Escaping the Mist Ninja starts with backstabbing your teacher.

Chapter 84 The Shock of Kurosuki Raiga!

In the sky above the Land of Rivers, Izumi looked towards the Land of Fire as if sensing something, a slight smile playing on his lips. The chakra he had planted within Anko's body had been activated.

"Could it be Orochimaru, or someone else?"

Too much time has passed, and he can't be sure yet, but it doesn't matter; he'll find out eventually.

The message left after the information is triggered will only attract Orochimaru, and perhaps Danzo will also be interested.

However, Orochimaru doesn't like Danzo's reach being too far, even extending to his side.

In any case, the appointment time he left in the message was three days later, and the location was in the Land of Fire. We'll know when we get there.

As for Raiga, he needs to be dealt with as soon as possible, and Izumi Kawa is injecting more chakra into him.

The original skeletal bird, now covered in a layer of red chakra, transformed into a streak of red light and shot upwards, reaching the clouds and disappearing at high speed.

In a corner of the Land of Rivers, Raiga, exposed and fleeing, was being blown away by the wind through the forest, carrying the fishy smell of the mountain streams.

Raiga Kurozumi walked forward, stepping on fallen leaves. His pace was slow, and his expression was calm and cold. He was very clear about his current situation.

Thirty miles behind him, a small squad of Mist Ninja was catching up.

He knew he was being lured behind him almost three days after he crossed the border.

He was all too familiar with the tracking methods of the Hidden Fog Division: advancing in alternating groups, leaving no gaps, like a pack of hunting dogs, relentlessly pursuing the scent.

However, as they delved deeper and guided the other party, the right time finally arrived.

It is going to rain.

Raiya raised his head slightly. The air was stuffy and sticky, the clouds were low and gray, and the sun was nowhere to be seen.

The birds in the forest had long since hidden themselves away, and even the chirping of insects was sparse.

Lei Ya sat down on a blue stone, placed his twin swords across his knees, took out half a piece of dry rations from his pocket, and slowly chewed on them.

He calculated the time in his mind; he had already learned quite a bit about the opponent's speed of advance and tracking methods over the past few days.

He finished chewing the last bite of dry food, patted the crumbs off his hands, looked up at the sky, and the first drop of rain fell on his brow, cool and refreshing.

He stood up, stretched his shoulders, and started walking forward at a leisurely pace, as if he were taking a stroll in his own backyard.

The rain gradually intensified, pattering against the leaves. He was heading in a clear direction: the place with the thickest clouds and the most abundant moisture.

Similarly, he needed an open space, which he had already found in the treetops, the most suitable spot.

The rain gradually intensified, which was good for him, but not necessarily for the Mist Ninja behind him.

Lei Ya quickly arrived at the chosen location, a very open space. He stuck his twin swords into the soil at his feet, leaned against a tree trunk, and waited with his arms crossed.

His fingers tapped on his arm, and the slight noise coming from the forest made him slowly open his eyes.

They are coming.

Four figures emerged from the woods and rushed into the valley. They were soaking wet, but they didn't slow down, following the tracks left by Lei Ya all the way here.

Then they stopped, the trail disappeared, and the captain raised his hand to signal the team to stop.

Four people, two standing below and two on the treetops, looking around.

The heavy rain pelted them, streaming down their headbands and into their eyes.

"Spread out and search!" the captain ordered.

The three men walked off in three different directions, leaving the captain standing in place with his hand on the hilt of his knife and his eyes like an eagle's.

Leiya watched them quietly from under the big tree, a slight smile playing on his lips.

He glanced down at the two swords at his feet; tiny arcs of electricity began to crackle across their blades, dancing merrily in the rain.

Raiga placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, feeling the pervasive electrical currents around him; this place was perfect as an execution ground.

The three Mist Ninja had already searched the edge of the area and became alert as they faced the open space not far away.

The disappearance of any trace meant that the other party had discovered them, and as one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, their reputation was still fearsome.

Raiga gripped his twin swords, and chakra poured out along the blades, seeping into the damp earth and merging with the torrential rain, instantly spreading throughout the entire valley.

Thunder Burial & Thunder Banquet!

The captain was the first to react. When he felt numbness in his feet, he shouted "Retreat!", but the sound was swallowed by thunder.

Lightning descended from the sky, winding and twisting.

Not one, but three, precisely slashing at the three Mist Ninjas who had strayed from their formation.

They didn't even have time to scream before they were engulfed by the lightning, fell into the puddle, twitched a few times, and then lay still.

The captain was still standing.

It wasn't because he was strong, but because Raiya didn't want him to die.

Lei Ya drew his twin swords and slowly walked out, his gaze falling on the other person.

The captain watched him approach, his hand gripping the knife, but he didn't draw it. He knew it would be useless to draw it.

"Kurozuki Raiga————"

"Hmm." Raiya stopped five steps away from him, his twin swords hanging at his sides, raindrops sizzling against the blades. "What's your name?"

The captain did not answer.

"Forget it," Raiya said. "It's pointless now."

The captain was taken aback for a moment.

Lei Ya slowly raised his twin blades overhead, the wisps of electricity crackling around them echoing the thunder in the sky.

Thunder rumbled from afar, one after another.

He suddenly realized something.

Along the way, they weren't chasing Raiya at all.

It was Raiga waiting for them.

The next moment, a bolt of lightning descended from the sky, engulfing the captain's figure.

Raiya looked up, raindrops falling continuously on his face. His eyes were closed, and water droplets slowly slid down the corners of his eyes, it was hard to tell if they were rain or tears.

Raiga put down his lightning blade, opened his eyes, and without any lingering attachment to the Mist Ninja, turned to leave.

But a sudden figure in the open space made him immediately wary.

When did you arrive?

Are they also members of the Mist Ninja Pursuit Squad?

Questions swirled in Lei Ya's mind as he raised his thunder blade, pointing it at his opponent.

"Who are you?"

Under the shadow of the hood, the man reached down and pulled it down, revealing white hair, red eyeshadow, and conspicuous white eyes.

"It's you, Taketori Izumi-gawa!?"

He had heard of this person before, but to see a fellow rogue ninja appear before him was quite a surprise.

The Mist Ninja never talk about camaraderie or acknowledge anything, and they don't believe that being fellow rogue ninjas automatically creates a sense of solidarity.

The answer is simple: the other party was after him, after the thunder blade in his hand.

There was no response from the other party, and the lightning blade in Lei Ya's hand had already begun to crackle with lightning.

Lightning Release: Lightning Ball!

The electric currents wrapped around the lightning blade continuously gathered at the tip of the blade, transforming into a ball of lightning that shot out.

However, the appearance of a sand wall blocked the lightning ball, and at the same time, Izumikawa formed a hand seal and pressed the summoning jutsu onto the ground.

Bang!

A huge plume of smoke rose, and a puppet Shukaku made of yellow sand appeared.

Lei Ya's pupils contracted slightly, then he regained his composure. He raised his twin swords, crossing them in front of his chest, arcs of electricity crackling violently.

"Summoning the One-Tailed Beast?" His gaze swept past the giant beast, fixing on the figure. He exclaimed in shock, "How is this possible?"

The man did not answer.

There was no puppet Shukaku either.

The colossal creature simply stood there, its empty eyes gazing in the direction of Raiya, with only the faint sound of sand flowing in the downpour.

Lei Ya frowned, even wondering if he could possibly escape.

"Not going to say anything?"

Although he still wanted to try to communicate, — the puppet Shukaku moved.

More than a dozen streams of sand surged up from the ground like tentacles, each one reaching out to grab him. Lei Ya pushed off with his feet and retreated rapidly, while simultaneously crossing his twin swords.

Thunder Blade Technique: Lightning Strike!

The blade flashed through the rain, and three lightning blades shot out from the tip of the blade, slashing into the sand. The sand exploded, and the three thickest sand tentacles were severed in mid-air, with charred fragments falling to the ground.

After severing three sand tentacles, even more tentacles spread out.

Leiya landed, turned around, and swung his sword again. Lightning wove an electric net around him, tearing apart the sand that entangled him time and time again.

But Shukaku's sand is endless; if one piece is broken, new sand immediately fills the gap.

"You're just going to stand there and watch?" He glanced at the figure at the edge of the woods during the fight. "How arrogant!"

Taketori Izumi River remained motionless.

The sand flow suddenly accelerated.

He swung his sword and severed one of the ankles that had wrapped around Leiya's side, but another had already struck his back.

He turned to block, the enormous impact making his hands go numb, and he staggered back five steps.

This is no ordinary sand; it is sand imbued with magnetic energy, making it heavy, hard, and fast.

Lei Ya took a deep breath, brought his twin blades together, and the electric arcs on the blades began to condense and compress.

Lightning Release: Lightning Dragon Tornado!

Lightning burst from his body, coalescing into the shape of a thunder dragon, roaring as it pounced on the puppet Shukaku.

Wherever it passed, rainwater evaporated, the air became scorching, and a charred trench was carved into the ground.

Thunder Dragon crashed into the body of the puppet Shukaku.

The sand exploded, blasting a huge hole in the giant beast's chest. Countless grains of sand scattered everywhere. Leiya landed on the ground, kneeling on one knee, panting heavily.

done?

He raised his head.

The puppet Shukaku was still standing.

The hole in his chest was healing, and fresh sand was pouring in from all directions, filling the charred gap. In just a few breaths, the wound had disappeared completely.

Raiya's pupils contracted.

"What's this—"

The puppet Shukaku raised its claws and pressed them down.

He leaped to dodge, and the ground beneath his feet exploded, sending countless sand spikes bursting forth from the earth.

He flipped in the air, his twin blades slicing through several sand spikes that were close to him, but one of them grazed his left arm.

The clothes are torn.

The flesh is not broken.

He landed and glanced down. It was just a red mark.

"This kind of power?" He stood up, a hint of doubt in his eyes.

The puppet Shukaku did not respond.

The giant beast simply stood there, its empty eyes staring at him.

Raiga suddenly realized that this was not a tailed beast, but a puppet with the power of Shukaku.

The figure at the edge of the woods did not answer.

But the puppet Shukaku's offensive strategy changed.

The sand began to compress, harden, and accelerate. Magnetic energy flowed across it.

A tentacle formed from yellow sand lashed out, and Raiya swung his sword to block it.

Sparks flew everywhere!

His hand was numb, and his whole arm was trembling.