Walking a few steps, Iwamine Yako turned to look at the blind old man following her.
"You're coming too?"
The blind old man's full name was unknown. It seemed his name had a character meaning "city" in it, so he was called City Blindman.
"Of course I am."
City Blindman tapped his eyes. "My eyes are blind, but my ears still work. You need a sensory ninja."
He was indeed a sensory ninja, with excellent abilities.
However, when he was young, someone had blinded him. Later, he was expelled from his ninja village and had been wandering ever since.
After leaving the village, to find someone to take care of his daily life, City Blindman spent two hundred yuan and bought an ugly wife.
In his words, he couldn't see anyway, so the uglier she was, the better the value for money.
Iwamine Yako nodded.
Tonight, everyone's lives hung in the balance. As long as they were prepared, she wouldn't refuse his help.
City Blindman suddenly said, "Boss, after tonight, you'll become a legend in Koling City, won't you?"
"Maybe."
She stopped chatting idly and rushed forward.
City Blindman's hollow eye sockets "stared" fixedly at Iwamine Yako's retreating back and sighed softly, "But there are no living legends in Koling City."
The operation began.
People in cloaks walked through underground pipes, reached designated spots according to the plan, attached explosive tags, and the roaring explosions reverberated through the underground space.
The scale of the explosions was not large. Iwamine Yako didn't intend to cause a large-scale terrorist attack, just to damage some of the barrier patterns appropriately.
"They're moving."
Iwamine Yako, City Blindman, and three other ninja and samurai teammates hid in the shadows. Under the protection of Ninjutsu, they avoided detection by the rushing samurai.
The group of samurai walked in a hurry, heading straight for the location of the explosions.
After they had gone far away, Iwamine Yako emerged from hiding and looked at the retreating figures of the samurai, saying:
"It seems our guess was correct. This barrier, and its managers, were put in place rather hastily."
Samurai managing a barrier—the very idea was wrong.
Moreover, if the barrier had been set up long ago, it could have been entirely buried underground during road construction. The current method of using underground pipes to "lay lines" was abnormal.
The group constantly bypassed the samurai blocking their path, heading towards the core area.
In the silence, City Blindman suddenly spoke:
"Teacher Iwaminedaira, Kirigakure… is it really that good?"
"Of course."
Iwamine Yako said earnestly, "I found 'happiness' there."
Hearing this, everyone became interested.
"Teacher Iwaminedaira, what is your 'happiness'?"
"My happiness…"
Iwamine Yako paused for a moment and then smiled sweetly, "is being able to help more people."
City Blindman shrugged his shoulders. "I don't have such noble 'happiness.'
My biggest dream was originally to find a member of the Uchiha clan and exchange them for a pair of Sharingan.
Then, I could carefully see just how ugly my wife at home truly was."
"And now?"
"It's shattered, of course."
City Blindman said, "When I heard that the Uchiha clan had been wiped out, I cried for three days—Watch out!"
Three ninjas hidden in the dark sprang out from the shadows. Thanks to City Blindman's warning, everyone was on guard in advance and managed to eliminate the enemies.
But when they saw the headbands of the attacking ninjas, they were all stunned.
"I've never seen this pattern before… What village is this?"
City Blindman took the headband. After feeling it with his calloused hands, he provided the answer:
"Sky Ninja Village. You young folks probably haven't heard of it. It was a small ninja village that practically disappeared during the Second Great Ninja War… I didn't expect Koling City to be colluding with the Sky Ninja Village."
City Blindman said, then knelt down and searched the Sky Ninja ninjas. Soon, he found a small stone carved pendant. He smiled, his face full of wrinkles, and said:
"That ugly wife of mine loves these little trinkets."
They continued to advance. The deeper they went, the more enemies they encountered. Even though their companions did their best to help them attract the enemy's attention, casualties were uncontrollably happening.
Teammates fell one by one under the blades of the Sky Ninja legion.
In the end, only Iwamine Yako and City Blindman remained. But their sacrifices were not in vain—
They were at the core of the barrier, and an extremely dense stench surged from the core.
The negative emotions of the entire city were gathered here under the effect of the barrier.
These were fictional emotions, but in their extreme concentration, they were given form, rushing forth in the guise of semi-transparent, murky black water.
Countless black water poured into a huge pit, flowing through pipelines below towards an unknown direction.
"This is the function of the barrier."
City Blindman could not see, but through his sensory Ninjutsu, he could perceive very clearly how terrifying the surging negative emotions were.
"It's like mining ore or oil. They are treating people as ore and extracting our 'emotions'!"
"But… why?"
City Blindman couldn't understand.
Ore is material, oil is energy.
What use are negative emotions?
They couldn't have researched some "new energy" developed by those well-fed officials, could they?
"Whatever it is, it's not a good thing."
Iwamine Yako took out a camera from her backpack and took more than a dozen photos.
This was the core area of the barrier, and the corresponding incantations were most obvious, serving as evidence to prove what was happening underground in Koling City.
"Beep beep—"
A fierce alarm sounded.
Twenty to thirty ninjas from the Sky Ninja legion flew out from the corridors on both sides.
They held searchlights, and beams of blinding light fell on Iwamine Yako and City Blindman.
"Damn it! We're doomed!"
City Blindman cursed muttered, but his hands were not slow. He drew a kunai, ready to fight to the death.
Suddenly, something appeared in his arms.
It was a camera.
"Go."
Iwamine Yako finished speaking, turned, and charged towards the core of the barrier.
City Blindman understood her intention.
With twenty to thirty flying enemies, if the two of them tried to escape together, they certainly wouldn't be able to. Someone had to attack the formation core that the Sky Ninja legion cared about most.
That is, to besiege Wei to rescue Zhao.
City Blindman's main skills were reconnaissance and intelligence. Plus, he was blind. In terms of fighting ability, he couldn't compare to Iwamine Yako, who carried four datachips and could switch between different Ninjutsu, making her comparable to a smaller version of Kakuzu.
From a rational perspective, it was naturally most appropriate for Iwamine Yako to hold off the enemies while City Blindman escaped.
But City Blindman knew that this decision had nothing to do with rationality.
Before charging at the enemies, he clearly heard Iwamine Yako's whisper:
"Go back, your wife is still waiting for you at home."
City Blindman bit his lower lip tightly, held the camera firmly, and rushed out, shouting:
"Boss! During holidays, I'll lead everyone to pay respects to you!"
Iwamine Yako's lips curved into a smile.
She grabbed her cloak, lifted it high, and in the midst of the Sky Ninja legion's encirclement, her slender and beautiful figure continuously leaped and dodged until she reached the core of the barrier above the deep pit.
Iwamine Yako threw out her backpack, which was filled with explosive tags, enough to blow the barrier to smithereens.
"Explode!"
The impact and fire of the explosion shattered the barrier like a destructive force, continuing to spread like a fist of flame, smashing the ground and shooting straight into the sky.
"Damn you!"
The Sky Ninja legion soldiers who followed behind let out roars. They drew kunai from their waists, and dozens of kunai rained down on Iwamine Yako.
But she… didn't care anymore.
The people of this city would know the truth about Akatsuki. Whether it was Sunagakure Village, Kirigakure, or even Linto himself… filth was still filth. As long as it was exposed to the sun, there would always be diligent people who couldn't stand it and would come to clean it up.
Through the cracked ground, moonlight streamed down.
Iwamine Yako looked at the moonlight and suddenly thought of the conversation she had with her teammates just now.
She had lied.
The happiest moment for her was not helping others, but that night in her izakaya, clinking glasses and drinking with Linto, that shout of "Teacher Iwaminedaira."
I really want to… hear it again.
"Teacher Iwaminedaira!"
The voice seemed to come from heaven.
"Do people have auditory hallucinations when they die?"
Iwamine Yako slowly closed her eyes.
She didn't want to see herself pierced by kunai.
"Teacher Iwaminedaira!"
Linto roared.
Iwamine Yako opened her eyes. From the cracks in the ground, Linto's figure appeared as if by magic.
He was breathing heavily.
Linto had sensed the subtle vibrations from underground early on. After investigating, he learned of Iwamine Yako and her team's plan.
But to avoid exposure, the members responsible for attracting attention on the periphery did not know the exact location of the core area.
Linto had to spend time searching. It wasn't until the explosion that destroyed the barrier that he finally pinpointed the location. Then, he activated time stop and arrived immediately.
Hermit Purple shot out, repelling all the attacking kunai, and then tightly wrapped around Iwamine Yako.
Tears welled up in her eyes.
Suddenly, a large amount of murky black water surged from the shattered barrier, engulfing Iwamine Yako. Countless negative emotions poured into her brain through her skin.
Her vision gradually became covered by darkness.
But through the semi-transparent emotional wastewater, she gave Linto a sweet smile.
Just like when they first met.
"Goodbye, Mr. Linto."
Iwamine Yako whispered.
Tear—
A hand pierced through the sewage, and golden flames burned away the darkness, dispelling all the negative emotions.
Linto extended his hand to her:
"What are you talking about, goodbye?"
"I've come to take you home."