Ninja Pot Shadow

"Water Escape·Water Formation Wall!"

As soon as she finished her hand seal, bolts of lightning as thick as buckets struck the water wall one after another, the arcs of electricity leaping rapidly across the circular water wall.

While Ino was still observing the depletion of the water wall, Kurosuki Raiga had already transformed into a sharp arrow and fiercely pounced forward.

He charged against the water wall, letting the lightning bolts streak across it strike him.

It's true that he released the lightning, but he's not immune to it; these things can still harm him.

His shoulders, abdomen, forehead, and teeth were injured by lightning in several places. He simply used the lightning blade in his right hand to deflect the lightning to the side, diverting most of the lightning energy. Then he lunged forward and smashed the already extremely thin water wall with his shoulder.

"Die!!" His eyes were bloodshot, and he looked like he was about to explode with rage. He stared intently at Ino inside the water wall, not even flinching, letting Ino stab him in the shoulder with her kunai. The thunder blade in his left hand pierced Ino's heart with deadly ferocity.

With a "bang," a puff of white smoke rose up. He was furious, angrily pulling out the kunai from his shoulder and looking at the figure running away: "Shadow Clone? The rats of Konoha Village!"

Ino became more and more proficient with the Shadow Clone Technique. Naruto hadn't even developed one-tenth of its effectiveness, and could only rely on sheer numbers to overpower it. But in Ino's hands, it had many uses.

She left a shadow clone to buy time, while her main body continued running towards the 10 o'clock direction with Ranmaru. When Raiga traded blows to defeat the shadow clone and caught up again, she created another shadow clone to block them.

Asma is also seizing every opportunity to launch a fierce attack.

His strength was actually about the same as Raiga's. The defense and speed boost provided by the "Lightning Armor" were getting weaker and weaker. During the hostage-taking and subsequent running around the field with Ino and Shikamaru, Raiga was beaten up and injured all over, while Asuma's clothes were torn a bit by the "Lightning Armor" and he was slightly exhausted by the stamina and chakra, but he was not injured at all.

The coordination between the Ino-Shika-Cho trio is one aspect, but the opponent's mental state is another; a normal enemy wouldn't be led by the nose like this.

"Shadow Imitation Technique!" Shikamaru, who had been lying in ambush at the 10 o'clock position, jumped out from the side, his pitch-black shadow disappearing into Raiga Kurosugi's feet, forcibly controlling the enemy.

Shikamaru may be able to restrain Kinkaku in his tailed beast form in the future, but he's far from that level now. Ino's internal struggle has made him slightly stronger than in the original timeline, but whether he can control Tayuya is still unknown. As for controlling Raiga Kurosuki? The gap is enormous.

He was covered in cold sweat after only two seconds. His opponent was struggling too hard, and Shikamaru's already limited chakra was being consumed rapidly.

"Hurry up! You guys come and help too!" he shouted.

Ino quickly formed hand seals and cast a genjutsu, "Naraku Sight Technique," on Kurosuki Raiga. It was a very ordinary D-rank genjutsu, and even though Ino's Yin Release level was high, the genjutsu itself was too low-rank, which limited her performance.

However, this illusion also distracted Raiga Kurosuki, and his struggle weakened by about half.

"Well done!" Asuma acted decisively, pouring a large amount of wind-style chakra into the chakra blade in his hand. His chakra manifested directly, turning into two sharp blades emitting a dark blue light.

He rushed forward several steps, clenched his right fist, and despite the damage from the "Lightning Armor," slashed the chakra blade in his hand towards Raiga Kurosugi's neck.

Shikamaru gritted his teeth, maintaining his Shadow Imitation Technique, while Choji, panting heavily as he chased after them, stared wide-eyed, ready to provide support at any moment.

Just as Asuma's chakra blade was a hair's breadth away from Raiga's neck, Ranmaru's childish voice rang out. He braced himself on the ground with his hands, his eyes gleaming with a bewitching red light: "You're not allowed to hurt Raiga! Raiga, wake up! I need you!"

Ranmaru's red eyes directly broke Ino's third-rate genjutsu and also helped Raiga forcibly break free from Shikamaru's shadow binding technique.

Faced with a life-or-death crisis, this elite Jonin from Kirigakure unleashed his full potential, leaning his body backward to narrowly avoid Asuma's decapitation strike.

Seeing that all of his companions' moves had failed, Choji disregarded his own injuries and once again used "Human Bomber" to ram into Raiga Kurosuki.

"Lightning Release: Lightning Dragon's Tornado!" Kurosuki Raiga has gone berserk. He summons a giant lightning bolt with his lightning blades, completely abandoning his own defenses. The remaining energy of his "Lightning Armor" is converted, and his twin blades spin, quickly creating a giant lightning dragon.

The buzzing sound was incessant. Just as Choji's human bomb tank was about to crash into the Thunder Dragon, Asuma realized that this move was quite dangerous for Choji. He swept through the air, exerted force with his arms, and shouted loudly, using wind blades to cut the Thunder Dragon. The human bomb that Choji transformed into rushed out of the gap and crashed hard into Raiga Kurosuki.

With a muffled thud, Raiga Kurosuki took a solid hit, severely injuring his muscles, internal organs, and bones. The continuous injuries finally pushed his body to its limit. Like a dying wolf, he howled fiercely, raising his Raiga sword high, ready to stab Choji in the heart.

Just then, a bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating Choji's young and innocent face. Ino quickly used the force of the water to push Choji to the side.

Chapter Seventy-Three: The Ownership of the Thunder Blade

"Water Release: Big Explosive Water Wave!"

"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"

"Water Release: Water Chaos Waves!"

Ino, working in tandem with her shadow clones, continuously used advanced ninjutsu, forcing the exhausted Raiga Kurosuki to retreat repeatedly.

Her stationary fighting style is effective, the only drawback being that it consumes a lot of chakra.

Asuma, using her Water Release techniques and relying on her chakra blades and Wind Release ninjutsu, gained an absolute advantage over the heavily wounded Raiga Kurosugi after only four or five moves.

Both were masters of close combat, using speed to fight speed. With his health depleted, Raiga Kurosuki was simply unable to keep up with Asuma's speed.

Kurosuki Raiga slashed his right-hand lightning blade toward Asuma's neck. Asuma leaned back with lightning speed, pushed off with both feet, and before he could get up, he kicked his enemy's ankle.

With a strange cry, Kurozuki Raiga ignored the kick, gripped the Rai-katana in his hand, and stabbed it toward Asuma's heart.

Asuma rolled to the side, swung his right hand, and taking advantage of the moment when Raiga Kurosuki was wide open, slashed a huge wound under his left rib.

No blood flowed out because Raiga Kurosuki had almost lost all his blood.

“Surrender, you can’t win,” Asma said in a deep voice.

"Loss? Win? Are you Konoha ninjas still fixated on such narrow-minded views?" Raiga Kurosuki sneered. "I just want to survive!"

Before he could finish speaking, Ino's water dragon bullet came rushing over again.

The water dragon bullet struck Raiga Kurosuki straight in the back, causing the rogue ninja from Kirigakure to lose his balance. Asuma swung his sword again, and his right arm, which was tightly gripping the lightning sword, flew high into the air. Raiga Kurosuki lost too much blood and became delirious. He staggered a few more steps before collapsing headfirst into the mud and never got up again.

Damn, that wasn't easy! Ino, who was some distance away, wiped the sweat from her forehead.

This kind of elite Jonin with rich combat experience is really too difficult to fight. Fortunately, this guy is a bit crazy, and Asuma is doing his best to suppress him. Otherwise, Ino and the other two would really not be able to defeat this madman.

Often, madmen are harder to deal with than normal people because you don't know what they're thinking.

"Is this guy really the leader of the ronin from the Land of Rivers? Why is he so strong?" Choji was very puzzled. After fighting for so long, he still didn't know the enemy's true identity.

In his view, he had provided virtually no help throughout the battle, and the enemy's strength dealt a heavy blow to his confidence.

Shikamaru cleared up his doubts: "Don't overthink it. If I'm not mistaken, this guy is one of the former Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. They are an absolutely elite force in the Mist Village. It's not that we are weak, it's that the enemy is strong."

Ino also comforted the fat man: "If you hadn't been running wildly with that boy named Ranmaru, this guy wouldn't have lost his mind. A ninja who loses his mind will definitely have a significant drop in strength. I didn't run as far as you. In fact, you were the key in the whole battle."

Choji, being a child at heart, immediately perked up and asked with a beaming smile, "Really? Is it true?"

Asuma and Shikamaru both nodded with smiles, and Choji was overjoyed: "Then let's go back to the village and have some barbecue to celebrate!"

Asuma gave a dry laugh: "...Okay."

Going back to the village for barbecue is just a plan; the real issue is how to deal with Kurosuki Raiga and Ranmaru standing nearby.

The lightning blade was confiscated immediately. Ino is of the water and earth chakra natures and has developed both nature transformations. Shikamaru is of the fire and earth natures and is still developing his fire chakra nature. Choji only has the fire chakra nature that he hasn't developed yet. Asuma can skillfully use both fire and wind chakra natures. None of the four of them have lightning chakra nature.

Kakashi can just bury the Executioner's Blade anywhere, never mention it again, and that's the end of it. You ask me where I buried it? I'll play dumb and say I don't know. Anyway, Naruto and Sasuke won't tattle. But Asuma is different; he can't hide the truth from his own father.

Asma lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and said, "We can't use the knife; it'll definitely be handed over to the village. Don't worry, the village will definitely give us a reward."

Ino felt a little regretful. The power of the Lightning Blade was obvious to all, but she couldn't use it without Lightning Release chakra. She didn't plan to learn Lightning Release at the moment, nor did she intend to give up her tank-like fighting style and go for close combat. A ninja sword is not a staff... If she wanted to release Lightning Release ninjutsu directly with her ninja sword without hand seals like Raiga, she estimated that she would need to raise her Lightning Release level to a very high level.

Given how crucial this sword is to Kirigakure, and considering the Third Hokage's consistent appeasement policy, it will definitely be returned, unless Ino becomes a rogue ninja for the sake of this sword...

Asuma put away the Raito, and the remaining question is what to do with Kurosuki Raiga and Ranmaru.

"I'll send a message via hawk to ask what the old man thinks."

Asuma was writing a letter, while Shikamaru and Choji tied up the unconscious Raiga Kurosuki and Ranmaru.

Raiga Kurosuki has lost an arm, so he's clearly unable to perform hand seals. Like Itachi Uchiha, performing hand seals with one hand, or like Jiraiya, using his feet? Not to belittle him, but he simply doesn't have that ability.

Without hand seals, many ninjutsu cannot be used. Just look at Orochimaru to see how important hands are to a ninja.

With one arm gone, this ninja is basically half-crippled.

Asuma was, after all, the son of the Third Hokage. Although he wasn't an expert in sealing techniques, he knew at least a little bit about them.

He placed a sealing spell on Raiga Kurosuki's lower abdomen, blocking his chakra pathways.

Unable to use chakra, unable to form hand seals, missing an arm, and bound with ropes, it would be a miracle if he could still escape.

Ranmaru doesn't seem to have much fighting ability, but he was able to block Ino's senses and disrupt Shikamaru's Shadow Imitation Technique, so he must have some skills.

Shikamaru and Choji were figuring out how to tie up the cute boy.

Ino had absolutely no interest in boys. She handed over the seven prisoners of the Kurosuki family to Asuma, ostensibly to "clean up the battlefield," but in reality, she rushed into the Kurosuki family's territory and looted their gold and silver treasures.

The oxalis mine is a gold mine. These guys use mercury to dissolve the ore and extract gold, which is clearly a small-scale workshop-style refining method.

A pungent odor permeated the mine.

Ino covered her nose and first ransacked Raiga Kurosuki's room. This guy had collected a lot of Lightning Release and Water Release ninjutsu. She didn't look at them closely and just put them all away.

She found nearly five million in banknotes, along with twenty boxes of various jewelry, jade, and silk at the Black Hoe family's base. However, she didn't see much gold. Instead, she found a large number of empty boxes marked with the character "fire" in a hidden warehouse.

Chapter Seventy-Four: Feigning Confusion

Ino felt that there was something very wrong with these empty boxes with the word "fire" written on them, a big problem. So she called her friends to come and take a look. I'm not going to take the blame for this. Not only will I not take the blame, but I'll also pretend to be stupid and pass the buck!

Choji wasn't interested in boxes with the word "fire" on them, unless they contained food. What? You're saying the boxes are empty? What's the point of looking at empty boxes? I'm not going!

Choji was left to guard the prisoners, while Asuma and Shikamaru came along to watch.

"This is so troublesome, let's just pretend we didn't see it?" Shikamaru kept shaking his head and sighing.

Ino wore an innocent expression, waiting for the person who would actually make the decision.

Asuma pondered for a few seconds. The word "fire" was too obvious. It could be either the Land of Fire or Konoha Village. He had served as the guardian ninja of the Daimyo of the Land of Fire. It was only after witnessing too much darkness around the Daimyo that he abandoned his naive ideas from his youth and returned to Konoha Village.

He believes these empty boxes are likely related to certain officials and dignitaries in the Land of Fire, and once exposed, it will be a huge scandal, but the possibility of Konoha Village being implicated cannot be ruled out.

It's clearly a gold mine, but the refining methods are very crude. Where is the gold now?

Whether it's exchanging gold for daily necessities or supporting rogue ninjas to seize allied mines, Danzo is capable of doing these things, as Asuma knows him.

Asking Raiga Kurosugi would be the best solution right now, but he really didn't want to cause any more trouble.

Just look at Kakashi pretending to be stupid all the time; being a little muddleheaded isn't a bad thing in the ninja world.

Asma coughed twice, knowing that his two subordinates were smart enough not to need him to go into too much detail: "These things need further investigation. Let's report them and let the village handle them."

The implied message is that it should be left to his father to handle.

"Alright, alright, I'll listen to Asuma-sensei."

"Yes, Asuma-sensei is right."

Asuma burned all the empty boxes with his fire-style technique.

Danzo committed countless evil deeds, too numerous to list. If you wanted to kill him, you could find a whole host of evidence. Keeping a few broken boxes is pointless.

If this was done by officials from the Land of Fire... then it's even more complicated, and the boxes are useless anyway.

Out of sight, out of mind. The best way is to burn it down. Even if Raiga Kurosuki reveals the truth later, Class 10 can say they know nothing about it.