After the two sides pulled apart, the scene suddenly fell silent.
Guy wore a grave expression.
At the moment, there were more than a dozen blade wounds of varying sizes across his body.
Although the cuts were shallow—some had barely even broken the skin—injuries were injuries nonetheless.
Zabuza, meanwhile, held his sword horizontally before him, panting heavily with a ferocious expression.
He had taken one of Guy’s heavy kicks squarely in the ribs and seemed to have broken several of them.
For the moment, he could barely straighten his back, and even breathing brought a faint stab of pain.
Standing atop a tree branch, Hyuga Kagami immediately saw an opportunity and called out,
“Guy, step back.”
Guy didn’t argue.
He silently retreated to the side.
Although their exchange just now had been brief, it had been enough for Guy to gauge Zabuza’s strength.
He knew that unless he used his forbidden technique, defeating Zabuza would probably be very difficult.
Kagami lightly dropped from the branch and landed on the ground.
Under the eyes of both sides, he began walking toward Zabuza and said,
“I’m different from Guy.
Dealing with Mist trash like you doesn’t require me to get serious.”
His tone was flat, his expression contemptuous, as though the people before him were nothing more than insignificant strays unworthy of his attention.
Zabuza had never been treated with such contempt before.
He immediately flew into a rage.
“You dare call me tra—”
Whoosh…
Hyuga Kagami’s figure blurred as he lunged forward.
This was exactly the moment he had been waiting for!
Despite his fury, Zabuza was no rookie.
Realizing that he had fallen for Kagami’s provocation, he immediately shut his mouth, swung his massive blade horizontally, and slashed at the oncoming Hyuga Kagami.
Swish…
The blade tore through the air with a sharp whistle.
But Hyuga Kagami showed no fear whatsoever.
No one noticed that beneath his goggles, his Tenseigan were shimmering with a magnificent light.
With the Tenseigan’s unparalleled powers of perception, he had already noticed the chakra within Zabuza’s body surging toward both of his hands.
At the same time, no chakra was gathering in Zabuza’s legs, nor were his leg muscles showing any signs of rapidly contracting.
All of these details had already exposed Zabuza’s tactical intentions.
This horizontal slash was clearly meant only to force Hyuga Kagami back.
The lack of contraction in Zabuza’s leg muscles meant that he wasn’t preparing to exert force through his lower body—which also meant that after this horizontal slash, there would be no follow-up attack.
At the same time, the chakra gathering in Zabuza’s arms indicated that after forcing Hyuga Kagami back, he intended to release his sword, form hand seals, and use a ninjutsu.
In that brief instant, merely by observing the flow of chakra and the minute changes in the muscle groups of Zabuza’s limbs, Hyuga Kagami had already predicted every step of his opponent’s next tactical move.
And so—
Stop!
Hyuga Kagami executed the entire sequence in one smooth motion.
He effortlessly evaded Zabuza’s horizontal slash, yet didn’t put even the slightest bit of distance between them.
“How is that possible…?”
Seeing Hyuga Kagami avoid his slash by the narrowest possible margin—not an inch more, not an inch less—as though he had absolutely no concern that Zabuza might follow up with another attack, Zabuza’s heart tightened.
Only then did Zabuza realize that Hyuga Kagami had completely seen through his tactics.
But it was already too late to change his move.
Taking advantage of the instant when Zabuza’s blade had already been swung and he had no time to recover or alter his attack, Hyuga Kagami lowered his body and slipped directly into Zabuza’s guard.
At the same time, his arms moved in a blur as he unleashed a series of Gentle Fist strikes.
Staring intently at Hyuga Kagami’s chakra-coated palms, Zabuza felt his heart sink.
At this point, whether Zabuza tried to put strength into another swing or simply abandoned his sword to form hand seals, it was already too late.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
A series of muffled impacts from palms striking flesh rang out, reaching the ears of everyone nearby.
With each strike, Zabuza’s entire body trembled.
Finally, like a balloon that had lost all its air, he collapsed limply to the ground!
“Hiss…”
Whether it was the three members of the Mist assassination unit or the Konoha ANBU, all of them quietly sucked in a breath.
For no other reason than the fact that Hyuga Kagami had dealt with Zabuza far too decisively—and far too easily!
Against a skilled ninja like Zabuza, even Kakashi, who bore the name of a genius, or the ANBU Jonin beside him couldn’t be completely certain of victory.
Yet Hyuga Kagami had taken Zabuza down in a single, simple exchange.
The entire process had looked effortless, as though his opponent were nothing more than a rookie Genin fresh out of the Academy.
Standing in the middle of the clearing, Hyuga Kagami still wore the same calm expression, neither surprised nor pleased.
He swept his gaze over the three Mist ninjas nearby.
Then, with the tip of his foot, he flicked the unconscious Zabuza up from the ground, turned, and kicked him toward them.
“Take him and get lost!”
Two of the Mist ninjas caught Zabuza as he came flying toward them, while the third said,
“We’re under orders to hunt down a rogue ninja!”
Hyuga Kagami raised his chin slightly, looking down at the Mist ninjas with undisguised contempt as he said coldly,
“Those rogue ninjas you’re talking about are my mission targets.
If you dare interfere, I don’t mind taking you out along with them.”
The Mist ninjas glanced at the unconscious Zabuza, then at the two Konoha ANBU watching them closely from nearby.
They exchanged meaningful looks with one another before hurriedly retreating with Zabuza on their backs.
After the Mist ninjas withdrew, Hyuga Kagami didn’t bother greeting the two ANBU.
He simply called Guy, who had already bandaged his wounds, and resumed tracking the group of wandering ninjas.
The two ANBU exchanged bewildered looks.
The older ANBU muttered,
“Hey, that kid was using the Gentle Fist just now, right?
He’s from the Hyuga Clan?”
Kakashi, wearing a fox mask, nodded.
“Yeah.
I know both of them.
One is Might Guy, and the other is Hyuga Kagami.”
The older ANBU was immediately surprised.
“I seem to remember that aside from you, there weren’t any particularly impressive guys in your class.
So how…?”
Of the students from Kakashi’s year, eight or nine out of every ten had already died in the war.
Even among those who survived, most were still only Chunin.
Kakashi alone had pulled ahead of everyone else, reaching the level of a Jonin at an exceptionally young age.
So in the eyes of this ANBU, Kakashi was unquestionably the finest ninja of his generation.
Kakashi himself, however, was just as confused.
He had never had much of an impression of Hyuga Kagami.
As far as he remembered, Kagami had always been thoroughly ordinary, with nothing about him particularly worthy of attention.
Yet Kagami’s performance today had completely taken him by surprise.
More than anything else, it was the confidence Kagami had displayed—the way he treated the infamous Mist assassination unit as though they weren’t even worth taking seriously.
That confidence unexpectedly reminded Kakashi of his own teacher— the Fourth Hokage.
The older ANBU continued with a sigh of admiration,
“Make a note of it.
We’ll report this to Lord Hokage when we get back.
Someone with talent like that should be given priority for recruitment into the ANBU.”
Meanwhile, on Hyuga Kagami’s side—
As they sped along, Guy couldn’t help asking,
“Kagami, why didn’t we ask those two ANBU for information about that group of wandering ninjas?”
Hyuga Kagami smiled.
“There’s no need.
The appearance of the Mist assassination unit confirms that those wandering ninjas really are rogue ninjas from the Mist.
As for the ANBU, they’re probably only here to keep an eye on the Mist assassination unit after they entered the Land of Fire.
Otherwise, they would’ve made a move long ago.”
Without even needing to think too deeply about it, Hyuga Kagami had already pieced together the general situation.
The Mist had dispatched an assassination unit because they undoubtedly wanted to clean up their own mess and retrieve the corpses afterward.
At the same time, this also suggested that there might be a kekkei genkai wielder among the Mist rogue ninjas.
Kakashi and the other ANBU had clearly been sent to monitor the Mist assassination unit after they crossed the border.
The fact that the two sides had merely confronted each other without actually fighting made that obvious enough.
After hearing Kagami’s explanation, Guy also felt that it made sense.
If those two ANBU were only responsible for monitoring the Mist assassination unit that had entered the country, then they probably wouldn’t have much intelligence on the wandering ninjas anyway.
Besides, Kagami and Guy had already picked up the trail left behind by the fleeing group, so there really was no reason to waste any more time.
Guy then said,
“Kagami, what you did back there was amazing!
That guy seemed pretty strong, but I never thought he wouldn’t even be able to withstand a single move from you.”
The corners of Hyuga Kagami’s mouth curled upward slightly as he gave a restrained, self-satisfied smile…