"I still have one last question. Why did you become a ninja?"
He was way too calm. Even with Haseo ready to deliver a killing blow, the other guy still had the nerve to talk so casually about random stuff.
Haseo had asked others this question before, but he never got a straight answer. Now it was his turn to be on the receiving end of that question. At least he could clearly explain why he chose this path—as if he were answering an interviewer's question.
After all, his reason was very straightforward:
"Just for survival."
Yeah, just to survive in this world, Haseo chose to become a ninja—at least for now.
Frankly speaking, this kind of answer was very realistic yet disappointing because it wasn't something worth explaining in detail at all.
"Do you really think someone like me—a regular ninja—could have big dreams? World peace? Domination over the ninja world? Sure, I can imagine those things—but dreaming without the power is just like a frog in the well."
"Ordinary... ninja?" Nagare, the ninja from Amegakure, seemed somewhat confused by Haseo's words. A ninja Haseo's age having this level of strength—is he still 'ordinary'? If not false modesty, maybe it was just how shinobi from the big villages saw things.
But Haseo wasn't actually one of those big-village shinobi—he just understood this world on a deeper level. The power ceiling for regular ninjas was clearly visible, even insurmountable.
The people destined to change this world were decided long ago—their bloodline legacies passed down from the founders of this world.
Flip through Konoha's brief history, and every twisted, jagged page preached the Will of Fire, teamwork, and hard training. But even Haseo, who knew next to nothing about the real Konoha, could see something else written between the lines—in fact, the whole book screamed just two words:
Cheating.
The village leader was called Hokage, but clearly the First was actually Moku Kage (Wood Shadow), the Second was Kai Kage (Sea Shadow). As for the current Third... Well, the Third was fine. At least barely human.
And precisely because the Third Hokage remained human, no matter how powerful he was, his strength was limited to that of a human being. He could only solve problems in human ways rather than divine ones.
"If that's truly your belief, then why don't you turn around and run away now? If you tried your hardest to escape, I might not necessarily be able to stop you," Nagare continued, expressing doubt. After all, Haseo's explanation contradicted his current actions.
If you became a ninja solely for survival, then why would you bare your fangs toward an enemy you clearly had no confidence in defeating?
"Still not clear enough for you? Embracing death to find life—doesn't that make sense?" Haseo became a ninja to survive, but once he became one, he couldn't act only for the sake of survival anymore.
Haseo advanced, taking a few quick steps before his body instantly turned into a streak of light, slicing effortlessly through the heavy rain.
The storm howled, battering against him. Nagare furrowed his brows and immediately sensed the Water Release hidden within the downpour… As expected, he realized the chaos within Haseo's chakra wasn't just random — simultaneous Lightning and Water Release? So this was what Haseo called an "ordinary ninja"? Pretty laughable.
[Water Release: Water Bullet Jutsu!]
Countless water spheres, brimming with potential energy far exceeding their size, rained down from above, completely covering the battlefield and leaving no ground untouched.
Then came the sounds—an endless series of impacts like cannonballs crashing into mud—mingling with the pouring rain and the unstable crackling of Haseo's Lightning Release, which he couldn't keep silent under overload. A chaotic symphony of noise filled the air.
Whether or not the enemy could see, if he relied on hearing and chakra sensing to gauge the battlefield, then Haseo would definitely use these senses to interfere with him during the assault.
Within the full range of Haseo's jutsu, the enemy did not dodge outward as expected.
Nagare simply moved his feet and twisted his body, evading skillfully within an extremely limited space, thus steadily remaining between the gaps in Haseo's wide-range attack.
This man, indeed, was no simple opponent.
Just as the Water Release technique concluded, Haseo—who had sprinted at maximum speed—had already appeared right before his foe. His heavy footfalls landed firmly upon the muddy terrain. First, he crouched low, knees bent, then pushed hard with both legs, unleashing explosive force that launched his body high off the ground. At the same time, his core muscles powered into motion—Haseo lifted one leg and twisted his torso, delivering a devastating spinning kick aimed directly at his opponent's neck.
The droplets flung out by his forceful motion felt icy cold. And that single leg he swung around was like a thick sawing rope—there was absolutely no doubt this blow could easily send a human head flying clean off its shoulders.
That is, of course, assuming he could hit.
At the last possible second, the enemy suddenly leaned backward—his chin narrowly skimming past Haseo's foot.
Amegakure ninja "Nagare" was clearly slower than Haseo in movement and reaction speed, yet his sensory abilities were far from ordinary. It was as though he could predict Haseo's actions in advance, always reacting exactly as needed just a fraction ahead of time.
However, Haseo's assault was far from over. Immediately following that sweeping kick, his upper body twisted sharply around!
A ten-meter-long blade of lightning extended downward from Haseo's outstretched arm. As his body rotated violently, this Lightning Sword sliced through the air, creating an immense swirling fan-shaped arc of deathly sharp blade-light. In an instant, this ferociously sharp edge seemed poised to cleave the enemy cleanly in half at the waist.
Yet, at that exact moment, the target had already forcefully curled inward, ducking low beneath the trajectory of that deadly slash just before it could connect.
Haseo was fast—impressive even—but for a ninja like Nagare, speed alone hardly meant anything at all.
Nagare pressed one hand lightly on the ground while bending his elbow with the other, raising his palm as his fingers curled into a tiger-claw formation. In the next instant, he exploded forward like ignited gunpowder, his body snapping open as his arm shot out—a [palm strike like a meteor piercing through clouds], instantly aiming straight for Haseo's throat.
True to his name, Nagare moved like water without fixed form, his limbs perfectly coordinated. His transition from defense to offense flowed as smoothly as silk, without any obstruction. He could be soft when needed and explosively rigid when necessary.
Although Haseo's earlier attack had been lightning-fast, the problem was that his movements were simply too broad. Now airborne, he had no way of making quick evasive maneuvers.
The relentless offensive pressure and bone-chilling killing intent sent Haseo's teeth clenching together in an instant. The life-and-death confrontation stimulated his nerves, and under such extreme conditions, his muscle reflexes even overtook his neurological responses.
He sharply twisted his head aside, and just then, the enemy's palm brushed past his collarbone, landing right beside his ear.
Before Haseo could even think he'd dodged a deathblow, the next strike came—maybe his opponent never thought in terms of first or second strikes at all. One motion bled effortlessly into the next.
Nagare extended his elbow forward, then suddenly swept his forearm sideways across Haseo's chest. With a sudden shoulder twist, his entire arm swung powerfully. Midair, Haseo felt like a wet rag slung across someone's forearm—flung outward in an instant, smacking heavily into the mud.
Mud and water exploded around him. Haseo rolled violently across the ground before slamming his back into a huge tree with a thunderous crash, finally coming to a stop.
Struggling, he pushed himself up halfway with both hands, flaring his nostrils as he sucked in a deep breath through his mouth. Then, abruptly, he spat out a stream of blood like an arrow.
"That was… a bit too much, wasn't it?"
Pressing one hand against his ribs, Haseo looked up, his eyes finally showing signs of alarm toward his opponent.
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