The Missing Man

"Homura, ask them which ninja village they're from." Minato glanced at the leader of the ninja, then spoke to Uchiha Homura.

"Alright. What's your name, and which ninja village are you from?" Uchiha Homura asked the ninja leader, who was still trapped in the illusion.

"My name is Lihuo. I'm from Kusagakure in the Land of Grass." The ninja leader answered Uchiha Homura's questions hazily.

"Why did you come within the Land of Fire?"

"Since Konoha and Iwagakure chose the Land of Grass as their battlefield, we had no choice but to enter the territory of other major countries to avoid being caught up in the war. We became Rogue Ninja in order to survive."

As Uchiha Homura asked question after question and the ninja leader Lihuo answered them one by one, Soji and Minato gradually furrowed their brows.

"Minato, don't you feel like something's off?" Soji looked at Minato, who also seemed to be deep in thought, and spoke up.

"Yeah, you feel it too? But where is that sense of discord coming from?" Minato answered Soji while slowly closing his eyes.

After finishing his questions, Uchiha Homura looked at his two companions, who had fallen into deep thought, with a huge question mark practically hanging over his head.

He truly couldn't keep up with Minato and Soji's train of thought. He hadn't gotten any other useful information from Lihuo either.

He had initially thought this group of ninja was stupid, but compared to Minato and Soji, he suddenly felt that he didn't seem very smart himself.

Still, seeing the two of them like this, Uchiha Homura wisely chose not to disturb them and simply waited quietly.

What exactly is wrong? Did I overlook some important information? Soji repeatedly questioned himself.

Then he began retracing everything from that morning up until the point where they had completely taken control of the situation.

No matter how he thought it over, he still couldn't find the flaw.

Yet that feeling of disharmony continued to cling to him, impossible to shake off. He had a strong feeling that if he failed to remember, the consequences would be severe.

"Ah, if only we'd kept that bandit who gave us information yesterday," Soji said with a helpless sigh.

Yesterday? Bandit?

A flash of insight suddenly crossed Soji's mind, and Minato Namikaze, who had heard Soji's sigh, seemed to realize something as well.

Then Soji and Minato couldn't help exchanging a glance, confirming each other's suspicions.

The instant they figured it out, before they could say anything, the earth and rocks beneath them trembled.

Then a figure suddenly burst out from the ground inside the encirclement formed by Soji and the others.

The black figure leaped from the soil into the air without pausing, then swept his leg out and sent all three of them flying.

Soji and Minato had already been somewhat prepared.

Both raised their arms in front of their chests and blocked the kick, but their bodies couldn't withstand the tremendous force, and they were still sent flying.

Uchiha Homura wasn't so lucky. Having already relaxed, he hadn't even considered defending against an attack coming from among them.

As a result, Uchiha Homura took that powerful kick squarely in the chest.

His body was immediately sent flying sideways, smashing into the cliff wall behind him. He spat out a mouthful of blood, and it looked like his internal organs had been injured.

"Crash!"

Broken stones slid down from the cliff wall, adding several external wounds to the already internally injured Uchiha Homura.

"Homura!"

Soji and Minato cried out in alarm at the same time.

"Damn it! You actually managed to evade my Byakugan's observation."

This suddenly appearing ninja had caught Soji and the others completely off guard.

Soji had never expected that a ninja could evade his Byakugan and severely injure Uchiha Homura in an instant right in front of him and Minato.

"Heh heh, not bad, brats. You managed to take out all the Rogue Ninja under my control without suffering a scratch."

The speaker was the unknown ninja who had emerged from the ground and instantly driven back Soji's group, the one Soji's Byakugan had failed to notice.

He stood over two meters tall, wearing red clothes beneath a brown vest. He had on a pair of black gloves that covered his entire hands. Every strand of his black hair stood straight up, and his face was hard and resolute, like an unshakable boulder.

At that moment, he held Lihuo by the collar in his left hand while his right hand was clenched into a fist as he watched Soji and the others.

This ninja was exactly what Soji and Minato had found strange!

Yesterday, Soji and the others had concluded that this valley definitely concealed ninja from one of the other four great ninja villages.

But from what the ninja leader Lihuo had just said, they were merely Rogue Ninja who had drifted from the Land of Grass into the Land of Fire in search of survival.

That was completely different from Soji's judgment. Rogue Ninja could never possess such discipline.

And the fact that these Rogue Ninja had spared the bandit group that had once discovered their traces was clearly not something Rogue Ninja would do.

Yet after Soji and the others entered this valley, this group of ninja had shown none of the discipline of ninja village ninja in any respect.

That had once made Soji and Minato suspicious.

Then there was Lihuo, who possessed the strength of a jonin but had been brought down by a single genjutsu from Uchiha Homura and still hadn't awakened.

That was inconceivable for a jonin from any of the other four great ninja villages.

"So you're the one directing these Rogue Ninja from behind the scenes." As Minato Namikaze moved closer to Uchiha Homura, he fired a signal flare to notify Kushina Uzumaki, who was lying in ambush outside, to come in and provide support.

Soji moved toward Uchiha Homura at the same time.

Both of them feared that the enemy would use this opening to reduce their numbers first.

The other side paid little attention to Soji and Minato's small movements.

He merely tossed the Rogue Ninja leader Lihuo to the ground and woke him from Uchiha Homura's genjutsu.

"Useless trash. Get up already."

A powerful voice rang beside Lihuo's ear.

Hearing those nightmare-like words from his memories, Lihuo scrambled to his feet at once.

"Ah, Lord Steel Bone! Thank you for saving me. I'm terribly sorry for disturbing your rest," Lihuo replied fearfully, standing ramrod straight with his head lowered.

Soji and the others now learned that the towering ninja before them was named Steel Bone!

Steel Bone stared at Lihuo, making his body tremble again, before turning back to face Soji's group of three.

Steel Bone swore that if he hadn't truly lacked manpower, he would have slaughtered every one of these useless Rogue Ninja who had exposed his existence!

Not only were these Rogue Ninja weak, their discipline was utterly terrible.

If he hadn't threatened them with their lives, they would likely have exposed themselves to the Konoha Ninja long ago. They never would have lasted until now.

As expected, they aren't Iwagakure's ninja troops. I can't expect too much from them. Once this is over, it'll be time to leave Konoha. Then these Rogue Ninja can fulfill their final purpose—causing destruction within the Land of Fire, Steel Bone thought.

"Cough, cough."

While Steel Bone was waking Lihuo, Uchiha Homura coughed up blood as he pulled himself free from the cliff wall and slowly walked to stand between Soji and Minato.

"You bastard... you bastard! I'll never let you go! Die! Fire Style Ninjutsu—Great Fireball Technique!" After reaching Soji and Minato, Uchiha Homura disregarded his own injuries and directly unleashed Fire Style Ninjutsu at Steel Bone and Lihuo.

"Homura! Don't push yourself!"

"Yeah, you're injured. Don't be reckless!"

Soji and Minato both tried to stop Uchiha Homura, but the more they tried to persuade him while his anger was raging, the more he wanted to prove himself.

He had initially only intended to use a Fire Style technique, but now he charged forward himself.

"Did we do something wrong...?" Soji said helplessly as he watched this.

At that moment, Soji had forgotten all about Uchiha Homura's proud self-esteem.

For most members of the Uchiha Clan, the more you told them not to do something, the more determined they sometimes became to do it.

"Sigh, with Homura in this state, all we can do is support his attack as best we can and make sure the enemy doesn't exploit an opening." Minato could only suggest this less-than-ideal plan.

Then Soji and Minato leaped forward at the same time, charging toward Steel Bone and Lihuo.

Earth Style Wall!

The instant Uchiha Homura used the Great Fireball Technique, Steel Bone used Earth Style to block the massive fireball.

When the fireball dispersed, only a faint wisp of green smoke rose from the Earth Style Wall. It had not shaken the thick earthen wall in the slightest.

"Not bad Fire Style power. At your age, ordinary chunin probably wouldn't be your match. Unfortunately, you ran into me." Standing behind the Earth Style Wall with his arms crossed, Steel Bone evaluated him in the tone of an elder addressing a junior.

"Hmph, I'm not done yet."

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

The sound of slicing air rang out as Uchiha Homura flung the four Shuriken in his hand.

The Shuriken curved around the Earth Style Wall and flew toward Steel Bone.

As for Lihuo beside him, Uchiha Homura had already completely ignored him.

All he wanted now was to defeat Steel Bone, the one who had seriously injured him!

"Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!"

Steel Bone knocked all four Shuriken away with a Kunai.

"Now taste my power."

Looking at the four Shuriken scattered around Steel Bone's feet, Uchiha Homura couldn't help smiling despite the blood at the corner of his mouth and the faint pain in his chest.

He gently pulled with both hands, revealing transparent wires extending from his fingers to the Shuriken around Steel Bone's feet.

"What? Steel wire?"

Because the valley was so dark, even Steel Bone had failed to notice at first that the Shuriken Uchiha Homura had thrown were connected to such a thing.

"It's too late to notice now. Fire Style Ninjutsu—Dragon Fire Technique!"

The flames Uchiha Homura breathed out raced along the steel wires, burning directly toward Steel Bone, who had no time to evade.

"Ahhh!"

A miserable scream echoed through the valley, startling countless birds into flight in the distance.

At that moment, Steel Bone, who had been hiding behind the Earth Style Wall, had become a blazing human torch.

"Lord Steel Bone!" Lihuo shouted toward Steel Bone within the flames while trying to avoid the scorching heat of the Dragon Fire Technique.

The scene was simply too shocking for him.

He had never imagined that Lord Steel Bone, who had seemed as powerful as a monster in his eyes, would be defeated so easily.

"No, that isn't Steel Bone! Homura, get away!"

At that moment, Soji saw clearly through his Byakugan that the burning human figure wasn't Steel Bone at all, but a wooden log!

Perhaps when the opponent had used the Earth Style Wall to block Soji's group's vision, he had already used the Substitution Technique to hide his real body.

As expected of a ninja from one of the other four great ninja villages. Their combat experience was truly beyond anything Soji and the others could compare to.

Even if Soji and Minato had faced Uchiha Homura's combined attack just now, they couldn't have handled it so perfectly, much less counterattacked!

Yes, Steel Bone had already appeared behind Uchiha Homura, who had stopped to catch his breath!