📌 Notice Regarding MC Name Standardization
Dear Readers,
Based on reader feedback and requests, the main character's name will be officially standardized as Hyūga Akira instead of Hyūga Ming from this point onward.
This change is made to improve name consistency and readability throughout the story.Please note that this is purely a naming adjustment—the character, personality, and storyline remain unchanged.
Thank you for your valuable suggestions and continued support.
Kusen finally let out a long breath when he saw Akijima blown to pieces by the explosion.
The most dangerous enemy was dead at last.
He hadn't expected the ninja sent by Shōzō to be this strong. He had nearly overturned the boat himself.
Now, as long as he handled the aftermath properly, it would take Rain's leadership a long time to notice anything amiss. And that span of time would be more than enough for Lord Hanzō to make his move.
Everything he had done was for Lord Hanzō.
For Amegakure.
"Where are the other three?" Kusen wiped the blood from his face—the mark Akijima's fist had left behind.
The prolonged fight had taken a serious toll on him.
Hyūga Akira stood on the tree branch, with no intention of coming down. He chuckled lightly.
"As for the others… they're all dead. That leaves just the two of us now, Captain Kusen."
Kusen nodded coldly. "Then it's over. Clean this place up. We leave immediately."
This scene had to be erased completely. As long as Akijima's squad vanished without a trace, no one would be able to uncover his mistake.
But Akira tilted his head, clearly holding a different opinion.
"What are you talking about, Captain Kusen?"
"…Hm?" Kusen frowned. "Are you hard of hearing?"
Akira replied patiently, "Not at all. I'm just reminding you that this isn't over yet."
"There's still an enemy?"
Kusen scanned the surroundings at once, his guard snapping back up. He trusted Akira's judgment.
Akira pressed a hand to his forehead in exasperation.
Is his brain filled with water?
It was this obvious, yet he still hadn't realized.
"Captain Kusen," Akira said calmly, "there are no other enemies here."
He snapped his fingers.
Flames ignited at his fingertips.
"…But there is you. And me."
The fire raced along the steel wires beside him, spreading like a chain reaction. In an instant, the surrounding wires were lit, forming a blazing semicircle around the clearing.
The flames didn't last long—raindrops quickly extinguished them—but the meaning was unmistakable.
Kusen finally understood.
He stared at Akira in disbelief.
"You're going to kill me?"
"You finally caught on."
"…Just you?"
"Just me."
Akira leapt lightly from the branch and landed on the ground. His stance shifted as his hands spread out—smooth, precise, unmistakable.
The Gentle Fist.
"And it's a fair fight," he added with a smile. "Not everyone gets this kind of treatment."
Ambush when possible. Dirty tricks when available.
That was Akira's usual style.
A straight, head-on fight to the death?
This was his first time.
And, strangely enough, he felt a flicker of excitement.
Kusen stared at Akira's stance in shock. "Gentle Fist… You're definitely not Mu Yu."
The Hyūga clan's fighting style was too famous. In a world full of brute-force taijutsu, only the Hyūga practiced this art. There was no mistaking it.
"Why now?" Kusen asked. In that instant, everything clicked.
This was a purge.
The only person who truly knew everything about "Mu Yu" was him.
Rain ninja weren't like those from the great villages. There were no standardized academies, no systematic training. Each ninja developed freely, and only their direct superior fully understood their abilities.
Once Kusen died, no one would clearly know what Mu Yu was capable of—at least, not until it was too late.
"Because now is the perfect time," Akira said.
Before this, Hanzō hadn't even known who Mu Yu was. Even if Akira wanted to keep climbing within Amegakure, there was no path upward.
But now, Kusen had already reported his name to Hanzō.
Once Kusen was gone, Akira could make direct contact.
Which meant—
Kusen had outlived his usefulness.
"Don't even think about running," Akira said as he walked forward.
"The moment I lit those wires, I rearranged every trap here. What you know is already outdated."
Akira hadn't wasted these years.
The system gave him a panel, but it didn't turn him into data. Many things—like trap-setting—couldn't be quantified as skills.
Kusen took a deep breath. "So you're a chūnin too? What's your goal?"
Akira shook his head. "I'm still a genin. This isn't just about silencing you—I want to test my own strength."
From the very start, he had deliberately weakened Kusen.
The thrown kunai, the obvious bait—everything was meant to make Akijima stay alert and avoid charging blindly into the traps.
Akijima's role had been simple.
Wear Kusen down.
Though judging by that fight… without the traps, Kusen probably would've died outright.
Is this guy the baseline for chūnin?
Akira felt a little disappointed.
"Testing your strength?" Kusen snarled, his face twisting with rage.
"A mere genin thinks he can use me as a measuring stick? The arrogance of you Konoha dogs!"
His hands flashed through seals.
"Water Release: Water Shuriken Technique!"
Shuriken formed in midair as Kusen charged forward, kunai in one hand, seals maintained with the other.
"Then test it with your life, bastard!"
Akira didn't cancel his transformation. At his feet, a faint Eight Trigrams diagram slowly emerged.
"Gentle Fist Art: Shiranui—Eight Trigrams, Sixty-Four Palms!"
His figure vanished.
Flames erupted around his hands as he struck, his palms blazing like fire itself.
One palm.
Three palms.
Eight palms.
The water shuriken struck first—only to evaporate into mist upon contact with Akira's burning strikes.
This was not the Hyūga clan's traditional Sixty-Four Palms.
The Hyūga sealed tenketsu, shutting down chakra flow.
Akira's version focused on impact.
Each strike carried fire, brute force, and reinforcement—one hit was enough to kill.
This was his strongest technique.
Stronger even than his shuriken barrages.
The moment they clashed—
Nine palms.
Fifteen palms.
Eighteen palms.
Kusen's kunai flew from his hand. His palms and arms shattered instantly, reduced to charred ruin.
Chest. Head. Abdomen.
Nearly at the same instant, he was struck again and again.
His body was hurled backward as the flames consumed him completely, burning him into ash.
Akira came to a stop on the twenty-third strike.
"Twenty-three palms… to take down a chūnin."
A notification slid across his vision.
[EXP +1112]
Kusen: Dead.
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