Their completely different fighting styles reflected the differences in their respective cultures.
To Kirigakure's strong, the weak were cannon fodder, existences meant to pad the numbers.
Only surviving oneself was what mattered most.
After all his subordinates entered, Ringo Yūri slowly lifted her foot and descended the stairs into the underground...
"Young Master, someone's coming."
Ino Yamanaka turned around. She sensed several figures rapidly approaching.
The trap barrier on Dan Katō's stone coffin was somewhat difficult to break.
Even Akira Sarutobi had to proceed with extreme caution.
Akira Sarutobi guessed that the barrier on the coffin had been set by Kunugi Mokume, the elite Jonin who had accompanied Tsunade at the time.
Kunugi Mokume seemed like an insignificant extra, yet he had been Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru's senior.
He had also been Hatake Sakumo's classmate.
When Dan Katō died, it had been Kunugi Mokume who loudly berated Tsunade and urged her to come to her senses.
Even after the passage of time had worn away the effectiveness of an elite Jonin's barrier trap, it still required the utmost caution.
"They aren't ours... They've split up... I understand. They intend to seal every passage leading to the chamber and cut us off!"
Ino Yamanaka reported the situation in real time as she continued sensing.
"You two go first."
With both hands pressed against the barrier laid over the stone coffin, Chakra circulating through him, Akira Sarutobi answered without turning his head.
Focused on dismantling the trap before him, he pried open the densely packed talismans bit by bit, like running a hacker program.
With his exceptional knowledge and intellect, Akira Sarutobi was fully confident he could remove the restraints.
"..."
Ino Yamanaka glanced at her young master. She knew that once he made up his mind, no one could pull him back.
Clearly, her young master had no intention of dragging others down with him.
But he had made up his mind to bring Dan Katō's remains home.
"You, come with me."
Ino Yamanaka suddenly raised a hand and pointed at Shirakumo Hayama.
"Huh?" Shirakumo Hayama looked utterly confused.
Then, still unable to make heads or tails of it, he looked back as he left with Ino Yamanaka.
With the two of them gone, the burial chamber temporarily fell silent.
Ruri Hyuga stood to one side, her eyelids drooping as she stared at the ground, lost in thought.
She did not speak, while Akira Sarutobi focused on breaking the barrier.
For a while, the burial chamber was so quiet that even a needle dropping to the floor would have been audible.
Then, not long after...
Shouts of battle and cries rang out.
Clearly, Ino Yamanaka and Shirakumo Hayama had encountered the enemy.
Hearing those sounds, Akira Sarutobi frowned.
It was not because he worried about Ino Yamanaka's safety.
With a mind like that of a little devil, if danger arose, she would most likely sell out Shirakumo Hayama first.
How should he put it? Some people were born good, while others... were born little devils.
Before long, more footsteps sounded and gradually drew closer.
When that figure appeared at the entrance, what greeted him... was a pair of seemingly delicate palms.
The girl's slender arms moved as her fingers struck out several times in succession.
With several muffled bursts of Chakra, blue spirals flashed through the air and vanished.
Before the man could react, he collapsed to the ground with a thud.
Before he died, what he saw... was an exceedingly adorable face.
Especially those crystalline white eyes, which stirred boundless reverie.
"Eight Trigrams... Four Palms."
Only after the enemy's shattered heart stopped beating and darkness swallowed his vision did Ruri Hyuga murmur the name of the technique.
The Hyuga Clan's Kekkei Genkai taijutsu... Gentle Fist!
"..."
Seeing the Hyuga girl's movements, the corner of Akira Sarutobi's mouth curled upward slightly.
Ruri Hyuga stood by the door with her head lowered, returning to her silent state.
Yet some understandings needed no words to be perfectly clear.
A peach given deserved a plum in return.
You helped me, so I would help you.
Night Vision Cheat Has Arrived!
Whoosh.
As Akira Sarutobi performed the technique, Chakra gradually flowed through the barrier.
The densely packed runes lit up one after another, and each layer of defense was breached.
It was a display of strength, as well as a contest of intellect.
As the eldest son who had inherited Hiruzen Sarutobi's aptitude as the Ninjutsu Doctor, Akira Sarutobi's talent was extraordinary.
A Ninjutsu Doctor was someone proficient in every ninjutsu in Konoha aside from Kekkei Genkai and secret techniques.
That meant he could produce a corresponding solution no matter what situation he encountered.
Akira Sarutobi was still very young. His strength was only that of a Jonin, so naturally he did not possess the power of his father, Hiruzen Sarutobi.
But that also meant Akira Sarutobi possessed limitless potential. His future accomplishments were promising, and since he was likewise proficient in the Seven Attributes, reaching his father's level was merely a matter of time.
Soon, another round of footsteps sounded as Ino Yamanaka and Shirakumo Hayama retreated back.
"Young Master, these guys are tough... They really are Kirigakure ninja!"
Kirigakure, also known as the "Village Hidden in the Bloody Mist," was renowned for its exceptionally cruel and bloody ways.
That cruelty was not limited to enemies; it extended even to their own people.
It was said that during graduation exams at the Ninja Academy, Kirigakure ninja were required to kill friends who had once slept in the bunk above or below them and shared meals from the same pot. Only those who survived could become official ninja.
All manner of inhumane rules and regulations had forged Kirigakure into a bloodthirsty, crazed Ninja Village.
In terms of one-on-one combat, the average quality of Kirigakure ninja was roughly the highest among the Five Great Ninja Villages.
"..."
Akira Sarutobi did not respond to Ino Yamanaka.
Because dismantling the barrier trap had reached a critical moment.
As his concentration deepened, Akira Sarutobi discovered that he had entered a wondrous state.
His right pupil contracted and expanded in turns.
The result was that every one of the densely packed barrier runes before him became visible at a glance.
Even the most obscure runes no longer required a magnifying glass; his naked eye alone could see them with perfect clarity.
"Interesting..."
Feeling the changes in his right eye, Akira Sarutobi realized that the Will of Fire System was clearly not as ordinary as it appeared.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The sound of kunai slicing through the air rang out as Ino Yamanaka and Shirakumo Hayama began their counterattack.
The sounds of fighting continued in the corridor.
"No good, there are too many enemies!"
With a swish, Shirakumo Hayama drew the sword at his waist.
He swung the long sword through the air. Transparent wind gathered along its blade before being flung outward.
"Futon: Vacuum Sword!"
A piercing rush of transparent airflow echoed as several crescent-shaped wind blades flew down the corridor.
This was Shirakumo Hayama's signature technique. He converted Chakra into wind nature, made it flow along the sword blade, and then released it.
Screech! Screech! Screech!!
The first Kirigakure ninja blocked a few strikes and barely managed to stop the first two wind blades.
But when the third wind blade arrived, the weapon in his hand snapped with a crack, and a deep wound appeared across his chest.
Thud.
The body fell to the ground.
The Kirigakure ninja behind him did not even spare it a glance. They simply stepped over his corpse and charged toward them.
Their ferocity and brutality surpassed that of any Ninja Village's ninja Akira Sarutobi had seen before.
Ninja from other villages would instinctively avoid the corpses of fallen comrades.
Yet these people treated their comrades' bodies like garbage, using them as stepping stones.
Screech!
A shrill whistling sound rang out.
The kunai casually thrown by the enemy startled both Ino Yamanaka and Shirakumo Hayama.
Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!
Smoke hissed from the ends of the kunai.
"They're Explosive Tags! Dodge!"
Ino Yamanaka, whose sixth sense was the sharpest, shouted and ran first.
Shirakumo Hayama barely evaded it, but the narrow corridor still left him blasted into a filthy mess.
Boom!
The underground passage shook from the explosion. Combined with its long disrepair, the place began to collapse.
Cracks spread across the walls and ceiling overhead.
Chunks of stone and clouds of dust rained down.
Soon, the light here dimmed, and even the illumination from the vents was swallowed by darkness.
"Damn it! These lunatics, aren't they afraid of bringing the place down?!"
Ino Yamanaka coughed several times and complained.
In the darkness, they could no longer see one another.
Yet Akira Sarutobi's progress in breaking the barrier was not affected in the slightest.
At that moment, even Ruri, who had kept her head lowered in silence, curiously raised her head and looked toward Akira Sarutobi in the darkness.
Akira Sarutobi was not putting on an act. He had discovered that his right eye had undergone some mysterious changes.
Before you continue