*Is my teammate following me?*
Fortunately, my mastery of the Summoning Jutsu was quite good.
If that little snake hadn't released the summoning on its own, he really wouldn't have reacted to it at all.
It seemed Danzo had sent these people specifically to keep an eye on him.
On the surface, the only thing about him worth Danzo's attention was the Sharingan.
Disguised as an ordinary passerby, Motomu scanned the vast, endless sea of sand.
Without a battle, no information regarding his true strength could be gleaned.
He just didn't know what kind of method this teammate would use to stir up trouble.
In the blink of an eye.
It was already afternoon.
The dim sunset cast its glow over the small town in the rocky gully.
Whirrrr... woooo... howl...
A tumbleweed rolled past Motomu's leg.
Sand kicked up by the breeze coated the town's buildings, making the entire place look exceptionally grey and dusty.
Motomu walked into a restroom according to the address written in the mission scroll.
Enduring the foul stench, he used a branch to pry up a floor tile.
A scroll with a black cover appeared beneath it.
At the same time.
Not far to the southwest of the town.
A vibrant young woman appeared, her long hair a gradient of birch and green, wearing a backless outfit.
As the leading Jonin, she was bringing her three-man squad toward Motomu's location.
"Captain Pakura, is our team really up for this?"
"This is a ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village. Will our strength be enough..."
Pakura, leading the way, held up a palm-sized intelligence scroll.
"Maki, we are the closest."
"This target is carrying critical intelligence from our Hidden Sand Village."
"This information could put our comrades in danger. I absolutely cannot let him escape."
"Understood, Teacher."
"Me too."
...
He washed his hands.
As Motomu walked out of the restroom, he stuffed the intelligence scroll into the pouch at the small of his back.
*Poof!*
The sensation of the snake releasing the summoning appeared again.
This time.
Motomu's command was to release the summoning upon seeing a different ninja.
Since the snake at the town entrance had vanished, it meant trouble had truly arrived.
Time to go!
The snake wasn't smart, so Motomu had no way of knowing the opponent's strength.
But he knew that if you caused trouble on someone else's turf and got caught, you were finished.
Moreover, his teammate was still observing in the shadows, eyes wide as they tried to record everything to hand over to Danzo.
If it came down to a hard fight, Motomu knew he would definitely be at a disadvantage.
Weaving through the alleys of the desolate town...
Motomu accelerated into a wild sprint in the opposite direction from which the enemy was coming.
He traveled at full speed.
Three hours—in just three hours, he could reach the nearest Konoha outpost.
*Boom!*
An orange-red fireball, barely the size of a fist, grazed half a meter past Motomu's left side and slammed into the sand.
"I've got you, Leaf ninja!"
Glancing at his left arm, which was dehydrating and wrinkling under a strange burning sensation, Motomu drew a kunai and gritted his teeth as he turned around.
The sight of the beautiful young woman didn't give Motomu a single pleasant feeling.
Instead, it added a touch of tension to his heart.
*Pakura?*
*Damn that Root! You freaking brought a total monster right to me!*
*A Scorch Style Kekkei Genkai user... and a Jonin.*
*This is my opponent? Are you kidding me?*
With his Sharingan fully active, Motomu's gaze scanned back and forth, trying to find the teammate hidden in the desert so he could curse their ancestors for eighteen generations.
"Stop looking. You have no hope of escape!"
"Hand over the intelligence! Then come with us quietly to the Sand Village to explain yourself."
Seeing that it was just a kid.
Pakura's team gradually began to relax.
Motomu could also see that the opponent wasn't the type of maniacal ninja who killed on sight.
"Here, take it."
While tossing the scroll in his hand to draw their attention, Motomu's hands blurred into seals.
Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger.
In less than two seconds.
A fireball three meters in diameter flew toward the scroll and the reckless Sand Genin charging forward.
As the fireball incinerated the scroll, it scorched the stunned face of the young team member.
Motomu finished exhaling the flames.
Without even looking, he turned and sprinted away.
*Pakura will definitely go to save that kid.*
*I need to use this time to get closer to the teammate's chakra signature I sensed earlier...*
His Sharingan accurately captured a glow brightening at his side.
Silently, the orange fireball of Scorch Style: Extremely Steaming Murder rapidly approached.
Psychokinesis tugged at his waist, causing Motomu's body to slide and shift to dodge the fireball.
Thoughts flashed rapidly through his mind.
*As long as I don't go overboard with the Psychokinesis, I should be able to pass it off as the Object Control Technique Orochimaru gave me.*
*As for everything else, that's for after I've secured my life.*
A ruthless glint flickered through Motomu's eyes and vanished.
*You like to chase?*
*You really take me for some soft target.*
He raised his kunai.
Listening to the direction of the whistling wind, he blocked with everything he had.
The two kunai collided.
Motomu's face was illuminated for a brief moment by the scattering sparks.
"The Sharingan! You're an Uchiha!"
Before the Genin who had recklessly pursued him could finish his sentence.
He was locked down by Motomu's waves of increasingly fast attacks.
The blood-red Sharingan trailed streaks of red light in the night.
Half of a snapped kunai flew away with a crisp ring.
Motomu grabbed the back of the other's head and shoved a kunai straight into his mouth.
The resistance of piercing flesh and bone went straight into the opponent's brainstem.
Warm, scalding blood dripped steadily onto Motomu's right hand.
Killing someone for the first time in a real sense didn't make Motomu feel uncomfortable or distressed.
He only felt his heart beating at an unprecedented speed amidst the adrenaline rush.
"You bastard! You actually killed him!"
Feeling this surge of hot-blooded impulse, Motomu spoke calmly.
"I didn't want to kill anyone."
"Look. Now my mission has failed, and you've lost a teammate."
"If this continues, there will be more pointless casualties on both sides."
"There is no fundamental conflict of interest between us."
"You've completed your duty, and I've put up a corresponding resistance."
"Both of us can save face."
"When you go back, just say I escaped. No one will know."
"Or do you insist on bringing back more of your teammates' corpses just to prove you did your best?"
Pakura, who had hesitated to strike for fear of accidentally hurting her comrade, clenched her teeth.
She didn't lose her cool because of her comrade's death.
As a leading Jonin, Pakura knew exactly what needed to be done next.
"Maki, the two of you fall back and cover me."
"Next, I will take my revenge personally."
*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!*
As Pakura formed a single-handed seal.
Small orange fireballs emerged, encircling her beautiful figure.
The rising heat waves slightly lifted Pakura's hair.
Picking up the opponent's ninja tool pouch and shaking the greasy blood off his hand, Motomu silently watched the young woman who had already assumed a combat stance.
The second Motomu stood up to leave the corpse.
*Boom!*
Three orange fireballs of Scorch Style: Extremely Steaming Murder distorted the air as they lunged toward every possible evasion path for Motomu's upper body.
The scorching heat waves disturbed the air, warping his vision.
Motomu struggled to focus his gaze on the young woman as his invisible Psychokinesis violently erupted.
Pakura, who was currently manipulating the fireballs, felt a strange force in the air push aside the atmosphere, grabbing for her neck as if to crush it.
*Some kind of strange ninjutsu?*
While Pakura easily dodged by retreating, the two Genin at her sides incessantly threw shuriken.
The iron shuriken passed through the gaps between the fireballs and were instantly heated to a glowing red.