Chapter 21: Preventing an Attack from Konoha

Two days later, in the underground cave, a group of four ninjas instantly landed in front of the shrine's barrier.

Because there was no regular communication or reporting, the village noticed something was wrong and sent people to check on the situation.

A hint of fear flickered across the faces of the four ninjas, with one of the blond ninjas showing even greater fear.

"team leader..."

"The Jinchūriki has escaped..."

"How is this possible!" the blonde female ninja cried out in horror, "She wasn't taught any ninja skills!!!"

Another ninja couldn't help but sneer, "She really is a monster."

"Shut up, all of you! Inform the village immediately!"

The four of them instantly left the cave.

Soon after, the entire Takigakure village became noisy, with large numbers of ninjas coming and going.

The escape of a Jinchūriki is a major event, and it might even lead to another capture by a Tailed Beast, but the village no longer has the power to do so.

"This isn't the time to discuss finding the Jinchuriki; let's think about how to guard against the Jinchuriki's retaliation." In the conference hall, a frail, blue-eyed old man leaning on a cane said, "That child is no stable being; he's a walking calamity."

Inside the hall, all four clans were gathered, along with the village's neutral ninjas, who stood behind their respective leaders, creating a scene as crowded as a gangland shootout negotiation.

"Hehehe, look what your Uji clan has done. I told you, choosing someone like this as a Jinchuriki is not a safe bet," a short, hunched old woman said with a sinister laugh.

Seated in the main seat was a robust old man, resting with his eyes closed. Upon hearing this, he merely raised his eyelids slightly. Behind him stood a muscular and slender ninja, dressed in a full set of dark ninja combat gear, his face covered, a black scarf around his neck, and a ninja sword on his back. His exposed arms were strong and muscular. He stood aloof with his arms crossed, his eyes scanning the crowd like a hawk, seemingly searching for some figure.

Unlike typical greyhound ninjas in the ninja world, he was very robust.

He looks very upright, like a lone hero walking in the dark.

A family of heroes.

"Elder Taki, say something." The old man leaning on his cane glanced sideways at the robust old man. Behind him was a blond man dressed in a full set of light blue ninja armor. He had fair skin, but was also strong and muscular. He carried a ninja sword on his back. His face was not covered. He looked at the arrogant, arms-crossed ninja with a cruel and manic smile. Most peculiar was the large, lifelike ninja dog made of water at his feet.

The Uji clan.

Taki opened his eyes and said calmly, "The selection of the Jinchuriki was decided jointly by our four clans. There is no better candidate than this. This matter is not open to further discussion. The problem now is that, in order to prevent the five great villages from finding out, we must secretly find the Jinchuriki."

The hunched old woman cackled, and behind her stood a hunchbacked ninja who looked like an alien, covered in thick body hair and wearing only an elastic mesh vest and shorts. He sneered and his tiny, beady eyes swept dangerously over the crowd. Strangely, he didn't have just one pair of hands, but rather a non-human appearance with four arms.

It's so ugly that you'll never forget it at first glance.

The Thousand Demon Clan.

"So noisy, you old hag." The cold old man sitting to the side said in a cold voice. Behind him was a tall female ninja with pale skin, wearing the same plain white kimono with a knot tied at her waist. She was holding a naginata and her golden snake eyes, under the eerie purple eyeshadow, swept coldly and dangerously over everyone.

The Kusanagi clan.

Besides the henchmen who came to bolster their presence, there were also a group of elders and senior citizens who served as councilors.

Mochizuki Gen sat at the lower end, quietly resting with his eyes closed, surrounded by ninjas from other villages who were not from the four major clans.

Thus, the plan officially began.

At the round table of the meeting, Elder Taki said in a deep voice, "Enough with the nonsense. The most urgent task is to send people to find the whereabouts of the Jinchuriki. In addition, we need to continue to reduce manpower and strengthen the village's defenses to prevent attacks from the Five Great Villages, especially Konoha."

Hearing these words made Jie Luo want to laugh.

Above the venue, a jet-black butterfly gently fluttered its wings.

"Everyone, please pay special attention to strengthening the defenses within your respective clans, just in case. Also, prepare for the mobilization and evacuation of your clansmen. For the time being, don't rush to accept any mission assignments."

Mochizuki Gen raised an eyebrow, looked at the seemingly well-arranged elder, and remained silent.

This way, he won't have to waste his breath offering advice.

"Elder..." the old man from Kusanagi said in a deep voice, "What about the missions that are still in progress? Who will bear the losses?"

The Grand Elder remained silent, only closing his eyes.

The next second, the venue erupted into chaos as the old men and women started arguing again.

Sitting atop the Black Nest, Jieluo stood up.

The plan is progressing smoothly; now it's time to take action.

"Little demon~" Jie Luo called out with a light smile.

Looking disheveled and covered in dirt, Lucy, who was cooking, rolled her eyes, dusted herself off, and said irritably, "What's wrong, you big monster?"

Numerous small birds perched on Lucy's body and hair, chirping and preening their feathers naturally.

In the past two days, apart from treating her like a maid, Lucy didn't feel uncomfortable at all.

Seeing this unusually harmonious scene, Huan's lips twitched, and she moved further away. Whether it was Jieluo or Lucy, they both put immense mental pressure on her, so she naturally didn't want to get close. Moreover, Jieluo was different from ordinary people; Huan had already suffered enough at her hands and didn't want to suffer any more. She didn't know what she might do to anger Jieluo and get killed. She gnawed on a dry soldier's ration pill and looked at the pot of bird soup that Lucy had cooked.

"It's nothing, it's time to stretch my legs, little demon~" Step by step, he descended from the void and landed on the grass. Jie Luo laughed, "Now that you can refine chakra, it's time to put it into practice. Huan, you stay here."

Huan's eyes lit up, and he nodded, "The bird soup is mine."

Upon hearing this, Lucy initially looked displeased. She had no interest in killing, and even felt a bit disgusted by it. But then, as if remembering something, she pretended to be excited and said, "Are we finally going to kill someone?"

She should be a monster now, but she can't let a real monster see through her and realize she's not a monster, or that would be terrible.

The baby is suffering inside, but the baby can't express it.

Jieluo reached out, and a large amount of hair in her hand surged and rapidly combined and transformed into a ninja sword in the blink of an eye. She then handed it to Lucy. As Jieluo approached, the birds that sensed something flew away from Lucy with startled cries.

The blade is straight and only 60 centimeters long.

Lucy didn't see the knife and blinked in confusion.

Hand in hand, Yura placed the ninja sword in Lucy's hand and said, "Try injecting chakra into it, little demon Lucy~"

In the past two days, when she had nothing to do during her own cultivation, Jieluo spent her time training the little demon Gai. Chakra refining was something she already knew how to do, and in addition, Jieluo also taught her some basic chakra control techniques, such as stepping on trees.

"My name is Lucy!" As chakra was channeled into her, a gleaming black blade slowly materialized before Lucy and Gen's eyes. Lucy exclaimed in surprise, "A sword?"

This sword is as valuable as a chakra metal ninja sword, and it's also a demon blade that can become invisible.

"How is it? Do you like it?"

"I..." Lucy's eyes sparkled with surprise as she lowered her head and said in a sinister tone, "I hate it so much..." Then she looked up with a somewhat sinister but sunny smile, expectantly looking at Jie Luo, "Is there more?"

She has always had very few things that truly belong to her.

I was very touched when I received this gift for the first time.

"Disperse your chakra, don't let anyone see." Jieluo turned around and walked step by step into the void, saying, "Let's go, little demon Ge~"

"Wait for me..." With her chakra dissipating and holding the hair blade, Lucy's wings vibrated rapidly as she floated into the air, following Yura's footsteps.