Seimei and Haneda followed Touma to reach the goblin stronghold as soon as possible.
However, after traveling for approximately twelve kilometers, Touma suddenly paused and signaled his companions to halt as well.
He silently led Seimei and Haneda to a hiding place. And within a few seconds, the three young Shinobi hid by taking advantage of the surrounding environment.
After a few moments, Haneda asked, "What is it, Touma? Why did we hide here?"
Before Touma could open his mouth, Seimei responded, "That's because there's a group of three C-rank goblins ahead. They are probably a part of the patrol unit. These green critters may look ugly and downright idiotic, but they are surprisingly intelligent."
Seimei had already spotted the group of three goblins before Touma. If Touma couldn't find them within the next couple of seconds, Seimei would have warned them immediately.
Thankfully, Touma, with his Sharingan's ability to see even the tiniest details, spotted them early on.
Seimei looked at Haneda and said in a low voice, "Activate your Chakra Eyes, and you will be able to find them immediately."
Haneda nodded and activated the Chakra Eyes, causing his abyss-black pupils to glow with a faint blue light.
With them, Haneda immediately saw the chakra signatures of three goblins glow slightly in his vision. He could even see the three patrolling goblins, armed with weapons, walking in the forest vigilantly.
These goblins were approximately 60 meters away from Seimei and his group's current hiding spot.
Touma kept his eyes on the goblins and whispered, "The goblin hideout we are looking for is less than five kilometers away."
"Seimei, please check if there are other goblin squads nearby. If we get careless and these goblins somehow send distress signals to the others, it will alert the goblins in the hideout. If this happens, whether it's scouting or eliminating them, it will become at least a few more times harder."
At that moment, Seimei's eyes shone with an azure-blue glow. "No need to worry. There are no other groups of goblins within a radius of 500 meters around us."
Haneda cracked his knuckles before putting his hands together, ready to form hand seals at a moment's notice. "Then let me send them off to the Pure Land quickly and silently."
Seimei and Touma nodded, signaling Haneda to proceed.
But Seimei kept his eyes on the goblins. If Haneda failed to finish them off silently in one strike, he would immediately use Genjutsu to put these green-skinned pests to sleep.
Seimei wasn't being paranoid. He was just cautious.
You would never know if these goblins have some unconventional methods to alert their kins, such as a whistle or a loud noise.
Meanwhile, Haneda used the Body Flicker Technique and vanished from his current location without a flash.
A moment later, he appeared on top of the branch of a thick tree. The three goblins were now less than fifteen meters away from him.
He pulled out three thin, needle-like, fifteen-centimeter-long senbon and channeled Wind Release chakra through them, making them sharper, deadlier, and capable of swift flight through the air.
Haneda flicked his wrist, throwing the three senbons empowered by wind chakra with pinpoint accuracy.
The senbons traveled through the air as fast as lightning without making any sound.
The wind chakra coating the senbons didn't just make them fast. It made them fly almost without making any sound, a great way to assassinate chakra beasts or ninjas who didn't have good sensory perception or hearing.
The result was inevitable.
Puchi~ Puchi~ Puchi~
The senbons quietly pierced through the forehead of the goblins, and the sharp wind chakra around the needles quickly damaged their brain.
Thud~ Thud~ Thud~
The goblins died without even knowing how, and their corpse fell on the ground with a thud.
Hehe. Mission complete. Haneda thought inwardly as he gave a thumbs-up toward the hiding spot of Seimei and Touma.
At the next moment, both of them disappeared from their hiding spots using the Body Flicker Technique and appeared right beside the goblin corpses before scanning them carefully.
Seimei used Earth Release Ninjutsu to bury the corpse. "Alright. Let's go. We will kill any goblin patrol squad we encounter in our way, too."
With that, Seimei, Touma, and Haneda traveled cautiously.
To reach the goblin hideout without any surprises, they also killed nearly ten goblin squads, containing a total of 33 goblins.
Each patrol of the hunting squad of the goblins was made of two to four goblins, making it easier for Seimei and his team to eliminate them without making too much noise.
They even killed three B-rank hobgoblins along the way.
To keep things quiet, Seimei used the Genjutsu: Temple of Nirvana to put the hobgoblins to sleep while Haneda or Touma killed them by decapitating them or by driving their blades right through their hearts.
Those unfortunate hobgoblins literally died while sleeping.
Because of halting frequently to deal with the goblins, Seimei and his team took nearly half an hour to cross the final five kilometers before they could get a glimpse of the actual goblin hideout.
"Wow! The goblin hideout actually resembles an orderly village. If not for the goblins roaming around, I would have thought this place to be a primitive human habitat."
Haneda exclaimed as he looked at the goblin hideout while hiding in the nearby trees along with Seimei and Touma.
In front of them was the goblin hideout that looked less like a savage chakra beast's den and more like a crude yet organized village made by humans.
The hideout had several houses built from stone, wood, and mud. Most of the houses were similar in size and shape.
In the center of the hideout, there was a much larger house that covered a vast area. According to the extracted intel, this was the residence of the A-rank goblin lord.
It was also the place where gold, jewels, shiny objects, and other items looted from human caravans were stored.
Finally, the entire hideout was surrounded by wooden fences with multiple C-rank goblins and B-rank hobgoblins guarding the entrance.
You could see tens of goblins roaming around the houses.
Some were polishing their crude weapons. Some were cutting beast meat. A few bunches of goblins were fighting against each other. And others were carrying water from the nearby lake.
The lake was roughly 45 meters from the goblin hideout. It was connected to a shallow stream that appeared to branch off from a larger river or stream.
Clearly, this lake was the primary source of water for these goblins.
Touma looked at the goblin hideout with a scrutinizing eye and turned his head toward Seimei. "Can you sense the total number of goblins?"
Among them, Seimei had the strongest and most refined sensory capabilities. So, Touma didn't beat around the bush and directly asked for the number of goblins the hideout currently had.
Seimei ocean-blue Tenseigan glowed for a moment.
After a few seconds, he replied, "Tsk~"
"The entire hideout has a total of 208 goblins. One A-rank goblin lord, forty-four B-rank hobgoblins, one hundred and eighteen C-rank goblins, and the rest are D-rank goblins or young goblins."
Haneda sighed. "That's too much, Seimei. Once we start fighting them, they will surround us and gang up on us."
"Facing two hundred enemies, including an A-rank goblin lord, is no joke."
Touma, who was eager to fight, also seemed a little hesitant and asked, "As much as I want to charge ahead, I think Haneda has a point. Unless you want to start a forest fire, killing them all without letting their leader escape will be difficult."
"They will surround us and stab us to death."
Hearing this, Seimei fell into deep thought.
Then, his eyes drifted toward the lake, the primary water source of the goblins.
After a few seconds, his lips curled up. "Don't worry, my friends. Things are not as dire as they seem.
Touma narrowed his eyes and asked, "You have a plan to take them all out?"
Seimei smirked and replied, "Yes."
"Let's poison them."
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