Chapter 18

The group's reaction was just as bad as Kanna's as the atmosphere within the room dampened.

 "Father..." One of the children utters, crying as the other children soon follow.

Suddenly, the room is filled with crying children, all of whom have lost the people they love.

Udon understands the pain these children are going through, however, the noise made by the children might attract unwanted attention.

"....We need to leave"

"You guy, help me seal everything here inside these"

Udon ordered the older Uzumaki who didn't cry as he tossed scrolls to them.

The Uzumaki clan's wealth, to say the least, is enormous.

The basement is filled with some of the coveted treasures that the other villages will kill to get such as ninjutsu scrolls, gold and treasures, and the most coveted Uzumaki fuinjutsu technique!

There are even some ready-made seal scrolls mixed with varying functions and uses.

Fortunately, the Uzumaki members are fuinjutsu experts making the task easier as the group quickly sealed all of the treasures inside the scrolls.

"Let's go!"

************

Outside the Uzushiogakure, a group of ninjas are heading their way to the village.

"Are you sure you saw someone?" Asked by a kunoichi leading the group of Suna ninjas asked the sensory ninja beside her.

"Yes, lady Chiyo" The sensory ninja affirmed, he was a patrolling ninja who by chance, saw Udon coming out of the ground.

Upon witnessing it, he rushed back to their base and reported the situation to their team leader, Chiyo of the Sunagakure.

"Good! I'm sure it's someone from that greedy leaf village!"

"Hmph! A bunch of hypocrites!"

Chiyo speaks with disdain, showing his despise for the Leaf Village as the two villages have a long history of blood and war.

"Let's go!"

Ninjas traveled fast and in just a moment, the group soon arrived at the barren land of Uzushiogakure.

It was also around this time that Udon and the remaining Uzumaki members were on their way to the hidden tunnel created by Udon ahead of time when he was under the ground.

'Fuck...' Udon cursed his luck as he also notices the presence of the upcoming sand ninjas.

"One jonin and at least fifteen chunin" One of the elders is more adept at sensory jutsu than Udon as he distinguishes the enemies' strength based on the chakra output in their body.

'One Jonin...I can manage...maybe'

Hearing that the opponents have only sent one Jonin-level ninja, Udon breathes a sigh of relief.

Unfortunately, this relief is short-lived as Udon saw the Jonin ninja leading the upcoming enemies.

"You're not a ninja from Konoha" Chiyo commented as she calmly observed Udon and the Uzumaki members behind him and added;

"...However, you don't look like a pushover either,"

"Well, hearing such a thing from the puppeteer master of the Sunagakure, Chiyo"

"It's truly an honor" 

Udon's replies are humorous, as he excludes a carefree persona who is seemingly always calm and fearless.

When in fact, Udon is racking his brain at the moment trying to come up with a plan.

If it was only him, Udon was confident in his ability to escape but that's impossible with the Uzumaki members around.

Facing Chiyo, Udon wasn't even sure whether he could well, plus she had brought a platoon of chunin ninjas with her.

"Everyone, run in that direction! I will hold them back!" Udon ordered pointing in the opposite direction from Chiyo and her men.

Simultaneously, Udon handed Kanna a stone statue in the image of a wingless tengu without explanation as he urged them to leave.

The Uzumakis immediately sprung into action as they all ran for their lives, far from the fight that was about to start.

"Udon-san....please stay safe!" Kanna wishes him luck as she runs with the other Uzumaki, carrying the children who are far too slow compared to the others.

"Hmph! Chase after the remaining members of the Uzumaki clan!" Chiyo won't just let the members of the red-haired clan go as she entrusts her ninjas to chase.

"Earth Style: Mud Wall!" 

Of course, Udon won't let them as he blocks the ninjas' path with a towering wall made out of mud.

"Hmph! Presumptious!" 

"Worry About yourself first!"

"Assault blades!" 

 Holding a string with dozens of kunai attached, Chiyo controls the kunai as it attacks Udon from all directions.

The kunai are fast and deadly and Chiyo living up to her name as a master puppeteer, was able to freely control the kunai from distances, changing the blades' trajectory and making dodging the attack harder.

Even for Udon, it was hard as he was preoccupied with the kunai, letting the sand ninjas chase after the running Uzumakis.

'Shit!' Udon cursed in his head seeing the sand ninja slipping away but he was unable to do anything.

"Earth Dive!" (A/N: I won't be using things like 'Earth Style' or 'Fire style' from now on, whenever a character uses ninjutsu, I will just type the ninjutsu's name.)

Using this ninjutsu, the solid ground had seemingly turned into liquid as Udon submerged into the soil, traveling beneath the earth by manipulating the soil around him.

This allows him to catch up with the chunin sand ninjas as he weaves hand signs and casts another jutsu.

"Ground Tsunami!"

The ground rose and turned into a massive tsunami 'drowning' the sand ninjas as they were crushed to death.

"I said worry about yourself first!" Chiyo was enraged after being ignored once again as she summoned two unnamed puppets.

However, even though it is unnamed, its powers can't be underestimated as one carries a sword, while the other wields a long chain with spikes.

 Chiyo can control these two effortlessly, as the two puppets teamed up fighting Udon in close combat.

With the sword-wielder puppet as the frontier and the chain-wielder puppet as support, the two are a perfect duo.

'Damn! I'm leaving the rest to you guys.'

In the end, Udon was unable to keep his promise as the remaining sand ninjas alive went after Kanna and the others.

However, this also means that he can now fully fight Chiyo without distraction.

'I'll beat you and reunite with the others quick!' Udon glared at the puppet master in front of him with a serious expression.

He knows that Chiyo won't let him go, 

So the only way to chase after Kanna and her clan is to beat this ninja in front of him.