In the forest.
“Clone Technique!!”
Poof!
Another Yagami Yue appeared beside him.
The Clone Technique was the only one of the Three Basic Techniques that Yagami Yue had learned.
Now, however, it could serve an extremely useful purpose.
Yagami Yue hid in the shadows behind a large boulder and quietly waited.
Meanwhile, the “Yagami Yue” clone stood in the nearby grass, seriously surveying the surroundings as though it were genuinely searching for traces of Sunagakure shinobi.
Not long afterward, a voice came from behind.
It was—
Kyōjirō.
A cold smile appeared on Yagami Yue’s face.
“As I expected…”
Kyōjirō soon arrived.
When he saw Yagami Yue, a “friendly” smile appeared on his face.
“Yagami Yue, wait a moment.”
The “Yagami Yue” clone turned around with a confused expression.
“Captain?
Why are you here?
Didn’t you go over there?”
Kyōjirō jumped down from the tree and approached the “Yagami Yue.”
He had completely failed to notice the real Yagami Yue hiding behind the boulder.
“Yagami Yue, I didn’t find anything on my side, so I came over here.
What about you?
Did you find anything?”
Kyōjirō smiled as he spoke.
From inside his wide sleeve, a kunai quietly slid into his hand.
“I did find something…” the “Yagami Yue” replied.
“Really?
Let me see…”
Kyōjirō deliberately moved closer.
“It’s right here…”
Suddenly—
Kyōjirō launched his attack!
The kunai in his hand instantly slashed toward the “Yagami Yue’s” throat.
His face twisted into a vicious grin.
Ruthless.
Mocking.
Poof!
The “Yagami Yue” transformed into a cloud of white smoke and disappeared.
Kyōjirō’s vicious grin instantly froze.
What happened?
A tenth of a second later, he realized the truth.
“It was a Clone Technique!!”
“When did he—?!”
Shock.
Fury.
Disbelief.
And then—
A voice suddenly came from behind him.
Cold.
Solemn.
Murderous.
Filled with absolute resolve.
“One-Sword Style…”
“Iai…”
“Lion’s Song!!”
Before Kyōjirō could react, a tremendous gust of wind erupted behind him.
Whoosh!
A streak of white flashed across his vision.
Then, somehow, the target he had been ordered to eliminate—Yagami Yue—was suddenly standing in front of him.
He had no idea when Yagami Yue had appeared there.
Yagami Yue was crouched low.
His killing intent seemed almost tangible.
The sword in his hand slowly— inch by inch— slid back into its scabbard.
Click…
click…
click…
Like the Grim Reaper returning his scythe after harvesting a life.
Kyōjirō stared blankly.
“How did he get in front of me?”
“Wasn’t he afraid that I’d kill him…?”
“Uh…”
Kyōjirō lowered his head and looked at his body.
Then his eyes widened in horror.
A thin red line was slowly appearing across his waist.
Psssh!
Blood erupted from the wound.
Kyōjirō watched in terror as his body began to separate.
The upper half and lower half of his body slowly slid apart.
“When…?”
“How did I…?”
Kyōjirō was dead.
His eyes remained wide open, filled with disbelief even in death.
Yagami Yue looked at Kyōjirō’s corpse on the ground with a cold smile.
Kyōjirō had been caught completely off guard.
And against the terrifying speed of One-Sword Style: Iai — Lion’s Song, there had been almost no opportunity to react.
Even as a chūnin, Kyōjirō had been doomed.
Yagami Yue thought for a moment before searching Kyōjirō’s body.
Sure enough, he found a large number of explosive tags.
He ignited them.
BOOM!!
Kyōjirō’s corpse was blown apart into countless pieces.
But Yagami Yue still felt that wasn’t enough.
He picked up more explosive tags and prepared to destroy the surrounding area with another explosion.
He had to erase all traces.
His mother was still in Konoha.
Because of her, he couldn’t simply abandon the village and become a missing-nin.
He still needed to return to Konoha and take care of his mother.
Therefore, he had to destroy the evidence at the scene.
Just as he was about to do so—
A round of applause rang out.
Clap.
Clap.
Clap.
“Excellent!
Excellent!”
A Sunagakure shinobi walked out of the forest, looking at Yagami Yue with an amused smile.
Yagami Yue’s hand immediately moved to the hilt of his sword.
He watched the newcomer warily.
“It’s him…”
Baki.
Yagami Yue was quite familiar with the Naruto series, so he immediately recognized the shinobi standing before him.
The left side of Baki’s face was covered by cloth, leaving only the right side exposed.
Two distinctive markings could be seen on his right cheek.
Baki was a prodigy of Sunagakure.
“In the Naruto series, he later became a jōnin and served as the leader of Temari, Kankurō, and Gaara.”
He also commanded Sunagakure’s combat forces and possessed a sharp mind and outstanding leadership abilities.
In terms of status and ability, he was roughly comparable to Konoha’s Sakumo Hatake.
However, this was only the early period of the Third Shinobi World War.
Baki should not have reached the rank of jōnin yet.
He was also still very young.
Yagami Yue quickly reviewed everything he knew about Baki.
“He can’t be allowed to spread the news that I killed Kyōjirō…”
“So I have to kill him.”
“And conveniently, I can pin Kyōjirō’s death on him.”
“But he probably isn’t alone.”
“Could he have backup with him?”