No words could describe the emotions surging within Hattori Ryuno at this moment.
The Hidden Mist must take revenge and make the Hidden Leaf pay a heavy price. This was his only thought.
Meanwhile, Gozuki Kaikan had more complicated concerns.
The Hidden Mist Vanguard Corps' organizational structure might be completely scrapped.
The massive explosion had left over nine hundred ninja either dead, missing, or severely wounded. Those labeled as severely wounded could not recover quickly and had to return to the Hidden Mist for rehabilitation; those who were permanently disabled would be retired.
In other words, there were only about three hundred combat-capable ninja left in the Vanguard Corps' encampment.
Additionally, there were still several hundred Hidden Mist Vanguard ninja stationed outside on various missions.
Originally, the Vanguard Corps had nearly two thousand troops. In less than a month since arriving in the Land of Whirlpools, losses due to Hidden Leaf assassinations and various field skirmishes had already exceeded three hundred ninja.
This meant that before the explosion, the Vanguard Corps still had around sixteen hundred troops.
Now, another nine hundred were lost.
Only seven hundred remained.
This was no longer sufficient to maintain a full-fledged corps. Even the smallest corps required at least a thousand troops.
Thus, the corps might be disbanded.
Even if the Hidden Mist decided to replenish its forces and rebuild the Vanguard Corps, it was uncertain whether Gozuki Kaikan would still be its leader.
His responsibility for this disaster was enormous.
Someone had to take the fall, and he was the most obvious choice.
The entire encampment had been ambushed.
Judging by the explosion's energy signature, it was caused by an overwhelming number of linked explosive tags. In other words, the perpetrator had infiltrated the Vanguard Corps' encampment undetected, set up the explosive tags, and detonated them.
Setting up such a large-scale explosion would have taken hours.
Yet, nobody noticed!
The patrol squads, reconnaissance teams, and the sensory ninja on night watch were all responsible, but the greatest accountability would undoubtedly fall on Gozuki Kaikan. The Mizukage would not direct blame at low-level personnel—he would demand an explanation from the commander.
A dismissal would be the least of his worries.
In contrast, Hattori Ryuno bore no direct fault. He had no authority over the Vanguard Corps' security. It was not his responsibility.
Had the attacker been someone else, Hattori Ryuno might have remained calm.
But the culprit was Haruto Saito, and Haruto Saito had arrogantly declared his name before the attack!
Unforgivable!
Haruto Saito had already orchestrated several assassinations against the Hidden Mist, wiped out the Hidden Mist's covert operations division stationed in the Land of Whirlpools, stolen the treasure they desperately sought, and now, he had obliterated the Hidden Mist Vanguard encampment!
This made Haruto Saito the greatest enemy of the Hidden Mist since the First Great Ninja War!
******
Morning arrived, and Haruto Saito was still running!
Of course, he was escaping for his life!
He was terrified!
Haruto Saito had already considered the consequences of his actions. If Hattori Ryuno or Gozuki Kaikan possessed tracking abilities, they would hunt him down and kill him!
That wasn't an impossible scenario. Haruto Saito had learned his lesson when he was previously hunted by the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist—it was an unforgettable experience!
So now, he had no choice but to run at full speed!
From underground to the surface, over mountains, across grasslands, into coastal regions—he never stopped!
His chakra was running low!
He had already used over a hundred low-level chakra restoration cards and several mid-level ones. Perhaps this was wasteful—maybe the Hidden Mist wasn't even chasing him—but he didn't care. After all, he still had over ten thousand reward items waiting to be reviewed!
Most of them were probably low-level items, but low-level chakra restoration cards weren't exactly precious either.
By noon…
Haruto Saito had reached the northern coast of the Land of Whirlpools.
Dashui Village—a small fishing village in the northern coastal region of the Land of Whirlpools.
It wasn't a large village, home to only two or three thousand people. The only street that could be considered a commercial district primarily sold daily necessities and various seafood products.
Dashui Tavern.
This was the only tavern in Dashui Village. It was a two-story building with a ground-floor hall filled with tables and a handful of patrons. The second floor housed guest rooms.
Disguised and wearing sunglasses, Haruto Saito entered the Dashui Tavern, rented a room, and ordered food and drinks to be delivered to him before heading upstairs with the key.
Inside the room…
The space wasn't large, and the furnishings were old, but at least it was clean.
Haruto Saito didn't care about such things. Once the food was delivered, he warned the innkeeper not to disturb him under any circumstances—better yet, not even if there was an emergency!
After locking the door, Haruto Saito ate ravenously. He was starving!
After finishing his meal, he walked to the window, looked outside, then shut it.
Returning to the table, he retrieved a massive pile of cards from his inventory…
It was time to review his loot!
This time, the number of dropped rewards was overwhelming, making the sorting process extremely tedious. However, high-level rewards were rare—after all, for an enemy to drop an A-rank jutsu card, they needed to be at least an elite jonin, and most Hidden Mist jonin only knew B-rank jutsu at best!
The number of elite jonin who died in the explosion could probably be counted on one hand.
But that didn't stop Haruto Saito from using these rewards to significantly increase his power!
Low-level jutsu might seem useless to him now, but if he could gather six copies of many different low-level jutsu, increasing their base effect thirty-two times, the results would be terrifying!
Even a mere D-rank jutsu with thirty-two times its original effect would become overwhelmingly powerful!
Especially certain D-rank secret techniques—when enhanced, they could essentially transform into entirely new and powerful abilities!
The sorting process took a full four hours, continuing into dusk.
And Haruto Saito had only managed a rough classification!
Starting with low-level jutsu cards, including E-rank, D-rank, and C-rank techniques, Haruto Saito had acquired over five thousand cards, covering more than two thousand different jutsu…
Yes, most of them were duplicates!
That was unavoidable—after all, all these ninja came from the Hidden Mist's standardized training system!
There wasn't much variety among low-level ninja, and water-style techniques were predominant, followed by a handful of wind-style users. For example, the Wind Release: Great Breakthrough technique was common among them, and despite its low drop rate, Haruto Saito had still obtained dozens of copies!
These jutsu cards were enough for Haruto Saito to fully upgrade dozens of his low-level jutsu and secret techniques! He also had over a thousand jutsu that he could upgrade to double or quadruple effectiveness!
However, he couldn't use all five thousand cards—around a thousand were left unused.
For instance, the basic E-rank Transformation Jutsu…
Every ninja learned it, and Haruto Saito had obtained over a hundred copies.
According to the system's rules, eating more than six of the same card had no effect—it would be a waste!
Haruto Saito didn't want to waste them. He believed these cards still had a use, possibly related to some yet-to-be-unlocked system function, so he decided to hold onto them for now!