A Sage's Pursuit of Power

With a loud explosion, the entire Grass Village was thrown into chaos. A large number of ninjas rushed to the scene after an explosion occurred at the Grass Village's administrative building. A kunai with an explosive tag had blasted a hole in the building's rooftop.

The entire Grass Village was alerted. They quickly sealed off the area and began investigating the culprit. By the late night, they suddenly realized something—the attack might have been a diversion.

Their important assets, the two Uzumaki clan blood packs, had disappeared without a trace.

Although they had not paid much attention to these blood packs before, losing them made them realize just how crucial they were.

Medical ninjas were high-end talent in any ninja village. Aside from Konoha, which had Tsunade's special promotion, other ninja villages did not have a systematic medical ninja system.

Thus, many Grass ninjas left the village in pursuit of the two missing blood packs.

"Damn it, when I catch them, I'm going to teach those two bitches a lesson. How dare they run away, I…"

"Shut up, idiot. Didn't you see the bodies of the villagers in the room? They were killed by a swordsmanship master. It's not that they escaped, but someone took them away. Be careful; the villagers didn't even send out a distress signal. The opponent might be a high-level ninja."

As the Grass ninjas discussed while tracking, their voices could be clearly heard by Aoba from hundreds of meters away.

This small team happened to be on the right track. Aoba, carrying two people and conserving chakra, wasn't moving at full speed. They were actually moving quite slowly.

By dawn, the Grass ninjas who had guessed the direction correctly caught up. However, he wasn't worried.

Mainly, he wasn't really afraid of the Grass Village. Compared to Konoha's diverse ninja, the foundational strength of these small ninja villages was too thin. Even having a few secret techniques was considered significant.

Once the pursuers got closer, Aoba could clearly sense their chakra. The highest level among them was equivalent to a typical Chunin from Konoha.

Even with less chakra, he was still at the Jonin level. Moreover, their combat experience was not on the same level at all.

Aoba had fought fiercely on the borders with Cloud Village ninjas for three years. His experience and tactical level were far beyond those small ninja village ninjas who relied on large countries for survival.

He even deliberately slowed down to let them catch up.

"There, I see them. Stop!" One of the Grass ninjas called out humorously. They charged forward directly.

The two sides chased each other through the trees, with leaves falling everywhere.

As the three Grass ninjas passed through the falling leaves, their expressions suddenly changed. Somehow, the fallen leaves had concealed three explosive tags.

And inexplicably, as they passed through, the explosive tags seemed to be attracted and stuck to them.

In the next moment, three successive explosions occurred. The three Grass ninjas died instantly. In fact, they were all members of the Grass Village's Anbu. Their fundamental skills were certainly solid to be able to track them down.

However, ninjas were inherently high offense, low defense. Even top ninjas like Kakashi and Jiraiya could be taken down by a single kunai if they weren't careful. Let alone three ordinary Grass Village Anbu.

After the explosions, Aoba and his group accelerated and vanished from the scene.

At this point, he used his Wind Release: Tracking Wind technique. His body became light as if he were floating, gliding over the tops of trees rather than running on tree trunks.

To the pursuers behind, it looked like Aoba's tracks disappeared completely after reaching this point.

In his arms, Karin's big eyes blinked with admiration. She had expected a fierce battle. After all, the Grass ninjas seemed like invincible figures to her.

Even this big brother, no matter how strong, would have to exert effort.

But unexpectedly, the three usually invincible Grass ninjas were completely obliterated before even reaching her big brother.

Karin was not scared; instead, she was somewhat excited.

No one could imagine what she had gone through in the Grass Village. Deep down, she had often fantasized about having power and killing all the Grass ninjas who bullied her and her mother.

Now, she saw the dawn of that power.

Aoba rarely named his techniques. Currently, the only officially named one was his most frequently used technique, the Void Slash.

In reality, the Void Slash was just a basic application of his technique. In combat, he could use various methods to perform it. In extreme cases, he might even use a hand blade instead of a real sword to execute the Void Slash.

However, the previous three were so insignificant that they didn't even qualify to make him draw his blade.

This gliding technique using wind power, Aoba eventually named it Wind Release: Tracking Wind, which matched his nickname, the Wind-Tracking Sword.

However, he rarely used this technique in front of others. The information about a ninja's skills was crucial. Just like Orochimaru would exchange the Grass Kusanagi Sword for Itachi's information.

He didn't want his trump cards to be widely known. Therefore, he only used this technique when traveling alone or clearing pursuers.

After using Tracking Wind for a while, he returned to the ground and tree trunks, running at a steady pace to conserve chakra.

The Grass Village's pursuit capability was far weaker than imagined. In fact, it wasn't until he reached the border of the Land of Grass that the second group of pursuers finally caught up.

"Get ready. The second group of pursuers is coming."

Aoba's words made Karin's mother, who was on his back, a bit worried. But young Karin was not afraid at all; she was even somewhat excited.

Aoba knew that this little girl would later survive under Orochimaru and even independently manage a base. Aside from being a bit obsessed with appearances and infatuated with Sasuke, Karin was definitely an exceptionally talented individual.

This was also why Aoba specifically went to the Grass Village to rescue her. Besides Karin's unique healing ability, she was an outstanding talent.

Aoba had many plans for the future, and he couldn't handle everything alone. He needed some exceptionally talented assistants, and Karin was one of his chosen targets.

The Grass Village's pursuing team was larger this time, with six members. They were very focused and did not pay attention to the misleading information Aoba left behind. They headed straight for him.

"There should be a sensory team among them. Be careful, this time we'll have to get serious."

"Understood!" Karin, in his arms, replied firmly.