Whoosh!
A vortex appeared in the forest, and Kai stepped out onto the ground.
His Sharingan swept across the surroundings.
He picked up a broken tree branch.
“The front end has signs of being stepped on, while the back was cleanly cut with a sharp blade.”
“A deliberate false trail meant to confuse pursuers.”
“So the real escape route is… this way?”
Kai raised his head and looked toward the four-o’clock direction.
Spiral Zetsu couldn’t help but marvel inwardly.
Kai’s ability to analyze information is gradually becoming more refined.
Even without the Sharingan and the Hashirama enhancement, he probably would’ve become an excellent shinobi…
Kai followed the direction in which Kitake had fled.
Along the way, he discovered nearly invisible threads attached between tree trunks and rocks.
They were connected to explosive-tag traps.
“A trap?”
“So be it.”
“I might as well use it in reverse.”
Kai casually threw a kunai, severing one of the threads.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
A chain of explosions erupted throughout the forest.
Kitake, who was fleeing toward the forest’s exit, heard the explosions behind him.
He stopped on a tree branch and looked back.
He wore a Konoha forehead protector, but a horizontal slash had been carved across the symbol in the center.
The standard mark of a missing-nin.
“My traps worked?”
Kitake breathed a sigh of relief and took out a soldier pill, swallowing it.
Whoosh!
At the edge of his vision, a black figure came rushing toward him.
Whoosh!
Kitake immediately threw a kunai at the approaching figure.
Kai watched the incoming kunai.
An opponent at this level doesn’t need to force me to use Kamui.
Perfect.
I can use him to sharpen my basic combat skills.
Clang!
Kai knocked the kunai away with the back of his hand and landed on a tree trunk.
“A Root operative?”
“Or ANBU?”
Kitake asked warily.
“Neither.”
“I’m just interested in the sixteen-million-ryō bounty on your head.”
Kai answered calmly.
Hearing this, Kitake visibly relaxed.
He formed a series of hand seals, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.
“Then you’re really unlucky.”
“I’ve already killed several people like you on the way here.”
Whoosh!
The moment he finished his hand seals, Kitake’s body blurred and disappeared.
“Oh~”
“Camouflage Concealment Technique.”
“A high-level ninjutsu that changes the color of the user’s body to blend into the surrounding environment, allowing them to become effectively invisible.”
“Definitely a jōnin-level technique.”
“But…”
Such a trick was meaningless before the Sharingan.
Whoosh!
Kai suddenly leaned backward.
A blade swept over his head, cutting through several leaves.
“A sensory-type shinobi?!”
His attack had missed.
Kitake immediately dispelled the Camouflage Concealment Technique to avoid wasting chakra.
His body flashed.
He appeared behind Kai.
“Leaf Shadow Dance…”
“You’re particularly skilled with a sword.”
Kai murmured.
Kitake swung his ninja blade.
Slash!
Slash!
Slash!
Blades and shadows crossed in rapid succession.
Kai’s body was sliced into several pieces.
But—
Poof!
His body transformed into several chunks of wood that fell to the ground.
It was merely an ordinary Substitution Technique.
What shocked Kitake was the speed.
“His Substitution Technique activated faster than my swordsmanship?!”
“Even for someone who once attempted to assassinate the Fire Daimyō, you’re not supposed to be this weak.”
Kai appeared on a tree behind him.
“Damn you!”
Those words had clearly struck a nerve.
Kitake roared and threw a large number of shuriken in every direction.
They embedded themselves into the surrounding trees.
Thin steel wires were attached to every one of them.
Kitake’s hands moved rapidly.
The web of wires sealed off the surrounding area.
Then, as Kitake pulled backward, the wires tightened and wrapped around Kai’s body.
“This is Windmill Triple-Blade.”
“Even Sasuke, when he was young, had to rely on the Sharingan to barely use this technique against Orochimaru in the Forest of Death during the Chūnin Exams.”
“For a jōnin, though, the difficulty doesn’t seem particularly high.”
Kai calmly analyzed the technique.
Almost as if he had forgotten that he was the one currently trapped.
“It’s over!”
Kitake clenched the other end of the wire between his teeth and formed hand seals.
“Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!”
WHOOSH!
Flames traveled along the wires toward Kai.
“So this is all a sixteen-million-ryō bounty is worth…?”
Kai muttered.
Crack!
Crack!
His arms snapped the steel wires apart.
He formed the Ram hand seal.
Chakra gathered in his throat.
“Fire Release: Majestic Destroyer Flame!”
BOOOOM!!
A massive sea of flames erupted from Kai’s mouth.
The inferno instantly melted the steel wires, swallowed Kitake’s Great Fireball, and swept across the surrounding forest.
During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Uchiha Madara had used this very technique to suppress the combined Water Formation Wall of twenty Water Release users from the Allied Shinobi Forces.
Kai’s Majestic Destroyer Flame was still inferior to Madara’s.
But it already possessed roughly a third of the destructive might that had made Madara’s technique so terrifying.
Heat waves rolled across the forest.
Kitake stared at the roaring sea of flames approaching him.
Despair filled his eyes.
“W-What exactly are you…?”
“AAAAAH!”
BOOM!!
The flames exploded.
A pillar of fire soared into the sky, visible from a great distance.
Far away, three Konoha ANBU who had been tracking Kitake stopped in their tracks.
They raised their arms to shield their faces from the heat and stared at the distant flames.
“What level of Fire Release is that?!”
“Could Root have gotten to him first?!”
The two male ANBU were shocked.
“Go and check.”
The female ANBU at the front took the lead.
When they arrived at the scene, what they witnessed was something they would remember for the rest of their lives.
The Fire Release had literally burned a clearing into the middle of the forest.
In the center of the scorched ground stood a masked youth wearing a black cloak.
He was holding the charred remains of a body.
Even the face was almost impossible to recognize.
“This is troublesome.”
“His face is completely burned beyond recognition.”
“Does this mean my sixteen million ryō is going up in smoke?”
“Just the face?”
A completely different voice suddenly came from Kai’s body.
“I can restore that~.”
The voice was playful and somewhat frivolous, completely different from Kai’s own.
“Damn it!”
“It really is Kitake.”
“Root got here first after all!”
One of the male ANBU clenched his fist in frustration.
The truth was that Kitake had originally been a member of Konoha’s ANBU.
He had been assigned to protect the Fire Daimyō.
But without warning, Kitake had attempted to assassinate the Daimyō.
Afterward, ANBU investigations discovered that Kitake had come into contact with Root shortly before defecting.
This led them to suspect that Root had tampered with Kitake and intended to use the incident to frame the Fourth Hokage, who commanded the ANBU.
Given Root’s methods, they would certainly eliminate Kitake as quickly as possible.
That was why these three ANBU had been sent to capture Kitake before Root could silence him.
“No.”
“He isn’t with Root.”
“His clothing is different.”
“And he clearly said something about sixteen million ryō.”
The female ANBU noticed the discrepancy.
She stepped forward and called out to Kai’s back.
“Who are you?”
“We’re Konoha ANBU.”
“This territory is under Konoha’s jurisdiction.”
“State your identity!”
“Hm?”
Hearing the voice, Kai slowly turned his head.
Behind his mask, his Sharingan gleamed.
“The Sharingan!”
“Close your eyes!”
“Don’t look directly at him!”
The female ANBU’s pupils contracted.
She immediately shut her eyes.
But it was already too late.
Thump!
Thump!
The two male ANBU behind her collapsed to the ground.
“This hair color…”
“This voice…”
“Could it be…?”
Kai murmured.
Dragging Kitake’s corpse behind him, he approached the female ANBU.
She hurriedly retreated.
But her back slammed against a large tree.
Kai was already in front of her.
“Damn it!”
The female ANBU drew her ninja blade and slashed forward.
Whoosh!
But the blade passed straight through Kai’s body.
There was no resistance.
No sensation of flesh being cut.
“What?!”
“What is this?!”
The ANBU woman was horrified.
Then she realized that her body had already become trapped within a genjutsu.
She couldn’t move.
Fear swept through her entire body, causing her shoulders to tremble slightly.
Kai reached out.
He removed the animal mask from her face.
A beautiful yet youthful face was revealed.
Kai’s eyes lit up.
“Yūgao Uzuki.”
“So it really is you…”