Chapter 37: His strength is already no less than a Jonin!
Before Yoruha could answer, Naruto grabbed him and pulled him outside. "What are you still thinking about? Hurry up. This is a C-rank mission. How long would you have to stay in the village before you got another C-rank mission?"
Although Kakashi valuing Yoruha so highly made Naruto feel sour, he didn't dislike Yoruha.
After all, Yoruha had been one of the few people before who hadn't shown any disgust toward him.
As Yoruha was dragged out of the house, he turned his head to look at Kakashi.
He was puzzled as to why Kakashi had suddenly decided to bring him along on a mission.
Kakashi had said before that he would only take him out once he had the strength of a Jonin.
He didn't believe Kakashi would break his word for no reason.
Yoruha wanted to know what was going on, and on the way, Naruto told him directly.
After hearing what had happened in the Hokage building, Yoruha understood why Kakashi was taking him along.
Now that he knew the reason, Yoruha no longer had any doubts. Naturally, he wouldn't refuse Kakashi's goodwill.
When they arrived at the Konohagakure gate, Tazuna saw Yoruha and laughed. "Now that's what a ninja looks like. Not like this dopey kid."
The "kid" Tazuna was talking about was Naruto.
Naruto gritted his teeth and glared at Tazuna, but remembering that Tazuna was the person they were supposed to protect, he didn't react the same way he had in the Hokage's office.
The whole way, everyone was quiet, with only Naruto chattering nonstop.
Sasuke's gaze had already settled on Yoruha, and Sakura was also very curious about him.
What Sasuke wanted to know was how strong Yoruha really was.
He understood Kakashi's strength very well. Someone Kakashi valued that much couldn't possibly be weak.
But exactly how strong was he? That was what Sasuke wanted to know.
After walking for quite a while, they passed through a forest.
When he saw two puddles up ahead, Yoruha glanced at Kakashi.
Kakashi shook his head,
signaling him not to act rashly.
Yoruha had actually long since forgotten the plot of the Land of Waves arc.
He had only sensed Chakra fluctuations from those two puddles. Clearly, two ninjas were hiding there.
And it was a sunny day now. The sunlight was strong, the surrounding ground was dry, yet the water in those two puddles showed no sign of evaporating at all.
It looked extremely out of place.
Kakashi and Yoruha had both noticed, but the two of them acted as if nothing had happened and calmly walked past the puddles.
After they had gone a dozen or so steps beyond them, two ninjas suddenly sprang out of the puddles.
Clang—
With the sound of chains striking together, several chain blades wrapped around Kakashi.
By the time Yoruha and the others turned to look, Kakashi's body had already been torn into pieces. Chunks of flesh scattered onto the ground, and blood dyed the earth red.
This horrifying scene stunned the inexperienced group.
Even Yoruha, seeing such a mangled and bloody sight, felt his mind jolt.
It was the first time he had ever seen something so gruesome.
Even though he knew Kakashi had used Substitution Technique to avoid it,
the terrifying image still made Yoruha feel deeply uncomfortable.
If his mental fortitude weren't strong enough, he probably would have thrown up.
Almost at the same moment, the two ninjas, thinking they had succeeded in killing Kakashi, immediately turned and attacked Yoruha and the others.
Naruto was completely scared stupid by what he had just seen.
Sasuke reacted quickly, though. The instant the two ninjas swung their chain blades over, he threw several Kunai.
Clang—
One Kunai pinned the chain blade to a nearby tree.
But that attack had only been a feint.
Their real target was Tazuna.
They were fast too.
In an instant, they appeared in front of Tazuna.
Realizing he had been fooled, Sasuke immediately shouted, "Sakura, be careful!"
He wanted to go help, but the distance was too great. He wouldn't make it in time.
Sakura's composure wasn't bad either. Although she didn't know any ninjutsu yet, she also hadn't been scared senseless by the scene just now.
Drawing a Kunai, she stood in front of Tazuna.
"Overestimating yourself."
Seeing Sakura step in front of Tazuna, the two ninjas sneered at her for not knowing her place.
It was obvious both of them could tell Sakura was nowhere near strong enough to stop them.
But the instant the two of them appeared before Sakura,
they suddenly felt a terrifying force slam into their chests.
Bang, bang—
Rumble...
In just a moment, their bodies shot backward like cannonballs.
The force was so terrifying that they smashed through two rows of large trees before finally coming to a stop.
Sakura stood there gripping her Kunai with both hands, staring at Yoruha standing in front of her.
At that moment, Yoruha's expression was calm.
Everyone was stunned.
After a long while, Sakura finally said to Yoruha in a trembling voice, "Yo-Yoruha, thank you."
Though she hadn't been able to see Yoruha's movements clearly, it was obvious those two ninjas had been kicked flying by him.
Standing behind Sakura, Tazuna—who had nearly thought he was about to die—came back to his senses and looked at Yoruha standing ahead of him.
Even though all he could see was his back, it gave him an incomparable sense of security.
He muttered under his breath, "I told you this young man was reliable."
And Sasuke, who had wanted to know exactly how strong Yoruha was, now stared blankly at him.
His heart was filled with shock. "Even the Sharingan couldn't see his movements clearly. This guy... this guy's a monster."
Sasuke was proud, but even now, with his Sharingan activated, he still couldn't clearly follow Yoruha's movements.
Even if his Sharingan only had one tomoe, he still should have been able to see the movements of most ninjas clearly.
"This guy's speed is way too terrifying. Even the Sharingan can't track his movements."
Kakashi, who had been watching from the shadows, was also shocked.
He had known Yoruha was highly talented and had strength at the Chunin level.
But the power Yoruha had just displayed was not Chunin-level.
Even though Yoruha had only thrown out two kicks, using nothing but taijutsu,
Kakashi could clearly feel that Yoruha's taijutsu had improved several times over compared to when he had sparred with him before.
When Kakashi reached the two ninjas who had been kicked dozens of meters away,
he looked at their bloodied, mangled chests and muttered, "Just how much force did this kid use in those kicks to turn them into this?"
The two had no signs of life left.
"These two were Chunin, and this kid can instantly kill two Chunin in a second?"
Kakashi found it unbelievable.
"His strength is increasing too fast."
When Kakashi had tested Yoruha before, Yoruha had only possessed Chunin-level strength.
Even if he had been very strong among Chunin, he had still only been a Chunin.
But the strength Yoruha had shown just now was strength capable of instantly killing Chunin.
That meant Yoruha already possessed Jonin-level strength.
And this was while using only taijutsu.
After all, Yoruha had learned Chidori.
Though that night it had seemed as if Yoruha had failed to release "Chidori,"
Kakashi had seen clearly that Yoruha had already succeeded. What happened after that was simply his Chakra Rampage, which caused the technique's power to increase drastically.
Even if Yoruha still couldn't control his Chakra now, just in taijutsu alone, his strength was no less than a Jonin.