Xueyu was hidden in the corner of the luxurious carriage. Even if an ordinary person searched the entire carriage, they would never find the three of them.
This was the power of ninja—concealing oneself was a basic skill.
Inside the carriage sat the extravagantly dressed Yamada Nakaken, while outside, guards surrounded the carriage tightly from all directions.
Xueyu looked down on those guards. They were nothing but ordinary people, untrained and unrefined. If he were to kill them himself, it wouldn't even take three minutes.
The only ones truly capable of protecting Yamada Nakaken were the four of them.
The people outside were merely there to put on a show, completely useless in practice.
He swept a disdainful glance over the guards outside, then refocused his attention.
Hanzo was currently attempting to seize control over the nobles. No one knew what methods Hanzo might use, and some nobles had already chosen to surrender.
At any moment, they might run into Hanzo's men.
If that happened, battle would be inevitable—this was a struggle for leadership of the Rain Village.
Because of that, Xueyu did not dare relax for even a second, nor did his three companions.
Then, halfway through the journey—
Bang!
A violent sound rang out.
Xueyu snapped his head toward the source of the noise. A stone had suddenly shattered, and amidst the flying debris, a black shuriken stood out starkly.
His pupils shrank as he shouted sharply:
"Enemy attack!!!"
"Missed."
Using his Byakugan, Hyūga Akira watched the main road in the distance. He had been aiming for Yamada Nakaken inside the carriage, but instead struck a nearby rock.
The distance was simply too great—the shuriken's trajectory had deviated far too much.
Normally, no ninja would ever attack from such a distance. Ninja academies certainly didn't teach ultra-long-range throwing.
Because of that failed throw, panic erupted among the distant group, instantly putting them on guard.
Three chūnin appeared at once, positioning themselves around the carriage, protecting it from all sides while waiting for further attacks.
But even their vigilance didn't seem to matter much.
"Mastering ultra-long-range throwing really isn't easy," Akira muttered.
He knew very well that this kind of technique required long-term accumulation and practice.
With his current level of sniping skill, completing the mission like this was basically impossible.
"In that case, I'll have to rely on my astonishing wisdom."
Using cheats like this—just a little—didn't really count as cheating.
He took out his last two mana potions and placed them beside him, just in case.
"Brain Fei—activate!"
Instantly, his brain entered an overclocked state. The world became incomparably clear.
Wind direction.
Angle.
Force.
Speed.
Rotation.
Everything appeared before his eyes as precise numerical values.
A massive amount of chakra was being consumed. Akira immediately downed one mana potion to sustain what came next.
"Clone Technique! Bear Palm! Ignition Flame!"
Three techniques activated simultaneously.
He raised the shuriken high, Nen wrapping around its surface.
Shū.
Byakugan locked on.
He hurled the shuriken with all his strength toward the distant road.
BOOM!
A violent sonic boom erupted as the shuriken tore through the air, carrying Akira's full-powered strike toward the main road.
At that very moment, Brain Fei ended.
He quickly drank the second low-grade mana potion.
The flying shuriken, laden with overwhelming force, became a black streak that crossed the road.
Xueyu sensed something and instinctively turned his head—
He saw a black line flash through the carriage, then land nearby with a heavy impact.
Bang! A small crater formed.
"Not good!!"
He threw open the carriage curtain and rushed inside—
Only to see a headless corpse collapse lifelessly onto the floor.
"What in the world is this?!"
Before he could say anything else—
Bang!
Another loud impact came from outside.
Xueyu rushed out of the carriage, just in time to see one of his companions' bodies fall to the ground—his head completely gone.
"Mission failed! Run!!"
Xueyu shouted at the last remaining companion and turned to flee without hesitation.
The final ninja didn't hesitate either, sprinting straight into the forest on the other side of the road.
On the mountain, Hyūga Akira slowly exhaled as he fully withdrew from the Brain Fei state, feeling a brief sense of emptiness.
But that was fine.
He'd learned enough.
"I've got it now."
By relying on Brain Fei's extreme cognitive acceleration, he had quickly grasped this throwing method.
In the distance, the two surviving ninja had split up while fleeing, both choosing the nearby forest.
"Trying to block my line of sight with trees?" Akira said, his expression odd.
The Byakugan could see straight through obstacles.
He raised his arm again, Nen coating another shuriken, and hurled it toward one of them in the forest.
BOOM!
A sharp sonic blast echoed.
The shuriken tore through the trees. The ninja was just barely faster, dodging the shuriken by a split second.
The weapon slammed into the ground, blasting out another crater.
In the Byakugan's vision, such evasive maneuvers were meaningless.
"Still not easy to control," Akira sighed, lifting yet another shuriken.
At extreme range, throwing multiple shuriken ruined his accuracy.
He could only throw them one by one.
BOOM!
The sonic blast rang out again.
The shuriken pierced through layers of trees and struck the target—but not a vital spot. One leg was blown apart.
The ninja collapsed, face filled with terror.
"Where is this attack coming from?!"
He only knew it came from afar. He couldn't see anyone. He couldn't understand this fighting style at all.
He tried crawling forward to escape—
But in the next instant, his head exploded as another shuriken struck.
Meanwhile, Xueyu was fleeing frantically.
That deadly shuriken—he could hear it the moment it came. He could roughly judge its direction, but it was simply too fast.
BOOM!!
The instant he heard the sound, he dove to the left, narrowly avoiding the attack.
He stared in disbelief at the crater in the ground.
Why did the shuriken remain intact with that kind of power?!
BOOM!!
The fatal sound rang out again.
This time, there was no time to dodge—but the attacker's aim wasn't perfect. The shuriken sliced off his ear and slammed into the ground behind him.
He scrambled up and sprinted forward desperately.
Why aren't the trees blocking his vision?!
He had never seen shuriken with this kind of power.
Weren't shuriken supposed to be easy to dodge?!
BOOM!
BOOM!
The sounds came one after another.
He cursed his lack of extra legs as he ran for his life.
Finally—
BOOM!!
Still filled with confusion, his headless corpse collapsed to the ground.
On the mountain, Akira glanced at the experience notifications.
[EXP +1587]
Adding the earlier two—
[EXP +1456]
[EXP +1253]
Akira muttered to himself:
"Maybe I really can kill Senju Hashirama from eight hundred li away… with a single shuriken."
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews. comment
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on P@treon if you're interested:
http://patreon.com/KuroTL