Chapter 867

"Xiao Jue, what's wrong with you?"

After advancing roughly another few kilometers, Lin Cheng—who periodically activated his Byakugan to stay alert of his surroundings—sharply sensed something unusual beside him.

Based on her observation, the chakra flowing within Xiao Jue's body was now somewhat sluggish, not quite the same rate as a normal person's.

Hearing Lin Cheng say this, Xiao Jue, who had been silently playing the role of a good little girl, also stopped. She squatted down without a word, and this action also drew the attention of Jiraiya and Young Yuanzi.

"I don't know if it was carelessness during the fight just now…"

Jiraiya suddenly recalled that the Mist Anbu strike force had smashed several smoke bombs onto the ground as they retreated; the smoke at the time must certainly have been poisoned.

Himself, Young Yuanzi, and Lin Cheng had all undergone ninja training, so when faced with this kind of situation their conditioned reflex was to hold their breath—but Xiao Jue, who was an ordinary person…

"Take this!"

"Lin Cheng, stay alert around us—we need to pause our advance for a while!"

They'd been played. From here on, to look after Xiao Jue they had no choice but to slow the journey. By now the Mist ninja's second wave was probably already on the way!

"Rest for fifteen minutes!"

A brief rest.

"Alright, Xiao Jue's condition seems to have improved a lot. We need to keep moving. From here on, Yuanzi takes point, then I'll carry Xiao Jue, and Lin Cheng, you bring up the rear and pick up the pace. Once we get through this forest we'll reach our destination!"

Jiraiya could no longer worry about all that. From what he knew of the Mist ninja, fifteen minutes was already enough for the enemy to see through the hasty measures he'd set up along the way to muddle their trail.

If they didn't set out again, there was a very real chance they'd be encircled by the enemy's superior numbers in this terrain that was extremely unfavorable to their side.

At the thought of this, the pace beneath their feet involuntarily quickened by a few degrees, as if the enemy had already appeared.

"Mm… snowflakes?"

Young Yuanzi at the very front doubtfully touched her face—something had just brushed against her cheek—and then looked more closely.

"It's clearly very hot and a perfectly clear day, yet snowflakes are drifting down around us in bits and pieces?"

"Creak-creak!"

From not far ahead a strange sound suddenly came, and the air seemed to seize up all at once.

Then, at a speed visible to the naked eye, it rapidly compressed and condensed into ice crystals that absolutely could not appear in the height of summer!

"Extremely high concentration chakra reaction—enemy attack!"

Lin Cheng stared at the block of ice that was still expanding and said tensely.

This bizarre situation—she could think of only one possible cause: the Mist ninja had caught up.

"This chakra should be Lord Yuanzi's… that's right, how could it be?"

The block of ice, which had been accumulating more and more chakra, suddenly paused for a moment, then rapidly deformed and unfolded into a not-quite-complete ice mirror.

With the vision of Lin Cheng's Byakugan, he could faintly make out a blurry human figure within the mirror's surface; from the outline and the voice he could roughly confirm it was a woman.

"Crack-crack!"

Just as Lin Cheng was still wondering what kind of ninjutsu this was, the ice mirror changed once more. Accompanied by a series of faint sounds of thin ice shattering, a slender, pale hand pierced through the mirror's surface.

Lin Cheng was so startled he froze for a moment and let out a wail—don't even start with "but he's a ninja, why would he be scared of something like this."

There was probably no second person in this world more afraid of these things than her, because she had always been personally experiencing the existence of "ghosts" through the Qieshenti Society.

Of course it didn't end there. As that hand reached out, the ice surface continued to spread even further, and the broken opening quickly grew large enough for a person to squeeze through.

Then, as the mirror's surface slightly shifted its angle, a person really did "fall out" from inside.

"Phew, long time no see, Jiraiya!"

The one who dropped down was a woman. Although it was very hot here, her clothing was very tightly wrapped up.

If one absolutely had to describe it, it was the kind of standard-issue ninja winter combat suit with some modifications, making one worry whether, on a day this hot, this woman might…

But that thought probably didn't last even a second. Just from her appearance the temperature had already dropped several degrees; the chill was obvious, and the white frost spreading beneath her feet was growing colder still.

Not only would she not get heatstroke, she could make this summer very cool indeed.

"Alright! Just kidding—this person is seriously strong!"

Because Jiraiya and Young Yuanzi hadn't taken a single step forward since this woman appeared, the unease in Lin Cheng's heart steadily escalated. He hadn't expected there to be an enemy of this caliber among the Mist Anbu strike force.

"So it's Snow!"

Jiraiya uttered a code name that almost no one would remember.

Although the other party wasn't wearing a mask, he still chose to greet her using her code name from her time in the Leaf Anbu.

"Are you here because of Danzo?"

"Huh…? Sorry, I just because I felt, um… Lord Yuanzi?"

The one who had come was actually Mei Terumi. Not only had Jiraiya not anticipated this at all, even Young Yuanzi was stunned.

But upon hearing Xiao Mei call her name, Young Yuanzi immediately came back to her senses.

The next instant, under the other party's astonished gaze, she scampered all the way to Lin Cheng at the very back of the group, imitating Xiao Jue beside her by hiding behind Lin Cheng and refusing to come out.