As Hironobu Yoshimori’s body slammed heavily onto the forest floor, Heiichi Yamanaka knew his comrade was dead.
Yet, a defiant flicker of pride flashed in his eyes.
“A shinobi of the Hidden Leaf fights to the death!
We never retreat!” Heiichi roared.
“Senzan!
I’m leaving the rest to you!”
Heiichi had fully resigned himself to a final, suicidal stand.
His last shout was a clear order for Senzan to abandon him, run back to the village, and deliver the intel.
But Gekko Senzan wasn’t the type to just leave a friend behind.
Yoshimori and Kawa Mizuno were beyond saving, but Heiichi wasn’t.
Crack.
A crushed Mizuno’s skull with a single, brutal squeeze.
He tossed the lifeless body aside and stared at the last man standing, a cruel, mocking smirk playing on his lips.
“‘Senzan,’ was it?” A rumbled.
“I’ll give you one chance.
Tell me exactly where this fourth rat is hiding, and I might consider giving you a quick death.”
“In your dreams!” Heiichi formed hand seals in a blur.
“Ninja Art: Mind Body Disturbance Jutsu!”
The Yamanaka clan wasn’t known for overwhelming offensive power; their members were typically assigned to intelligence and support divisions.
However, as a seasoned Anbu, Heiichi was no pushover.
His mastery over the Mind Body Disturbance Jutsu had saved his life on the frontlines countless times.
Unfortunately, the monster standing in front of him today was completely out of his league.
“Scatter!
It’s a Yamanaka secret jutsu!” A barked instantly.
The Cloud ninja scattered effortlessly, dodging the psychic wave.
But right at that moment, tragedy struck the Cloud.
Adai, the blind sensor ninja, had leaped high into the canopy to evade the attack.
Mid-air, he suddenly felt a subtle, deadly shift in the air pressure right against his back.
By the time he realized he needed to dodge, it was already too late.
Squelch.
A cold, gleaming kunai pierced cleanly through his throat from behind.
“Damn…
it…” Adai gurgled.
He died instantly, his body plummeting to the forest floor like a broken doll.
The sight sent A into an absolute frenzy.
“Adai!” he bellowed.
“You bastard!
Damned Leaf rat, show yourself!”
A’s chakra flared violently.
“Heavy Burst!”
His Lightning Release Chakra Mode erupted into a blinding aura.
A slammed both fists directly into the earth.
The sheer, terrifying physical force combined with the explosive lightning chakra instantly pulverized the surrounding forest, sending massive shockwaves ripping through the ground.
‘Damn it!
Everyone who inherits the Raikage’s nintaijutsu is an absolute meathead!’ Senzan cursed inwardly as he leaped onto a distant, surviving tree branch to avoid the blast radius. Read the latest chapters at novelping.com.
Assassinating the sensor ninja had been his top priority—it was the crucial first step of his plan.
Only by eliminating the blind tracker could he safely use the Flying Thunder God Jutsu to teleport both himself and Heiichi out of there.
The last thing he needed was a sensor pinpointing his spatial coordinates and causing trouble.
‘Chomei!
Lend me your power!’ Senzan yelled in his mindscape.
Chomei didn’t utter a word; it simply surged a massive wave of its Tailed Beast chakra straight into Senzan’s pathways.
A split second later, a pair of translucent, buzzing insect wings sprouted from Senzan’s lower back.
Boosted by the wings, Senzan dove straight toward Heiichi like a bullet.
He had already dropped his cloaking.
It wasn’t that he wanted to deactivate his Transparency Jutsu, but A’s devastating AoE attack had filled the air with dense smoke, flying rocks, and debris.
Even if he were perfectly invisible, the airborne dust would have outlined his silhouette anyway.
It was better to conserve his chakra for evasive maneuvers.
“There you are!
I’ll kill you!”
The moment Senzan’s figure broke through the dust, A locked onto him and launched himself forward like a cannonball.
Senzan knew perfectly well how terrifying the Raikage’s nintaijutsu was.
By enveloping their entire body in lightning chakra, they could actively stimulate their nervous system, pushing their reflexes and transmission speeds to inhuman levels.
It allowed them to use the Lightning Release Body Flicker, massively boosting both their defense and speed in direct proportion to their chakra output.
Senzan had absolutely zero confidence in outspeeding a monster like that.
Mid-flight, Senzan aggressively hurled a marked Flying Thunder God kunai straight at Heiichi’s feet.
In that tiny fraction of a second, A’s crackling fist materialized right in front of Senzan’s face.
‘Holy crap, he’s way too fast!’
Swish!
In the very next microsecond, Senzan vanished into thin air.
A’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief.
His punch struck nothing but empty space.
How was that possible?!
How could anyone dodge an attack at that speed?
Relying on the Flying Thunder God Jutsu, Senzan had instantly teleported to a marker he had placed earlier—now resting on the jagged stump of a freshly destroyed tree.
‘Phew…
that was way too close,’ Senzan panted, his heart hammering against his ribs.
‘Even with Chomei’s wings boosting my speed, I still can’t outrun him conventionally?
Flying Thunder God is definitely the only way we’re getting out of here alive!’
A frantically scanned the battlefield and quickly spotted the boy standing on the stump a short distance away.
“You’ve got some good speed, kid!” A roared, his battle lust fully ignited by the missed strike.
“Again!”
The sky seemed to crackle as the giant surged backward, charging at Senzan with the momentum of a freight train.
He looked like he wanted to punch the teenager straight to the moon.
“Tch!
I’m done playing with you!” Senzan smirked.
“I’m out!”
The Flying Thunder God triggered again, and Senzan vanished from A’s sight right before impact.
This time, he reappeared directly beside Heiichi, right where he had thrown the marked kunai moments ago.
Heiichi was still reeling from the shock.
He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could form a single word, Senzan grabbed his wrist.
Swish!
The space-time jutsu fired for the third time.
Their destination was a dense stretch of forest over a kilometer away—a safe zone Senzan had meticulously marked upon their initial arrival.
“Damn it!
Where did they go?!” A roared, cratering the ground in absolute frustration.
“Was that a Space-Time Ninjutsu?!”
Realizing his prey had escaped, A’s fury reached a boiling point.
An ordinary Leaf brat had actually mastered a space-time technique?
And worst of all, the kid had completely outmaneuvered his absolute, prideful speed.
It was unforgivable.
He had to eliminate him!
“Pursue them toward the Hidden Leaf!” A ordered his surviving squad.
“Do not let them escape!”
Driven by sheer rage, A bolted south toward the border, his men following close behind.
Over a kilometer away, having completely broken away from the battlefield, Heiichi was still staring blankly, his face pale with lingering terror.
“Hey, Big Bro, snap out of it!
We need to run, now!” Senzan slapped his arm.
“Otherwise, those monsters are going to catch up!”
After maintaining his Transparency Jutsu and firing off the Flying Thunder God three consecutive times, Senzan felt like he was being wrung completely dry.
If Chomei hadn’t been actively feeding him chakra, he would have collapsed on the spot.
“Senzan, you…” “Save your breath!
Move!” Senzan yanked Heiichi upright, and the two bolted into the woods.
As they leaped through the canopy, Heiichi suddenly realized their trajectory was off.
“Wait, why are we heading west?” he asked between breaths.
“Shouldn’t we be heading south, back to the Leaf?”
Senzan shot him a look that clearly asked if he had suffered severe brain damage.
“Big Bro, we are literally running for our lives, and we have a furious Raikage’s son breathing down our necks.
If we run straight south toward the Land of Fire, we’re basically drawing them a straight line to flank and ambush us!
We detour west to the Land of Rice Paddies to lose their aggro and lay low for a bit!
Could you be any more dense?!”
When it came to running away, Gekko Senzan was an absolute, undisputed professional.
“Oh…
right.
Yeah, you’re absolutely right.
Land of Rice Paddies it is,” Heiichi stammered, finally snapping back to his tactical senses.
Realizing the sheer brilliance behind the boy’s evasive maneuver, a profound wave of respect washed over him.
“Senzan, was that really a Space-Time Ninjutsu back there?” Heiichi pestered as they ran.
“When did you even learn that?!”
Senzan felt like tearing his hair out.
‘Why does this guy talk so damn much?!’