“I’m curious.
You’re a genin, yet you managed to kill a chūnin.
How exactly did you do it?”
Baki stood five meters away, staring at Yagami Yue with a puzzled expression.
“An ambush.
He never would have imagined that one of his own subordinates would ambush him.”
Yagami Yue’s voice was cold.
“Even so, killing a chūnin through an ambush is impressive.
Why don’t you simply defect from Konoha and join Sunagakure?”
Baki sounded genuinely interested as he began trying to recruit him.
“Really?
I can join?”
Yagami Yue fully played the part of an innocent seven-year-old.
“Of course you can join Sunagakure…”
Baki paused.
“Besides, I suspect you haven’t been treated very well in Konoha.
That’s why you killed your squad leader.
And you’re probably planning to defect…”
He narrowed his eyes.
“Wait.
There’s another possibility.”
“Your squad leader was trying to kill you.”
Baki stared at Yagami Yue in surprise.
“Just who are you?”
There was no denying it.
Baki truly lived up to his reputation as one of Sunagakure’s important leaders in the later era.
His powers of observation were frighteningly sharp.
From only a handful of details, he had already pieced together a rough version of the truth.
“My name is Yoru Chiba…”
Yagami Yue answered calmly.
“Yoru Chiba…
Yoru?”
Baki’s expression changed.
“Wait.
Could your father be Yoru Ichirō?”
“Yoru Ichirō?”
Yagami Yue was genuinely puzzled.
“You mean that Konoha traitor who leaked intelligence to you?
That Yoru Ichirō?”
“Traitor?
Leaked intelligence?”
This time, it was Baki’s turn to become stunned.
“That doesn’t sound right.”
“When did Yoru Ichirō become a traitor?”
“Whatever he did, in Konoha he should have been considered a hero.”
“He led a squad against three times their number of our shinobi and fought until he was completely exhausted…”
“He eventually died from exhaustion.”
“A hero?”
“Died from exhaustion?”
Yagami Yue was stunned as well.
Suddenly—
Violently—
In the blink of an eye—
Both of them moved at the same time!
“One-Sword Style: Iai — Lion’s Song!!”
Yagami Yue lunged toward Baki with lightning-fast speed.
Crash!!
At that exact moment,
It smashed directly into the spot where Yagami Yue had been standing moments earlier, creating a three-meter-deep crater.
But Yagami Yue had already appeared directly in front of Baki.
He swung his sword.
For an instant, time seemed to stand still.
Clang!!
A piercing metallic sound rang out.
Baki held up a kunai and blocked Yukimi.
But how could anyone casually block One-Sword Style: Iai — Lion’s Song?
The technique carried terrifying power.
It could cut steel.
It could cleave iron.
Baki’s kunai was sliced cleanly in half.
Yukimi continued forward.
It was simply too fast.
Baki had no time to evade.
The blade tore from his shoulder diagonally down toward his waist.
Blood sprayed from the wound.
Baki hurriedly retreated, cold sweat covering his body.
A massive wound had opened across his chest.
Approximately three centimeters deep and eighty centimeters long, it stretched diagonally from his shoulder down to his waist.
Blood poured from it without stopping.
“How is this possible?”
“Too fast!”
Baki stared at Yagami Yue in disbelief.
He couldn’t help but curse inwardly.
Is this really a genin?!
Since when had genin become this terrifying?
Were all the shinobi coming out of Konoha monsters?
And besides—
They had clearly been having a perfectly normal conversation just moments ago.
Why had Yagami Yue suddenly attacked?
Damn it!
Were all Konoha shinobi this underhanded?
He completely forgot that he had just tried to ambush Yagami Yue himself.
The two of them were simply equally devious—both pretending to have a conversation while secretly preparing to strike.
“I have to admit, you’re very impressive.”
Baki gritted his teeth through the pain and glared viciously at Yagami Yue.
“You’re impressive too.
You actually managed to avoid my sword.”
Yagami Yue stared at Baki without lowering his guard.
He didn’t dare underestimate him.
Baki had actually managed to evade Lion’s Song, despite the technique’s incredible speed.
“Hmph.”
“I’m a genius of Sunagakure.”
“The strongest chūnin!”
Baki snorted coldly.
His hand moved.
Baki’s expression suddenly turned serious.
Chakra gathered around his hand as an invisible blade of wind formed.
He leaped into the air and sent the puppet diving toward Yagami Yue.
Yagami Yue’s expression became as calm as still water.
He bent his left arm, raising it slightly upward.
His right hand gripped the underside of his left forearm from the inside.
It was the starting stance for One-Sword Style: Pound Phoenix.
Then—
Yagami Yue moved.
He swung his sword.
His speed was like lightning.
“One World!”
“Thirty-Six Pound Phoenix!!”
A violently rotating blade of compressed air rapidly formed.
A wave of sword aura.
The spinning blade of energy resembled a miniature whirlwind as it shot toward the humanoid puppet in the sky.
Its destructive power was like a cannon.
A flying slash.
BOOM!!
The humanoid puppet exploded in midair.
Fragments rained down from the sky.
Amid the falling debris, Yagami Yue raised his sword and pointed it directly at Baki.
The corners of his mouth curled upward.
His expression was cold and murderous.
Strands of hair fluttered across his forehead, but they couldn’t conceal the chilling killing intent in his eyes.
“Today…”
“You must die!!”