"Lord, the barrier... it's been broken."
A ninja from Amegakure, no older than twelve or thirteen, knelt halfway while reporting to another ninja standing ahead—the one responsible for monitoring events happening not far away.
This was the Land of Rain. Since Amegakure had already launched a purge operation against Konoha's infiltration squad, their countermeasures obviously involved more than just setting up barriers... Inside the barrier, forces had already been positioned accordingly, and beyond it, across the broader nation, additional countermeasures had surely been prepared in advance.
"Mm, I felt it... No wonder they're from Konoha. Even under overwhelming disadvantage, they still find ways to break through impossible situations," said that ninja, facing toward where the barrier had been.
Though now nothing remained there but empty space.
"Lord..." The younger ninja's voice carried both anxiety and a subtle sense of urgency.
"Yes, I understand. Don't panic. I'll act immediately... There's no way the Konoha ninjas are getting away."
...
Meanwhile, right after eliminating one of the barrier specialists from Amegakure, Haseo instantly warned his teammates without hesitation to leave immediately. With the barrier destroyed, and given their current lack of strength, continuing battle with the enemy would be meaningless. Their priority was to retreat before getting surrounded again.
"Understood!"
To intercept Haseo, enemies had long abandoned their coordinated attack on Konoha Squad Leader, allowing him to withdraw immediately. At first, his teammates wanted to charge into the battlefield alongside Haseo. However, before they could even react, he had already completed the mission by himself. So all they could do was turn around one hundred eighty degrees, running back exactly as fast as they'd come—in exactly the same direction they charged from.
One strike, one kill; pull back right away—Haseo perfectly embodied what it meant to be a ninja. Along with four others, after escaping the barrier prison, they immediately pushed southeastward at high speed, trying to get out of the Land of Rain as quickly as possible.
The Konoha ninjas moved swiftly and skillfully through the jungle. And because Haseo had assassinated precisely the most critical target under heavy enemy guard, the momentary shock and sense of defeat caused the Amegakure shinobi to hesitate briefly. By the time they recovered and resumed pursuit, precious moments had already passed.
In that brief span measured only in minutes, Haseo and his group had already pulled far enough ahead to create sufficient distance.
They had only two options: head east or south—either directly returning to the Land of Fire or slipping back across the border into the Land of Rivers.
Truthfully speaking, the size of the Land of Rain wasn't large—if Haseo and his companions could advance straight forward at maximum speed, they could exit this country within hours. However, that was entirely impossible. They would have to keep changing course to avoid being ambushed or pursued by Amegakure shinobi.
The path ahead was far from smooth, but at the moment, the most urgent priority was to completely shake off the pursuers behind. Just as Haseo was thinking this, suddenly and without the slightest warning, a slender, long hand shot out from beside his body.
"What?!"
The opponent's movement was ghost-like—utterly silent and impossible to detect. In that critical moment, Haseo violently erupted with chaotic chakra, frantically altering his direction mid-air by the narrowest of margins, barely dodging the reaching hand.
Immediately after, another fist came straight toward him.
While moving at such high speed, Haseo couldn't maintain optimal agility, so swift evasive maneuvers in succession were impossible. With no way to dodge, he could only cross both arms in front of his chest and block the attack directly.
But what surprised him was how unexpectedly immense the force of that punch turned out to be.
In one blow, Haseo's forward momentum was forcibly halted. Worse still, he felt himself hurled backward by an enormous force.
His lightning-illuminated figure traced a large arc through the rain-laden sky. He landed lightly on the water surface like a figure skater, twisting one-and-a-half times midair. As he finally dissipated most of the impact, he barely regained his balance before stumbling onto solid ground.
This was… a powerful enemy.
Rainwater covered Haseo's face, though at this moment he could clearly tell which drops were from the rain—and which were cold sweat. If it weren't for his quick reflexes, he'd have been decapitated already.
In just a single exchange, he nearly got killed instantly. At that moment, Haseo fully understood what the now-dead Amegakure barrier ninja must've felt right before his death.
Dressed in gray, the enemy had weaved directly into the middle of the Konoha squad, instantly separating Haseo—the fastest among them—from the group with just one strike.
Haseo narrowed his eyes. Through the downpour, he could see the attacker appeared to be in his early twenties. The enemy wore nothing that would reveal his identity—completely clean and unmarked.
Yet judging from his earlier move alone, Haseo suspected immediately that this could be one of those extraordinarily strong ninjas belonging to Amegakure.
It seemed the retreat journey of the Konoha squad wouldn't be optimistic at all.
Unable to discern the enemy's facial features clearly, Haseo immediately noticed a particular characteristic about the ninja—the area around his eyes was tightly wrapped in white bandages.
Was this a special sealing formula meant to protect the eyes, or simply due to blindness? Haseo couldn't determine. However, if it really was the former, then he definitely needed to proceed with more caution. In this world, any ninja who possessed dojutsu required extra caution.
All these events occurred within a flash. By the time the remaining Konoha ninjas ran forward a certain distance, they realized Haseo had suddenly been intercepted. They stopped immediately, uncertainty creeping over them. Like Haseo, they too had completely failed to sense the enemy's sudden appearance.
They hadn't even noticed the enemy had already launched a deadly assassination attempt.
If the enemy's target wasn't Haseo himself, the consequences would have been dire. But now, the enemy stood alone. This was the perfect chance for Konoha's side to swarm him and finish him off immediately—otherwise, once reinforcements from Amegakure arrived, the situation would turn completely against them.
Yet before they could act, Haseo suddenly raised his arm, forcefully halting his teammates' advance.
Witnessing the enemy's incredible power and the chilling killing intent he radiated, Haseo's teammates had gotten worked up and lost their cool heads.
"Retreat—you all evacuate first… Don't worry about me. With my speed, no matter what happens, I can always pull out safely," he said.
Haseo understood his teammates' strengths perfectly. Their assistance wouldn't make a difference at this point—in fact, coordinating against this enemy was practically meaningless.
The opponent was a ninja with a lethal instant-kill technique. Before him, any techniques or teamwork might prove ineffective—because within an extremely short time frame, he could overwhelm opponents with abnormally aggressive damage output.
This was a brutal, no-frills killing method—utterly ruthless and unreasonable. It was completely beyond what ordinary ninja could handle.
"Go!"
Seeing hesitation still linger among his teammates, Haseo could only emphasize again. This wasn't bravado—it was a decision made while ensuring his own safety.
Firstly, as he'd already stated, he had superior speed. Secondly, in an emergency, he could use Space-Time Ninjutsu to teleport… although it was merely Reverse Summoning Jutsu, it was more than enough to allow him to escape the battlefield.
His teammates staying here served no purpose, which was why Haseo urged them so firmly. Eventually, stunned by his intensity, the Konoha ninjas calmed down.
Everyone possessed the ability to judge an enemy's strength. Hence, they understood that even if they worked together, they would likely just become a burden to Haseo.
The Konoha shinobi acknowledged reality, though emotionally, accepting such arrangements remained difficult.
At this moment, someone needed to help everyone make the decisive call. Finally, Nagisa Nara gritted his teeth and spoke: "Follow the squad leader's orders—we continue our withdrawal… Remaining serves no purpose."
Sacrificing ourselves pointlessly wouldn't help the current situation.
After saying this, Nagisa cast one glance toward Haseo before immediately continuing the retreat. Once he took action, the rest had no choice but to follow.
Faced with this separation maneuver, the enemy didn't even look back, perhaps believing leaving Haseo behind was sufficient—or maybe because he understood both sides were currently locked in mutual restraint:
Blocked by Haseo, he couldn't chase them down, but neither could Haseo break free from him.
"Unbelievable insight, isn't it?" Seeing his teammates had already left, Haseo locked eyes with the enemy before speaking.
It wasn't just a matter of Haseo's combat strength—it takes real skill to catch someone moving at his speed. His speed was practically unsolvable for ordinary ninja.
Without the slightest movement, the man spoke in a voice as cold as ice, "You're a Konoha ninja—you should understand that true perception often demands the most extreme conditions. Either through bloodline, like the Sharingan or Byakugan… or by seeing absolutely nothing, not relying on sight at all."
For him, seeing nothing meant he could truly "see" everything.
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