Ch.121 The News

Uchiha Shinji glanced around, his heart heavy as he surveyed the scene. The convoy had suffered significant casualties in such a short amount of time.

Both of the Chunin from Asuma's squad were dead, and at least ten of the guards from the Land of Demons who were protecting Shion had perished. The rest were mostly injured.

In comparison, Sasuke and the others were relatively fortunate.

Neji had a minor injury on his arm, Sasuke had taken a heavy blow to his chest, leaving a large bruise.

Whoosh.

At that moment, with a gust of wind, Asuma hurried back to the group.

Seeing the bodies strewn across the ground and the injured groaning in pain, his face darkened considerably.

Realizing that the enemy had deliberately drawn him away, Asuma knew that the convoy had also come under attack. However, the masked shinobi who had engaged him was skilled, and even Asuma couldn't deal with him quickly. As a result, he returned too late.

Suppressing his fury, Asuma found the bodies of his two fallen comrades.

"Damn it!" he cursed, clenching his fists tightly as the anger in his eyes burned uncontrollably.

At that moment, one of the guards from the Land of Demons approached Asuma and asked, "Asuma-san, do you know who attacked us?"

Asuma opened his mouth but didn't know how to explain. In the end, he could only shake his head. "I'm sorry."

"Sigh…" The guard let out a heavy sigh.

Feeling guilty, Asuma turned away.

His gaze fell on Uchiha Shinji and the others. Seeing that they were unharmed, he breathed a sigh of relief before turning his attention to the carriage where Shion was. "Is Lady Shion safe?"

"Her Highness is safe!" The guard hesitated for a moment and added, "Strangely, it seems the attackers weren't targeting her."

The attackers had plenty of chances to strike at Shion's carriage but chose not to. It was clear to anyone with some experience that their target wasn't Shion.

The guards from the Land of Demons were perplexed.

They couldn't figure out who the attackers were after if it wasn't Shion. The whole situation was too bizarre.

Asuma, feeling awkward, could only respond vaguely, "Don't worry, the Hidden Leaf will give you an explanation."

Though he hadn't been able to capture the masked shinobi who had fought him, Asuma had a good idea of who they were.

And once he had a strong suspicion of their identity, the attackers' true goal became easier to guess.

Asuma was well aware that this attack was likely provoked by the presence of Uchiha Shinji or Uchiha Sasuke.

However, since this was an internal matter within the Hidden Leaf, it was difficult for him to explain it to the guards from the Land of Demons. So, he remained evasive.

Meanwhile, Sasuke and the others were examining the site where the masked attackers had fallen.

Of the four attackers, the one who had engaged Asuma had escaped. The one who had pursued Uchiha Shinji had been killed by him in the woods.

The remaining two, who had attacked the convoy, had perished in explosions triggered by explosive tags, leaving no remains.

After using his Sharingan to observe the area for a while and finding nothing useful, Sasuke turned to Neji and asked, "Did you find anything?"

Neji shook his head, "The explosive tags destroyed their bodies completely, so there are no clues left behind."

Shinobi were still flesh and blood.

Even a Jonin couldn't withstand the close-range explosion of explosive tags, so it was unlikely that any useful clues would remain.

Sasuke then turned to Uchiha Shinji, "Shinji, did you find anything on the guy you took down in the woods?"

Shinji shook his head, "I was in a hurry to get back, so I didn't search his body."

Shinji already knew the attackers' identities.

But he chose not to reveal it, knowing that doing so would only escalate tensions and push Danzo into taking more reckless actions.

Moreover, based on Asuma's expression, Shinji could tell that Asuma had already figured out some things. Letting Asuma handle the situation would be far more effective than them blowing the whistle.

Sasuke looked puzzled, "Why didn't you check his body?"

Neji sighed, "If Shinji had taken longer to return, you might have already been captured and used as a hostage!"

"I…" Sasuke was left speechless.

Shinji casually explained, "Given how secretive they were, they likely came prepared. Even if we searched the body, it probably wouldn't reveal anything useful."

"That makes sense."

Sasuke and the others found his reasoning logical.

After all, the masked shinobi whom Kimimaro had killed had immediately activated all his explosive tags to destroy his own body.

Shinji changed the subject.

In fact, the Root shinobi who carried out this mission hadn't entirely concealed their identities. Beneath the black cloaks, they were wearing Root uniforms.

This reflected their overconfidence.

But to be fair, it wasn't entirely unreasonable for the Root shinobi to be complacent. The oldest among their opponents, Kimimaro, was only ten, with Uchiha Shinji and Neji both being eight, and Sasuke only seven.

Facing adults, these kids barely reached chest height.

In such a situation, it was understandable that the attackers had been somewhat careless.

After a brief conversation, the group began cleaning up the battlefield and treating the wounded.

Due to his knowledge of medical ninjutsu, Shinji temporarily took on the role of a medical-nin, treating the injured.

Watching Shinji's skillful use of medical ninjutsu to heal wounds rapidly, even Asuma, an experienced Jonin, was astonished and couldn't help but praise Shinji.

In the Hidden Leaf, medical-nin were a rare commodity, and only a select few squads were fortunate enough to be assigned one.

After a while, Shinji had finished treating all the wounded and had professionally bandaged them up.

While Shinji was busy treating the wounded, the survivors of the convoy had gathered the bodies of their fallen comrades, lining them up neatly.

Seeing so many familiar faces dead and their bodies laid out so close by was overwhelming.

The surviving guards from the Land of Demons sighed softly one after another.

Asuma sighed too, but as he glanced at Shinji and the others, he couldn't help but feel a flicker of surprise.

He had expected the young shinobi-in-training to be terrified and shaken after witnessing such a brutal battle and seeing so many corpses.

However, they remained silent but not frightened.

Clearly, Asuma had underestimated them.

Uchiha Shinji, Sasuke, and Kimimaro had all experienced traumatic losses during their childhoods, and even Neji had witnessed his father's tragic death at a young age.

Though they were still children, they were far from being sheltered or naive.

Amid the silence, Sasuke suddenly said, "Even though we lost a lot, at least we changed our fate!"

His words broke the stillness.

"Yeah, we survived!"

"Could it be that Lady Shion's prediction was wrong?"

"Maybe she didn't see things clearly this time. The fact that we're still alive speaks for itself!"

The guards from the Land of Demons began talking amongst themselves.

Before this, they had believed they were doomed.

Now that the ordeal was over, despite the heavy losses, the group had not been completely wiped out as predicted by Shion. The current outcome, when compared to the prophecy, didn't seem so bad after all.

Neji, however, remained doubtful, "Did we really break the prophecy?"

"The facts are right in front of you," Sasuke said with a grin. "We broke Shion's prophecy with our own hands!"

"But…" Neji still wasn't fully convinced.

Sasuke replied, "There's no 'but.' Don't forget, those who attacked us were all Jonin-level. It wasn't easy for us to win."

Neji seemed to be persuaded, nodding slightly.

From his perspective, the attack by four Jonin-level shinobi aligned with Shion's prophecy.

He himself hadn't believed they could survive an attack from four Jonin, yet somehow, they had.

Kimimaro, however, remained deep in thought.

He instinctively felt something was off. Though the attackers had been strong, they didn't match the level of danger foretold in Shion's prophecy.

Only Kimimaro knew for sure that if he had gone all out, he could have taken down at least two of the attackers. Combined with Asuma, Shinji, Sasuke, and Neji, it didn't seem possible that four Jonin could have wiped them out.

Shinji silently mused to himself, "You're celebrating too early. The real threat is probably still ahead."

While Kimimaro's instincts hinted that something was wrong, Shinji was certain.

Even in his current state, where he was in the midst of merging his Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan and couldn't use his dojutsu, four Jonin-level opponents wouldn't be enough to completely annihilate their squad.

So the real disaster predicted by Shion definitely wasn't this attack from the Root!

However, seeing the others finally relax, Shinji decided not to voice his suspicions.

After all, saying anything wouldn't change much. It was better to let things play out. Besides, there wasn't much he could say to justify his concerns.

At that moment, Asuma approached Shinji and asked him to lead the way to the woods, where the attacker Shinji had killed was last seen.

But when they arrived in the forest, all they found was a bloodstain on the ground.

Shinji said, "I finished him off right here, but it seems the body is gone!"

Asuma knelt down, examining the area. His face turned grim as he said, "It seems his comrades took the body."

Shinji casually asked, "Who are they?"

Asuma stared at Shinji, "What do you think?"

Shinji shook his head, "I don't know."

Asuma withdrew his gaze, "Leave this matter to me."

After returning to the convoy, Asuma met with the leader of the Land of Demons' guards to discuss their next move. "I've already sent for reinforcements from the village. They'll be here soon. So, I suggest we stay put and wait for them."

The guard captain nodded slightly, "We're in your hands, Asuma-san."

"Rest assured, I will ensure Lady Shion is safely escorted back to the Land of Demons."

After that, Asuma turned to Uchiha Shinji and the others.

He glanced over the group, remarking, "You really live up to the title of 'geniuses of the Academy.' We have you to thank for today!"

Sasuke smirked with pride.

Neji then asked, "Asuma-sensei, what's our next move?"

"You might as well call me 'sensei' now. Who knows, I might end up being your squad leader in the future," Asuma said with a grin, lighting a cigarette and taking a puff. "For now, things aren't looking great. I've already spoken with the guards, and we'll be staying here until reinforcements arrive."

Upon hearing that, Shinji felt a sense of relief.

What he needed most right now was time, so he was fully in favor of Asuma's decision.

Sasuke seemed a bit confused, "Do you really think they'd dare come after us again?"

Asuma, looking at Sasuke's youthful bravado, smiled and shook his head. "You're still young. I don't want you prodigies to meet an untimely end while you're still growing."

Neji immediately responded, "Don't worry, Asuma-sensei, we'll support you fully until reinforcements arrive!"

Asuma nodded, then hesitated for a moment before quietly saying, "One of you should go ask Lady Shion and confirm if her prophecy was really wrong."

Shinji was speechless.

Despite Asuma acting like he didn't care about Shion's prophecy, it turned out he was actually quite concerned.

After giving his instructions, Asuma busied himself with securing the camp.

In reality, Asuma had sent his call for reinforcements not after the attack but as soon as he learned of Shion's prophecy. So, the reinforcements were likely to arrive very soon.

However, he didn't realize that it was precisely because of his call for help that the Root shinobi misjudged the situation and hastily launched their attack before the convoy had even left the Land of Fire.

In fact, the Root squad trailing them wasn't alone. There were two teams.

While the first squad attacked Uchiha Shinji's group, the second squad ambushed Kakashi's team, which had been secretly following to offer protection. This prevented Kakashi's team from providing timely support.

The Root hadn't anticipated their supposedly straightforward mission would encounter such a significant failure!

...

The next morning.

Kurenai Yuhi, Aoba Yamashiro, and two other Chunin from the Hidden Leaf arrived and joined the convoy as reinforcements.

Their arrival boosted morale, and the convoy resumed its journey toward the Land of Demons.

For the next few days, the convoy didn't encounter any further attacks and successfully left the borders of the Land of Fire. Just as everyone began to think that Shion's prophecy might have been a mistake and that they were safe, a messenger from the Land of Demons arrived with shocking news.

"What?! The Sealing Grounds have been attacked?!"

Upon hearing this, the guards from the Land of Demons were thrown into disarray.

Asuma immediately asked, "What's going on?"

The leader of the guards, clearly distressed, replied, "This is bad! A great calamity is about to befall us! We must get Her Highness back to the Land of Demons as quickly as possible, or the world will be plunged into endless war!"