Bang!!
At the Sunagakure front-line command headquarters, Commander Chiyo slammed her hand against the table in fury.
“What is going on with this Yagami Yue?!”
“In a single battle, he killed ten chūnin and more than thirty genin!”
“And over this period, the number of shinobi who have died at his hands has already exceeded a hundred!”
“Yet you still haven’t found a way to deal with him!”
“To make matters worse, you’ve even given him a battlefield nickname!”
“Does Sunagakure have no dignity left?!”
The deputy commander lowered his head in shame.
“I’m sorry, Lady Chiyo.
I’ll immediately arrange a jōnin squad to surround and eliminate him!”
“Surround and eliminate him?”
“Are you an idiot?”
“Haven’t you noticed that he manages to avoid the powerful jōnin every single time?”
The deputy commander was at a loss for words.
“…”
Chiyo was furious.
“You really are an idiot!”
“Why don’t you send several chūnin who specialize in genjutsu to kill him?”
“He knows swordsmanship, but he doesn’t know ninjutsu.”
“That means his abilities in that area are lacking.”
“So his genjutsu resistance should be even worse!”
“Yes, Lady Chiyo!”
The deputy commander nearly slapped himself.
How had he failed to think of something so obvious?
After leaving Chiyo’s office, the deputy commander immediately arranged for six chūnin specializing in genjutsu and began planning an operation to surround and kill Yagami Yue.
He didn’t dare send jōnin anymore.
The Beast’s Blade’s beast-like instincts were simply too powerful.
Whenever a jōnin from Sunagakure appeared, Yagami Yue would immediately retreat.
…
…
A Local Battlefield in the Southern Sector
“Today’s mission is to recover the intelligence taken by a spy and bring the spy back.”
Squad Leader Yagami Yue looked at the three genin under his command.
After being promoted to chūnin, he had quickly become a squad leader.
He had been assigned three genin as subordinates.
All three were relatively ordinary in terms of strength.
They also came from civilian families.
None of them were older than eleven or twelve.
They had all been sent to the battlefield as cannon fodder.
Jingda.
Takeda.
Tianyi.
Their names were almost comically similar.
All three had “field” in their names.
After questioning them over the previous two days, Yagami Yue learned that all three had ranked near the bottom of their Academy classes.
Their family circumstances weren’t good either.
“Yes, Captain!”
The three genin looked at Yagami Yue with admiration.
He was younger than them, yet his battlefield achievements were already far beyond theirs.
“We all come from civilian families.”
“Do your best to survive.”
Yagami Yue encouraged them.
He wanted to cultivate his own loyal faction in preparation for eventually leaving Konoha.
Konoha’s Third Hokage had deeply entrenched influence throughout the village.
Perhaps it would be better to defect from Konoha.
Once he became powerful enough, he could cause trouble for the Third Hokage.
And eventually—
Destroy the Third Hokage and his faction.
For now, however, he needed to use the Third Shinobi World War to build an enormous reputation for himself.
The squad soon departed.
Any genin who had survived on the battlefield, no matter how weak they had originally been, was already considerably stronger than they had been at the Academy.
The three genin followed closely behind Yagami Yue as they rapidly leaped from tree to tree.
Half an hour later—
“Stop!”
Yagami Yue raised his hand.
The squad immediately stopped on the branch.
Through his Observation Haki, he sensed six presences approaching from ahead.
Their aura carried the earthy, sandy scent characteristic of Sunagakure shinobi.
There was no doubt.
They were Sand shinobi.
And judging from their presence, they were probably all chūnin.
“Sunagakure shinobi are coming.”
Yagami Yue immediately led his squad in setting up traps.
A few minutes later, the six Sand shinobi finally appeared in the distance.
They hadn’t noticed the traps.
Their speed didn’t decrease as they continued moving toward the squad.
The four Konoha shinobi concealed themselves and waited.
Soon—
The Sand shinobi stepped directly into the trap.
“Attack!”
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
A cluster of concealed explosive tags detonated.
The explosion engulfed all six Sand shinobi.
They were thrown into chaos.
Several were injured.
“What?!
An ambush!”
“Stay alert!”
At that moment, a cold voice came from the side.
Two enormous blades of compressed air erupted.
Spinning violently and moving with terrifying speed, they sliced the two nearest Sand shinobi cleanly in half.
“Dammit!
It’s Yagami Yue!”
“Be careful!”
“Watch his sword!”
But they were still too slow.
Because Yagami Yue was even faster.
His movement was as powerful as thunder.
As fast as lightning.
“Iai…
Lion’s Song!!”
A figure flashed past.
Another Sand shinobi was cut down.
Yagami Yue’s speed was simply too fast.
The Sand shinobi didn’t even have enough time to perform the Substitution Technique.
And even if they had prepared a substitution in advance, Yagami Yue’s Observation Haki could easily distinguish the substitute from the real body.
Against Yagami Yue’s now-practiced Observation Haki, the Substitution Technique was practically useless.
“Ziruo!”
“Dammit!”
The remaining two Sand shinobi were both shocked and furious.
They quickly began forming hand seals.
“Water Binding Technique!”
“Illusionary Clone Technique!”
Yagami Yue suddenly felt a long rope made of water form around his legs.
It wrapped around his body, making movement difficult.
At the same time, he saw a Sand shinobi charging toward him from the right, kunai aimed directly at his heart.
But after receiving Kurenai Yūhi’s genjutsu experience, Yagami Yue immediately sensed that something was wrong.
The water technique felt fake.
And although the Sand shinobi charging toward him looked completely real, Yagami Yue was an expert in close-quarters combat.
There was no reason for his opponent to recklessly engage him at such close range.
“Genjutsu?”
Yagami Yue broke the illusion in 0.1 seconds.
Sure enough—
He saw the two Sand shinobi standing in front of him, simultaneously preparing ninjutsu.
“Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!”
“Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!”
The wind intensified the flames.
The flames intensified the wind.
The two techniques combined, causing their power to increase several times over.
A gigantic fireball, nearly two meters in diameter, formed in an instant.
It surged toward Yagami Yue.
Even from several meters away, the heat was intense enough to feel as though it could melt iron and burn through steel.
The Sand shinobi saw Yagami Yue standing completely motionless.
Clearly, he had been trapped by the genjutsu.
They couldn’t help but rejoice.
It worked!
Yagami Yue was definitely going to die!!