"Kenichi, you wouldn't..." But clearly, Kenichi's words were misunderstood by his friend. Kenichi showed an awkward expression and quickly waved his hand.
"Relax, I only like cute girls," Kenichi hurriedly clarified his preferences.
He definitely didn't want sasori to mistakenly think he had some strange fetish—that would be troublesome. After all, sasori seemed quite normal. Moreover, Kenichi was a straightforward guy, and his type was cute, innocent girls.
Of course, "cute" was a very rough description. If he were to explain in detail, it might take quite a while.
The road to entering the Hidden Cloud Village wasn't easy. The merchants ahead of them were subjected to what could only be described as rude body searches. They were even asked to strip completely, and the ninjas rubbed water on their faces to check for signs of makeup or disguise.
This was due to the tense situation. During wartime, Konoha was also extremely vigilant towards outsiders. The merchants seemed used to this treatment.
Kenichi's expression darkened. He had sealing scrolls on him, and if he had to undergo such a thorough search, it would be a real problem.
Furthermore, Kenichi noticed that the Hidden Cloud ninjas weren't accepting bribes. All the merchants were behaving themselves. One merchant, who was known for solving problems through bribes, was now obediently going through the inspection.
sasori's face also turned grim. Even if it was to complete the mission, he couldn't accept such an invasive body search.
It was humiliating.
"Let's leave for now. We're already here, anyway," Kenichi said as he glanced ahead at the Hidden Cloud Village. Everything looked calm, but he knew there was likely a sealing barrier in place.
Initially, Kenichi had considered infiltrating the village and planting thermobaric bombs. But it seemed entering would be tough, and escaping even tougher. It would be better to approach the problem from a different angle.
The shinobi world had never dealt with airstrikes before. Typically, a sealing barrier formed a dome that covered the sky, and launching jutsu from the air was easily countered. As a result, airstrike tactics simply didn't exist.
In fact, there were very few flying ninjas in the shinobi world. The Tsuchikage and Deidara were exceptions, but Deidara was probably still playing with clay, so he wasn't a concern right now.
Kenichi's plan was to find a high enough spot and glide over the village using a paraglider. Once over the Hidden Cloud Village, he would open the sealing scroll and drop the thermobaric bombs, triggering an explosion.
But he quickly realized this idea wouldn't work. The village was already situated high in the mountains. They were still at the base, and they would need to ascend further to reach the village's center.
Kenichi decided to leave the area with sasori before they got caught. Leaving quietly, however, wasn't easy.
After exchanging a glance with sasori, Kenichi used the Nirvana Temple Technique to disrupt the nearby ninjas. Then, he pulled sasori away, swiftly retreating from the village gates.
The Hidden Cloud ninjas responded quickly. Several figures appeared near the gate, likely from the village's Anbu.
But Kenichi and sasori had plenty of ways to conceal their presence, so there wasn't much worry about being discovered right away.
"Kenichi, how do you plan to get in?" sasori asked. Now that they were here, he understood that Kenichi's target was probably the Hidden Cloud Village. But was it really okay to go up against an entire village?
Although sasori had killed the Third Kazekage, his success was due to poison and surprise, not a direct confrontation.
"No need to go inside," Kenichi shook his head. Initially, he had hoped to find some clues in the village regarding the Kinkaku and Ginkaku brothers. But seeing the level of security, he knew it would be impossible to sneak in.
The options were either to break in and alert the Anbu or to enter from above.
Kenichi licked his finger and lifted it to feel the wind direction and speed. After a quick assessment, he formulated a plan.
The village's location made it hard to attack from the air, but he could make a simple hot air balloon. Using the cover of clouds, he could float high above and use wind-style chakra to guide himself over the village for a bombing run.
With chakra, the balloon could rise quickly. As long as they ascended unnoticed, the plan would be halfway to success.
"What is that?" sasori asked, intrigued by the balloon Kenichi was crafting. It looked strange, almost like he was sewing something.
"A hot air balloon, haven't you seen one before?" Kenichi gave sasori a puzzled look. Hot air balloons were easy to make, so he assumed the ninja world had them.
Kenichi was even worried that the Hidden Cloud Village might have tools to detect them. But seeing sasori's confusion, it seemed hot air balloons didn't exist here.
"Hot air balloon?" sasori's expression confirmed he had never seen one. Kenichi's mouth twitched. If someone as experienced as sasori had never encountered one, then it was likely the ninja world really didn't have hot air balloons.
Kenichi thought back to his time in Konoha. He hadn't seen any hot air balloons there either, but he hadn't paid much attention at the time, assuming they existed.
In his previous life, hot air balloons had been around since about 1783. It wasn't advanced technology at all.
"It's something that can carry us into the sky. But to be safe, we should also make two parachutes," Kenichi explained briefly.
sasori became very interested, and with his help, Kenichi quickly finished making the hot air balloon and the parachutes. Soon, they were soaring into the sky, propelled by wind jutsu.
Looking down at the tiny forest and the Hidden Cloud Village below, Kenichi grinned with excitement.
"Tremble in fear! Be honored! You will be the first to witness the power of science!" Kenichi said, laughing as he took out the scroll containing the thermobaric bombs.
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