(Bonus Chapter) 22: The Prey and the Hunter!
(Bonus Chapter) Through his Wide-Range Sensory Perception, Shigure could detect nearly a hundred shinobi pursuing him from behind.
Squad after squad was also racing forwards on either side, attempting to circle around and cut him off.
They were closing in from three directions!
This is no good!
If this continues, they’ll wear me down sooner or later!
Shigure glanced at the younger clansman in his grasp and seriously considered leaving him behind.
If Shigure were alone, he could use the Three Basic Techniques to keep the enemy occupied and would have a very good chance of escaping.
Unfortunately, he was currently burdened with someone who was barely conscious.
That made the situation rather awkward.
After a moment’s thought, Shigure cast several successive Wind Release: Breakthroughs behind him, slightly slowing the pursuing shinobi.
“Akira!
Do you have enough chakra to use the Ground-Shrinking Technique one more time?” he hurriedly asked, taking advantage of the brief opening.
“No!” Akira’s answer was so immediate that Shigure nearly lost his footing and fell from the tree trunk beneath him.
“What if you escape alone?
Do you have enough chakra for that?” Shigure frowned as he asked again.
The situation had become desperately dangerous.
He had already made up his mind: if Akira still said no, Shigure would have no choice but to abandon him and flee alone.
When Akira heard Shigure telling him to escape by himself, an inexplicable warmth spread through his heart.
However, the moment he remembered the clan’s orders and Hashirama’s instructions, he shook his head.
“Escape by myself?
No… The clan ordered me to protect you, Elder Shigure!” Akira’s voice was resolute, as though he were somehow the one protecting Shigure in their current situation.
“I’m going to ask you one last time.” Shigure had finally lost his temper and shouted through clenched teeth, “Do you have enough chakra to use the Ground-Shrinking Technique and escape.
On.
Your.
Own?!” He had truly been defeated by this stubborn brat!
If Akira could escape alone, Shigure had a very good chance of getting away as well.
Why did the boy have to be so inflexible?
“I…” Akira hesitated.
He finally understood what the Third Elder meant!
The usually frivolous and carefree Shigure intended to remain behind and hold off the enemy alone, buying Akira a chance to survive.
He wants to protect me?
For some reason, Akira’s eyes began to sting.
His heart filled with deep respect for the man before him.
He suddenly wanted to cry.
However, the situation did not allow him to break down.
All he could do was carve the figure before him into his memory.
Shigure—the elder rejected by the clan’s leadership.
The man whom everyone in the clan mocked.
Yet in Akira’s eyes, Shigure was greater than anyone else in the entire clan!
Before he realised it, tears were already streaming down his face.
Shigure’s figure seemed impossibly tall and heroic before him.
“Yes!” Akira practically sobbed the answer.
Then he saw the delight appear on Shigure’s face.
At that moment, Akira felt as though a heavy stone were crushing his heart, leaving him too choked up to say another word.
Shigure was about to risk his life!
9 And he was doing it so Akira could escape!
Suddenly, Akira felt his body become weightless.
Shigure tossed him onto the ground.
When Akira turned to look at him, his eyes widened in shock.
At that moment, an immense surge of chakra erupted from Shigure’s body—chakra even more powerful than Akira’s own!
“Fire Release: Fire Wall!” “Wind Release: Breakthrough!” “Wind–Fire Coiling Dragon Technique!” Akira stared at the scene in astonishment.
Shigure formed the hand seals for Fire Release with his left hand and those for Wind Release with his right, simultaneously unleashing a combination ninjutsu Akira had never seen before!
In the next instant, a violent gale swept up the roaring flames and sent them surging forwards with overwhelming force.
“Why are you still standing there?
Go!” Shigure’s urgent shout snapped Akira back to his senses.
“Water Release: Ground-Shrinking Technique!” Akira’s figure disappeared in an instant.
Once the younger clansman was gone, Shigure felt an enormous burden lift from his heart.
“Now then, let’s have some fun.” Shigure stared at the blazing sea of fire before him.
With a muffled pop, his body disappeared from where he stood.
In this age of warring clans, the world had just witnessed its first combination ninjutsu.
The devastating technique burned more than twenty Hōzuki shinobi to death and left over ten Kaguya shinobi severely injured!
A succession of Water Release ninjutsu barely managed to hold back the dreadful flames.
Dense white steam immediately spread throughout the surrounding area.
With his Wide-Range Sensory Perception covering a radius of three kilometres, the dense mist might as well not have existed for Shigure.
His figure flickered repeatedly through the mist, appearing behind one enemy after another.
This was the formidable power of a Body Flicker Technique trained to maximum proficiency!
Shigure had originally intended to use the Body Flicker Technique to escape.
However, after being chased for so long, he could no longer suppress his anger.
He intended to leave these pursuers with a memory they would never forget.
Pfft!
Hidden within the dense white mist, Shigure drove a kunai directly into a shinobi’s throat.
The man clutched desperately at his neck as blood pumped between his fingers before collapsing unwillingly to the ground.
Shigure had not even opened his eyes.
His sensory ability allowed him to “see” every enemy within the mist with perfect clarity.
A short while later— Pfft!
Pfft!
Pfft!
Three Kaguya shinobi had their throats pierced before they could even react and collapsed dead on the ground.
Shigure was hunting the Kaguya shinobi.
The full power of his Body Flicker Technique was displayed at that moment.
His figure drifted behind his enemies like a ghost.
One Kaguya shinobi after another collapsed as Shigure killed them from within the mist.
“Get out of this mist!” The bandage-covered Gengetsu Hōzuki issued the order and led the charge towards the edge of the affected area.
The other shinobi immediately began fleeing from the mist.
Every so often, another dull thud could be heard as a body struck the ground.
Gengetsu himself had been attacked moments earlier.
Fortunately, he had activated the Hydrification Technique in time and avoided the fatal blow.
However, by the time he tried to locate his attacker, Shigure had already disappeared into the dense white mist.
Gradually, the survivors emerged from the mist and regrouped with the other two pursuing forces waiting outside.
Yet fewer than half of the shinobi who had entered the mist managed to come back out!
“To think his ninjutsu would be this powerful!” Those who escaped could not help feeling fortunate to be alive.
Every one of them remained tense and vigilant.
“Gengetsu!
Why is it that every time you command a force, you suffer such disastrous losses?” At that moment, a fish-faced man carrying a greatsword on his back stepped out from the left-flank force and spoke coldly.
“Shariki!
What are you implying?” Gengetsu snapped.
“Are you saying I’m an incompetent commander?” … Some distance away, Shigure was concealed among the thick branches of a large tree.
He silently observed the gathered enemy shinobi, a cold smile spreading across his face.
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