
'If I take out their leader, then this group will fall apart because of the lack of instructions.'
BOOM…
The fireball explodes on top of the bandits and incinerates three of them to ashes.
Obito smugly turns towards Kakashi but is shot down by the other side's lack of response.
Tch…
Obito clicks his tongue and engages with the rest of the bandits.
Meanwhile,
Rin slowly crawls through the bushes and arrives beside the prison.
Clang…
She breaks the lock of the bushes and gestures to the prisoners to maintain silence.
Mm…
The merchants in the prison nod their heads. The merchant points towards an unconscious young man lying against the tree at some distance.
"Please save him!"
"Don't worry!"
Rin nods to them and gestures for them to move away.
"There is a small cave at a distance of 300 meters from here. We have already killed the wild beast in the cave. You people can take shelter there for the time being."
"Thank you so much!"
Rin slowly approaches the unconscious young man. She checks his pulse and breath.
"He has suffered some internal injuries. I can only perform preliminary treatment with my medical ninjutsu knowledge."
She quickly picks up the man and flickers towards the merchant group.
------------------
On the other side of the hill,
Daicho is leading a group of cloaked people towards his camp.
"If what you said is true, then the trade won't disappoint you. But if it's a lie, then…"
One of the cloaked persons warns Daicho in a hoarse voice.
"Of course! Of course!"
Daicho meekly nods his nod and takes out a scroll.
"This scroll only has a small portion of the weapons. The rest are in our camp."
Hmm…
The group silently follows Daicho with no reaction.
Phew…
Daicho secretly heaves a sigh of relief.
'These people are genuine ninjas. If I anger them, then they will slaughter our entire camp.'
-----------------
Whoosh… whoosh…
Minato flickers through the forest and arrives in front of a cave.
Hmm…
He stops and gazes at the cave for a few seconds. A giant rock blocks the entrance of the cave.
"There is a hidden isolation and fortification barrier ninjutsu cast at the entrance of this cave."
He slowly closes near the cave while hiding his presence.
"As I suspected, enemy ninjas have infiltrated the Land of Fire."
Swoosh…
Minato hides in a nearby bush and closes his eyes.
A few minutes later,
Orange pigmentation appears around his eyes as he opens his eyes, which resemble that of a toad.
'I still cannot gather nature energy fast enough. Looks like I have to give up on using Senjutsu in combat.'
He shakes his head and focuses his sense on the cave.
'There is an isolation barrier around this cave which prevents Sensors from detecting the presences inside but the Sage Mode can overcome it.'
Hmm…
"One…
Two…
Three…
…
…
Seventeen!
There are a total of seventeen shinobis in this cave. Judging by the amount of chakra, six of them are jounin while the rest of them are chunnins."
Minato speculates the rank of shinobis based on their chakra.
"There are no traps or other barriers beside the two at the cave."
He opens his eyes and gazes at the cave, and clenches his fist.
"I can break the seal of the entrance, but it will take some time. So, I will use my remaining nature energy to shatter the entrance. This is the only entrance and exit to the cave, so I don't have to worry about them escaping. This is the best course of action I can take for now since I have to monitor Kakashi and the group too."
Swoosh…
Bang…
Inside the cave,
The leader of the shinobi group is sitting with five other jounins as he discusses their next course of action.
"This is the deepest we have infiltrated in the Land of Fire. We have already mapped the area and the patrol route of Konoha shinobis.
Unfortunately, after so many days, we have run out of supplies. Be it weapons or food!"
The leader shakes his head.
"I hope the group we sent could recover some weapons and food supplies from those bandits. We can't take action openly lest we get spotted, so we can only rely on those bandits." The other jounin voice his opinions.
Swoosh…
The leader takes out a scroll from his pocket.
"We have already mapped 90% of this area. A bit more and our mission will end."
BANG…
A loud noise interrupts their discussion.
The leader quickly pockets the map as his expression turns grave.