"Don't even think about escaping!"
Seeing the Sky Ninjas trying to flee, how could Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru possibly let them go?
Immediately, the three of them leaped onto the rooftops of the village and gave chase in the direction of their retreat.
Being bullied by the Sky Ninjas with their aerial advantage had left the three of them with a considerable amount of anger.
If they didn't get their own back, they would probably be woken up by their own rage in the middle of the night.
Besides, they had come to the Land of Sky to cause trouble for the Sky Ninjas in the first place. How could they just swallow this loss after being attacked?
However, flying through the air was naturally much faster than running on the ground.
A few minutes later, the Sky Ninjas had disappeared from their sight.
"Orochimaru!"
"I know!"
Orochimaru formed a series of hand seals.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Poof!
A cloud of white smoke erupted, and dozens of snakes were summoned by Orochimaru, quickly spreading out ahead.
After a moment, he suddenly opened his eyes.
"Found them."
"Let's go!"
Without a single wasted word, Orochimaru led Tsunade and Jiraiya, following the trail found by the snakes he had summoned.
About ten minutes later, they finally arrived in front of a village with a protective fence.
Compared to Konoha, the Sky Ninja village was truly just a "village."
There were only about a dozen houses, and in front of the entrance, there was a flat area of about a hundred square meters. A dozen or so ninjas with headbands were currently taking off their wing suits.
For ease of operation, the ninjas were tied to the wing suits with ropes.
Even their hands were strapped to the bat-like wings in three places.
Now, they were helping each other untie the knots.
When the three of them appeared at this landing area, the Sky Ninjas were all stunned.
Then, an older ninja's expression changed, and he shouted in alarm, "Enemy attack, enemy attack!"
"Everyone, get airborne!"
While warning the others, this Sky Ninja immediately tied the ropes for the young man next to him, drew a kunai from his waist, and charged straight at Tsunade's group.
He intended to use his own life to buy time for the others in the village to take to the skies.
However, he had greatly overestimated his own strength.
Although in the Sky Ninja village, he was also a Jonin, compared to the three of them, he was still too inexperienced.
Boom!
Tsunade was the first to act. She used the Body Flicker Technique, appearing directly in front of the Sky Ninja, and threw a punch.
Thump!
Without any surprise, the Sky Ninja was sent flying.
Literally "sent flying." The mist of blood that sprayed out was like a sprinkler, covering the ground in front of him in a fan-shaped area of red.
"Huh?"
This scene stunned everyone present for a moment.
The Sky Ninjas were shocked that their Jonin had been completely powerless against the Konoha ninja.
Tsunade and the others were surprised at how easily the Sky Ninja had been defeated.
If they had heard correctly, the other Sky Ninjas who were still taking off their wing suits had referred to the one killed by Tsunade as "Jonin something"?
Jonin? That's it?
Never before had the three of them doubted their hearing so much.
Since when had Jonin become so weak?
If a guy like that was a "Jonin," then what were they?
However, they were, after all, individuals who had undergone rigorous training and had been on the battlefield.
After a moment of shock, they immediately continued their actions.
"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Caterwaul!"
"Earth Style: Fissure Palm!"
Jiraiya and Orochimaru formed hand seals. A fire dragon danced, and the earth split open—
In just a few breaths, the Sky Ninjas had suffered heavy casualties from their attacks.
The few who remained were lucky enough to activate their wing suits and began to fly into the sky.
But unfortunately, while they had dodged the ninjutsu attacks of Jiraiya and Orochimaru, they could not evade the countless pieces of gravel thrown by Tsunade's monstrous strength.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh...
"Aaaaaaaaaah..."
The gravel rained down like a storm, piercing through the Sky Ninjas who had just taken off.
Many of the severely wounded Sky Ninjas swayed in the air and then fell.
It was only because they had just taken off and were not far from the ground that any of them survived. Otherwise, this wave of Sky Ninjas would have been completely wiped out.
However, even if these Sky Ninjas had been lucky enough to survive the fall, Jiraiya and Orochimaru did not let them off. They held kunai in their hands and, amidst their screams, ended their lives.
Although the battle here had not lasted long, it had already been discovered by the other ninjas in the village.
Just as the three of them had finished killing the other Sky Ninjas, another dozen or so took off from the village and soon discovered them, and the bodies of their fallen comrades...
…
Swoosh!
Amidst the roaring flames, Li Anshi's figure suddenly appeared behind Tsunade.
"Who's there?"
The sudden movement quickly alerted the three of them. They swiftly drew kunai from their tool pouches, turning around to assume a defensive stance.
Upon seeing Li Anshi, they visibly relaxed.
"It's you, Anshi."
"Yes."
Li Anshi was very satisfied with their alertness.
After nodding at them, he surveyed the village, now engulfed in flames.
Although he hadn't entered his Dagger Perception state, he could still sense that besides the three of them, there was no other sign of life in the village.
The Sky Ninja village had been wiped out by the three of them.
"Lord Anshi, I wonder if we have passed the test for this mission?"
After putting away his kunai, Orochimaru asked.
Jiraiya and Tsunade also looked at him, wanting to hear his opinion.
After all, he was their examiner for this mission.
His evaluation of them would determine whether they could become independent ninjas in the near future.
"Before I answer your question, may I hear your own evaluation of your performance on this mission?"
Hearing Orochimaru's question, Li Anshi was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and asked the three of them.
He hadn't expected them to act so quickly.
He had just found the secret research base and killed the Sky Ninjas inside, and they had already destroyed the entire village.
He hadn't even seen their performance in this battle. How could he evaluate them?
However, this did not prevent him from understanding their actions through indirect questioning.
"Our own evaluation?"
Tsunade pondered for a moment, then spoke, "First, the issue of intelligence."
"The three of us were too arrogant."
"If we had been more vigilant, we could have gotten more information about the Sky Ninjas from the two Chunin who escaped."
"That way, we wouldn't have been in a passive position when we first encountered them."
"At the same time, we could have also gained something."
"That thing that allows them to fly in the sky... I'm quite interested in it."
What Tsunade was referring to was their helplessness against the flying Sky Ninjas during their battle.
Due to a lack of anti-air capabilities, once the Sky Ninjas took to the air, the three of them could only wait for them to dive down and attack at their closest point.
Or, they had to wait until the Sky Ninjas' chakra was exhausted and they were forced to land.
If they had known about the Sky Ninjas' methods beforehand, they would have disguised themselves upon entering the Land of Sky, sneaked into the village, and destroyed all the wing suits.
Without them, the Sky Ninjas would be no stronger than the Genin in their own village.
Even if they encountered one or two with some skill, they would be at most at the level of a Chunin.
In that case, they could have destroyed the village in less time and at a smaller cost.
They could also have obtained some valuable spoils of war.
Although the wing suits were nothing in their eyes, if the Genin of Konoha were to get them, it would enrich their own techniques.
Perhaps, in a crisis, if someone could hold back the enemy, more ninjas could escape using the wing suits.
If these Sky Ninjas hadn't been fighting in their own village, each one fighting to the death, a good number of them would probably have escaped.
"I lack anti-air capabilities."
Orochimaru said succinctly.
In this battle, the three of them had indeed exposed their weakness in dealing with aerial enemies.
Well, it would be more accurate to say that this was a weakness of most ninjas.
Because in the entire fninja world, there were very few ninjas who could fly.
So far, it seemed only the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, had demonstrated the ability to fly.