From Robinson Crusoe

"Fuck!"

He dodged the flying spear with a slight movement and cursed from 45 yards away.

Facing Paul, who was taller and stronger than him, he showed no fear whatsoever.

He stood calmly with his axe in hand, facing Paul. Instead of joining Paul in the charge, he lowered his center of gravity and waited patiently in place.

……

On the other side, Chen Zhou took off the spear from his back, threw two at the Japanese in succession, then picked up the bone hammer, plowed through the mud on the ground, and headed straight for the Japanese.

Experts all possess exceptional judgment.

In just a few dozen seconds of contact, the Japanese ninja was able to glean enough information from the spear Chen Zhou threw and his running speed—

Compared to Paul, who was more imposing in physique, Chen Zhou possessed a calm and fierce demeanor; his not-so-large body clearly contained a much stronger power.

Although both were wooden spears, Chen Zhou's spears were fast, accurate, and powerful, capable of embedding themselves half a meter into the ground from a great distance.

Paul's spear only managed to penetrate the ground at one point.

Yokomae Munehiro calmly watched Chen Zhou as he sprinted, observing his stride and movement, and cautiously retreated towards the riverbank.

He is a Chunin skilled in Water Release techniques, which gives him a sense of security when he is near water, allowing him to maximize his combat power.

……

He covered the distance in the blink of an eye, and even carrying a bone hammer weighing over 100 pounds, Chen Zhou's speed was not significantly affected.

Including his weight, this "petite monster" weighing nearly 230 kilograms is approaching the Japanese ninja at an unbelievable speed.

The muscle fibers, long dormant, seemed to cheer loudly with Chen Zhou's running. His powerful lungs injected oxygen into his red blood cells with each breath. Before his adrenaline could kick in, Chen Zhou, leaving a deep trail of footprints on the muddy ground, rushed up to the ninja.

Yokomae Munehiro felt a dark light flash in front of him, followed by a black shadow that enveloped him with a howling wind.

Years of ninjutsu training gave him an almost instinctive sensitivity to danger.

Without conscious thought, his muscle memory prompted him to dive forward, thus dodging the blow from the bone hammer.

Knowing that this martial artist, who was clearly from the East, would definitely pursue him, Yokomae Munehiro pounced and secretly scattered four shuriken on the ground.

He lost most of his exquisite metal ninja tools when he participated in the challenge; these four shuriken were carefully crafted by him after he arrived here.

As the shuriken was thrown into the mud, its two tips firmly embedded themselves in the ground, leaving only the two tips pointing upwards and covered by mud. Even if the enemy were in a hurry to pursue, or even if they carefully examined the ground, they would hardly see the slightly protruding shuriken.

Although the four shuriken were made of wood, Munehiro Yokomae still diligently poisoned them with a toxin derived from a monitor lizard that inhabits the riverbanks. The toxin was said to have the effect of paralyzing nerves and rotting skin.

If an enemy rushes in recklessly and gets injured by a shuriken, he can use other ninja tools to wear them down until the poison takes effect and then kill them.

……

After setting up the shuriken, Yokomae Munehiro did not stop moving and dodged to the side.

Just now, out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the sledgehammer, which looked like it was made of animal bone, had smashed a deep dent into the ground, and only then did he realize how heavy the weapon in the East Asian man's hand was.

Such a heavy weapon, yet it was handled with such ease by an Eastern martial artist.

Yokomae Munehiro thus gained a clear assessment of Chen Zhou's strength—

Japanese ninja training is divided into five main categories: balance, agility, endurance, strength, and special skills.

After completing these five highly dangerous and inhumane training methods, ninjas are trained to be fully powered fighting machines.

Whether it's tracking, reconnaissance, espionage, or assassination, they can accomplish it using a wide variety of ninja tools and weapons.

But for ninjas, the most important thing is their intellect.

This is especially true for genin and chunin; the difference between the two lies in this.

As a seasoned ninja who keeps in mind the nine-word mantra of ninja, even when Yokozen Munehiro is fleeing in a sorry state, he can still spare some time to observe his opponent, thereby mastering the opponent's skills and analyzing the enemy's weaknesses.

Now that he knows Chen Zhou's strength is extraordinary, he has given up the idea of ​​close combat.

Heavy weapons are indeed incredibly powerful, but they also consume a tremendous amount of physical strength. Even though this Eastern martial artist is a veteran of many battles, he can only last for a dozen minutes at most. Once he shows signs of fatigue, his death will be imminent.

He consistently used his superb dodging skills to evade the enemy's attacks. His long-term endurance training enabled him to maintain this low-intensity exercise for more than forty minutes, which was enough to wait until the enemy was exhausted.

This is precisely the character "皆 (kai)" from the Ninja's Nine-Character Mantra, constantly reminding him to be attentive to understanding people's hearts in order to manipulate enemies and exploit their weaknesses.

……

Chen Zhou already knew that this Japanese ninja was agile, but he didn't expect the guy's movements to be this nimble.

However, he was no ordinary person either.

If Japanese ninjas relied on muscle memory developed through years of rigorous training, then what they depended on was pure physical prowess—

The heavy bone hammer that landed on the ground seemed to defy physics. After smashing a crater, it did not stop at all, and even the starting process could not be seen. Chen Zhou swung it away with brute force.

The muddy mud, still wet, was thrown at Yokomae Munehiro first, obstructing his vision in the already poor lighting conditions of the night.

Remembering his own strategy, he dared not confront them head-on and continued to retreat.

Even in such a tense moment, he maintained the correct evacuation direction, heading towards the rushing river.

Once cornered, Munehiro Yokomae will jump into the river without hesitation, abandoning his challenge partner, the arrogant American soldier.

……

Once in combat mode, Chen Zhou's perception improved significantly. He could clearly detect every move of the Japanese ninja and even hear the steady heartbeat in their chests.

However, he still didn't notice the trap that Yokomae Munehiro had quietly set up during his leap.

Four shuriken were cleverly placed in his path of attack. Chen Zhou felt a slight stinging pain in the sole of his foot. Looking down, he saw that his military boot had been pierced, and the sharp, narrow tips of the shuriken were deeply embedded in the sole, cutting his skin.

Fortunately, his skin was much tougher than that of an average person, and the step only caused him a superficial wound, preventing the shuriken from penetrating too deeply.

"Damn, those Japanese devils are so cunning."

Pulling out the shuriken stained with mud, Chen Zhou became even more vigilant and dared not continue the reckless pursuit.

Just as he was about to discard the Japanese ninja's hidden weapon, his nostrils twitched slightly, and his eyes tensed up—

The venom extracted from the monitor lizard's venom glands has a distinctive fishy odor. When a poisoned shuriken is buried in the mud at a distance, this odor cannot be smelled. However, when it is held in front of you, you can clearly smell that nauseating odor.

"Damn, it's poisonous!"

Chen Zhou shifted his gaze to the Japanese ninja and clearly saw the smug smile on his face. A surge of anger instantly rose to the top of his head.

……

Seeing that the Eastern martial artist had indeed stepped on the kunai he had set up, Yokomae Munehiro felt that his plan was more than halfway secured.

He took another two meters back, staring at Chen Zhou not far away. He straightened his hunched back, pressed his arms close to his thighs, and bowed deeply.

"すみません."

he said with a smile.

Chen Zhou had a basic understanding of Japanese and knew that this guy was just pretending to apologize to him.

Of course, this action contained absolutely no intention of genuine repentance or sincere apology; it was merely a provocation. Seeing the Japanese ninja's grinning, crooked teeth, Chen Zhou also laughed. He put down the 50-kilogram bone hammer in his hand, revealing his own white canine teeth.

"Even if I'm poisoned, you'll die before me."

After leaving those words behind, Chen Zhou instantly entered a state of full-force burst of energy.

Having shed his heavy weapons, his speed increased dramatically; with a single leap, he appeared before Yokomae Munehiro like a ghost.

……

Yokomae Munehiro had considered that Chen Zhou's weapon was heavy, but he never imagined that the bone hammer could be solid.

He also knew that Chen Zhou had exceptional physical abilities, but he never expected that Chen Zhou, while wielding a 50-kilogram sledgehammer, would be only slightly slower than him.

He never imagined that he hadn't used his full strength in his previous attacks on Chen Zhou; only now was Chen Zhou at his peak.

A warning bell rang in his mind, and Yokomae Munehiro had no choice but to take Chen Zhou's punch with his bare arms.

"Crack!"

An unimaginable, immense force came from the arms held across his chest, accompanied by a crisp crack.

Yokomae Munehiro was almost sent flying backwards.

Relying on the force-dissipating techniques honed through years of ninjutsu training, he rolled three times on the ground, barely managing to get up before struggling to lift his numb arm, shaking off the debris, and desperately trying to escape towards the riverbank—

To facilitate climbing in the forest, Yokomae Munehiro made a pair of pair of armor hooks.

Unlike normal hand hooks, his hand hooks not only covered the back of his hand but also bound his entire forearm.

Lacking both metal materials and suitable tools, and unable to withstand significant strength with wooden hand hooks, he resorted to this less desirable method, creating a pair of longer and thicker hand hooks.

The gauntlet hook has a cleverly designed small mechanism near the back of the hand, which hides a sharp wooden knife that can be thrown out at any time to attack the enemy.

Yokomae Munehiro originally intended to use his gauntlet hooks as a trump card to end the enemy's life at close range, but he did not expect that these unusual gauntlet hooks would serve as protective gear and save his life.

The thick piece of wood, along with the wooden knife embedded in it, was broken by Chen Zhou's punch. Even after getting up, Yokomae Munehiro still couldn't control his hands. He even felt that his shoulder blades were slightly dislocated from the force of the punch.

Realizing the monster he was facing, Yokomae Munehiro lost all will to fight.

He was well-versed in "The Art of War" and "The Thirty-Six Stratagems," and was well aware of the saying "the best of the Thirty-Six Stratagems is to flee." Seeing that the enemy was too powerful, he immediately abandoned the idea of ​​prolonging the fight and decided to use his best water escape technique to escape.

Yokomae Munehiro was confident that he could escape from Chen Zhou not only because he had been training in water escape techniques since he was 5 years old, but also because the American soldiers on the other side had the upper hand in hand-to-hand combat.

Once given the opportunity to dive into the water, with his diving skills and underwater concealment techniques, even the strongest opponent wouldn't be able to catch him within three to five minutes, not to mention he can also swim away with the current to a distant place.

Those three to five minutes were enough for the two to decide their fate.

He didn't believe that Dongfang Wu was like him, a fanatic who would rather abandon his partner than give up on a path he was determined to take.

Judging from the tacit understanding between Chen Zhou and Paul, their relationship must be much closer than his relationship with American soldier James.

Munehiro Yokomae's understanding of human nature led him to have great confidence in his judgment.

Dragging his still trembling hands, he tried his best to control himself and continue running towards the river, while shakily pulling two kunai from his belt and putting them in his mouth.

These two kunai were the only metal weapons he possessed, and their surfaces were also coated with poison.

However, the monitor lizard's venom only works when it draws blood. Since it doesn't have mouth ulcers, as long as it holds the kunai without cutting its lips or tongue, it won't be affected by the venom.

The terrifying Eastern warrior was getting closer and closer, and he had to throw out the two kunai to force the enemy to dodge and buy himself precious time to escape.

At this moment, Yokozen Munehiro was only grateful that he had not only honed his regular ninjutsu to an extremely high level, but also practiced mouth-mounted shuriken—

This is a rare technique for throwing darts, requiring you to hold the end of the dart tightly and then use your waist and neck to throw it out while running.

An ordinary ninja can be considered a master as long as he can throw a shuriken with considerable force.

Munehiro Yokomae not only mastered the art of throwing darts from his mouth to the point where he could throw them in any position, but he could also ensure the accuracy of the darts. Although he couldn't say that he could hit exactly where he was pointing, he could hit every dart within three to five meters.

Having trained to this level, his once neat teeth became loose and crooked from throwing darts, demonstrating how much sweat and pain he had endured.

The so-called "trump card" or "secret weapon" refers to such strange and unpredictable tricks.

It was precisely because he mastered a variety of ninjutsu that Yokozen Munehiro was able to find a glimmer of hope in desperate situations.

……

With their full power unleashed, the Japanese ninjas could no longer maintain their speed advantage.

Even if he has superior dodging skills and appears more agile, in the face of absolute speed crushing, all of these can only add to the ridicule.

In the blink of an eye, Chen Zhou had caught up to Yokomae Munehiro. Just as his hand was about to touch the ninja's shoulder, Yokomae Munehiro suddenly fell downwards, simultaneously shooting out a kunai with a concealed cold light, heading straight for Chen Zhou's face.

Chen Zhou was on high alert, at the peak of his reaction time, and dodged the hidden weapon with a slight sidestep.

Before he could continue his pursuit, Yokomae Munehiro, who was about to fall, braced himself with one arm, took another half step forward, and shot out a second kunai.

Dodging the two kunai delayed Chen Zhou for a little over a second. In that short time, Yokomae Munehiro unleashed his fastest speed ever, enduring the excruciating pain of his dislocated shoulder joint from the force of the impact, and plunged headfirst into the water.

The turbulent water was extremely muddy, carrying silt and a bone-chilling cold. For an ordinary person trapped in it, let alone maintaining balance, even avoiding being swept away by the current would be as difficult as climbing to heaven.

Yokomae Munehiro, however, seemed to have grown up in this body of water since childhood. As soon as he entered the water, his body swayed slightly and he was swimming on his feet.

Clutching his dislocated arm, with no time to reset it, Yokomae Munehiro took a hollow straw tube from his pocket as he dived deeper.

Without this snorkel, Yokomae Munehiro could only stay underwater for a maximum of 6 minutes. With this snorkel, he could stay in the water almost all day.

Now that he has just entered the water, Yokomae Munehiro knows that the Eastern martial artist will definitely pursue him relentlessly, so he must continue to stay submerged until he can no longer hold his breath, or the crisis is over.

He plunged his legs into the silt on the side of the riverbed, fixing his body in place so as not to cause too much ripple in the water and thus help the enemy pinpoint his location.

Staring intently at the murky river, Yokomae Munehiro could even clearly hear his own heart pounding.

Whether it was his ninja training in his youth or his sparring and meetings with masters from all over the world after he became famous, he had never encountered such an anomaly. He even felt that this Eastern martial artist was not human, but a beast in human skin.

In the water, every second seemed to be prolonged, making the ordeal even more unbearable.

Munehiro Yokomae held a straw in one hand, silently reciting the nine-syllable ninja mantra, using "Rin, Pyeong, Tou, Zhe, Jie, Zhen, Lie, Zai, Qian" to numb himself, praying that the enemy would be drawn to the American soldiers and not continue the pursuit.

This exorcism incantation, originating from Taoism, had helped him overcome difficulties several times in his life, brought him fame and fortune, and helped him complete one difficult task after another.

As he recited the proverb in his heart, Yokomae Munehiro had never felt those nine words so powerless.

Less than two seconds later, he heard a despairing sound coming from the shore.

"隠れた? I'm going to catch you now."

That was a somewhat awkward Japanese phrase, meaning—

"Have you hidden well? I'm coming to get you!"

Immediately, a muffled "plop" sound came from the water not far away. He only saw a blurry black shadow sink into the water at an unimaginable speed, and then shoot towards him like a cannonball.

"Run!"

The thought had barely formed in Yokomae Munehiro's mind when a massive, iron-like hand emerged from the torrent and gripped his throat precisely. (End of Chapter)