Haseo stood silently before his foe. Rather than charging into battle, he held his ground—and so did the other man. Instead of appearing threatening, the opponent seemed curious—or even relaxed.
Soon, the sound of many approaching figures reached Haseo's ears. He turned to see that the pursuers had already caught up. As soon as they saw him, he saw them too—but instead of attacking immediately, the group halted behind him.
Though some Rain Village ninjas stirred uneasily, they only loosely surrounded him without moving in… Their eyes passed over his shoulders, fixed instead on the ninja ahead—the one with his eyes covered.
Their hesitation wasn't out of fear of Haseo—they were terrified of that ninja's identity.
"It's… Lord Nagare."
Haseo overheard their quiet whispers and gradually learned the name of the ninja before him. Compared to legendary figures like Sanshouo no Hanzo, he had never heard of a powerful ninja from Amegakure named "Nagare."
But the world was vast; not every formidable warrior carried renown. In truth, the deadliest warriors were often those no one had ever heard of.
Then Nagare spoke again, "They fled southeast. Follow that way if you want to chase them. I'll handle this one."
"But—"
One of the Rain Village ninjas hesitated slightly, wanting to object, but before he could speak, another shinobi beside him silenced him.
"We understand, Nagare-sama."
Without hesitation, this man accepted the order, instantly shifting focus away from Haseo and leading most of the force northeastward in pursuit. Soon, their figures vanished into the rain-soaked darkness.
Haseo watched the retreating forms of the Rain ninjas, then subtly furrowed his brow. What had just happened clearly revealed two things: First, this ninja called Nagare held considerable status and authority within the Rain Village—at least enough for a mid-sized squad to follow his orders without question. Second, Nagare's strength received further indirect confirmation through the glances cast toward Haseo by passing Rain ninjas—gazes filled with cold detachment, as if he were already dead.
Even though he had sliced through these ninja time and again without a scratch, they still considered him no match for the man before them. That's why they could abandon him here and continue chasing the Konoha unit.
Helpless against the enemy's ongoing pursuit, there was little Haseo could do—only hold off the single greatest threat directly in front of him.
After all the Amegakure ninjas had rushed out in pursuit, Haseo took a moment to consider his words before cautiously asking, "Your eyes…can't see anything at all, can they?"
The other party responded, "Does my answer really matter? Regardless of whether I say yes or no, you wouldn't believe me anyway."
That was only natural. On the battlefield, nobody would easily trust words coming from an enemy's mouth.
"Then how about we strike a deal?" Haseo continued. "Your main force has already left. Why don't we abandon this pointless confrontation and bloody slaughter, and simply go our separate ways? After all, fellow ninja shouldn't make things unnecessarily difficult for each other. Remember, love and peace are the eternal truths of this world."
"You're the most valuable among those Konoha ninja trapped here. Whether others escape or get killed doesn't matter much to a large village like Konoha. But leaving you behind will truly inflict real damage on them… Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Haseo curled his lips slightly. Predictably, peaceful negotiation couldn't resolve their conflict. Sharp verbal persuasion existed only in legends after all. Thinking about it, how could the other side possibly allow him to leave?
To Haseo himself, he felt that the opponent might have overestimated him. But to the enemy, his judgment was spot-on—should Haseo be allowed to grow stronger, he'd become a pillar of his entire village, while killing him prematurely would cause grief even such a large ninja village as Konoha would feel deeply.
Thus, battle had been inevitable from the start.
Then, the other spoke again: "Want to try your hardest? Yet no matter how hard you try, you surely realize—you're no match for me."
During the brief moment of engagement earlier, Haseo indeed sensed the opponent's might. In some way, he even felt this adversary much trickier than Menzuomen previously had been; otherwise, he wouldn't have prioritized evacuating his teammates first. Still, even facing extremely powerful enemies, would he ever raise his hands in surrender?
"You can't grasp flowing water because it has no shape, nor trace drifting wind because it leaves no trail. A ninja's strength…comes from within."
Come on now! Would I, Haseo, really shrink back just because of a formidable foe's intimidating presence?
Upon hearing Haseo's words, the enemy actually smiled slightly. "I like that phrase, however… It's nothing but empty rhetoric. Among ninja, the only convincing form of communication is through 'jutsu.'"
Ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu, sealing techniques—the so-called persuasive power was nothing but proving one's prowess. Strength among ninja isn't proven through words—it's earned by defeating your opponent.
"Lord Haseo…"
Haseo's clothing shifted slightly atop his shoulder as Katsuyu's tentacles emerged. She was reminding Haseo to evacuate soon.
"I know," Haseo whispered softly, "but it isn't time yet."
Whether charging forward at full speed or having Katsuyu perform [Reverse Summoning Jutsu] to teleport him into the Shikkotsu Forest, Haseo indeed had opportunities to withdraw immediately. However, for certain reasons, he wanted to attempt fighting against this opponent first.
It wasn't just some trivial sense of pride. Haseo was far from so childish that hearing someone say, "You're not better than me," would instantly make him want to prove himself. It was simply because the time hadn't yet come for him to retreat.
As if sensing Haseo's resolve, the enemy slowly twisted his neck, directing half of his ear toward him… To be honest, for Nagare, this was the very first time he had ever encountered a ninja like Haseo.
It wasn't about Haseo's strength; rather, according to Nagare's perception, the chakra within Haseo's body could only be described as an absolute mess. Multiple-natured chakras were chaotically rushing through him. Such chaos had already reached a level that could practically drive a perfectionist insane… The sharper a ninja's sensing ability was, the less they would be able to make sense of such an inexplicable phenomenon.
But Haseo had no reason to explain his unique traits to the enemy. He lowered his stance, and then—as though determined to show who was Konoha's top lightning user—he poured every ounce of power into his Lightning Release. Electric arcs surged outward from his body in all directions, slicing through the heavy curtain of rain. For the first time, Haseo began overclocking and overloading himself. At this moment, he could even feel a faint numbing sensation radiating from every cell in his body.
A more intense use of Lightning Release pushed his speed to new limits—but at the same time, it started taking a toll on his body. Under normal circumstances, Haseo would definitely never do something like this. But now, he no longer needed to worry about these minor negative side effects.
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