Hands Up, But Not Surrendering

Waves surged halfway up the mountain, while pillars of fire shot into the sky at its foot.

Seeing this, Aozora quickened his pace, wanting to get away from this troublesome place.

But fate did not oblige. The sound of a Kunai slicing through the air reached his ears.

As an expert at throwing Kunai, Aozora excelled at pinpointing their trajectory by sound. He instantly rolled to the right on reflex.

"Whoosh!"

The next moment, just as he had expected, the Kunai flew past from his left.

At the same time, Aozora flicked his wrist and scattered several shuriken behind him.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The pursuing Cloud Shinobi easily knocked aside the shuriken Aozora had thrown, revealing his own location in the process.

"Not bad. You have some skill."

Ishida said calmly, "What other tricks do you have?"

The instant Aozora saw him, he knew this man was no trash like Cloud's low to mid-ranking Genin.

Fortunately, his opponent seemed somewhat arrogant and careless.

Though Aozora might not necessarily lose in a head-on fight against this Cloud Shinobi, he had no desire to engage in an all-out passionate brawl with him out here in the wilderness.

His eyes shifted, and an idea immediately came to him.

Aozora feigned nervousness, holding a Kunai as he said, "Don't come any closer! I'm really good at throwing Kunai!"

Seeing Aozora bluffing, Ishida felt a little disdainful and approached at an unhurried pace.

"Oh? How good?"

As he spoke, his hands rapidly formed Hand Seals. His eyes remained fixed on Aozora, and years of experience had prepared him to deal with any counterattack Aozora might launch.

Seeing no opportunity, Aozora immediately turned and used the Body Flicker Technique to flee.

Aozora's sudden escape nearly made Ishida choke on his breath.

After calming the Chakra that had gone out of control due to the interrupted jutsu, Ishida hurriedly chased after Aozora.

"Heh. I thought you were a wild boar pretending to be a tiger. Who knew you were just a timid little rat?"

Although Aozora's Body Flicker speed had caught his eye, Ishida had begun to look down on this young ninja who did not even dare to exchange probing blows.

As they raced along, Ishida continually tried to wear down his enemy's fighting spirit with words.

"Stop wasting your strength. You can't escape my grasp."

Hearing that, Aozora pretended to slip and staggered slightly. After hurriedly dodging a shuriken, he continued sprinting forward, then threw another Kunai behind him.

Aozora did not hold back too much. Both his speed and accuracy remained at their usual level.

But without Chakra reinforcement or the ability to alter its trajectory with Weapon Control, the Kunai posed only a slight threat to a Jonin.

Blocking Aozora's accurate Kunai, Ishida thought, This idiot actually exposed his trump card?

After chasing for a while longer, Aozora pretended to be exhausted. His speed gradually slowed, and the Kunai he threw became increasingly weak.

Ishida steadily followed behind him. "Out of strength?"

"Is Aburame Shibi brain-damaged? He brought a piece of trash like you along on a rescue mission. Did he intend to use you as cannon fodder?"

Aozora paused ever so slightly before continuing to flee.

That momentary hesitation was glaringly obvious to a Jonin, and Ishida noticed it.

With an idea in mind, he stopped aiming his shuriken at vital points such as Aozora's heart and throat, instead targeting places like Aozora's arms and legs.

Aozora guessed what he was thinking. After taking three Kunai head-on, he leaped backward and turned to face Ishida.

Aozora supported his wounded right arm with his left hand and held a Kunai in a reverse grip with his right, his gaze flickering as he watched Ishida.

Ishida slowly walked toward Aozora, gradually releasing his powerful killing intent. "Don't make pointless resistance! Surrender obediently, and I can let you die a little more quickly!"

This killing intent was pathetically weak compared to Fugaku's!

Though he mocked him inwardly, Aozora's face turned pale, and his body began to tremble involuntarily.

The Kunai slipped from his hand. Aozora raised both hands and said, "Sir, I don't want to die. I surrender!"

"Heh!" Ishida sneered. "Is this what Konoha's Genin are like? The war only ended recently, and you've already completely lost your fighting spirit."

In a trembling voice, Aozora said, "Lord Cloud Shinobi, I don't want to die. I haven't even inherited my father's vast fortune yet!

"Aburame Shibi has long been dissatisfied with me. Is it just because I hate bugs? It would have been one thing if he only made me do all the hard and tiring work, but this time he actually sent me here to die. He's clearly abusing his authority for personal revenge."

Seeing Aozora's fair, unblemished skin, Ishida found that he indeed looked like someone who had lived a pampered life.

Ishida's expression did not change, but he believed Aozora's words a little more.

Although he despised ninjas who feared death like this, Ishida was not a musclehead like Kaminari, who only knew how to swing a sword. He understood the benefits of planting a spy in Konoha.

Forcing a smile, he said, "Very good. A wise man submits to circumstances. Everyone has their own pursuits, and being a Merchant is perfectly fine.

"Konoha is ruled by a group of hypocrites. They are jealous of the talented and capable. Even a hero like White Fang was driven to death by them, let alone an ordinary Civilian Ninja like you. You would probably be sacrificed as cannon fodder in some war sooner or later."

Aozora nodded repeatedly. "Yes, sir, you're right! We Civilian Ninja have it so hard. At the academy, we get bullied by ninjas from the great clans. Once we graduate, even our teachers look down on us. If my father hadn't forced me into this, I'd have stayed home, married a dozen wives, and had children. How happy would that be?"

Listening to Aozora, Ishida completely let down his guard. He had also lost his patience with this petty coward who feared death.

Seeing that Aozora had both hands raised and was inconvenienced whether he wanted to cast jutsu or throw Kunai, Ishida thoroughly dropped his guard. He stepped closer and tried to persuade him. "We in Cloud would never treat you that way. If you lis—"

Aozora paid no attention to what Ishida was saying. All of his focus was on the distance between them.

When they were less than ten meters apart, Aozora suddenly opened his mouth wide.

The next moment, Ishida saw a fire dragon erupt from Aozora's mouth.

Hand Seal-less ninjutsu?!

The thought flashed through his mind. Before Ishida could process it, the blazing fire dragon struck him. Its tremendous impact and terrifying heat instantly wounded him.

Enduring the agony of the flames scorching his body, Ishida reflexively used the Substitution Technique. Yet all he saw before him was fire.

When Aozora decided to use the Great Dragon Fire Technique, he had already activated his Sharingan.

Under his Two Tomoe Sharingan, the panicked Ishida was as conspicuous as a firefly in the night sky.

Given the Great Dragon Fire Technique's range, unless one possessed Space Ninjutsu, there was no way to escape it instantly.

Within the forest beside Mount Lianyun, Aozora was like a dragon breathing fire, using scorching Dragon Breath to burn the forest and roast his prey.

The dry summer forest was immediately ignited, and the raging flames spread through the entire forest in an instant.

The crackling of burning trees mingled with Ishida's screams, yet Aozora felt not a trace of pity.

If you were going to do something, you had to do it thoroughly. Uproot the weeds and eliminate the roots.

After an unknown amount of time, when more than half the forest had burned away and nothing but charred earth remained everywhere, Ishida finally could not hold on any longer and collapsed to the ground.

His blackened skin was indistinguishable from the scorched earth. If not for his spotless white teeth, Aozora truly would not have been able to identify him amid the ashes.

"You..."

Before Ishida could utter his final words, Aozora finished him with a Mercy Kunai, ending both his ninja career and his suffering.

That was true mercy, wasn't it?

Aozora felt no changes from the Heavenly Book and was somewhat disappointed.

After the last trace of Chakra within the corpse had dissipated, Aozora deactivated his Sharingan and walked to a spot not far away.

"Judging from the Heavenly Book's reaction, you don't seem like a bad person."

"Unfortunately, we are enemies. I hope you are reborn into a peaceful era in your next life."

"..."

After paying his respects to the Cloud Shinobi's corpse for a while, Aozora was about to retreat when he saw several black figures approaching from the distance.