"A lucky guess? My young, genius ninja?"
In the split second Hagoromo wavered, the enemy had found his answer. While he couldn't be 100% certain this was the White Yaksha, his confidence was hovering at about 80%.
"How did you conclude I was this 'White Yaksha'?" Hagoromo neither confirmed nor denied it, though he was genuinely curious about the man's deduction.
Standing on the branch, the masked ninja let out a laugh—a raspy sound that sat somewhere between a grand chuckle and a sly snicker. He clearly enjoyed the bewilderment of younger shinobi; it made them look so delightfully naive.
Once he finished laughing, he showed no intention of satisfying Hagoromo's curiosity. He had neither the interest nor the obligation to explain.
"Luck is on my side today. The environment, the terrain, the weather—they all favor me. You're at a dead end... Perhaps you'd like to surrender?"
"You've miscalculated," Hagoromo countered. "In terms of numbers and combat power, we hold the advantage."
The advantage? Hagoromo mused. Is he a Water Style specialist?
If so, the weather truly did favor the enemy. Among the four Hidden Leaf ninjas, not one could use Water Style effectively, while two were Fire Style users whose jutsu would be severely dampened by this torrential downpour.
"To me, numbers don't—"
Hagoromo didn't wait for him to finish. He had already signaled his team; why waste breath on philosophy?
Mid-sentence, Hagoromo made a sudden, lightning-fast movement with his hand. He didn't throw a shuriken; instead, a Chidori Sharp Spear ignited in his palm, lashing out at the enemies!
Facing a high-tier threat, the two Fuma ninjas were already wound tight. They blurred in opposite directions the moment Hagoromo moved, sensing the sheer intensity of the lightning chakra.
Hagoromo's goal hadn't been a kill-shot; it was to split the two ninjas apart.
"Attack! According to plan!"
Hagoromo lunged toward his primary target. Was it risky leaving Asuma and the others to deal with the second ninja? Of course. But in a multi-ninja brawl, it's easier to kill an enemy than to protect a teammate.
The masked leader was a massive threat to the others—especially Kurenai, who likely wouldn't survive a single exchange with him. Hagoromo had to peel him away and keep him busy.
To his surprise, the masked man didn't stand his ground—he turned and fled into the forest. This played perfectly into Hagoromo's hands; the two enemies were separated even more easily than he'd anticipated.
"Truly... seal-less Lightning Style," the man muttered as he leaped.
The enemy's lack of counterattack and his willingness to follow Hagoromo's lead gave him a moment of doubt, but there was no time for second-guessing. Hagoromo pursued.
The man was fast and incredibly agile. He didn't run in straight lines but spun and spiraled through the dense trees. Hagoromo was fast, but his movement was more about raw, linear power—a battering ram compared to the enemy's rapier.
The man flickered in and out of Hagoromo's sight, often lurking in the blind spots of his charge. Hagoromo couldn't find an opening, yet the enemy's counter-harassment was relentless.
Even with his back turned, the Fuma ninja seemed to have eyes in the back of his head, hurling shuriken of various sizes with terrifying precision.
Hagoromo could deflect the small ones with a kunai, but the massive Fuma Shuriken forced him to dodge. The Fuma clan's throwing arts were legendary—unlike Hagoromo's "cheat-like" precision, this was the result of bone-deep mastery.
The chase led to a clearing in the woods, where the masked man suddenly skidded to a halt. Hagoromo stopped twenty meters away. Without the canopy to shield them, the rain felt heavier, the wind sharper.
Hagoromo suspected a trap. As for the man leaving his subordinate behind? It didn't matter; the earlier conversation had made it clear this mercenary didn't value "comrades."
In the distance, the sounds of combat echoed—Hagoromo could almost see the steam rising from the trees. That would be Asuma's Fire Style... but in this rain, its power would be halved.
The enemy was a master of the Body Flicker Technique. This was Hagoromo's first time facing another speed-specialist!
The masked man unstrapped several large shuriken from his back, but instead of throwing them, he dropped them to the mud.
Lightening the load.
Chakra began to surge into the man's legs.
Focusing power.
He stopped talking, but the bloodlust glinting in his eyes was more eloquent than any words. This was a man who truly lived for the slaughter.
Facing that gaze, Hagoromo flared his Chidori Current, covering his body in a defensive shroud of electricity. It was an absolute defense of sorts; the masked man could clearly see the risks, yet in the next heartbeat, he charged straight at Hagoromo.
He was incredibly fast, but his gait was different from Hagoromo's. His strides were short and choppy. He leaned forward, hugging the ground, his arms trailing naturally behind him. From above, he looked like a stone skipping across the surface of a lake of mud.
With a rhythmic lurch, he was suddenly in Hagoromo's personal space. His right hand blurred toward his leg pouch, middle finger hooking a kunai with practiced ease. He swung the blade upward in a lethal arc aimed at Hagoromo's abdomen, chest, and throat!
Hagoromo was ready. He tapped his right foot back and arched his upper body into a deep lean, the kunai whistling past his neck by a hair's breadth.
But the attack wasn't over.
With a soft clap, Hagoromo saw the man's left palm slam against his right wrist. Doubling his force, the kunai—which had just passed Hagoromo's head—was slammed back down toward his chest with twice the speed!
He's not the only one who can shift combat rhythms.
"Chidori Current! Max output!"
Hagoromo exploded backward. His right leg kicked off with near-limit force, propelling him five meters back in an instant—a flicker of movement that seemed to tear through time and space.
It might have been the fastest Hagoromo had ever moved in his life. If it hadn't been, that kunai would be buried in his heart.
He took a breath, feeling his heart skip half a beat.
"I told you," the enemy rasped. "The environment favors me."
The rain was causing Hagoromo's external lightning to arc uncontrollably. While the Chidori Current now covered a wider area, its raw power, defensive density, and paralyzing effect were being dangerously thinned out by the water.