The entire Village was too quiet.
Shemu, who had just let out a sigh of relief deep down, instantly tensed up again.
Shemu slightly squatted down, surveyed his surroundings, and then cautiously walked towards the nearest house.
Just as Shemu was about to approach the house, a sharp weapon sound suddenly rang out.
Immediately after, a kunai suddenly thrust out from the room.
Shemu's face showed a look of panic, and he quickly retreated.
Puff!
Although he had retreated, his reaction was still a little slow, and the kunai stabbed Shemu in the arm.
Intense pain came, making Shemu's face a little pale. After quickly retreating a few steps, Shemu finally saw the Ninja who walked out of the room.
He had no forehead protector and was even dressed casually; he should be a rogue Ninja!
"What a pity, I was just a little bit away from piercing your heart right through."
After this Ninja walked out of the room and saw that he had only stabbed Shemu's arm, a look of pity appeared on his face.
Rustle! Rustle!
Along with the sound of this Ninja, soft low laughter suddenly echoed from the originally quiet surroundings.
Under Shemu's grim expression, Ninjas slowly walked out from their hidden positions.
"Hehe, it's a good thing you only stabbed his arm. If you had killed this guy, be careful the leader kills you."
This Ninja's companion walked over from the side and let out a low laugh.
Step! Step!
Light footsteps suddenly came from behind Shemu. Shemu's body stiffened, and before he could react, a heavy blow suddenly landed on his back.
Shemu directly spat out a mouthful of blood and was kicked flying to the ground.
After rolling several times on the ground, Shemu finally stopped.
Ignoring the pain coming from his body, Shemu quickly raised his head to look behind him. Only then did he see the figure that attacked him: a woman with a cold smile on her face.
"Oh my, I thought he was quite strong, but I didn't expect him to be so weak. Kirigakure is really slacking off to let someone with this level of strength escape."
This woman with a cold expression shook her head and said with a smile.
"Where is everyone! What have you done to everyone?"
Shemu ignored the blood on his mouth, revealing an angry expression as he looked at the cold-faced woman.
"Oh, as expected of the leader of a Ninja Village. Although your strength is a bit weak, you still care a lot about that group of ants."
Bing Yu raised her eyebrows, looking at Shemu opposite her with a cold smile on her face.
"Don't worry, they're just a bunch of ants, not worth me taking action. However, if you don't cooperate next, I can't say for sure."
Bing Yu raised a finger and placed it beside her lips, speaking softly. Although the gesture was somewhat ambiguous, her voice carried undisguised killing intent.
Calling everyone in the Village ants?
Hearing such words, Shemu couldn't help but clench his fists tightly, looking at Bing Yu opposite him with angry eyes.
Although Shemu was very angry inside, he also felt a sense of relief at the same time.
The meaning in this woman's words just now proved that everyone was fine for now.
"How did you guys get in? How could a group of outsiders find the Village entrance!"
Shemu looked at Bing Yu, speaking with a tone of anger and confusion.
Bing Yu showed a faint smile on her face, lightly pointing upwards with her finger, and chuckled:
"For this question, you'll have to ask the person up there."
Shemu was startled, then quickly raised his head to look upwards.
He saw, uh, on a large tree not far ahead, a figure standing on a branch, coldly observing Shemu below.
When he saw the appearance of this figure, an incredulous look appeared on Shemu's face, and he spoke falteringly:
"Se... sensei, why would you do this."
Swish!
Seeing the look of astonishment on Shemu's face, Shui Yan, who was standing on the branch, flashed a deep look of disdain in his eyes.
Shui Yan slightly exerted force with his feet, and his entire body instantly disappeared from the branch, reappearing in front of Bing Yu.
"You're still so cowardly, Shemu."
Shui Yan looked at the expression on Shemu's face and spoke with a hint of mockery in his voice.
"Wh... why would you do this? Everyone respected you so much!"
Shemu's face still held a look of disbelief, and his whole body trembled with emotion.
"Respect? What is that! What I want is strength. Tell me where the Hero Water is."
Shui Yan impatiently waved his hand, his voice full of disdain.
"Where is Fū? What did you do to Fū? She trusted you so much!"
Shemu trembled as he stood up, his voice filled with unwillingness.
However, as soon as Shemu finished speaking, Shui Yan used the Body Flicker Technique and appeared in front of Shemu.
Bang!
Shui Yan suddenly raised his fist and delivered a blow to Shemu's stomach, letting out a heavy thud.
Shemu's eyes widened, and a mouthful of blood coughed out directly from his mouth.
"I don't want to hear your nonsense, pull them all out."
Shui Yan raised his arm and blew on his fist, speaking to the other Ninjas nearby.
Hearing Shui Yan's command, the other Ninjas around slightly nodded and instantly left their spots.
Not long after, civilians who were tied up and had their mouths gagged were pulled out from the surrounding houses by these Ninjas.
Shui Yan walked up to a civilian, reached out, and took out the gag from her mouth.
"Shui Yan, you bastard, everyone trusted you so much, and you actually did such a thing to the Village! Lord Shemu, hurry and leave, don't mind us!"
As soon as this civilian's mouth was freed, she cursed loudly at Shui Yan, while also looking in Shemu's direction and quickly warning him.
"So much nonsense."
Shui Yan frowned, raised his foot, and violently kicked this civilian to the ground, stepping on the civilian's head as he looked at Shemu:
"Hand over the Hero Water, or all these people will die!"
Shemu's face was filled with anger, and he suddenly charged towards Shui Yan.
However, as soon as Shemu appeared in front of Shui Yan, he was kicked flying by Shui Yan even faster.
"Run! Lord Shemu, you are no match for these people."
The civilian being stepped on by Shui Yan's foot yelled at Shemu with difficulty.
"Everyone..."
Shemu bit his lip hard, even drawing blood.
The next moment, Shemu suddenly turned around and quickly jumped into a pond not far behind him.
Whoosh!
A figure quickly appeared by the pond. Seeing that there was no one under the pond.
Bing Yu suddenly turned her head, with a sinister look on her face, and said to Shui Yan, whose expression was still calm:
"You let him escape!"
A flash of disdain flickered in Shui Yan's eyes. He kicked the civilian he was stepping on to the side and said casually:
"If I didn't let him go, how would he bring out the Hero Water to fight me with his life?"
Bing Yu was slightly startled, and her originally somewhat unpleasant expression slowly faded.
At this moment, no one noticed that not far from where everyone was.
On the crown of a large tree, two figures were standing quietly.
"Mr. Right Dipper, do you not need help with the situation below?"
Konan looked at Bing Yu below, slightly frowned, and spoke softly.
"They are waiting, and we are also waiting. Presumably, you must also be very curious about that thing that can increase Chakra tenfold."
Yūto chuckled softly, with an interesting expression on his face.
Konan glanced at the civilians below. They were not being attacked for now, so she nodded gently.
At this moment, Shemu, who had jumped into the bottom of the river, did not escape. Instead, following the route his father had told him in his mind, he quickly swam towards the depths of the riverbed.
Not long after, Shemu saw a small cave at the bottom of the lake, just wide enough for one person to pass through.
Without the slightest hesitation, Shemu plunged in. Not long after, Shemu suddenly appeared on a lake surface.
Shemu emerged from the lake surface, taking several deep breaths, then raised his head to survey his surroundings.
This was not inside the hollow of a giant old tree, and the space was not very large.
Therefore, Shemu saw something resembling a cabinet placed in the very center at the front with a single glance.
Shemu quickly climbed out and walked to the front of this cabinet. When he saw the familiar patterns on the cabinet's surface, the corners of Shemu's eyes couldn't help but moisten.
His father's voice before he died echoed tightly in Shemu's mind:
Hero Water is both power and poison. Anyone who uses Hero Water is indicating that they are prepared to die.
Promise me... Shemu, don't let the people in the Village use this kind of power again.
"Father, I'm sorry, I still ended up using this. Now I need to use this power to save everyone!"
"I will defeat sensei and tell him he is wrong! Even if I have to pay with my life for it!"
Shemu clenched his fists and spoke with a firm voice. After speaking, Shemu quickly formed a few hand seals.
In an instant, the patterns on the cabinet suddenly lit up. Immediately after, the originally closed cabinet slowly opened by itself.
He saw a transparent gourd placed in the very center of the entire cabinet.
At this moment, there was still nearly two-thirds of transparent liquid inside this transparent gourd.
At the very top of the gourd's opening, an extremely ancient branch was placed there.
Shemu didn't know when this branch had been here.
Shemu only knew that this ancient branch seemed to have appeared here when Takigakure was founded.
Approximately every half a year, a drop of liquid would drip from this ancient branch.
And the transparent liquid in the glass gourd was what had dripped from this branch.
More than half a gourd of transparent liquid; it was unknown how many years Takigakure had existed to accumulate this much.
With a solemn expression on his face, Shemu slowly took down the transparent gourd.