Naruto: I have an attribute panel

Chapter 233 Chrysanthemums wither, wounds cover the ground

Chapter 233 Chrysanthemums Withered, Wounds Everywhere (First Update, Requesting Monthly Tickets)

As Taiichi led his team back to Konoha Village, in the far easternmost part of the Land of Wind, in the vast ocean far from the coastline, a huge ship was sailing on the sea.

On the deck, groups of two or three people gathered together, some playing cards, some competing, and some even lying on the hanging net, looking up at the sky, looking so bored.

Everywhere you look, everyone is trying to find ways to pass the time in this monotonous routine.

This group of people were none other than the hundred Cloud Village ninja from the Land of Lightning. After a month-long voyage, they had lost the high spirits they had when they first arrived. The journey at sea was simply too boring, and every day when they woke up, they were faced with the vast and boundless ocean.

Even though they were quite disciplined ninjas, after a month of this, they still had to find some fun to relax.

On this day, in the air where there was only the sound of the waves, a clear ringing of a bell suddenly came from the highest observation deck, followed by a shout full of surprise that echoed throughout the deck.

"Land! I see land! We've reached our target!"

After a brief period of calm, the entire deck immediately became lively. Those playing cards threw down their cards, those fighting immediately stopped, and those lying in hammocks simply rolled off. Everyone ran to the front of the ship, gazing into the distance in the direction of the voyage.

Gradually, a white line appeared on the horizon, and everyone on the deck cheered.

Finally—this damn journey is finally coming to an end. They would rather undergo the village's most rigorous training than endure such a long boat ride again; it was just too painful!

At that moment, a commotion arose on the outskirts of the crowd.

"Make way, make way quickly, Lord Ai and Lord Killer Bee are here."

The crowd spontaneously dispersed to both sides, and two strong young ninjas stepped forward.

As Ai gazed at the land that appeared on the distant horizon, a burning desire also flashed in his eyes. But unlike the other Cloud Ninja who felt the joy of liberation, he was overjoyed because he could finally begin his mission to reclaim supplies for the village.

"How much longer until we reach land?" Ai asked calmly to the person beside her.

"We should be able to reach land in about 5 hours," the man replied confidently after gesturing and calculating.

Ai nodded gently and pointed to the scattered islands in the distance, saying, "Don't land directly when we get close. Find an island to hide the boat, and we'll wade across for the rest of the journey."

"Yes, Lord Ai!"

"You—" A turned to face all the ninjas and loudly ordered, "Go back and check your combat equipment. We need to be in battle as soon as we land; we don't have time to waste!"

The crowd dispersed in a flurry, running joyfully towards the cabin. They had had enough of being on the ship and couldn't wait to ride the water to the Land of Wind.

For a moment, only Ai and Killer Bee remained on the deck.

"Big Brother has reached the shore, what should we do? Should we act immediately, or explore further?" Killer Bee gestured with his hands in front of his chest, asking Ai in a strange rap style.

Ai glanced helplessly at her younger brother, speechless at his hobby. There was nothing she could do; he wouldn't listen to her anyway, so she could only put up with it. Fortunately, this hobby didn't affect the execution of the mission, otherwise she would have insisted on getting Bi to change this habit.

"Once we land and confirm our location, we will act immediately. Our goal is to catch the Sand Village off guard, use our high mobility to maneuver against them, and intelligence ninjas will naturally come to meet us later. All of this has been arranged in advance."

"I see, those bastards from Sunagakure are only good for running around aimlessly. As soon as Killer Bee arrives, they scatter in all directions!"

""

Listening to Killer Bee's incessant chatter, Ai gazed into the distance. Sunagakure was currently engaged in a fierce battle with Konoha on the front lines, and this was precisely when their ranks were at their weakest. She was certain that her operation would achieve unprecedented success.

Time flew by, and it was already afternoon. The Yunren had hidden their ship in the inner bay of an island. The place was calm and secluded, with no trace of human activity, making it an excellent hiding spot.

The only drawback is that it's too far from the shore. Even with a ninja's speed, it would probably take another half an hour to get to the shore by wading through the water.

On the shore of the small island, all the Cloud Ninja were gathered, listening intently to Ai's battle orders from the middle of the group.

Ai unfolded a simple map and pointed to one spot, saying, "This is where we'll land later. There are four Sunagakure outposts around this stretch of coastline. Once we land, we'll split into two teams. One team, led by me, will head north to clear out the two outposts, and the other team, led by Killer Bee, will head south to clear out the other two. After that, we'll meet up here!"

Ai looked at everyone, his tone serious, "Remember, fight with all your might, and be quick. After clearing these two outposts, regroup immediately. We need to outrun the Sand Village. Only by outmaneuvering them can we gain more and be safer!"

"Yes, Lord Ai!"

Ai retrieved the map, straightened up, looked at the land ahead, waved his hand, and shouted, "Let's go!"

He immediately took the lead and ran at the very front of the group, followed closely by Killer Bee, and then 100 Cloud Village ninja.

The group of over a hundred people raced across the sea and reached land in just half an hour. They then split into two groups, led by Ai and Killer Bee, and headed towards the Sunagakure outpost.

How many people are there at this outpost? At most, three or four squads, not even 20 people. If there is even one Jonin among them, that would be considered top-tier. How could they possibly withstand the attack of the Hidden Cloud Village?

The four Sand Village outposts were wiped out silently by two teams of Cloud Ninja before they could even send out warning signals.

When the two teams of Cloud Ninja reunited, they were all in high spirits and unharmed, having released all the pent-up frustration they had accumulated over the past month of being confined to the sea vessel.

"Big brother, big brother, big brother, that was awesome, awesome, awesome! I wiped out all those trash from Sunagakure!" Killer Bee danced around, jumping left and right, looking extremely excited.

Ai didn't seem to mind at all, because he felt the same way.

"Let's go, head west quickly. There's a Sand Village mine 100 kilometers from here. Let's raid it!"

Without further ado, Ai issued the order. The entire team immediately broke into smaller groups and dispersed to the surrounding areas, advancing rapidly westward.

Three hours after the Cloud Village ninja left, that evening, the Eastern Camp headquarters of the Sand Village finally realized something was wrong. Four adjacent outposts had not reported any news to this day.

If it were just one outpost, then something might have caused the delay. But if none of the four adjacent outposts sent back any information, then there must be a problem.

The commander of the Eastern Front, Yekura, the Scorching Release expert, immediately issued an alert and dispatched four teams of scout ninjas to gather intelligence in those areas.

However, until this point, Yekura did not realize the seriousness of the matter. In her mind, this raid was likely another provocation by Kirigakure. She had thought that Kirigakure had been behaving itself recently, but she did not expect that the provocation would happen again after only a few days.

Yekura felt annoyed that just two days ago, the village had transferred 300 ninjas away under the pretext of supporting the front against Konoha.

Not letting her participate in the battle against Konoha is one thing; Pakura isn't ungrateful and naturally knows the village is consolidating the Fourth Kazekage Rasa's authority. But sending her to the eastern front while constantly drawing away personnel is a bit excessive.

Her eastern front wasn't exactly peaceful either; if her forces were even slightly weakened, she'd face provocations from Kirigakure. But this time, Kirigakure's reaction was incredibly swift; their forces had barely been redeployed when they attacked. It was unclear how they'd obtained the information.

Yekura frowned as she pondered the situation within the Land of Wind. The great battle with Konoha had severely weakened Sunagakure.

The number of ninjas in Sunagakure was already the lowest among the five great nations. This year, in three large-scale battles, Sunagakure was defeated twice by Konoha and ambushed once by Iwagakure, resulting in heavy losses. These three defeats combined accounted for one-fifth of Sunagakure's current ninja population.

This is no longer just a minor injury, but a serious injury. The number of Sunagakure ninjas is now only enough to maintain a defensive posture. If they want to launch another attack, they will have no more manpower unless they disregard the fate of the village.

As I pondered, two hours had quietly passed.

A series of hurried footsteps approached, followed by a panicked report: "Sir, something terrible has happened!"

Ye Cang frowned, clearly displeased. "I'm perfectly fine. What's the rush? It's just a sneak attack by Kirigakure. It's not like it's the first time. Why are you making such a fuss?"

The ninja who came to report was already kneeling on one knee in front of Yecang, panting heavily. He had obviously run all the way here without even having a chance to rest.

"M--Master, it's not Kirigakure!"

"What? It's not Kirigakure? Could it be Konoha? They circled around and launched their attack from here. It doesn't make any sense!" Yecang exclaimed in surprise, his aura unconsciously radiating outwards, suppressing the messenger ninja so much that he couldn't speak.

When she realized something was wrong, she quickly withdrew her aura and looked at the messenger ninja, saying, "Tell me everything you've discovered at once."

"We've investigated four outposts, but all indications suggest that the attackers are Cloud Village ninjas, and in large numbers—preliminary estimates suggest over 50!"

"Cloud Ninja? How could this be? Have they gone mad?" Yecang never expected that it was Cloud Ninja attacking them. This was even more unbelievable than if the attackers were Konoha Ninja.

But in an instant, he realized that no matter how they attacked, it was a fact. As long as it wasn't Kirigakure, things were in serious trouble. Kirigakure's attack was only small-scale, operating only near the coast, so it wasn't a concern for Sunagakure.

However, the other ninja villages are different. They traveled all the way to the east coast of the Land of Wind to land and launch a surprise attack, and their intentions were certainly not just simple harassment.

These thoughts flashed through Yekura's mind in an instant. She immediately realized the seriousness of the situation and promptly ordered her staff officer, "Arrange for all surrounding outposts to be notified to strengthen their defenses. If anything unusual happens, send out a distress signal immediately. Release the communication hawk to tell the village that we have received a report of a surprise attack from Kumogakure, and their current whereabouts are unknown."

After all the orders were given, she turned to the ninja who had reported the findings and said, "Tell me all the details of your investigation. Remember, don't miss any clues."

"Yes."

What follows is a detailed description of the investigation process. In fact, given such a huge difference in strength, it would be quite easy for the Cloud Ninja to conceal their identities; it would just require more time and effort.

However, firstly, Ai had no intention of concealing his identity, and secondly, he needed to seize the time. In their plan, time was money, and they needed to be one step ahead of Sunagakure at all times in order to gain the greatest benefit.

Therefore, their attack was naturally more elaborate, and they used their most proficient techniques. The traces left at the scene clearly indicated that the attackers were ninjas from Kumogakure.

While Yekura was still listening to the reports from the scout ninja, the Cloud Village's raiding party was not idle. They traveled 100 kilometers overnight and seized the mine before dawn.

Thunder and lightning intertwined, and under the attack of hundreds of elite Cloud Hidden warriors, the mine, which already had little defense, was wiped out in an instant.

"Look, big brother, those Sand Village bastards, such rich mines are everywhere." Killer Bee grabbed a large piece of emerald green metal ore in one hand and swayed it in front of A while performing his peculiar dance.

Ai grabbed a piece of ore and examined it carefully. This was one of the types of ore monopolized by the Sand Village. On the market, a kilogram of such rich ore would sell for 1000 taels. And this was just ore, not yet refined into metal. One can imagine how high the price of this metal was.

Sunagakure used these monopolistic mineral trades to extort money from Kumogakure, earning a huge amount of wealth from them every year. It was this long-term unfair trade that prompted the Third Raikage to decide to give Sunagakure a hard time, partly to vent his anger and partly to make a big profit.

"Quickly, clear out all the inventory and seal all the high-value ores into the sealing rolls. We only have 30 minutes. Once the time is up, evacuate immediately."

Ai shouted orders to all the Cloud Ninja, and they immediately scattered to search for the most valuable minerals in the area.

The Hidden Cloud Village was well-prepared for this operation, with each ninja carrying a large number of sealed scrolls, all for the purpose of seizing the spoils of war. All ninjas were also informed that they would receive 30% of their respective spoils as a reward for the mission.

Therefore, every Cloud Village ninja is now incredibly frenzied, recklessly plundering every inch of this land, determined to extract every last bit of value from it.

Half an hour passed quickly, and a sharp whistling sound pierced the night sky. The scattered Cloud Ninjas quickly regrouped. They were frantic when scattered, but decisive when gathered, without the slightest hesitation because of those high-value minerals.

A minute later, all the Cloud Ninja regrouped. Ai looked at everyone's joyful faces and felt equally happy.

Indeed, no one gets rich without windfall gains, and no horse gets fat without night grazing; robbery is the fastest way to get rich.

"Let's go to our next destination, which is about 150 kilometers away. We can only rest for three hours on the way, so we need to hurry."

With a cheer, the crowd followed closely behind Ai, running wildly into the distance.