Chapter 233: Phantom in the Wind
The KumogakureJounin, Ayai, looked stunned. He stared at the broken kunai in his hand and the profusely bleeding web of his thumb, confirming that he had not just been caught in a Genjutsu.
This guy... shattered my kunai with his bare body?
He often fought Iwagakure shinobi and was very familiar with the [Earth Style: Hardening Technique]. That jutsu could harden the body, but it could never achieve this level.
Ayai quickly made several discreet hand signals to those in the darkness, while he himself slowly retreated into the shadows.
A so-called shinobi is one who endures all extreme environments to complete their objective.
A direct, head-on confrontation with the enemy is always the worst strategy.
Kaito Shirogane was well aware of all this. Unlike [Fengbo], who had decent enhancements but was carelessly assassinated, Kaito had seen the abnormality just by glancing at the two people below through the window.
A ninja "guarding" a woman, but he hides her in the house while he stands outside.
In a one-versus-many ninja battle, this situation was a death sentence.
The ninjas in the shadows could easily break through from any direction. A wooden house is useless in front of a shinobi who can truly use Chakra.
Rather than being used for defense, that house's greater purpose was as a prop.
A "stage-play" prop, designed to make the current situation look like a tense standoff.
Kaito, "sharp-eared and clear-eyed," took two steps out from in front of the woman. He spread his hands, exposing his entire body's openings to the many shinobi hidden in the darkness.
The woman, Hana Hiranaka, bit her lip. She absolutely loathed this tall shinobi. She gripped the intelligence report—soaked in her husband's blood—and cautiously scanned her surroundings.
Swoosh!
The sound of slicing air rushed at her. She couldn't react at all. Her vision blurred, and a figure was already standing in front of her, a shuriken caught between his two fingers.
Ayai's pupils shrank. His subordinates continuously changed positions, loosing shuriken at the woman, but the guy—the suspected Konoha reinforcement—just stood in place and caught every single shuriken.
That speed and precision... he almost thought he had encountered a member of the Uchiha clan.
He had never heard of Konoha producing such an expert recently.
He'd never seen this guy in previous battles either...
Elsewhere, Catherine and [Rampage] let out a breath of relief. From [Fengbo]'s flashy entrance to his unexpected assassination, less than thirty seconds had passed.
Watching a somewhat famous Reincarnator die right in front of them had put them on edge.
The [Naruto Derivative World] was indeed one of the most popular mission worlds for Reincarnators, for many reasons.
A complete power system, convenient channels for learning abilities, frequent opportunities to trigger missions and events, and the fact that story characters had low defenses—which was a boon for Reincarnators who relied on tech weapons.
But despite all these benefits, the [Naruto Derivative World] had not become a "grinding paradise." The reason, naturally, was the high mortality rate that many Reincarnators overlooked.
Many Reincarnators, because of the behavior of Naruto and his friends in the anime, ignored the fact that a "shinobi" is a profession that hides in the dark and uses any means necessary to complete a goal. They could indeed unleash powerful ninjutsu, but for Reincarnators, the greatest danger in this world was the enemy hidden in the shadows at all times.
Transformation Jutsu, Body Flicker Technique, Clone Jutsu... the various methods of disguise were endless. Poison, exploding tags, traps... the assassination routes were impossible to guard against.
The slightest carelessness, and you'd end up like [Fengbo], easily assassinated.
"See that, Rampage? This is the 'easy world' you were talking about. Ha..."
Catherine's nerves were taut. She maintained a 40-meter psychic scan. This intensity allowed her to capture almost every detail, even including the ground beneath her.
While she was mocking [Rampage], she was also mocking herself. Just moments ago, when she was on the second floor using her barrier arts to help [Rampage] slaughter everyone, she'd also felt that Reincarnators like them could do whatever they wanted in this world.
But she was quickly tricked by a Jounin using Clone and Transformation jutsus. The death of [Fengbo], who was slightly stronger than her, made her tense up.
Rampage, however, was staring at Mercenary Tao without blinking. This guy—rumored to have wiped out [The Fifth Element], thwarted [White Mask], and killed [Flame Fiend] and other famous Reincarnators—now seemed to be full of openings.
But that casual, effortless posture made the hairs on his arms stand on end.
His superior perception could easily detect the feeling radiating from Mercenary Tao. It was the self-assurance of someone standing at the center of it all, as if he had already sealed the fate of everyone present.
Kaito Shirogane looked at the seven or eight shuriken in his hand, having lost all novelty in this "shinobi" combat style. The next moment, his hands blurred as if they had disappeared.
Fwip, fwip, fwip, fwip...
The sound of slicing air rang out.
The shinobi hidden in the darkness all tensed and quickly dodged.
THUD! THUD! THUD! PFFT...
Some dodged. The high-speed shuriken shot into the walls and ground like cannonballs, but others, in the process of dodging, were pierced by the spinning projectiles.
Kaito Shirogane watched, disliking these weapons that were designed to spin. With his body control, even without a specialization, he could easily hit any target he aimed at within 100 meters with a hand-thrown weapon.
But the spinning nature of the shuriken made most of his shots go off-target. Only two unlucky fools, in the middle of dodging, ran right into the deviating projectiles and were pierced.
"Not coming over? The guy who uses Lightning Style."
Ayai watched the man stare directly at his position. He knew the other party must be using some special jutsu that could see through the darkness.
Moreover, these three survivors all seemed to be sensor-types. The darkness had no effect on them.
In that case...
"Hey! No more hiding! These guys are all sensor-type shinobi."
He spoke openly. With a flicker, he appeared on top of the collapsed wooden house. The Kumogakure squad also revealed themselves—a total of 6 people. Including Ayai and the two who had died, their full force was comprised of three-man squads.
And in the street behind Kaito Shirogane, closer to Catherine and Rampage, the Iwagakure shinobi in their earth-yellow uniforms also revealed themselves.
"Konoha guys, you leave the woman and that intel now, and I can give the word to let you return."
Ayai spoke, his words impossible to verify. But the squad of over ten ninjas slowly advanced, applying pressure.
Hana Hiranaka was nervous. She looked at the intel in her hand, tempted to swallow it, but then she remembered her husband's descriptions of the shinobi's cruelty.
A sad look crossed her face. Even if she tore it up and swallowed it, they would most likely just cut her open, pull out the pieces, and reassemble them.
This was a group of people who had completely abandoned their humanity for the sake of their "missions."
Just for one piece of information, they had swiftly massacred hundreds of families.
Whoosh~
A gust of wind blew Hana Hiranaka's hair into her face. She instinctively closed her eyes, but suddenly, her hand felt light.
"You!"
Ignoring the pain in her body, Hana instinctively lunged, but the man simply stretched out a hand and grabbed her by the throat, immobilizing her.
Ayai's expression changed. He saw the tall man who had appeared last, the one in the bizarre pink robe, blatantly snatch the intel from the hands of the target he was supposed to be protecting, and start reading it himself.
"You... You're not a Konoha shinobi?!"
A true shinobi would never look at intel they weren't supposed to know.
For the shinobi villages, [Intelligence] was often far more important than human lives.
To maintain secrecy, most villages would make the cruelest of choices.
That's why, even if they were dying in battle, many shinobi would never know, right up to their last breath, what was written on the intel they had fought so desperately to protect.
Or if it was even truly relevant to the village at all.
Catherine and [Rampage] were also stunned. They never expected Mercenary Tao to do this. This would absolutely cause a massive drop in their Konoha reputation.
Why on earth would he make such a choice?
Could it be... Mercenary Tao wasn't on the Konoha faction?!
In an instant, a terrifying guess surfaced in the minds of both Catherine and [Rampage].
Kaito Shirogane was a little disappointed. The paper was written in code.
He tossed the so-called intel back at the woman, as if discarding a piece of trash.
But a moment later, Kaito suddenly realized: these ninjas were so obsessed with this [Intelligence] that they must know how to decode it. And his Special Trial only required him to ensure the woman's survival; it said nothing about the intel.
And judging by the fact that both Kumogakure and Iwagakure squads, including Jounin, had been mobilized, this intel was clearly priceless.
He changed his plan to kill everyone.
The next moment, Kaito looked at the shinobi, who still hadn't charged, and revealed a tyrannical smile.
He took a deep breath, and in the next instant, he stepped forward.
Ayai watched Kaito's movements, his face expressionless. He already recognized this man's strength, but he had a battle plan ready.
The reason he had everyone surround the target was to constantly constrict their space, forcing them to make the first move.
This was the most complete counter-strategy when the many faced the few.
The surrounded party must either attack first or allow the enemy to close in on the person they're protecting.
FWOOSH!
Like a sudden gale, Ayai saw the man in the pink robe take a single step and vanish into the wind.
The next moment, he turned his head and saw a hand appearing right in front of his face. As his pupils trembled, the instant the hand touched his face, his body exploded into smoke, replaced by a fragment of a wooden house.
Ayai, having dodged with the Substitution Jutsu, felt a surge of relief. Good thing he targeted me. If it had been anyone else, they would already be dead. Now, while I'm being attacked, the others should be able to grab...
He turned his head to where the woman was standing, only to find her completely untouched, still in the same spot. But all around her, several Kumogakure shinobi were being launched into the air.
Ayai's pupils shrank. He whipped his head back, just in time to see the pink-robed figure re-emerge from the gale...
[Wind God Legs: Catching Wind and Grasping Shadows]!
Kaito had mastered the first three forms of the Wind God Legs, and his best was [Catching Wind and Grasping Shadows]. Boosted by his [Yokai of the Wind] trait, he was as fast and ethereal as a phantom.
Ayai's hands formed a seal.
Lightn—
CRACK! A hand silently appeared between his, suddenly seizing his wrists. An immense force crushed them.
Only then did the pained cries of the other shinobi begin to sound.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG...
The Kumogakure shinobi were sent flying, one by one, smashing into the rubble and leaving spreading pools of blood.
"What is..."
In the distance, Catherine, Rampage, and the Iwagakure shinobi all watched in horror. In their eyes, Mercenary Tao had seemed to split into several afterimages. In a single clash, he had instantly defeated everyone and restrained the Kumogakure Jounin.
(End of Chapter)
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