Firewood burned, making a crackling sound. Ren sat cross-legged by the fire, eating some dry food, drinking some water to rehydrate, and then started closing his eyes and resting.
Suddenly, a gray-black, finger-long little mouse abruptly appeared in front of everyone and made a squeaking sound.
"Ah! What is this?" With a scream, Sunflower was startled, jumping up from the ground suddenly, her body subconsciously hiding in Ren's direction.
Seaisland was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously took out a kunai from his ninja bag and threw it in the direction of the mouse. However, to his surprise, his kunai skills had always been accurate, but were actually avoided by that little mouse very flexibly?
"Don't be afraid." Ren held her shoulders, helping her stabilize her figure, then explained: "This is my mechanical mouse. It's not a real mouse; it probes for me."
"Sunflower, as Anbu ninjas, we must remain calm and keep a clear head in any crisis situation."
"Yes, I'm sorry, I'm naturally afraid of mice," Sunflower murmured in a low voice, pulling the corner of Ren's clothes coquettishly. "I'm sorry, Captain, I won't be so panicked next time." After she heard that it was not a real mouse, her emotions stabilized.
Ren smiled silently. After all, she was just a little girl. Ninjas who could be selected to become official members of Anbu were generally baptized with blood, and they had taken human lives. But who would have thought that the little girl Sunflower was not afraid of killing people, but was naturally afraid of mice?
"Mechanical mouse? Captain, what is this for?" Sunflower picked up the gray-black little mouse and held it in her palm, looking at it carefully from left to right, her eyes full of curiosity.
Ren said in a very flat tone: "It's used to detect information. Those people have already caught up."
"Impossible!" Moth suddenly stood up from the ground, shook her head firmly and retorted, "If someone approaches us, my bugs will definitely detect it as soon as possible! But now that there is no feedback to me, it means that there are no enemies nearby at all!"
Seaisland also gave a low shout for the first time, "Byakugan, open!" The blood vessels at his temple bulged, and his eyesight suddenly increased several times. All the conditions within a kilometer radius fell into his line of sight.
"Captain, there is really no sign of anyone else's chakra around, and my Byakugan hasn't detected any anomalies..." Seaisland asked in a somewhat uncertain tone, "Captain...it won't be your mechanical mouse probe that's wrong..."
In the face of their doubts, Ren just smiled faintly, and then asked back: "When did I say they were around us?"
"What???" Everyone was stunned, not knowing what he meant by that. Even Tsunade looked up curiously.
At this time, Ren slowly said: "There are a lot of them, and they are lying in ambush five kilometers ahead of us."
"I know, it's Flying Stone Pass!" The spy who had been ambushed in the Land of Hot Water before Konoha was suddenly startled. No one knew the terrain better than him; he exclaimed, "That is the only way for us to return to Konoha from the Land of Hot Water. They must be there waiting to ambush us!"
Ren smiled and nodded.
Both Seaisland and Moth were stunned for a moment. With a look of disbelief on their faces, they looked at Ren.
"But Captain, Flying Stone Pass is five kilometers away from here, how do you know..."
Suddenly, their tone weakened. Their voices stopped abruptly at this moment, because they suddenly thought of one thing — 'the mechanical mouse!'
'Is it the mechanical mouse that was shown in front of them just now? This thing can actually detect chakra within five kilometers?'
After learning about this connection, Seaisland and Moth, the two of them, suddenly felt a chill on their backs!
'Horrible, it's so scary!'
'It can detect chakra fluctuations within a range of five kilometers... What kind of existence is this to a perception ninja? I'm afraid... I'm afraid it's only in their family, only a ninja as powerful as the patriarch can have such a strong perception ability!'
Both of them were silent for a while. Their twelve-year-old captain... was much more terrifying than what they knew about him before!
"Let's go." Ren said to them indifferently. "Now that they are ready on our only path, we really have to meet them for a while."
"Otherwise, these guys... really thought we were soft persimmons to be manipulated by others!"
In the dark night, the team led by Ren was rushing fast. A trail of black shadows swept across the jungle, jumping between the thick branches, leaving an afterimage in the air.
"It's almost here, everyone get ready for battle." In the dark night, Ren whispered.
"Yes! Captain (Ren-sama)!" Several unanimous answers sounded in the air. Except for the accompanying Tsunade and Shizune, the remaining Konoha ninjas, including the few Konoha spies, were obedient to Ren's orders.
'I don't know when, the captain of the Anbu, Ren, gained absolute command dominance in this team.'
Although neither Tsunade nor Shizune said a word, they both silently prepared for battle.
Whoosh whoosh! !
Suddenly, several air-breaking sounds rang out in the air. Thousands of kunai were fired in the direction where Ren and the others were at the same time.
"Everyone be careful!" Seaisland shouted. Then he immediately assumed the posture of Eight Trigrams Palm, blocking the front of the team. "Eight Trigrams Palm: Revolving Heavens!"
Eight Trigrams Palm: Revolving Heavens is a high-level taijutsu secretly passed down by the Hyūga Clan. At the moment of being attacked, a large amount of Gentle Fist chakra is released from the chakra points in the body, and then it makes a circular rotation like a top, which can rebound all physical attacks. This secret technique of the Hyūga Clan, coupled with its own rotation and the strong observation of the Byakugan, to a certain extent, this move to Revolving Heavens is called "absolute defense."
Jingle Jingle!
Most of the kunai and shuriken attacks all collided with the semi-circular chakra shield formed by the move that Seaisland displayed. And the remaining small part of Kunai was also knocked down in mid-air by Ren and their hands.
A rain of kunai and shuriken swept down, but there wasn't even a single injured person on Ren's side. Attacks like kunai and shuriken, if it was a sneak attack when unprepared, might still have a chance to succeed against weaker people. But Ren and the others were already quite powerful. And having foreseen these ambushes long ago, this simple attack was simply not enough to pose a threat to them.
At this time, Seaisland's Byakugan had been opened, and even in the dark, his eyesight was several times stronger than that of ordinary people.
"This...this...why are there so many people?!" Seaisland suddenly exclaimed loudly.
"Seaisland, how many people are there? Hurry up and say it!" Sunflower urged impatiently.
"Yes... the other party has a total of 5 people with Jōnin strength! There are people with Special Jōnin strength, there are... 15 people in total! The rest of the people are also above the strength of Chūnin, there are about seventy or eighty people!"
"S-!"
Suddenly there was a sound of sucking cold air in the air. Hearing the situation reported by Seaisland, everyone present except Ren frowned for a moment.
'Five Jōnin, fifteen Special Jōnin... and seventy or eighty Chūnin!'
Such a number of ninjas... Is this an ordinary casino, the ninja strength that it can have? Although Seaisland and Moth were caught when they went to the casino before, the strength and number of ninjas exposed to them at that time were definitely not so terrifying!
Such fighting power has simply surpassed the military defense force of a small country!
At this moment, even Tsunade realized that Ren's previous cautiousness was not due to his cowardice or incompetence.
But the opponent they faced this time... was really not easy!