Chapter 162: Rematch with the A-B Combo
Although a tacit understanding for the peace talks and alliance had already been reached, they still had to put on a show of verbal sparring. And so, the negotiations between Konoha and Sunagakure did not proceed as quickly as one might think.
On this day, Kinoshita Genichi was invited by Rin Nohara. When he arrived, he found that Kurenai Yūhi, Asuma Sarutobi, Might Guy, and others were also there, with Obito Uchiha standing awkwardly to the side.
This scene is a bit familiar.
"Genichi!" Rin waved.
Genichi walked over, and a… poster? was thrust into his hands. Looking closely, he saw it was for a so-called "gift operation" to celebrate Kakashi's promotion to jonin.
They sure know how to have fun. What kind of gift should he get? Genichi was a little troubled; he hated thinking about these things the most.
He walked over to Obito. "Congratulations on becoming a chūnin, Obito."
The joy of his promotion had already faded from Obito. "It's just a chūnin. You and that guy Kakashi are already jonin."
"You'll become a jonin too," Genichi comforted him. "The path of a ninja isn't just one or two years. Falling behind for a little while doesn't mean anything. This is a race that lasts for decades."
Obito was taken aback for a moment, then his dejection vanished. He smiled. "Thanks, Genichi. I believe I can do it too! I will definitely surpass that arrogant jerk Kakashi and become the Hokage!"
The Hokage? Genichi patted Obito on the shoulder. "Good luck!" This was said with a certain degree of perfunctoriness, but it was like a shot of adrenaline for Obito.
Genichi looked over at Kurenai and the others, all wearing chūnin vests. So everyone's a chūnin now. Unconsciously, almost seven years had passed… He felt a little dazed. To reach the Kage level after seven years of hard work wasn't bad. After all, he had left his peers far behind.
However, in the original timeline, didn't Itachi Uchiha awaken his Mangekyō at eleven or twelve? How would I compare to him right after he awakened it? I should be able to crush him, right? Genichi smiled to himself, then greeted everyone and strolled home with his hands in his pockets.
Training could not stop. As he had told Obito, a person's life was like a race. Even a moment of slacking off could cause you to lose. At only 12 years old, it was time to grind!
February 23rd.
Konoha and Sunagakure officially signed a military pact of joint action, forming a very close alliance.
On a rooftop.
Looking at Pakura, whose demeanor had already changed, Genichi smiled. "Lord Kazekage, how are you feeling now?"
"Like I'm in a dream," Pakura said with emotion, dropping her facade for a moment. "I never thought this day would come."
"That's the charm of the future," Genichi smiled. "You can never predict it. It will always catch you off guard."
Pakura nodded in deep agreement.
Just then, he leaned in close to her ear. The warm breath on her skin made her shiver, her body stiffening. "Although you are now the great Lady Kazekage, don't forget that you belong to me. Don't even think about running away."
With that, he vanished from the rooftop.
Pakura's ears quickly turned red. She took two deep breaths and then gritted her teeth. "What an… arrogant… little bastard." He was just a kid, but he often made people forget his age, to the point that…
She suppressed the strange feeling in her heart, put on her Kazekage hat, and also vanished. Today was the day she would leave Konoha.
At the same time, in the Hokage's office, Hiruzen summoned Minato and gave him an important mission.
"Will it be too dangerous for Kakashi and the others to complete a mission on their own?" Minato was a little worried.
"Genichi is about to head to the Kumogakure front," Hiruzen said. "And we also have to trust Kakashi and the others."
"Yes, sir," Minato nodded. "We will complete the mission."
As he was leaving the office, he ran into Genichi. "Genichi!" he smiled.
"Minato-san!" Genichi greeted him. The two exchanged a few words and then hurried off.
After leaving the Hokage's tower, Genichi had already guessed what Minato's mission was. The Kannabi Bridge. It was still unavoidable. However, some things had changed. The current Kakashi was stronger than in the original timeline. Unless Madara Uchiha personally intervened to raise the stakes.
Genichi pushed the thoughts from his mind and went home to pack. From this day on, he was officially removed from the Hokage's direct combat sequence and became a regular jonin. His first mission after leaving the Anbu was to head to the Kumogakure front.
The A-B Combo. A smile appeared on Genichi's face as he finished packing and headed out.
Mountain's Graveyard.
Aloe White Zetsu emerged from a wall and shouted to Madara, "Lord Madara, good news! The Yellow Flash and that child have been separated for different missions!"
Madara opened his eyes. "Oh?"
In the northeast, on the border of the Land of Fire.
With the Flying Thunder God, Genichi arrived quickly, thanks to his habit of leaving markers everywhere.
"You're finally here, you brat!" Jiraiya was overjoyed to see him. He had been suffering from a lack of troops and was always on the defensive. And the A-B Combo, who had recently appeared on the battlefield, was giving him a headache. He couldn't even keep up with A's speed. It wasn't that he was no match for them, but he couldn't pin them down.
Now that Genichi was here, he finally had someone under him who could fight. In a great mood, he was no longer in a hurry. "I hear you took out the Fourth Kazekage?" he asked with a smile.
"It was just an ordinary battle," Genichi said nonchalantly.
Jiraiya immediately felt he had asked the wrong question. He couldn't help but grit his teeth. "Then why don't you take out the A-B Combo too? I remember you fought them before, right?"
"That was many years ago," Genichi nodded. "But the A-B Combo is much harder to deal with than the Fourth Kazekage."
"A's speed is extremely fast," Jiraiya said, becoming serious. "Probably only the Flying Thunder God can surpass it."
"It's the Lightning Release Chakra Mode," Genichi said, thinking of the Third Raikage. "He uses the lightning nature transformation to activate his cells and speed up his neural transmission, so both his speed and his reactions are top-tier. You'd have to use Sage Mode to even compare, Master Jiraiya."
"Sage Mode takes too long to activate," he said with some frustration. It was a technique that relied heavily on talent. His student, Minato, could activate it almost instantly, although he couldn't maintain it for long and it wasn't very practical for him in a real battle. Jiraiya himself could only gather enough natural energy for about one Wind Release: Rasengan. He needed the help of the two great sages of Mount Myōboku to maintain it for a long time and make it practical for combat. And the drawback was that it took too long to prepare.
"Perhaps you could try using the Yin Seal?" Genichi suggested.
"The Yin Seal itself is very difficult to master," Jiraiya shook his head. "And adding natural energy to it… it's not very practical."
Genichi nodded thoughtfully.
But Jiraiya suddenly smiled. "Genichi, your chakra is very vast. You should be very suitable for practicing Sage Mode. Are you interested? I can ask the Great Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku on your behalf to let you train there. You've seen my Sage Mode before, right? It's very powerful. It can enhance ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu across the board."
So proactive? Genichi was instantly on guard. Not that he thought Jiraiya had any bad intentions, but he had an instinctual wariness of Mount Myōboku.
"Sage Mode?" He pretended to think, then shook his head. "Not right now. My training schedule is too full."
Jiraiya was taken aback by this. "You brat, you really don't act like a 12-year-old. You're more disciplined than any adult. You're just like that guy Orochimaru, with nothing but ninjutsu in your head. You really don't know how to enjoy life."
"Master Jiraiya," Genichi said out of the blue, "if you had my strength, you would have already won over Lady Tsunade, right?"
"That's not true at all!" Jiraiya immediately jumped to his feet. "That idiot Tsunade, how could I possibly… hmph, my ideal is an entire forest. How could I tie myself down for one person? And among the Sannin, I'm the strongest."
"At Minato-san's wedding, you were beaten black and blue," Genichi said coolly.
"I just didn't want to lower myself to her level," Jiraiya argued.
Genichi gave him a slightly contemptuous smile.
"Genichi," Jiraiya "roared," "you underestimate me, the Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku! When the war is over, we'll have a proper match. Then I'll show you the power of a sage!"
Genichi's interest was piqued. "No problem," he agreed at once. He certainly couldn't pass up on Sage Mode. But as for Mount Myōboku… he felt he could try the Art of Sha first. The spiritual power of all things, let me connect with it. Perhaps he could absorb natural energy that way. But he was in no hurry. His chakra reserves weren't large enough yet. Training would be dangerous, not to mention impractical.
"Let's go to the front," Genichi said after a moment.
"Don't you need to rest and recover your chakra?" Jiraiya asked. The reason he had been chatting with him was to let him rest. It had only been a few minutes.
"No need. My chakra is still full. The sooner we solve this, the sooner I can go back to the village and train." Genichi stood up.
"Genichi," Jiraiya sighed, "you're making us seniors look very incompetent and lazy."
Genichi smiled. "Perhaps our goals are just different, Master Jiraiya."
"What is your goal?" Jiraiya asked as he walked out. "To become the Hokage? Or to be like that guy Orochimaru, researching and modifying every ninjutsu?"
"I'm not interested in becoming the Hokage," Genichi said as he stepped out of the tent. "I'm interested in becoming the man behind the Hokage."
Jiraiya was instantly taken aback and felt an urge to hit him.
Genichi had come to the battlefield for the A-B Combo, so he naturally went straight for them. Although in reality, they weren't always on the front lines. But if Jiraiya appeared on the front lines, they would definitely appear. Just as there was no squad in Konoha that could take on the A-B Combo alone, there was no ninja in the Cloud who could take on Jiraiya alone.
And Genichi was no longer a nobody. Arriving at the front, he couldn't be bothered to fight with the small fry. He directly announced, "I am Kinoshita Genichi! Tell the A-B Combo to come and meet an old friend."
"Kinoshita Genichi!"
"The Sharingan! It really is him!"
"I hear he killed the Fourth Kazekage, and even the Third Mizukage might have been assassinated by him!"
"Quick, tell A and Killer Bee!"
An uproar went through the Cloud-nin. With the end of the peace talks between Konoha and the Sand, and Pakura's official announcement as the Fifth Kazekage, a lot of news and intelligence began to spread throughout the ninja world. This was also because Konoha had not hidden the information. And the fact that a Kage had been killed on the battlefield was too shocking. The Third Raikage had also once praised him as a genjutsu prodigy who surpassed the Uchiha, so he had long been on the Cloud's radar.
A and Killer Bee arrived quickly, the former already in his Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
"Kinoshita Genichi, so it is you." A glanced at his Sharingan, then immediately looked away, meeting only his left eye.
"If it weren't for that Sharingan, I almost wouldn't have recognized you, ya fool, ya fool," Killer Bee said, looking at the now much taller Genichi.
A smile appeared on Genichi's face as he looked at the duo. "Long time no see." It really had been a long time.
"Did you really kill the Fourth Kazekage?" A stared at him.
"That's right," he admitted directly. "I hear the Third Raikage died at the hands of Iwa-nin. If you need, you can hire me for revenge. Since we're old friends, I'll give you a fifty percent discount. Only 10 billion ryō."
Stabbed in the heart, A's face immediately darkened. "We won't be needing you for that."
"Kinoshita Genichi, you should buy yourself a burial plot first," Bee rapped. "You're now facing the A-B Combo, ya fool, ya fool!"
Genichi smiled, then said to Jiraiya behind him, "Master Jiraiya, you all should fall back a bit. I'll test their strength."
Jiraiya nodded and retreated, but he was ready to intervene at any moment.
Genichi reached into his ninja pouch and took out numerous Flying Thunder God kunai. With a wave of his hands, he scattered them. These were all custom-made, the same model as Minato's.
Seeing that Genichi was going to fight him and his brother alone, Bee snorted. "You overconfident fool, you dare to look down on the A-B Combo? I'll make you pay later, ya fool, ya fool, oh yeah!"
Although he said this, he was very cautious. This guy is completely different from back then. To be able to kill the Fourth Kazekage, he must be extraordinary.
At this time, inside the seal, the Eight-Tails, Gyūki, slowly woke up and opened its eyes. "This feeling…" It saw Genichi through Bee's eyes and then spoke slowly. "Hey, that guy's aura is a bit familiar. He has my chakra on him. You'd better be careful, you fool."
Bee was taken aback. "Your chakra? Wait, why is your chakra on him?"
"How should I know?" the Eight-Tails said coolly.
"It's your chakra, and you don't know?" Bee's face darkened. "You're a pretty useless Eight-Tails, aren't you?"
"You'd better be careful," it huffed. "This guy feels very dangerous. Don't die."
"I'm the great Killer Bee! How could I die? Ya fool, ya fool!" Bee immediately retorted. He then warned his brother, "Big Brother, be careful! This guy is different."
"I know," A nodded. "I'll engage him first."
CRACKLE!
The electricity surrounding him intensified. The Lightning Release Chakra Mode grew even stronger.
"Here I come!" he shouted, and then shot forward, like a bolt of lightning, at Genichi.
Genichi's gaze hardened. As A charged and was about to bring his fist down, he tossed the kunai in his hand into the air.
Swoosh!
He vanished, first appearing in a tree, then appearing behind A. He caught the flipping kunai, coated it in wind chakra, and then stabbed down.
A's pupils constricted. It was too late. But then, his body stumbled to the side. Genichi's attack missed, but the incomparably sharp kunai sliced off the octopus tail that had pushed A out of the way. The moment he pushed off the tail with one hand, he left a Flying Thunder God marker on it.
A flickered a few times, retreating in front of his brother. "Bee, are you alright?"
Sweat beaded on Bee's forehead. He slowly retracted his tail, panting slightly. "I'm fine." Although his relationship with the Eight-Tails was getting better, he was not yet a perfect jinchuriki. And when the tail was cut, the pain was connected.
"Such terrifying speed! Not even A could react in time!"
"No wonder he was able to kill the Fourth Kazekage!"
The Cloud-nin were shocked.
The Konoha ninja behind them were elated. Jiraiya couldn't help but think to himself, This guy's Flying Thunder God is already on par with Minato's. What a little monster.
Having suffered a small loss, A's gaze fell on the kunai scattered across the battlefield. "These kunai with special markers allow him to instantly fly to them. Then all we have to do is lock onto them, and when he flies over, we just have to charge him at top speed."
The Flying Thunder God itself was not hard to see through, and the special nature of the kunai was also easy to observe. But most of the time, even if you knew, it was useless because you weren't fast enough, and your reactions weren't good enough.
"Bee!" A shouted and charged at Genichi again.
Genichi, who had replicated Minato's attack pattern before, this time put a kunai in his mouth and flew through hand seals.
Sha, Kai, Jin, clap.
Genjutsu: Five Senses Seal!
A, who was just about to reach him, suddenly pitched forward and slid on the ground toward him.
Damn it, I'm in a genjutsu… A's mind was still clear.
Just as Genichi was about to stomp on him, Killer Bee had already made his move. Three octopus tails shot toward him like spears.
BOOM!
The tails plunged into the earth. And at the same time, Genichi suddenly appeared behind Bee, grabbed his head, and slammed it down.
Boom!
The large rock beneath Bee shattered. He grunted and spat out blood, his sunglasses flying off.
Genichi knew that Bee would save A, so his initial target had been him all along. In terms of reaction speed, the current Killer Bee was not as good as A. When squeezing persimmons, of course, you start with the softest one.
"Bee!" A, who had broken the genjutsu, shouted. He leaped up but hesitated, not daring to charge forward immediately.
The Cloud-nin in the rear were all shocked. Someone saw the formula on the octopus tail and exclaimed, "He marked him back then! The attack on A was just a feint to hide his real target!"
(End of Chapter)
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