I, Uchiha, will not be whitewashed!

Chapter 98 Traces.

The day after the deployment, Shuoge led a team to patrol the perimeter of the Death Forest.

Zhen was squatting by the stream washing his hands when he suddenly shouted.

Shuoge walked over, and at the bend in the upstream stream, there was a large rock with half a snake's molt wrapped around its shady side.

The snake molt was huge, thicker than a human arm, and lay on the stone surface, its skin whitened from being soaked in the stream water, its edges already broken.

Rin used a twig to pick it up. The snake skin gleamed grayish-white in the morning light, and there was a layer of sticky liquid on the inner wall, which was not completely dry yet.

"This was left over from yesterday." Rin examined the dryness and cracking of the snake's shed skin, then smelled it. "Orochimaru's summoning snake."

Shuoge did not answer. He squatted down, parted the grass by the stream, and found several more traces of snakes crawling—the direction of the flattened grass, the long drag marks in the soil, stretching from the depths of the woods all the way to the stream.

The marks were spaced far apart, indicating that the snake was quite large.

Zhen raised her head and looked at Shuoge.

Shuoge stood up, took a scroll from his ninja tool pouch, and sealed the snake slough inside. "Fall back. Report back."

The three people disappeared into the morning mist.

In the Hokage's office, Minato listened to Sakugo's report and then opened the scroll to take a look. The snake's molted skin was spread out on the table, its grayish-white hide gleaming coldly under the light.

"Found on the outskirts of the Forest of Death, a snake slough. Left by Orochimaru's summoning beast." Minato put down the slough. "Continue monitoring, don't alert them."

Shuoge accepted the order and turned to leave.

Death Forest, Day 3.

Gaara and his squad stopped to rest by the stream.

Kankuro leaned against a tree, wiping the mud off the puppet, while Temari stood on high ground, keeping watch.

Gaara sat on a rock, a gourd beside his legs, sand overflowing from the bottle's mouth and slowly wriggling at his feet like a living liquid. His eyes were closed, his breathing steady, as if he were dozing.

In fact, this is Gaara's only way of resting.

Because of the One-Tailed Shukaku inside him, Gaara is unable to sleep deeply; resting with his eyes closed is his only way to relieve mental stress.

One approach.

Footsteps approached from the depths of the woods. Three people landed heavily, their steps were disordered, and their chakra was turbulent.

Gaara opened his eyes, and his pupils reflected three figures wearing Kusanagi headbands. The leader jumped out from behind a tree, holding a kunai in his hand and a sinister grin on his face.

"You brat from Sunagakure, hand over the scroll."

Gaara did not move.

The grass ninja rushed forward, thrusting his kunai straight at his face.

The sand rose up automatically and solidified into a thin wall just before the kunai pierced it.

The metal pierced the sand as if it were a wad of cotton.

Kusanagi hesitated for a moment, unable to pull it out. Gaara raised his hand, and sand surged up from the ground, enveloping the man's ankles, calves, and knees, spreading upwards.

Kusashi tried to run, but the sand had already wrapped around his waist.

"monster!"

The other person exclaimed in surprise and immediately turned and ran away.

Gaara didn't look at him. The sand split into two streams. One stream caught up with the fleeing Grass Ninja, wrapped around his body, and dragged him back.

Another arm wrapped around the remaining man, lifting him into the air.

The sand tightened, and the sound of bones cracking was muffled, like a withered branch being broken by a foot.

The three of them fell down at the same time, their eyes still open, their pupils dilated, and their bodies no longer moving.

The sand receded from their bodies and back into the gourd.

Gaara stands up.

Kankuro and Temari looked tense the whole time, seemingly worried that Gaara would go berserk and kill them as well.

"Let's go."

The three disappeared at the end of the valley.

On the same day, in the southern part of the Death Forest, by the stream.

The Mist Shadow Squad had just set up camp.

Chojuro leaned the flounder against a tree and squatted by the stream to wash his face. His two teammates, one upstream on watch and the other downstream collecting dry branches, worked together. The campfire had just been lit, the flames licking the firewood with a crackling sound.

A thousand kunai flew out from the shadows of the trees. The sentry upstream was the first to be hit; the kunai pierced his knee, the venom entering his body and paralyzing him from his knee to his thigh. He knelt on one knee, supporting himself with his kunai and not falling down.

The second sage came right away, nailing to his shoulder. He went limp and lay in the stream, splashing water half a foot high.

The sentry downstream turned around, and the thousand arrows were already in front of him. He fired three at once: two to block the left and right sides, and one to go straight for his face.

Chojuro ducked to avoid the needle, but it struck his shoulder blade, rendering him unable to lift his arm.

Chojuro stood up and gripped the hilt of Hiramekarei's sword.

Bai emerged from the bamboo grove on the opposite bank of the stream. Moonlight shone on his hair, casting a hazy glow, and his face remained expressionless.

"A Konoha genin?"

Chojuro already knew about the bet between Kirigakure and Konoha, and he knew that things wouldn't be so easy.

It was inevitable that the village of Konoha would contest it.

Chojuro drew his sword, the weight of the blade pressing down on his shoulders slightly. Chakra surged from his palm into the blade, and a pale blue light danced on the edge.

Instead of retreating, Bai advanced, issuing thousands of copies in succession.

The first bullet was aimed at his fingers, but Chojuro flicked his wrist and blocked it with the blade. The second bullet was aimed at his knee, but Chojuro dodged it by turning to the side. The third and fourth bullets grazed his ears and cut off a few strands of hair.

Hiramekarei's chakra had reached its critical point, and Chojuro shouted as he swept his sword horizontally.

The chakra exploded, creating a crater in the ground. Debris and mud splashed out, landing on the stream and creating a spray of water.

The white queen leaped into the stream, and before the splashing water could even settle, Senbon had already made his move again.

This time, instead of a scattered attack, three senbon bullets were fired in a triangular formation, blocking Chojuro's three directions.

Chojuro raised his sword to parry, the blade blocking two bullets, but the third pierced his calf.

The venom entered his body, and a numbing sensation crept up his veins. His knees went weak, but the tip of the flat-eyed flounder's knife braced against the ground, supporting his body.

Shiro walked over through the stream and took out the last senbon from his ninja tool bag.

It was an ordinary needle, unpoisoned, held between the fingers.

Even knowing he was no match for Haku, and even after witnessing Haku's methods, Chojuro still refused to admit defeat.

He gritted his teeth, pulled Hiramekarei from the ground, and chakra once again gathered on the blade. The blue light was fainter than before, but it was still there.

The stream in front of Bai was cut open by the wind of the blade, and muddy water splashed onto him.

Chojuro charged forward, his Hiramekarei sweeping across the room without any pattern, but each strike was filled with a desperate, ruthless force.

Bai dodged the first blade, but the second one came crashing down from above. He didn't catch it, instead taking a step back. The blade struck the stream, splashing water and sending pebbles flying.

The third cut, the fourth cut, the fifth cut.

Each strike was slower than the last, and the blue light of chakra faded away strand by strand.

Chojuro's lips turned purple, and the venom had spread to his chest. Hiramekarei was getting heavier and heavier, his arms were shaking, his shoulders were shaking, and his whole body was shaking.

Bai didn't make a move; he simply dodged.

Chojuro's sixth strike missed, and his body leaned forward. Hiramekarei, embedded in the rubble, supported his body.

His breathing grew heavier, like a bellows. His eyes were still open, but his pupils were beginning to dilate. His fingers were still gripping the knife handle, but he could no longer hold on.

Bai walked up to him and squatted down.

Chojuro's eyelids were drooping, his vision was blurry, and he could only see the outline of white.

His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but no sound came out.

His chakra was depleted, the toxins were still spreading, and his body was falling uncontrollably.

Haku took a small bottle out of his ninja tool bag, uncorked it, and poured the antidote into Chojuro's mouth.

Some of the medicine trickled down his chin, but he swallowed most of it. The white Thousand Needles weren't coated with a lethal poison, but the dosage was significant. If he didn't get an antidote soon, his leg would probably be ruined.

Bai pulled out the scrolls from his body—Heaven and Earth, both scrolls were there.

They also found two more scrolls on the bodies of two fallen teammates not far away, making a total of two sets of Heaven and Earth Scrolls.

He stuffed the scroll into his ninja tool bag and stood up.

Chojuro had closed his eyes, his breathing gradually becoming steady, and the purple on his lips slowly fading. Hiramekarei was stuck in the rubble, and a faint blue light still lingered on the hilt, like a candle about to go out.

Bai turned and walked into the bamboo forest. The moonlight shone on the stream, and the water shimmered in fragments.

On a distant high ground, Shuoge crouched among the tree branches, his Mangekyou Sharingan slowly rotating behind his mask.

He witnessed the entire process of Bai's senbon being completely white, Chojuro's hibiscus, Bai giving Chojuro the antidote, and Bai taking away the scroll.

He took no action.

Bai is already capable of handling things independently.