Chapter 545

Chapter 545 The Jonin — Inamoto Junichi!

Faced with Su Rui’s overwhelming presence, for some reason, Murakami Haiken — who had always been known for his mental fortitude — inexplicably felt a trace of fear rise within him!

He was startled by this feeling himself, and without overthinking it, he adjusted his footing and narrowly, barely managed to dodge the blade light slashing down from Su Rui!

In Su Rui’s view, a chunin daring to use such an insulting term toward a Chinese person on Chinese soil made it clear that the relationship between Japan and China had never been particularly friendly. As Su Rui saw it, he could tolerate misunderstanding, he could tolerate ignorance, but he absolutely could not tolerate insult.

Just as the saying goes — those who offend China, no matter how far, shall be punished. Those who dare to insult China will likewise pay the price they deserve.

Victoria couldn’t quite understand why Su Rui’s movements had suddenly become several degrees more ferocious!

The two figures tangled together in combat, the cold glint of blade light crisscrossing in every direction!

In no time, the booth area was left in complete shambles — sofas, tables, and chairs all reduced to a mess!

A minute later, the two figures separated, Su Rui and Murakami Haiken standing back to back, neither saying a word.

Blood dripped from the tip of Su Rui’s blade, while Murakami Haiken’s hand went slack, and his short knife clattered to the ground!

Then, two jets of blood suddenly spurted from the front of his knees, and his legs buckled, sending him crumpling face-down to the floor!

Su Rui’s last strike had severed the ligaments in his knees!

The blood from the wound on Murakami Haiken’s chest flowed faster and faster, impossible to stop!

Su Rui turned around, walked up to him, crouched down, and looked at the other man’s face — flushed red with unwilling defiance — and said coldly, “Do you regret this trip to China now?”

Murakami Haiken could no longer speak, because a wound had appeared on his neck as well!

The wound looked extremely thin at first, barely noticeable — like a fine red line — but then that line grew wider and wider, until blood finally burst forth! A horrifying sight!

“Take care now, don’t bother seeing yourself out.”

Su Rui patted Murakami Haiken’s face with barely any force at all, yet the man’s body tilted sideways from the blow and he toppled straight to the ground!

Two chunin and eight genin — all dead inside Xue Ruyun’s bar.

As for the cleanup, Su Rui didn’t send any other Sun God Guards to handle it. It was better to leave this to the Ninghai Police Bureau. After all, the appearance of Japanese ninja was no small matter — letting them know the situation would help them prepare sooner.

If he handled everything himself, wouldn’t that mean all future risks would come straight at him?

Before stepping out the door, Su Rui turned to take one last look at the wrecked bar and shook his head helplessly. After all this, the bar would probably never recover its former popularity.

“Are we going to take out that jonin now?” Victoria asked from behind the wheel, clearly eager.

“Of course. Once the jonin is eliminated, the rest will be like headless flies — nothing to worry about.” A look of contempt flashed through Su Rui’s eyes. “They’re just four chunin and a dozen or so genin. Even if we let them run wild, how much trouble could they really stir up?”

As Su Rui’s car passed through an intersection, a truck turned in from the side and then fell in right behind them.

Victoria glanced in the rearview mirror. “Tarzan’s here too. This guy’s getting slower and slower — he really needs to lose some weight.”

“If he loses the weight, is he still Tarzan?”

At that moment, several more cars began joining the convoy formed by Su Rui and Tarzan one after another!

Su Rui smiled and said, “Keep accelerating.”

Victoria nodded, gave a sound of acknowledgment, then pressed down on the gas — the car streaked through the night like a flash of light! The row of vehicles behind quickly followed!

No. 207 Huanhua Road on the outskirts of Ninghai appeared from the outside to be an ordinary three-story residential building, but it was in fact Yamamoto-gumi’s secret base in China.

At this moment, a man shrouded entirely in black was sitting cross-legged. His face was wrapped in black cloth, leaving only a pair of sharp hawk-like eyes exposed — and in the height of summer, he didn’t seem to mind the heat at all.

Resting flat across his knees was a long katana. Though the blade had not left its sheath, the black scabbard alone exerted an immense pressure on anyone who looked at it.

His entire being was like a blade — seated there, radiating a cold and fierce aura.

This was the jonin of the Iga-ryu from Japan — Inamoto Junichi!

Though he had later joined Yamamoto-gumi to serve Yamamoto Taichiro, Inamoto Junichi had always been the pride of Iga-ryu. This genius ninja had once been the youngest chunin in all of Japan’s history — a figure of limitless promise. That record was later broken by Yamamoto Gokusen, however.

Unfortunately, Yamamoto Gokusen had fallen far too quickly, and this gave Inamoto Junichi the chance to reclaim his name!

In truth, during Yamamoto Taichiro’s rise to dominance in his middle years, Inamoto Junichi’s role had been indispensable. Operating from behind the scenes, he presided over Yamamoto-gumi’s Warrior Hall, successfully orchestrating a series of assassination operations and silently eliminating many top fighters from rival factions. Without him, Yamamoto-gumi could never have expanded to its current scale in just a few short decades!

The once-youthful genius ninja now had streaks of white at his temples, yet his gaze remained as sharp as ever!

Though Yamamoto Gokusen had dominated the ninja world in recent years and Inamoto Junichi had gradually faded from memory, when this veteran jonin emerged once more, it still caused quite a stir!

To save his son, Yamamoto Taichiro had truly spared no effort!

With Inamoto in the field, who could stand in his way?

After sitting cross-legged for a long while, Inamoto Junichi raised the long blade and gave it a gentle pull!

A clear, resonant ring of steel echoed through the dim room!

A vast expanse of cold light flooded his eyes!

“Bloodthirst — how long has it been since you last tasted blood?”

Inamoto Junichi gazed at the cold gleam released by the blade in his hand, a flicker of fierce heat passing through the depths of his eyes!

“My lord, all personnel are fully assembled and ready, awaiting only your command.”

At that moment, a dark figure appeared silently in the doorway, dropping to one knee in a posture of complete deference.

Inamoto Junichi sheathed the long blade, and the brilliant cold light in the room vanished along with it. “Have the groups sent out returned yet?”

“Not yet.” The shadow hesitated slightly before speaking.

“What?”

A flash of stern coldness crossed Inamoto Junichi’s gaze. He let out a cold snort. “They’ve met with misfortune.”

“My lord, perhaps they encountered the target and are currently engaged in combat.” The shadow lowered its head, but inwardly grumbled, “You refuse to let anyone use a mobile phone. If we had phones, a single call would tell us everything. This is so outdated.”

Such thoughts were one thing — there was no way he would ever dare say them aloud. If he did, he’d be a dead man!

“They won’t be coming back. This time, our opponent is very strong.”

Inamoto Junichi let out a cold snort, then rose to his feet and said, “Nine chunin, eighty-two genin, one hundred and twelve elite warriors — are they all ready?”

“All ready! We can depart at any time!”

So many people! Including Inamoto Junichi himself, that made two hundred and four!

It seemed the intelligence Su Rui had received was seriously wrong. The enemy’s elite forces were more than ten times what he had estimated!

It appeared that even Su Rui had underestimated Yamamoto Taichiro’s resolve!

Daquan Longyi had indeed not lied to him, and that chunin with no sense of bushido had truly told him everything he knew — but the reality was that Inamoto Junichi had made his arrangements in advance and had not disclosed them to all of his subordinates!

In truth, Yamamoto-gumi had been quietly infiltrating China for years, establishing covert bases in many major cities. Over time, drop by drop filling the river, the number of embedded operatives had grown larger and larger. Otherwise, how could they have dispatched five hundred men to Yamamoto Gokusen in one go to wipe out Wanyan Zhengyong’s Yuanwei Gang?

Although Inamoto Junichi had banned everyone from using mobile phones to prevent information leaks, he personally maintained encrypted communications with the leaders scattered across various locations. Having presided over Yamamoto-gumi’s Warrior Hall for so many years and achieved such tremendous success, how could he possibly be a conservative who couldn’t keep up with the times?

The residential building on Huanhua Road looked simple on the surface, but after so many years of development, the structure beneath was a labyrinth of passages capable of concealing a large number of personnel!

Inamoto Junichi understood well the wisdom of not putting all his eggs in one basket. These two hundred-plus elite fighters naturally could not all be hidden on Huanhua Road!

“Bring that woman up to me.” Inamoto Junichi said coldly.

“Yes.”

“Bring her!”

The shadow waved a hand, and two black-clad warriors escorted a beautiful woman in handcuffs and leg irons into the room.

The woman was dressed in a police uniform, her hair slightly disheveled, her face marked with some dirt and traces of blood — yet none of it could conceal the brightness in her eyes or her striking appearance.

Her mouth was sealed with tape, leaving her only her gaze to express the fury burning inside her!

This young woman was none other than Ye Binglan — Su Rui’s childhood companion and sworn younger sister!

“Take the tape off her mouth. I want to have a few words with her.” Inamoto Junichi said.

The black-clad figure tore the tape off with a sharp rip, showing not the slightest consideration!

Ye Binglan had spent several years honing herself in the criminal investigation unit and was not the kind of girl who would panic and act recklessly. From the moment she was captured, she had stopped making futile struggles to avoid suffering greater harm.

Now, with the tape removed, she still didn’t open her mouth to curse anyone — she simply stared at Inamoto Junichi with cold, steady eyes.

These Japanese had managed to set up such a massive operation on Chinese soil. Ye Binglan knew full well that these people would never let her go easily.

It would be a lie to say she wasn’t nervous. Ye Binglan had already realized this was a major crisis for her — if she could get out of these ninja’s hands alive, she would count herself extremely fortunate.

“I hear you are Su Rui’s younger sister?” Inamoto Junichi said, his tone completely flat.

Ye Binglan finally understood why she had been kidnapped.

Su Rui’s face flashed before her eyes, and then a look of resolve settled in her gaze:

“What younger sister? I don’t know anyone by that name. I think you have the wrong person.”

Ye Binglan knew that if she admitted it, it would put Su Rui in tremendous danger. She also had no desire to let her dear older brother see her being used as leverage against him!

“Lin Aoxue has several skilled protectors, making her difficult to get to — but finding a breakthrough through you is not a difficult matter.” Inamoto Junichi’s hand moved slowly back and forth along the scabbard of his long blade, the sharpness in his eyes giving way to a measure of shrewdness. “He has the person we want. I have the person he wants. As long as he behaves himself, this exchange is fairly balanced, and your personal safety can be guaranteed.”

“I’ll say it again — I don’t know the person you’re talking about. You must have the wrong person.” Ye Binglan held firm, her words unchanged. The Japanese man before her was masked and concealed, looking nothing like someone trustworthy. Why would she believe a word he said?

“Is that so?”

Inamoto Junichi said, “It seems Miss Ye Binglan doesn’t trust us very much. Then bring Mr. Wang up here — let her stop playing games.”