Clash

The attacking shadows came without a sound. But Baiye's Reiatsu detection had already sensed a strange fluctuation ahead. It was a little like a soul, but it wasn't one.

They were shadows.

They weren't ordinary shadows—they moved along the ground like living things, not fast, but covering a wide area as they closed in from both sides, blocking his routes of escape.

Baiye didn't draw his sword. He used Shunpo and darted backward. The tips of the shadows nearly touched his own, but fell just short.

And that tiny gap was enough for them to lose their chance.

Baiye used Shunpo several times in succession to open the distance, his mind racing all the while.

Shadow Imitation Technique.

The Nara Clan's secret family technique. Those who could use it to this extent could be counted on one hand.

Baiye recalled the Jonin who had leaned against a tree during yesterday afternoon's assessment. Shikaku Nara. His hair was tied in a short ponytail, his hands were in his pockets, and there always seemed to be something hidden behind his seemingly lazy gaze.

"Senior Shikaku." Baiye landed ten paces away without turning around. "Such an intense greeting in the middle of the night. I'm a little overwhelmed by the attention."

There was no answer from behind him. But the shadows didn't stop, continuing to spread toward him.

His Reiatsu detection had long since spread out, and he quickly found a familiar soul.

Steady, reserved, with a hint of laziness.

He had memorized Shikaku's soul fluctuations during the assessment.

But he sensed something else too—the fluctuations were the same, but the soul somehow felt a little insubstantial.

A Shadow Clone?

Could they even temporarily "create" a soul? The Second Hokage's creativity really exceeded the imagination.

Yes, even if it was false, a Shadow Clone's soul was still a soul.

Baiye had an idea. He didn't stop, using Shunpo to move as he surveyed the surrounding terrain.

The clearing in the woods was too narrow. The shadows could close in from every direction, so he needed more space.

Baiye charged toward the edge of the woods. There was a more open clearing ahead, and he leaped from trunk to trunk, his figure flashing through the moonlight.

Behind him, the shadows pursued relentlessly.

The instant he burst out of the woods, Baiye turned and drew his Zanpakuto, cutting a line in front of him with intense Reiatsu.

The pursuing shadows struck the line in the next instant. As if they had hit a wall, they were halted in place, unable to advance any farther.

The shadow secret technique was a yin release Ninjutsu, a mental secret technique—and the Reiatsu left in the sword mark was enough to hold the shadows back for a moment.

Baiye took advantage of that moment, crossing his hands in front of him with his palms facing the direction where he sensed Shikaku, and began to chant.

"O sovereign! Mask of flesh and blood, wings of all creation, you who bear the name of man—"

"Scorching heat and strife, surge across the sea to the south, march onward—"

As the chant neared its end, a ball of crimson flame formed in his palms, like a small sun against the night sky.

"Hadō #31, Shakkahō!"

The fireball left his hands, trailing crimson as it blasted toward the treetop where Shikaku's Shadow Clone stood.

Before the fireball arrived, scorching air rushed at Shikaku. Rather than take it head-on, he leaped from the branch and used the pull of his shadow secret technique to flee swiftly into the distance.

"Boom!"

With a violent explosion, several trees were blasted apart, and the resulting shock wave sent debris and dust billowing in every direction.

This is troublesome.

He hadn't intended to cause such a commotion. Was this kid really so hot-tempered? He went off at the slightest spark.

Of course, he also admitted that he had underestimated Gekkō Byakuya.

He had known Baiye was hiding his strength, but who could have imagined he was hiding so much?

His thoughts in turmoil, Shikaku failed to notice the figure rapidly approaching under cover of the explosion. By the time he realized something was wrong, Baiye was already beside him.

With an explosive burst of Reiatsu and Chakra powering his Shunpo to its limit, Baiye landed in the same spot almost at the same time as Shikaku.

He raised his left hand, holding his index and middle fingers together.

"Bakudō #30, Beak-Piercing Triple Flash."

Three streams of Reiatsu shot from Baiye's fingertips and pinned Shikaku's body in a triangle.

"?! A Sealing Jutsu?"

His body and Chakra were both locked down, leaving Shikaku frozen in place, unable to move.

Only then did Baiye slowly walk up to Shikaku Nara.

"Senior Shikaku," he said, "using a Shadow Clone to say hello is a little insincere."

Shikaku didn't answer immediately. Each technique Baiye used was stranger than the last, and under the effects of this inexplicable Sealing Jutsu, he couldn't even release his Shadow Clone.

"I did underestimate you. I originally wanted to see how you'd react to a difficult situation, but I didn't expect you to subdue me so easily instead."

"That was anything but easy... You didn't tell Senior Minato about this, did you?"

"If I had, would he have let me come?" Shikaku smiled. "How did you notice us?"

"I'm fairly good at observing and thinking."

As he spoke, Baiye drew a circle around Shikaku and divided it into four equal sections.

"Heart of the south, eye of the north, fingertips of the west, toes of the east. Gather with the wind, scatter with the rain."

As he chanted, the key guiding characters for "heart," "eye," "fingertips," and "toes" were embedded in the four sections, in order from east to west to south to north.

"What are you doing?"

"Bakudō #58, Kakushitsuijaku!"

The diagram was activated by Reiatsu. Variables resembling numerical coordinates flashed rapidly through the four sections, like a compass performing a simulation, calculating the target's Reiatsu coordinates as he moved until it successfully matched and "captured" the spatial parameters of his position.

Target located!

"Even though the original gets all the information when a Shadow Clone disappears, this is our first formal conversation. I can't exactly keep talking to a Shadow Clone the whole time, can I?"

Baiye picked up Shikaku's Shadow Clone and raced off in the direction he had locked onto in his mind.

"We can discuss the rest when we meet."

"Haha, looks like this little test did make you a bit angry after all."

"I'm young, after all."

Since they were going to meet formally and would most likely cooperate in various ways, showing a little more of his ability could serve as an advance gesture of sincerity.

As for whether it was also a show of force, that was a matter of opinion.

Lights were already faintly visible ahead. Baiye was just about to reach the place where Shikaku's original stood when he suddenly stopped.

He looked up toward the southwest. A soul fluctuation so vast it was suffocating surged from that direction, as if something had been forcibly dragged out of sleep.

Furious, violent.

That chaotic, tearing sense of power, as though it could shatter almost everything, was like a gigantic bomb about to be set off.

Baiye's pupils contracted slightly.

"What is it? Is there something over there?"

Shikaku looked in the direction Baiye was staring. Though he couldn't sense anything, he felt there was an unsettling presence there.

Baiye didn't answer immediately.

In Konoha, there was only one being capable of soul fluctuations on this level.

The Nine-Tails.

"Looks like we'll have to find another chance to meet."

Baiye released the Shadow Clone's shoulder, stepped back, and placed his right hand on his sword hilt.

Shikaku watched his movements and understood what he intended.

"Be careful, then. I'll head over there right away too."

A flash of steel.

The Shadow Clone was cut down, dissolving into smoke that scattered in the night wind.

Baiye sheathed his sword, pushed off the ground, and darted southwest.

If he remembered correctly, the Nine-Tails, Minato, and Kushina were there.

This was a rare opportunity. He had to see the Nine-Tails with his own eyes.