Chapter 57: Blocked Front and Back
Upon seeing this line of text, Onoki was visibly stunned, and then he figured out what had happened.
Deidara had already been rescued. As for when he was rescued, it was likely during the earlier chaos when Onoki had used Dust Release, and Deidara was spirited away in the commotion.
Of course, the one who rescued Deidara wasn’t Su Xiao. If it were him, he would never have left the words ‘This dog was here’ on the ground. The one who would do such a thing—no, the dog who would do such a thing—was one hundred percent that fool, Bubu.
Bubu Wang had been lying in ambush in the stone room above earlier. After receiving Su Xiao’s message, Bubu Wang sneaked into the underground prison.
The reason Su Xiao was hit by the black stone spikes was that he was creating a safe path for Bubu Wang. As a result, his space to dodge grew smaller and smaller, and he was ultimately struck by Onoki’s ‘Super-Enhanced Heavy Rock Technique.’
From start to finish, Su Xiao’s goal was not to attack Iwagakure or kill Onoki. If he wanted to destroy the village or assassinate the Kage, he would never have acted in this manner.
To destroy the village, the best choice would be to find an opportunity to drop Apollo from above. Apollo was practically a village-destroying weapon, but timing was crucial. After all, Apollo’s activation time was a full 30 seconds, and once activated, it couldn’t be concealed, emitting an extremely terrifying aura.
Obito had once tried to get Apollo from Su Xiao to use as a war weapon.
Su Xiao only had one Apollo left. Coupled with the relatively backward manufacturing techniques in the Naruto world, gathering the materials needed for Apollo was extremely difficult. Simply not being able to find Fire Gold meant Apollo couldn’t be made.
With only one Apollo left, Su Xiao naturally wouldn’t provide it to Obito. He had to keep it for emergencies or for mutual destruction with an enemy.
Unable to obtain Apollo, Obito was very dissatisfied, but he couldn’t forcibly take it, so the matter had to be dropped.
Su Xiao wasn’t there to destroy the village or kill the Kage; he was there to snatch someone. Therefore, he never intended to fight Onoki to the death from the beginning—that would have been meaningless.
Onoki was momentarily stunned when he saw Deidara had vanished. Just then, a crashing sound came from the exit of the underground prison. Su Xiao had slashed the passageway at the entrance, causing it to collapse.
Su Xiao quickly crossed the stone steps and reached the surface. He knew that the collapsed passage behind him couldn’t trap Onoki for long.
By now, Iwagakure was in chaos, with flames nearly engulfing the entire village.
At the same time Bubu Wang rescued Deidara, Su Xiao had already given Amu the order to retreat. Thus, Amu had already withdrawn to a rock wall beside Iwagakure, ready to flee at any moment.
As Su Xiao reached the surface, Amu, half a kilometer away, leaped up, jumped onto the rock wall behind him, turned around, and ran without a care for the pursuing Iwa-nin.
Su Xiao sprinted at full speed toward the edge of Iwagakure. The Iwa-nin who had been surrounding Amu immediately shifted their target and closed in on Su Xiao.
While charging forward, Su Xiao threw an object ahead. Although the Iwa-nin became alert, they didn’t stop their encirclement of Su Xiao.
Boom!
A piercing explosion rang out, and a white light enveloped nearly half of Iwagakure.
It was dusk, and while the light wasn’t particularly dim, the sun had mostly set. Su Xiao had thrown a flashbang, and its effect was better than expected.
The Iwa-nin had never seen a flashbang before. They simply thought Su Xiao had thrown an explosive. Some even stared directly at the flashbang, and the blinding white light caused unimaginable damage to their eyes.
More importantly, Su Xiao hadn’t thrown an ordinary flashbang but an enhanced version purchased from Machinery Street.
The dozens of ninjas trying to surround Su Xiao instinctively closed their eyes, their ears ringing.
This was undoubtedly a good opportunity to kill the enemy, but Su Xiao sidestepped, weaving out of their encirclement, and used the time bought by the flashbang to leap onto the rock wall.
Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, Amu, and Deidara had all withdrawn from Iwagakure, while Obito was still inside being besieged.
Standing on the rock wall, Su Xiao looked toward Obito in the distance. Obito’s gaze happened to be on Su Xiao as well.
Obito nodded slightly and made a hand gesture, roughly meaning he could buy Su Xiao two to three minutes.
Leaving Obito alone in Iwagakure was a pre-arranged plan. Obito had spatial abilities, so he could retreat at any time.
Su Xiao only paused on the rock wall for a moment before charging into the distant mountain ranges.
Soon, he encountered Bubu Wang, Amu, and Karin, who were already waiting on the retreat path. Amu was carrying Deidara, while Bubu Wang crouched alertly nearby.
Su Xiao quickly walked over and headed straight for Karin.
“Wait, don’t bite my back…”
Before Karin could finish, Su Xiao had already pulled down her top. This girl had many bite marks on her arms, but only a few on her back, all left by Su Xiao.
Su Xiao bit into Karin’s fair back. Whether it was due to her ability or something else, Karin’s face flushed inexplicably.
“Ah~ ooh.”
Just as Karin was about to cry out, Su Xiao covered her mouth. There were a large number of pursuers behind them, including Onoki.
After biting into Karin’s fair back, a surge of rich life energy entered Su Xiao’s body, rapidly healing his injuries. He had been hurt earlier while enduring Onoki’s Dust Release.
A few seconds later, Karin’s body went limp. The stronger the person she healed, the more life energy she consumed.
Su Xiao’s physique far surpassed that of a ninja. His 80 points of True Stamina caused Karin to expend a massive amount of life energy, leaving her legs weak.
“How… how did you absorb so much life energy…”
Karin gasped heavily, her expression filled with terror. Based on her estimation, biting her once would make her legs weak. If he bit her a second time within five minutes, she might faint. If he bit her a third time in a row, she would definitely die.
Looking at the now-limp Karin, Su Xiao was clearly puzzled, but he quickly figured out what was happening.
Su Xiao directly hoisted Karin onto his shoulder.
“My clothes, my clothes.”
Karin said urgently. Su Xiao pulled her clothes back up, covering her exposed skin.
Su Xiao stomped on the ground, about to charge forward.
“Woof!”
Bubu Wang suddenly barked loudly, and Su Xiao stopped.
“How many?”
Su Xiao understood Bubu Wang’s meaning—there were enemies ahead surrounding them.
Bubu Wang wrote a string of numbers on the ground.
“Looks like we’ve really pissed off the Iwa-nin. We’ll retreat from the flank.”
Su Xiao changed the retreat direction. Behind him, Onoki was leading a pursuit, while ahead, reinforcements from Iwagakure were arriving. They were caught in a pincer movement. To escape, they had to break out from the flank before the two sides converged.
Su Xiao and Bubu Wang were both fast, and Amu had 69 points of Agility. Although his normal speed was a bit slow, he had a charge skill. This charge skill was extremely fast, and its speed increased the longer he charged. Eventually, it could even surpass Su Xiao’s speed.
This made the retreating squad look rather comical. Su Xiao was carrying a somewhat exhausted girl (Karin), making it seem like he had just snatched her from Iwagakure.
Bubu Wang had his tongue out, occasionally checking the situation behind him. Because he wasn’t watching where he was going, he crashed into rocks five times and into mountain walls eight times—truly an ‘old driver.’
Amu was even funnier. This guy ran wildly on his two thick legs. Although his strides were long, he wasn’t fast. But once he activated his charge skill, within three seconds, he would disappear ahead of Su Xiao, leaving only a trail of yellow dust.