After hearing Maki Uzumaki's explanation, Chiba Shun came away with a much clearer understanding of sensory ninjutsu, but it still wasn't enough. He could now vaguely feel the outline of the path ahead, yet the last step remained just beyond his grasp, like a door he could see but still couldn't force open.
After thinking it over for a while, he asked, "Maki-senpai, is there any way to improve this sensory technique? Right now it still needs the earth as a medium. If it could use the air directly, then it would be at least an A-rank sensory ninjutsu."
Maki glanced at him from the side and said flatly, "I'm already busy enough learning medical ninjutsu. That alone is exhausting. And now you want me to study sensory ninjutsu too?"
Then she crossed her arms and added, "And it's all for your cultivation. Why should I bother?"
Chiba coughed lightly, then replied as though this were the most natural thing in the world. "Because you nearly ate me into bankruptcy."
The moment he said that, Maki remembered the miserable look on his face after he rescued her from that Grass ninja. During those few days, she had eaten like a bottomless pit while he stood nearby clutching his wallet and looking like he might die from heartbreak before hunger ever got him.
Her expression immediately turned awkward, and she glared at him. Then she said, "Fine. I can study it when I have time, and if I figure something out, I'll tell you. But I have a condition."
Chiba's face tightened at once. He was poor now. So poor that even exchanging for that B-rank sensory technique had made his chest ache. Any request involving money was enough to make his soul shiver.
Maki rolled her eyes at his wary look. "When I get married, I'll marry into your family. Then you'll count as my younger brother on my mother's side."
Chiba blinked. Then, unable to help himself, he asked, "Maki-senpai… do you already have someone you like?"
Her face flushed instantly. "What would a brat like you know? Go play somewhere else."
After saying that, she turned and walked straight back to the hospital.
Chiba stood there for a while, watching her go. Then his thoughts began to wander. If Maki really did marry and have children in this life, would one of them still be Karin? And if so, would that child inherit the terrifying sensory gift known as Kagura's Mind's Eye?
Sometimes, talent mattered far more than hard work.
Maki was only studying sensory ninjutsu in the scraps of free time left over from her medical training. Even so, in just one month, she pushed the technique all the way to A-rank.
The upgraded sensory ninjutsu no longer relied on the earth. It could directly use chakra fluctuations in the air as a medium. In Maki Uzumaki's hands, the sensing range increased several times over, reaching a terrifying ten thousand meters.
After handing the new A-rank sensory ninjutsu over to the village, Maki received a substantial reward.
At Chiba's suggestion, she named the technique Kagura Mind's Eye. And when it came to Chiba, she taught it to him for free.
For ten full days, Maki personally guided him through the cultivation method. Since she was the one who had developed the technique, her instructions were exact, practical, and utterly without reservation. Under her direct guidance, Chiba's sensory ninjutsu advanced at a shocking pace.
But in the end, he still failed to learn Kagura Mind's Eye.
The reason was the same as before. Just like the A-rank genjutsu he couldn't master, the problem wasn't his effort. His level of Yin Release simply wasn't high enough.
That result left Chiba deeply disappointed. His Yin Release had improved over these recent days, yes, but it was only a quantitative increase. It still wasn't enough to trigger the qualitative change he needed.
In the end, he could only grit his teeth and mutter to himself, "Looks like I'll just have to wait for good news from Danzo."
On that particular day, Chiba Shun had been training at the Ninja Academy as usual, dividing his time between genjutsu, sensory techniques, and ordinary ninjutsu practice. Then, without warning, the sound of a fierce fight erupted nearby.
His eyes sharpened at once.
That was definitely not a student spar.
The students at the Ninja Academy were, at best, only just approaching the level of genin. There was no way they could cause that kind of commotion. Realizing something was wrong, Chiba immediately ran toward the source of the sound.
By the time he arrived, Aoki Yuu was already there.
Aoki stood with a deep frown, looking ahead at two ANBU squads. Eight ANBU were forming a perimeter around more than twenty children, all of whom wore special goggles over their eyes. And lying on the ground in front of them was a corpse.
Aoki Yuu naturally knew that, ever since Chiba's latest return, two additional ANBU squads had quietly appeared around the Ninja Academy. What he didn't know was why those ANBU had been stationed there.
Chiba, however, understood what was happening almost immediately.
He stepped forward, nodded apologetically to Aoki Yuu, then asked one of the ANBU captains what had happened.
The captain replied, "This man tried to get close to the children. After being warned off by one of the academy's support staff, he attempted to force his way in. We killed him."
Chiba followed the captain's gaze and saw the support worker in question, an ordinary man who used to work at an orphanage. The poor fellow was trembling so badly that it looked as though his legs might give out. It was obvious this was his first time witnessing ninja combat up close.
Chiba quickly told him and the other ordinary staff to leave first.
Only after they were gone did he ask, "You're sure he was after these children?"
The ANBU captain nodded. "That is our judgment."
Chiba's expression turned cold. "Then they're definitely after the Byakugan bloodline. Move immediately. Transfer them all back to ANBU headquarters."
The captain hesitated. "I suspect this is a diversion. If we move now, we might be walking straight into their trap. Wouldn't it be better to send out a signal and request reinforcements first?"
Chiba shook his head. "Trap or not, we move. Listen carefully. If they attack, kill them if you can. If you can't, then at least leave wounds on them that can identify them later. As for these children…"
He glanced around to make sure no students were close enough to hear, then finished coldly, "So what if they die?"
The captain froze. "Our orders are to protect them."
Chiba answered without blinking. "The Raikage also said I'm in charge of this mission. Right now, I'm changing the orders."
The ANBU captain hesitated for another moment. Then, finally, he lowered his head and said, "Understood."
The eight ANBU immediately moved out with the children.
Chiba then turned to Aoki Yuu, grabbed a bunch of spare goggles, and shoved them onto dozens of other children nearby. Then he said, "Aoki-senpai, I'll leave this side to you. If more enemy intelligence ninjas show up, take care of them."
With that, he turned and ran after the ANBU team.
Aoki Yuu stood there, stunned.
Byakugan?
Chiba had just said Byakugan. Did that mean a Byakugan bloodline had actually appeared inside the village? And not just anywhere, but at the Ninja Academy?
A moment later, he finally realized the truth. No. Those children just now had probably only been bait.
He looked at the dozens of children still wearing goggles and let out a quiet, helpless laugh. "Those who play tactics really do have filthy hearts."
Still, despite the disgust on his face, he remained fully alert.
On the other side, the battle erupted the moment Chiba left the academy grounds.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Three explosive tags went off in rapid succession, blasting apart the uneasy peace of Kumogakure.
Konoha had clearly gone to great lengths to erase the Hyuga bloodline. These infiltrators probably hadn't come with any intention of staying hidden, let alone surviving.
Instead of charging straight into the middle of the battlefield, Chiba formed hand seals at high speed and slammed both palms onto the ground.
"Earth Release - Four-Sided Earth Flow Wall!"
Four massive walls of earth surged up around the combat zone, sealing it off on all sides.
Chiba jumped to the top of one of the walls and looked down into the middle of the battle.
The clash below was moving fast. Several of the children had already died. But because Chiba had changed the ANBU's orders, none of the ANBU themselves had been killed. The moment things turned dangerous, they had abandoned part of the bait and engaged the enemy directly.
At that point, the situation was already obvious.
The Konoha side wanted to escape.
The ANBU side wanted to stop them from escaping.
But in the end, the eight ANBU still couldn't completely pin their enemies down. Three Konoha ninjas managed to break free of the enclosed zone. One climbed directly over the earthen wall. The other two punched a hole through one side of it and escaped through the breach.
Chiba narrowed his eyes. "Konoha really did plant a lot of people inside Kumogakure."
Then, without hesitation, he locked onto one specific target - a broad-shouldered, heavily built man.
Even behind a mask, Chiba recognized him immediately.
This was the same sword-wielding special jonin who had once tried to assassinate him.
The moment he confirmed it, Chiba moved.
He used the Body Flicker Technique to close the distance, then launched a rapid sequence of hand seals.
"Earth Release - Earth Spear."
"Earth Release - Earth Lance."
"Earth Release - Rock Missile."
A steady barrage of C-rank offensive earth techniques harassed the man from all angles, preventing him from escaping cleanly.
The swordsman realized at once that he wouldn't be getting out of this without paying a price.
His eyes hardened behind the mask. Since there was no path to escape anymore, then before he died, he would kill Chiba Shun and drag him down into the grave.
His last failed assassination attempt against Chiba had already earned him a punishment from Danzo. If not for the fact that infiltrating Kumogakure was so difficult in the first place, Danzo would already have had him executed.
So this time, he would not die for nothing.
Chiba only grinned.
He had crossed blades with this man once before. He knew very well that in a straight sword fight, he would lose. He had absolutely no intention of getting close.
So instead, he vanished underground.
"Earth Release - Earth Stealth."
The swordsman cursed under his breath and immediately turned to flee again. But after only a few steps, a huge wall of earth surged up directly in front of him.
He slashed it apart in one blow, opening a hole, then dove through. But the moment he landed, a hand suddenly thrust up from the soil below and seized his ankle.
He was shocked. Instinctively, he brought his sword down. But it was already too late.
A terrifying force yanked at his leg.
The next moment, the world turned dark. Then came the crushing weight of earth on all sides, and the suffocating certainty that he had been buried alive.
That was right.
Chiba had used the Mind Decapitation Technique.
The swordsman desperately forced chakra through his body, trying to break free. But Chiba had long since poured a large amount of chakra into the soil, reinforcing the entire trap. At that point, it didn't matter that the swordsman's total chakra was higher. He had to resist not only Chiba's chakra, but the mass and pressure of the surrounding earth itself.
Last time, Chiba had suffocated a jonin to death with this method.
A special jonin would fare no better.
Sure enough, after a while, Chiba crouched beside the disturbed patch of ground and smiled thinly.
"Finally."
"I've been waiting for this day for so long. I wouldn't have been satisfied until you were dead."
Once he was sure the swordsman was finished, Chiba rose and turned to look back toward the battlefield where it had started.
The battle there was still going on, but it would end soon. More and more Cloud shinobi were already rushing over from every direction, drawn by the explosions.
This time, Konoha's hidden hand inside Kumogakure had been cut deep enough to bleed.