"What exactly did Crow go off to do?!" Hyuga Akira was now seriously suspecting that Crow had already deserted.
Ōnoki had personally arrived, yet the guy was nowhere to be seen.
Still, according to the prophecy, avoiding danger was itself a way of dealing with danger.
But that left everyone else here in mortal peril.
Inside the white barrier, the enormous sphere of light was rapidly expanding.
"Well then… goodbye." Akira's figure vanished on the spot.
He had already prepared substitution items in advance. The moment Ōnoki appeared, he could relocate immediately.
A small stone appeared where he had been standing.
Any object containing Akira's chakra could serve as a substitution medium—the only difference was that longer distances consumed more chakra.
Floating in the sky, Ōnoki maintained the Dust Release with both hands and shouted, "Hah!"
The white sphere inside the barrier suddenly flared with blinding light, rapidly filling the entire transparent field. Most of the people trapped inside showed despair on their faces.
Only a small number of ninja managed to escape the range using Body Flicker Techniques.
The rest had no such means and could only remain where they stood, waiting for death.
Death arrived exactly on schedule.
Ōnoki wasn't surprised that some had escaped. Dust Release couldn't interrupt an enemy's technique activation; some jonin with quick reactions could still get away.
As the white light reached its peak, Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique vanished.
Everyone inside had disappeared.
More precisely—they were dead.
Everything within the barrier, living or not, had been reduced to the atomic level, erased completely.
If the technique didn't require a brief activation time, not a single person inside would have escaped.
When the Dust Release faded, not only were the people gone—even the trench itself had vanished. All that remained was a perfectly square crater, silent testimony to Ōnoki's power.
The scale was enough to obliterate a small mountain.
This was the strength of one who bore the title of Kage.
Ōnoki slowly descended from the sky as ranks of Iwa ninja rushed forward behind him.
"Find them. Kill them," he said coldly.
Quite a few Konoha ninja—at least chunin level—had escaped using Body Flicker.
He had no intention of letting them return alive.
The Iwa ninja surged forward into the forest, their faces full of killing intent.
"Find the one throwing fireballs!"
"The others don't matter—the fireball thrower must die!"
"I'll kill him myself!"
They weren't worried about losing the trail. Those blue fireballs were distinctive—likely some kind of kekkei genkai. Impossible to miss.
They charged ahead in droves. No one remained to block them now.
"The fireball thrower?" Ōnoki raised an eyebrow, not quite understanding what had agitated this battlefield so much.
An Iwa ninja hurried forward to explain, "There's a Konoha ninja capable of ultra-long-range attacks. He forced us to retreat. We couldn't hit him at all, and those fireballs were incredibly fast—one mistake and you'd be sniped instantly."
Just one man had suppressed an entire force of Iwa ninja.
Ōnoki slapped the commander's knee, making him cry out and drop to one knee.
"Why are you standing so tall?" Ōnoki grumbled as he floated upward again.
He remembered that earlier there had been a Konoha ninja in a watchtower at a distance. He had included that area within the Dust Release as well.
That must have been the man they were looking for.
…
Completely unaware that he had become the Iwa ninja's most wanted target, Akira had already reached deep into the forest.
"Whew…" He let out a breath. That distance alone had drained a third of his chakra.
Beside him stood a shadow clone, watching in the direction of the former battlefield.
"Isn't the range of that Dust Release a bit ridiculous?" the clone muttered, his shocked expression fading.
The technique hadn't completely ended yet. In the distance, a massive white cube was still visible.
Then, with a flash of light, it vanished.
"Original, take care of yourself. Don't run into Ōnoki—you'll die. You'll definitely die," the clone went on, chattering nonstop.
"I don't need you to tell me!" Akira snapped irritably. He was still recovering, and this guy wouldn't stop talking.
He wasn't usually this nagging, was he?
His figure vanished again.
Watching him disappear, the clone smacked his lips. "As long as you don't start thinking you can counter-kill…"
There were three great illusions in life:
your phone is vibrating,
she likes me,
and I can turn this around and kill them.
Akira would never miss the third one.
With a poof, the shadow clone dispersed. Its main job had been to scatter stones along the route for substitution techniques, and now that was done, it was no longer needed.
After traveling another long distance, Akira clicked his tongue.
He had received all the clone's memories.
"What do you mean illusion? If I die, I really can counter-kill."
He looked into the distance. At this range, no one should catch up, right?
After two substitutions, he had moved at least eight kilometers away.
"Still… if Ōnoki himself doesn't come, I could try counter-killing the others."
Ten days for just over a hundred thousand experience—it left him unwilling to leave so easily.
Ōnoki probably wouldn't bother chasing a minor figure like him personally.
He checked his inventory. He still had a Retry item—an escape skill of the highest order. Even if Ōnoki came, it might still get him out.
"I can counter-kill!" Akira, just as his clone had predicted, succumbed to the third great illusion of life.
After all, no one understood him better than himself.
Turning toward the forests of the Land of Fire, he plunged straight in without hesitation.
Soon, a group of Iwa ninja arrived nearby. One of them, his eyes wrapped in bandages, spoke up.
"A ninja entered ahead. Judging by the footsteps, he's skilled in taijutsu."
Only someone proficient in taijutsu could move with such light steps.
It might even be a jonin.
The Iwa squad exchanged glances. They themselves were a jonin team—if they could capture a major Konoha figure, it would be a huge gain.
As they rushed into the forest, two more squads followed in the same direction.
Hidden in the shadows, a shadow clone using Zetsu observed them.
"Five jonin. Seven chunin."
Having completely concealed his chakra, he was as still as dead wood, undetectable to the Iwa ninja.
With a poof, he dispersed into smoke.
…
In the forest, Akira sat on a tree branch as the clone's memories surfaced in his mind.
"Only twelve people? Five jonin and seven chunin… a bit fewer than I'd hoped."
He spent three hundred units of essence to replenish his chakra—each point restoring ten chakra.
Soon, his chakra was fully restored.
"Byakugan!"
Akira activated his Byakugan, watching the ninja gradually closing in through the forest.
"Close enough."
He took a deep breath as three thousand chakra vanished instantly.
"Awakened Skill: Game Dungeon!"
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