bookbashuk Chapter 350 The Path I Chose
Chapter 350 The Path I Chose
Chapter 350 The Path I Chose
By evening, Ya finally brought back the first truly decent message.
When he slid down from the dry forest hollow, his face was covered in dust, and Akamaru's nose was also covered in a layer of fine dirt.
"I can smell it." Ya plopped down and took a sip of water. "It's not just one group of people leaving; it's an entire platoon that stopped there. The place is in that depression to the north behind the broken valley. They didn't stop for long, but someone ate something there, and someone else applied medicinal oil to their weapons."
Chi Quan immediately looked up.
"Number of people?"
"At least six," Ya said. "There could be more, but the flavor was partially torn apart by the wind. Two or three from the Land of Lightning, two from the Sand Village, one from the Land of Earth, and the rest are unclear."
Shikamaru's brow twitched.
"At least six Jonin squads—that's enough for a fight."
Tianzang also returned from the other side, with some tiny grass seeds hanging on the hem of his clothes.
"There's a temporary rest stop over there in the crevice. Someone used earth magic to smooth it out; the ground is very clean, and even the loose stones have been pushed to the side. This isn't something a regular scout would do."
Chi Quan asked, "How long ago?"
"It's very close," Tianzang said. "Even after a whole day in the sun, the mark hasn't been completely smoothed out."
Shikamaru whispered, "They're still nearby."
After those words were spoken, none of the people spoke again.
A gust of wind passed between the group, causing a corner of the map spread out on the stone to curl slightly. The sky was already beginning to turn yellow; soon, the mountains would darken even faster than the forest. If the Allied Forces' Jonin squad truly intended to continue their advance tonight, then now was the time for them to rise from their hiding place and regroup.
Chi Quan spoke first.
"We can't just keep focusing on this."
Shikamaru slowly raised his eyes: "Where do you intend to stop them?"
Chi Quan's finger landed on the relatively narrow ridge opening behind the broken valley.
"here."
Ya glanced at it and immediately frowned.
"If a fight breaks out here, the front and back will be easily cut off."
"We're going to cut them off," Chi Quan said. "That's what they're thinking too. The Jonin elite team is going through mountains, they won't want to be exposed in open areas, they'll definitely choose the most suitable place to cut us to pieces. So we'll be in the place they most want to cut us down, and bite them first."
Shikamaru stared at the opening, his mind racing.
"That is, assuming they actually pass through here."
"Eighty percent chance," Chi Quan said. "After we finish exploring the Broken Valley, we'll continue pressing towards Konoha. This is the easiest spot to pass through. Going around to other places will either be slower or make us more likely to be exposed."
Tianzang looked up at the darkening sky.
"I can make a small modification to the stone surface in the latter half of the clamp. It won't be a big change, just something that makes it harder for them to exert force when they step on it."
"Don't make it too obvious," Chi Quan said. "There are people from the Land of Earth on the other side. They'll see it's been tampered with and won't leave."
"I know." Tianzang nodded. "We only focus on the feel of the feet, not the shape."
Ya patted Akamaru.
"Akamaru and I have planted a seed in the market. As long as they actually come down, we'll be able to take over the first flavor."
Shikamaru looked at Ikezumi.
"And what about you?"
Chi Quan placed the knife beside his leg, pressed his palm on the hilt, and made a very flat sound.
"I stood at the very front of them."
Shikamaru stared at him for a couple of breaths, but surprisingly didn't say, "Are you crazy?"
He simply said slowly, "Then I'll take the second bite, and wait for you to make the first cut."
As it was getting dark, the group divided up their seats.
Kiba and Akamaru lay prone behind a patch of broken wood and rubble further below the narrow passage. Tenzo hid in the shadow of a rock wall a little further back, his fingers pressed to the ground, ready to shift the terrain at any moment. Shikamaru lay on the back of a protruding gray rock, his shadow almost blending into the rock face in the twilight. Ikezumi was further ahead, almost daringly so, standing on the edge of the narrowest section of rock before the passage, with a waist-high crevice behind him and the mountain path ahead that would gradually swallow him up in the night.
Night fell, faster than I expected.
There were no village fires or camplights in the mountains; once it got dark, it was pure darkness. Only a faint sliver of blue remained on the horizon, which slowly faded away. The wind was even colder at night, seeping in through the cracks in the rocks, making clothes stick to the body, and all you could hear was a constant, soft whistling sound.
Time moved as slowly as if it were being held back.
Chi Quan crouched behind the crevice, his hand never leaving the hilt of his sword. He didn't close his eyes, nor did he deliberately listen for any distant sounds.
He stared intently at the stone strip ahead that would be swallowed up little by little by the night, waiting for the first thing that didn't belong to the wind and the mountain to emerge from the darkness.
After an unknown amount of time, a very soft, low guttural sound suddenly came from the other side of the tooth.
It's not a warning; it's more like an announcement that someone is coming.
Chi Quan's fingers slowly tightened.
The next instant, Shikamaru's voice came like a wisp of air that almost brushed against the stone.
"Seven."
The pond remained still.
"Two in the front and five in the back?" He also kept his voice very low.
"Pretty much. The first two are the lightest, like scouts and sentries. The middle three are stable, and the last two are heavier, probably carrying something." Shikamaru paused for a moment, then added, "That's right, we're heading straight here."
The wind is still blowing.
But in that wind, something that didn't belong to the rocks had begun to appear. Extremely light footsteps, the almost silent friction of clothing, and a certain fluctuation of chakra that was deliberately suppressed but still revealed a little.
The first figure finally emerged from the darkness.
He was tall, moved very lightly, and walked at the front, but unlike a scout who constantly scans the surroundings, he seemed more certain that this route was passable, so he focused more on "whether someone was waiting ahead." A row of thin, elongated objects hung from his shoulder; their color was indistinguishable in the night, only occasionally revealing a faint, cold glint. The wind carried a scent of medicinal oil and metal from him—fine, cold, like a freshly sharpened blade.
Shikamaru muttered a curse almost silently from behind.
"Truly a wind priest."
The second figure was shorter than him and moved even faster, as if he could vanish from the spot at any moment. The following figures each had a different rhythm, yet none of them were chaotic. Seven people, seven different ways of walking, but when they landed on the mountain path, it was as if they were taking a series of steps that had been calculated in advance.
Chi Quan still hasn't made a move.
He is waiting.
Wait until the other party actually steps into the three narrowest, most difficult-to-open gaps.
The Wind Priest has finally taken the first step.
The second step.
third step.
Chi Quan drew his sword.
There was no extra sound at that moment.
Only a cold light flashed out from the shadow of the cracked rock, too fast, as fast as a mountain wind suddenly growing a blade. The Wind Priest noticed it almost the instant the pool moved. Instead of retreating, he flicked his wrist, and the row of thin blades on his shoulder "whooshed" open, like countless thin wind threads hidden in a fan, swirling up to meet the edge of the pool's blade.
The sound of metal clashing exploded extremely loudly in the narrow opening.
"Clang!"
A spark flew away in an instant, illuminating half of their faces.
The Wind Priest clearly hadn't expected anyone to dare confront him directly in this place, and the coldness in his eyes instantly deepened. He flicked his wrist, and several thin blades slashed along the blade towards Chi Quan's hand at a viciously sharp angle. Chi Quan, however, didn't give him a second chance to unleash his full power. He pressed down with the blade, sidestepped, and his knee slammed into the opponent's side, using the narrowness of the stone belt that prevented him from turning around to force the man back half a step.
Just this half step.
Shikamaru's shadow has arrived.
"Shadow Stitch!"
The black shadows seemed to sprout thorns from the stone, instantly piercing towards the Wind Priest's feet. The second Lightning Ninja reacted swiftly, raising his arm and unleashing a bolt of lightning along his short blade, attempting to cut the shadow line in front. But Tenzo's hand pressed down on the ground even earlier.
"Earth Release·Splitting Ridge!"
Suddenly, a narrow crack appeared on the seemingly stable stone surface on the right side of the gap. It wasn't big, but it was just enough to make the lightning ninja stumble. The lightning bolt slanted an inch, failing to hit Shikamaru's most crucial shadow line, only grazing the edge and leaving a series of scorch marks on the stone surface.
Akamaru then pounced up from downwind.
"Akamaru!"
With Kiba and Akamaru positioned one above and one below, the two shadows bit into the back row, their target not being the strongest forward, but rather trying to completely suppress the others outside the gap, preventing them from all rushing in at once.
The night in the mountains suddenly descended into chaos.
Narrow passage, stone belt, wind, shadow, thunder, lightning, and rubble—all exploded into one in that instant.
The Wind Priest didn't panic despite being blocked. He twisted his waist, sliding away as if boneless, following the force of Chi Quan's earlier thrust, avoiding the most fatal half-inch. At the same time, two shorter, thinner blades emerged from his sleeve, aiming straight for Chi Quan's neck and ribs.
Without even glancing, Chi Quan swung his blade horizontally, first knocking aside the one at the side of the neck, then his left-hand short blade struck first, intercepting the cold glint coming down from the ribs. In the instant the two short, thin blades were knocked away, Chi Quan finally saw his opponent's face clearly.
Thin, tall, with deep-set eyes and a barely perceptible smile. It wasn't the coldness of Helian, a coldness masking suppressed anger, but rather a coldness more like the blade itself, devoid of emotion.
"The pond in Konoha?" the Wind Priest suddenly asked.
The voice was hoarser than I had imagined, like the wind blowing through the sand.
Chi Quan continued wielding his knife, but instead asked, "You know me?"
"Helian mentioned it." As the Wind Priest said this, the thin blade had already climbed up the short blade on Chi Quan's left hand, trying to cut open his wrist. "He said you like to use your knife when others think you are at your most secure."
Chi Quan's lips twitched slightly.
He didn't tell the whole story.
"Oh?"
"I also like to cut off someone's hand first when they think they're the most skilled with a knife."
As soon as he finished speaking, Chi Quan suddenly lowered his shoulders, his entire body looming low. His longsword flashed like moonlight skimming across the stone surface, its angle far more ruthless than anything one would normally use in close combat in the mountains. For the first time, the Wind Priest's expression truly changed. He sheathed his slender blade, and using his back foot as a springboard, he didn't leap backward, but instead flipped upward, using the side wall of the gap as leverage to jump.
But this place is too narrow.
He can leap high, but the people behind him may not have that much space.
Tianzang was just waiting for this moment.
"Wood Release: Wooden Spikes!"
Two extremely short, hard wooden spikes suddenly emerged from the cracks in the side wall, not to kill, but to create a second landing point for the Wind Priest to use as leverage. The Wind Priest's eyes flashed with anger in mid-air, and he forcefully twisted his body, but a line of blood still appeared on his shoulder where a wooden spike grazed him.
As soon as the smell of blood appeared, Akamaru screamed even louder, and his teeth swung out three kunai through the gap, aiming at the earth ninja in the back row who was preparing to form hand seals.
"Don't let him detonate it!" Ya roared.
Shikamaru no longer needed his reminder.
"Shadow Head Bind!"
The shadowy figure suddenly swung backward, directly wrapping around the earth ninja's wrist. The opponent reacted quickly, slapping the ground with his other hand, trying to break the shadow with an earthen wall, but the shadow beneath his feet had already wrapped around half of his calf, slowing down his hand seals by half a beat.
In that split second, the situation in front of Chiquan changed.
When the Wind Priest landed back in the stone belt, he no longer treated the pool spring as an ordinary interceptor. He spread out his slender blades, like a coil of breathing, cold snakes around his side, but his movements became even more steady and slower.
"You want to nail us here to death."
Chi Quan pointed the tip of his knife diagonally to the ground, his breathing steady.
"Isn't that what you all think too?"
There was no smile in the Wind Priest's eyes, but the corner of his mouth twitched very slightly.
"Then let's see who dies first."
The two moved at the same time.
This time it wasn't a test; it was a real, close-range attack.
The Wind Priest's fine blade doesn't rely on "heavy" strikes, but on "dense" ones. In an instant, it's as if every angle that could pass through the blade has been shattered—throat, eye, wrist, knee, ribs, even the base of the thumb, where the grip is most likely to loosen, are all within his blade's edge.
But Chi Quan refused to back down. His sword was long, which should have put him at a disadvantage in such a narrow passage, but he used it to his advantage, making his attacks even more direct and ruthless—each strike was not aimed at winning, but at forcing his opponent to change his next move.
"Left side!" Shikamaru suddenly shouted.
Chi Quan almost instinctively shifted his shoulder.
A bolt of lightning that was originally heading for his lower back grazed past his clothes and struck the edge of the stone belt, sending pebbles tumbling down. It was the lightning ninja in the back row who had finally managed to free his hand to provide support. Just as Izumi dodged, Kiba pounced from below and side, kicking half of his opponent's body over.
"Where are you looking!"
Akamaru bit the man's forearm and dragged him down with all his might. The Raikage cursed and unleashed a burst of chakra, sending Akamaru flying back half a step, his teeth chattering and his arm going numb. But Tenzo was right behind him, wooden vines sprouting from under the rubble, wrapping around the man's ankles and constricting him upwards as if they were alive.
"You guys in Konoha, before that man could finish speaking, a kunai had already pierced through the seam of his shoulder armor from the side. Even without turning around, Izumi knew that Shikamaru had patched it up."
The Allied forces in the rear ranks outside the pass finally panicked.
"Spread out! Don't all block the way—"
'
Before the shout could be finished, a short whistle from higher up the ridge suddenly rang out, signaled by Byakugan. It wasn't very close, but it was enough to let everyone know in an instant—Konoha had more than just these few people; there were more Eyes in the distance.
The Wind Priest's gaze finally turned completely somber.
He initially thought he had simply run into a patrol team, but now, this sound meant that the other side had laid the trap beforehand. And not only that, they had also blocked off the high ground for observation.
"You knew we would come." He stared at Chi Quan.
Chi Quan's blade pressed down on one of his thin blades, sparks flying between the two of them.
"Just a guess."
"You guessed right."
"It's easy to guess the path you chose."
The Wind Priest suddenly fell silent.
The next moment, his aura suddenly changed, and all the scattered blades suddenly converged back like the receding tide, forming a more ruthless and shorter sudden cut. The target was not the pool, but the narrow stone strip at the foot of the pool.
"Retreat!" Shikamaru shouted almost immediately.
Chi Quan has retired.
The thin blade sliced into the stone surface, accompanied by a teeth-grinding scraping sound, and scraped away a thin layer of stone. The edge of the stone band cracked with a "crack," and a small corner collapsed. Taking advantage of the opening created by this strike, the Wind Priest retreated rapidly, shouting coldly, "Second row forward, third row back! Don't get entangled with them!"