"So, Hurricane is alive after all. Just as old man Kōsuke guessed—incapacitated and taken hostage by the Cloud?" Qianyu mused silently.
After a moment of contemplation, he pulled out a map, circled his current location, bit his thumb, and performed the Summoning Technique.
Poof!
A puff of smoke appeared, and a small monkey hopped out. It was Nawaki's messenger monkey.
Anyone who had pressed their bloody thumbprint onto Nawaki's contact list—er, summoning scroll—could summon these messengers to relay information to him remotely.
"Messenger Monkey, please take this map to Nawaki. Tell him the target is with me. I'm counting on you."
Qianyu handed over the map. Sensing the urgency, the monkey nodded and vanished in another puff of smoke.
With that done, Qianyu followed the drifting talisman's direction, moving forward without a sound.
"Huh. Gotta admit, these 'dog eyes' are pretty damn useful at night," he muttered to himself.
He advanced in the darkness for about ten minutes. Then, sensing something, he snatched the floating talisman from the air and sank into the ground, disappearing completely.
…
Amidst a field of jagged rocks, two figures crouched back-to-back, chewing on dry rations while scanning their surroundings with sharp eyes.
If Qianyu were here, he'd instantly recognize their uniforms—Kumogakure's Anbu.
"Sigh. Lord Bī is out hunting again. Fifth time on this trip, isn't it?"
"Yeah. He's addicted to the kill. Mark my words, he'll lose control one of these days. We need to keep an eye on him."
With nothing unusual around, the two bored Cloud Anbu began tapping rhythms on the rocks, using a coded language to chat.
"Hey, Otsu, Hei! Shut the hell up, will you? You're breaking my concentration, you morons!"
Another Cloud Anbu emerged from behind a larger cluster of rocks, glaring at the two and cursing under his breath.
"Ahem. Sorry, Kō. Still haven't cracked the seal in that Konoha bastard's head?"
"What a pain. Why bother? Just kill him and let's head back to the village already."
The two Anbu spoke in hushed, slightly embarrassed tones.
"You idiots know nothing. The harder it is to break, the more valuable the intel in his head must be."
The Anbu named Kō licked his lips. "Trust me. This one's a big fish."
Kō retreated back into the rocks, placing his hand on the head of a motionless figure. He closed his eyes, focusing on invading the target's mind.
The two Anbu, Otsu and Hei, stopped their idle chat. Finishing their rations, they stood up and resumed guard duty.
"Huh? Feeling… sleepy. Is it the food…? No—poison!"
"Ambush! Enemy!"
Realizing something was wrong, they held their breath and drew their swords in unison. At that moment, a figure burst from the earth, charging straight at them.
"Is that the real one?"
"Yes. This chakra signature is definitely not a clone!"
After a split-second exchange, they split left and right. Otsu stepped forward, his two-handed grip sending his steel blade flashing through the darkness as he brought it down hard on the charging figure.
CLANG!
The figure seemed too slow to dodge. Otsu's blade struck home. But in the next instant, his expression twisted in shock.
«This doesn't feel right!»
He tried to pull back, but it was too late. The figure in front of him exploded into a storm of paper shards, shooting towards him like a thousand sharp arrows!
"Paper Dance: Shower of Paper!"
At such close range, against such a wide-area attack, Otsu had nowhere to go. Dozens of paper shards pierced his body in an instant.
«Damn you, Hei! You call this the real one?!»
The light faded from Otsu's eyes. He slumped to the ground with a thud, his final thought a curse for his useless partner.
"Otsu!"
Everything happened too fast. From Otsu's strike to his death was barely a breath. Only when he hit the ground did Hei finally react, letting out a roar of grief and fury.
But you couldn't really blame the two Cloud Anbu.
Konan's technique of shedding her human form to become pure paper would throw anyone off the first time they saw it. Not many in the shinobi world could alter their body's fundamental structure so freely.
«Tch. Damn it. Got spotted.»
The swirling cloud of paper gathered back together, reforming into Qianyu's figure on the ground. His expression was grim.
He'd intended to bypass the two guards, but one of them turned out to be a sensor type. His cover was blown.
«This is bad. No telling if that other Anbu inside will just finish Hurricane off now!»
"You bastard! I'll make you pay for—!"
While Qianyu's mind raced, Hei roared and charged, eyes locked on him with murderous intent.
"Sharingan!"
Qianyu was pleasantly surprised by the gift. He instantly activated his dōjutsu, disrupting the enemy's mind.
Squelch.
As Hei's focus broke, Qianyu's hand shot forward, sharpened into a chakra scalpel. A clean strike pierced the Anbu's heart, sending him to join his friend.
So, when Kō finally withdrew from his mental invasion and stepped out from the rocks, he was met with a horrifying sight.
In just a few moments, both of his comrades lay dead.
"Shit!"
Kō panicked, scrambling back as if to return to the rocks and finish off Hurricane.
Seeing his reaction, Qianyu's eyes lit up. Was Hurricane still alive?
"Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld!"
With the Sharingan active, Qianyu saw through Kō's movement. His hands flew through seals, and the ground where Kō was about to land turned into a sticky mud pit.
Swish!
Forced to change course, Kō landed on a nearby rock instead. But Qianyu was already there, his right arm swelling to twice its normal size as he drove a massive fist downward.
"Multi-Size Technique: Heavy Blow!"
Faced with a fist the size of a cooking pot, Kō's eye twitched. He didn't dare block, forced to retreat again and again until Qianyu had driven him far away from Hurricane's location.
BOOM!
Qianyu's fist pulverized a boulder beside Kō. Wincing slightly at the pain in his right hand, he withdrew it and began forming new seals with a cold snort.
"Hmph. It's over. Lava Style: Scorching Stream Rock!"
If these Cloud Anbu had any other allies nearby, the commotion would have drawn them by now. No point holding back. Qianyu opened his mouth and spat out a rapid barrage of molten rock spheres.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The dark night was instantly illuminated by searing, orange light. In Kō's despairing eyes, the lava bombs fell, cutting off every possible escape route.
"AAAAAGH—!!"
Amidst the Anbu's agonized scream, Qianyu flashed into the jagged rock cluster. There, slumped on the ground, was a figure.
"Hurricane!"
Qianyu's spirit lifted. The man's face matched the one on the scroll perfectly. And he seemed to be breathing!
But when Qianyu placed a hand on Hurricane's body, sending a pulse of diagnostic chakra through his system, that initial hope evaporated completely.
"Looks like I won't be getting that reward after all…"
Hurricane was beyond saving. His wounds had festered for too long. Worse, his brain showed multiple areas of severe trauma. It was a lost cause, even for Qianyu's medical skills.
And since Qianyu had no personal connection to Hurricane, he certainly wasn't going to waste his one and only Resurrection chance on him.
"Tch."
Qianyu sighed inwardly. He channeled a stream of pure, potent chakra into Hurricane's body, making this dying candle flare up one last, brilliant time.
"Hah… Hah…!"
As the chakra flowed in, Hurricane's chest suddenly heaved violently, like a man dragged from drowning, gulping down air with desperate, ragged breaths.
"Gale, Talon, Method, Lights Out, Negative…"
Qianyu quickly recited a series of Konoha Anbu code words beside him.
Hearing the familiar phrases, a glimmer of awareness finally returned to the vacant, clouded eyes.
"A… brother from the Anbu?!"
Hurricane jerked upright, grabbing Qianyu's arm with surprising strength. His words came out in a frantic, urgent rush.
"Kill me! Now! Get out of here!"
"The Eight-Tails… The Eight-Tails Jinchūriki is here!"
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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