Chapter 125: The Invisible Ambush

"Bro...ther! The sun is right here!"

As soon as Baimu finished speaking, Baki wore an expression as if he had just swallowed excrement. He glanced at the others around him, and everyone nodded, confirming that he had indeed been mistaken.

"Genjutsu: Release!"

!!!

Baki formed the hand seals, and the rising sun in the sky before his eyes vanished amidst swirling distortions. In the direction Baimu had pointed, the real sun appeared.

"Genjutsu... Dammit! When did we fall under it?" Baki gritted his teeth, feeling absolutely no sensation of having been caught in an illusion.

"What I’m more concerned about is... who cast the genjutsu? And why did they lead us here?" Yura frowned deeply.

After entering the Death Desert, they had all unconsciously lowered their guard, taking it for granted that no enemies would appear.

Baimu was also in a foul mood. He knew the Root ninjas would come, but he had assumed they would ambush them at the oases along the necessary route to Loulan. He never expected the Root ninjas to directly force them off their path.

As for his purpose in attracting the Root ninjas...

He wanted to complete the "Desert Emperor" mission, and he speculated that the mission requirement was, in all likelihood, to become the jinchuriki of the One-Tail.

How could an outsider become the One-Tail jinchuriki of Sunagakure?

It was incredibly difficult—nearly impossible—unless someone extremely proficient in sealing techniques helped him transfer Shukaku from Bunpuku's belly, much like Mito Uzumaki had done for Kushina with the Nine-Tails.

As for using force... setting aside the fact that Baimu couldn't gauge the true strength of the old monk Bunpuku, even if a sneak attack succeeded, Shukaku would likely die along with Bunpuku rather than survive. Even if it were to resurrect, it would just be another One-Tail with a primitive consciousness.

Therefore... he had to make Bunpuku willingly and sincerely hand over Shukaku.

It had to be like an entrustment of an orphan on one's deathbed. With no backup personnel around, Bunpuku would naturally be unwilling to let Shukaku perish, as that would render his efforts at conversion a failure. With no other options available, he would have no choice but to choose Baimu.

Even Yura and Baki would have to be convinced.

Thus, they needed an enemy at this moment. Anlushan in Loulan wasn't necessarily reliable and could only serve as a Plan B; the Root ninjas brought by Nonou were the main force.

But... the Root's actions seemed to have exceeded Baimu's expectations.

"Desert bandits... Impossible. Desert bandits wouldn't have the guts to ambush us, nor would they possess such advanced genjutsu that even I could be deceived." Baki’s face grew increasingly ugly.

"I suspect there is a traitor among us." Yura looked coldly at Baimu, her eyes filled with skepticism; she might as well have said, "You are the traitor."

"Damn it! Why are you looking at me? How could I be the traitor!" Baimu glared back.

"If it's not you, then it must be one of your people." Yura looked at Kakuzu and Nonou, not even sparing Tobi from her gaze.

Baki didn't say it explicitly, but his look clearly implied he was also suspicious of Baimu’s group.

"Boss, you know me. Unless I get paid, I wouldn't sell you out for free," Kakuzu said coldly.

"Boss, you know me... I... I... I didn't do it. I don't know genjutsu..." Nonou stammered, her defense weak and frantic.

"Boss, you know me too!" Tobi also scrambled to answer.

"Alright... this is not the time for infighting... Baki, can we walk back to the Isolated Oasis now?" Bunpuku remained the peacemaker.

"……I estimate we have deviated five days' journey off-course. We have entered the Death Desert entirely," Baki shook his head.

"What if we go directly to Loulan?" Baimu asked quickly.

"……About six days," Baki calculated after checking the map.

"I’m worried there are ambushes near the oasis," Yura said, looking behind her. In the vast, howling wind and sand, she saw no one, only the sobbing of the wind, as if invisible enemies were tracking them.

"I also think we should head to Loulan," Baimu echoed.

"But our supplies..." Baki frowned.

Everyone piled their supplies together. Twenty flatbreads, a small amount of jerky and military rations, and only three bags of fresh water remained.

A resentful look.

[Yura's Favorability -50]

"Hey!!! What does this have to do with me?" Baimu was baffled by the loss of favorability and felt extremely indignant.

Although he had indeed eaten the portions of three people... but Kakuzu and Fu didn't need to eat, so couldn't he eat for them?

"Fortunately, we still have the camels. If we really run out of food, we can eat the camels. It’s just that the water is a bit scarce, and camel blood is too harsh, but if we push through, we can make it," Baki said with a sigh of relief.

Bunpuku pressed his palms together, his face showing reluctance.

"Let's get moving. I'm afraid enemies are coming from behind," Baimu urged.

"Mmh. Although we don't know who it is, they certainly didn't just want to lead us into the Death Desert," Baki nodded. He gave a bag of water and some flatbread to Bunpuku, a bag of water and jerky to Baimu, and shared a bag with Yura.

Everyone mounted their camels and quickened their pace toward Loulan.

Everyone kept looking back at the dust and sand behind them, but they never saw a single figure, as if ghosts were truly following them, or as if it were all just their imagination.

The group traveled until nightfall. With the bright moon hanging high, the camels were so exhausted they collapsed in the desert, and only then did they stop to set up camp.

Except for Bunpuku, they took turns keeping watch in pairs to prevent sneak attacks.

Baimu and Yura were paired together. Yura was unwilling to talk to Baimu, so Baimu could only boredly poke at the sand with a stick.

The time spent on watch passed agonizingly slowly. There was only the chilling sobbing of the night wind in the desert, the rustling of the shifting sand, or the occasional snort of a camel.

Baimu took out *Icha Icha Paradise* several times, but restrained himself and put it back. This stuff was too addictive, and he couldn't afford to be distracted while on watch. His stomach was aching with hunger, but he had to endure it; this meager amount of food had to last seven days.

A thick layer of clouds obscured the bright moon, and the only sliver of light vanished into the desert.

"Whoa! What a perfect night for a murder!" Baimu raised his vigilance to the limit.

"Shut up." Yura frowned. Attackers loved this kind of environment, but she didn't dare to ignite a fireball easily. The enemy was in the dark while they were in the light; one wrong move and they would become targets.

*Rustle... Rustle...*

It sounded like wind-blown sand, but not quite.

Looking outward, he couldn't see his own fingers. Baimu activated "Bloody Tracking," but couldn't smell a single scent.

*Rustle... Rustle...*

Still, the sound was faint to the extreme.

It was like the wind blowing on sand, but denser than wind-blown sand.

"Yura, what is that?" Baimu asked in a low voice.

"I don't know." Yura was also hesitating whether to wake everyone up.

In fact, in this environment, no one was truly asleep. Hearing their conversation, everyone sat up and drew their weapons, looking around.

Just as Baki was debating whether to light a fireball to see...

Suddenly!

A miserable screech pierced the night sky!

It was a camel.

Immediately after, the surrounding camels began to screech in agony.

"Yura!!!" Baki roared.

"Scorch Style: Lantern Fire!"

A red fireball filled with scorching air currents ascended, as bright as an artificial sun, completely illuminating the night sky.

Ants... they were ants...!!!

An overwhelming swarm of ants surged from all directions like a tide. Their pitch-black carapaces hid them completely in the darkness, and a pair of ferocious giant mandibles occupied almost half of their bodies.

The first to bear the brunt were the camels arranged on the perimeter to block the wind.

At this moment, half of their bodies were already covered in ants, looking as if they were wearing thick black sweaters. Their thick fur provided absolutely no defense, and they were bitten to a bloody pulp in an instant.

The ten camels rolled on the ground, screeching like mad, jumping and running, then burying their faces in the sand, grinding desperately. Blood spurted from all over their bodies, attracting even more ants to crawl on them, biting into the fresh flesh with abandon.

"Dammit...!! Run! Get out of here!" Baki couldn't care about the camels anymore; if they waited any longer, they would become the ants' main course.

"Scorch Style: Scorching Torrent!"

"Fire Style: Searing Migraine!"

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!!"

Facing these insects, all three chose their most lethal Fire Style techniques. Where the three massive waves of scorching energy passed, there was a sound like popping beans everywhere, creating a ten-meter-wide, hundred-meter-long path of flames.

There was no time to care about the camels. The group trampled over the charred shells and fled in a hurry. If they were hit by a Wind Style and covered in ants, the thought of the outcome was enough to make one's scalp tingle.

Less than a minute after they escaped, the camels' desperate screeches were drowned out by the *shh-shh-shh* sound of feeding. The massive bodies of the camels collapsed onto the sand, their muscles twitching subconsciously as more and more ants covered them.

"Stop running... their target isn't us, it's the camels..." Baimu called everyone to a halt.

Everyone looked back. The massive bodies of the camels were disappearing every second. In the chilling night wind, only the *shh-shh-shh* sound of feeding remained, which made one's skin crawl just to listen to it.

In less than a minute, the ten camels had been reduced to bloody, white skeletons.

The ants, having lost their food, moved their antennae in the air, searching for new scents. They locked onto the direction of Baimu and his group and surged toward them like a tide.

"Fire Style..."

Baimu stopped Kakuzu and Fu this time. Although they didn't need to eat, their chakra was fixed, and recovering it was very troublesome, especially in the desert.

"Dare to eat my camel? Let me handle this!!"

"Idiot, don't try to be a hero. Water Style consumes a lot of chakra in the desert," Yura said, still thinking Baimu only excelled in Water Style.

"Tsk... watch and learn what a Ninja Monster can do!"

After Baimu performed a set of Xiahime-style hand seals, his stomach bulged high, and he shouted intentionally:

"Lava Style: Acidic Sludge!"

He deliberately steered his skill of vomiting gastric acid toward Lava Style.

"Ugh~~~"

The sound effect was like a slug falling into a cesspit—utterly disgusting.

A mouthful of sour, foul-smelling, indescribable paste, after Baimu twisted his neck, left a long, sticky barrier on the ground. Even the sand dissolved, emitting wisps of green smoke. The ants that touched even a tiny bit immediately dissolved into a cloud of mist.

[Yura's Favorability -100]

[Baki's Favorability -100]

[Nonou's Favorability -100]

[Bunpuku's Favorability -100]

[Fu's Favorability -100]

...

"HEY!!!" Baimu nearly went insane.

Even Fu was disgusted by me?

Fortunately, only a mother would never find her own dog disgusting.

"Kid... promise me, don't eat shit next time," Tobi said, hugging Baimu with pity.