The once mighty Sed Hokage met his end alone, in this primitive forest, and even ih, he was at the mercy of others... In a way, being a ninja was a career that allowed for absolutely no mistakes throughout its entire span.

  After indulging in a moment of refle, Habara decided to retreat immediately. Judging by his looting teique, he clearly cked professionalism... He hadn't even ed up properly; a thh search might have yielded even more valuable items.

  As for the Treasured Tools of the Sage of Six Paths that Habara had acquired, he didn't particurly appreciate Kinkaku and Ginkaku's method of using them. Although that method of sealing enemies was very effective, it went against the fast-paced bat that ninjas favored.

  Of the four tools, Habara believed the truly useful ones were the Crimson Gourd, as a sealing tainer, and the Banana Palm Fan, which could unleash powerful attacks. The Golden opy Rope and the Seven-Star Sword, oher hand, weren't particurly practical in actual bat... In fact, when Kinkaku and Ginkaku sealed ehey often had to work together.

  Furthermore, Habara couldn't use any of the tools at this stage, because they were stolen goods... Using them outside would easily attract the pursuit of the Cloud Vilge, and inside Konoha, he couldn't expio Orochimaru.

  In short, it was time for Habara to get out of dodge. His arrival had been exceptionally smooth; he hoped his departure would be the same, going from victory to victory.

  Iy, Habara hadn't anticipated that Konoha and the Cloud would react so drastically, to the point of an immediate decration of all-out war. So, he was pletely unaware that both sides were furiously preparing, striving to, upon receiving the order to attack, smash the other side's brains out within half an hour.

  The rationality of both sides was like the sphincter before a bout of diarrhea – no matter how sciously you tried to trol it, it was ultimately difficult to resist the physiological urge.

  And in the moments before the "floodgates opened," there was the calm before the storm, so Habara's retreat proceeded smoothly.

  But this smoothness wouldn't st forever, because Habara was bound to enter enemies eventually.

  The Cloud Vilge's order to recall personnel had been issued in a great hurry. Not every squad on a mission could return in time, or rather, no one could guarahat every squad would receive the order in time.

  Right now, a four-man Cloud squad, which for various reasons had received the recall order very te, was retreating to this area. And naturally, they discovered a Konoha ninja moving alone.

  "Captain, it's a Konoha ninja... What do we do?"

  "A lone Konoha ninja? Pursue him. He might have some important intel."

  This four-man squad's captain was oroi, ae jonin of the Cloud. On paper, he was even strohan the Lightning Release user, "I," whom Habara had entered before.

  A lone ninja like Habara, retreating from deep withierritory, easily led to the clusion that he was valuable. Therefore, the Cloud squad pursued without a sed thought, w if the two things on his back were some kind of important items.

  Well, it could be said that the Cloud squad's judgment was mostly correct, because Habara was indeed carrying the Cloud's "family heirlooms." As for the things on Habara's back, if they wahem, they were wele to make their own.

  Habara, who was happily retreating, heard a noise behind him. He turned his head and suddenly discovered that he had four tails following him.

  "..."

  He started to suspect he'd just jinxed himself.

  Stay calm. Whether he fled or fought, he couldn't lose his posure.

  The good news was that Habara hadn't used much chakra so far; his "mana" was at over y pert. The bad news was that even at full mana, his chakra level was just so-so.

  If it were one-on-one, Habara could even stop and fight right now. But in a one-on-four situation, he really wasn't fident.

  In an instant, Habara made his decision. If he was forced to stop and fight, he had to elimihe stro enemy first.

  Habara moved at high speed through the trees, but the enemy was rapidly closing the distahen, Habara heard the sound of something cutting through the air behind him.

  g!

  He half-turned his body and used a kunai to deflect the ining shuriken. Of course, he wouldn't make any mistakes with such a simple block. However, at the very moment his kunai made tact with the shuriken, Habara keenly sensed a slight ge in his body.

  "Magization?"

  Then, a hail of shuriken rained down on Habara from behind. No matter how he ged dire, the shuriken followed him relentlessly... These were trag shuriken.

  The one pursuing Habara, Toroi, was a Mag Release ninja from the Cloud, but Habara didn't reize him at first. He couldn't remember every single character from the inal series, and weren't Mag Release users usually minor characters?

  Thud, thud, thud!

  The shuriken caught up, and the successive hits instantly threw Habara off ban mid-air!

  At the same time, another enemy, fshing with lightning, suddenly appeared beside Habara as if telep, and kicked him towards the ground.

  Below was inally soft, damp forest floor, but at some point, sharp earth spikes had risen there!

  Habara threw out a steel wire with one hand, ing it around a nearby tree and forcefully ging his dire, trying to escape that area. However, just as he turned, he was met with a rge ball e-red fire!

  Mag Release, Lightning Release, Earth Release, Fire Release – the enemy's attacks came like a storm, smashing down otlefield rookie, Habara.

  Habara emerged from the Fire Release teique looking disheveled. He didn't seem to have any obvious burns on his body, but the scorg fmes had nearly scorched his lungs just now. However, he still appeared very calm, because he khat if he lost his posure, he was dead.

  Now was not the time to terattack. He couldn't terattack yet.

  Habara clutched his side with his left hand, pretending to be injured, and without even looking at the enemy, turned and tio flee.

  More shurikeowards him.

  By now, the battle-hardened enemy had seen through Habara's true skill level. There was no issue of disguise, because Habara was a rookie, so the enemy's as became even mgressive.

  The Mag Release ninja appeared behind Habara.

  Habara stumbled, seeming about to fall to the ground. But in the process of his forward lunge, a sudden ge occurred! He quickly flipped his body, turning from fag down to fag up. Thus, the Cloud ninja's figure was clearly reflected in his eyes.

  A silver ball had already been flung out from his wrist, and this object approached the enemy at aremely high speed. Then, it burst open like fireworks, spectacurly!

  From the silver ball as the ter point, tless mi-sized, shimmering, chilling threads shot out. They pierced the surrounding trees, earth, and rocks.

  In an instant, the mercury ball, inally the size of an egg, had bee a small nexus.

  The Cloud's Mag Release ninja was at the ter of this special metal . Unless he could use the Flying Thunder God Teique, he couldn't escape this attack range.

  His body ierced by the dehreads. Then, due to the iia of his forward-moving body, as he moved forward, those threads, sharper and tougher than any bde, easily sliced through his body.

  His right half shattered on the ground, while his left half was left hanging.

  tless densed water droplets and tiny blood droplets hung on the mercury threads, collectively scattering the shimmering light of the forest. It was so beautiful that it didn't look like a on, but more like...

  A mercury mp.

  Secret Teique: Mercury Lamp. This was one of the sources of Habara's fiden returning to the battlefield.

  Although he was a rookie, he had already grasped the essence of ninja bat: being insidious, ambushing, and killing with a sirike.