The Road to the Throne of White Eyes

Chapter 167: Watching with cold eyes

"Are we just going to keep watching?"

On the outskirts of where Shikamaru and his friends were fighting with Kimimaro, a group of mysterious people wearing animal masks and some Sarutobi clan ninjas were lurking in the trees, staring at them hungrily.

Shikamaru's guess was correct, someone was indeed following them all the way.

It's just that Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba's detection methods can't detect them. The Root and Anbu's anti-tracking detection methods were honed on other ninja villages.

What's more, there were also ninjas from the Aburame and Inuzuka families present, and they were very skilled in how to deceive the parasites and eliminate their own scent.

“This is not our battlefield. Lord Danzo’s orders are to track the enemy, gather information on the remaining Uchiha, and destroy them on the spot if they appear.

As for these enemies, let these ninjas deal with them themselves."

The Root ninja leading the team had an indifferent look on his face, not caring at all that the ninjas from the same village were in danger.

"Well, we've been waiting for a while, and no new enemies have appeared. Our investigations haven't revealed anything either, so it's time to continue the pursuit.

If we wait any longer, we'll lose contact with the Anbu members we were tracking."

The leader of the Anbu also nodded in agreement. Their main target today was the remnants of the Uchiha clan. The lives of a few Konoha's Chuunin and Genin were not within their consideration.

"Wait, we can't just leave like this. The enemy before us keeps pestering Orochimaru, so he must be one of Orochimaru's men. He's also the one who caused the turmoil in Konoha. If it weren't for the Konoha collapse plan he initiated, we wouldn't have suffered such a huge loss!"

A voice of opposition suddenly arose from the Sarutobi family.

The Root leader frowned, "Sarutobi Madara, what do you mean by this!"

Sarutobi Madara looked righteous and awe-inspiring, "What I mean is, we can give chase, but we can't let this lackey of Orochimaru go. We need an explanation for the villagers and tribesmen who died because of Orochimaru!"

In fact, Sarutobi Madara was unwilling to continue the pursuit, and he was opposed to this action.

After Sarutobi Hiruzen became Hokage, the Sarutobi clan's power increased significantly. With Hiruzen himself being a true Kage, there was no second opinion within the Sarutobi clan. He even wanted to pass on both the clan leader and the Hokage position to his son, and the Sarutobi clan members were happy to see it happen.

However, due to Sarutobi Hiruzen's influence over the years, the family's strength has been greatly damaged, and more than a thousand members of the family have died tragically. Now that Sarutobi Hiruzen has lost his position as Hokage, his own strength has also declined significantly, and he no longer has the power to suppress the entire family.

Recently, various ideas have begun to emerge within the Sarutobi Clan. As one of the clan's most powerful warriors, Madara Sarutobi naturally harbors ambitions to become clan leader. Rescuing and befriending the heirs of the Ino, Shika, and Chou families is his first step toward overthrowing the Sarutobi Hiruzen Clan's hegemony!

Sarutobi Madara's will was very firm. Even though the leaders of the Root and Anbu repeatedly persuaded and emphasized the intentions of Shimura Danzo and Sarutobi Hiruzen, he remained unmoved. In the end, the Root and Anbu had to leave first to track down Uchiha Sasuke.

Kimimaro was already very powerful, and to live up to Orochimaru's expectations, he forcibly activated the curse seal, further increasing his strength. Nara Shikamaru and his companions, despite outnumbering him, were limited in their efforts.

The physical attacks had no effect at all, the ninjutsu attacks were all dodged, and they didn't know how to use illusion techniques. Shikamaru and the others were all injured and fell into a disadvantage.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, what a strange and terrifying blood limit!"

Sarutobi Madara watched the battle in the field with admiration. He planned to wait until the heirs of the Ino, Shika, and Chou families were in danger before rescuing them. It would be best if their lives were in danger, so that he could gain favors from the three families at once.

"Are we just going to keep watching?"

Further out on the battlefield, a Konoha ninja wearing green sunglasses and a blue tight combat uniform looked at Baiyun Yeshan and asked.

They were chasing after Shikamaru Nara and his group, but they did not show up because of the order of the Hokage.

"Yamashiro Aoba, don't worry. These young ninjas are quite powerful. Although they look a little embarrassed, they are not in too much danger for the time being."

Baiyun Yeshan comforted Shancheng Qingye and asked, "Did you find anything when I asked you to explore the surrounding area?"

Yamashiro Aoba regained his composure. "I just summoned my crow companion to check around, and I also carefully explored the surroundings myself. There are indeed traces of other people nearby, and there are quite a few of them."

In order to hide myself, I couldn't get any closer. But my crows brought back a few insect corpses, and some of them even sent back a few images, among which there were images of a large number of Root or Anbu, and some of them should be ninjas from the Sarutobi family!

Now they seem to have split up, with the ninjas wearing animal masks bypassing the battlefield and continuing their pursuit, while most of the Sarutobi clan members stayed behind."

Despite his calm voice, Yamashiro Aoba's emotions were very complicated. When the Hokage needed help, both the Root and the Anbu claimed they were short-handed, yet a large number of combat forces were quietly assembled here. The deep meaning behind this was very intriguing.

"Well, just as Hokage-sama predicted, this matter is very complicated."

Baiyun Yeshan's eyes never left Nara Shikamaru and the others. After listening to what Yamashiro Aoba said, he nodded.

"Aoba, you go around the battlefield and continue tracking down Uchiha Sasuke and anyone who appears along the way. I will stay here and continue to observe the battle. Once I am sure these children are no longer in danger, I will continue to catch up."

Although he could not match the cold-bloodedness of the Root and Anbu ninjas, Baiyun Yeshan could not ignore the tragic deaths of his fellow village ninjas and wanted to do his best to save the lives of Shikamaru and the others.

whirring whirring

Shikamaru and the others were panting heavily, and each of them had several bloody wounds on their bodies.

Only Ino was slightly better. Since the family secret technique didn't work, she used ninja tools on the periphery and was never approached by the enemy.

Nara Shikamaru frowned as he looked at the enemy. The battle had only lasted for a minute or two, and everyone had faced death several times. How could he delay it any further?

This enemy's movements were direct and light, his defense was extremely strong, his instincts were like a beast, and his bone spurs were extremely sharp. Facing such an enemy, Shikamaru felt a little powerless. It was the first time he realized that his brain was not enough.

Everyone's attacks have no real effect, so we can only use continuous round-robin battles to consume the enemy's physical strength and chakra, and maybe there is still a chance of winning.

However, although the enemy looked sick and about to die, his body was as strong as an arrow. He broke through their blockade several times and chased Naruto and the others.

"Yo, everyone in Konoha looks a bit disheveled."

Suddenly, Kankuro's teasing voice was heard from the outskirts of the battlefield.

"Sand Ninja, why are you here?!"

Shikamaru caught a glimpse of the person coming out of the corner of his eye and was startled.

"Don't worry, your Hokage Tsunade-sama has entrusted us to come for support," Gaara explained kindly.

Seeing that someone was coming to support him, Baiyun Yeshan breathed a sigh of relief. He stood up and walked around the battlefield to continue tracking.

"Let's go, reinforcements are here, we can continue the pursuit without worry."