Quick Victory

After the two sides pulled apart, the scene suddenly fell quiet.

Guy's expression was grave. More than a dozen cuts of varying sizes covered his body. Though the wounds were shallow, some barely breaking the skin, he had been injured nonetheless.

Zabuza, meanwhile, held his blade horizontally and panted heavily with a savage expression.

Guy's heavy kick had landed squarely on his ribs. It seemed to have broken several of them, leaving him unable to straighten his back for the moment. Even breathing caused him a dull ache.

Seeing an opening from his perch in the tree, Hyuga Kagami immediately called out, "Guy, step back."

Guy did not argue and silently retreated to the side.

Though their exchange had been brief, Guy had gauged Zabuza's strength. He knew that unless he used a forbidden technique, defeating his opponent would be difficult.

Hyuga Kagami lightly dropped from the branch to the ground. Before both friend and foe, he walked toward Zabuza and said, "Unlike Guy, I don't need to get serious against Kirigakure trash like you."

His tone was calm, his expression disdainful, as though he were facing nothing more than stray cats and dogs unworthy of his attention.

When had Zabuza ever suffered such contempt? He immediately flew into a rage. "You dare call me tra—"

Whoosh...

Hyuga Kagami's figure flashed forward.

This was exactly the moment he had been waiting for!

Though furious, Zabuza was no rookie. Realizing he had fallen for the trap, he immediately shut his mouth and swung his long blade horizontally at the approaching Hyuga Kagami.

Whoosh...

The blade's wind gave off a shrill whistle.

Yet Hyuga Kagami showed no fear. No one noticed that the Tenseigan beneath his Goggles was gleaming with magnificent light.

With the Tenseigan's unparalleled insight, he had already noticed chakra flowing toward Zabuza's hands. At the same time, no chakra was gathering in Zabuza's legs, nor were his leg muscles showing signs of sudden contraction.

All of this had already exposed Zabuza's tactical intent.

Zabuza's horizontal slash was clearly only meant to force Hyuga Kagami back. The lack of contraction in his leg muscles meant he had not exerted force, which also meant there would be no follow-up strike after the slash.

Meanwhile, the chakra gathered in his arms showed that after forcing Hyuga Kagami back, Zabuza intended to discard his sword, form hand seals, and use Ninjutsu.

In that brief instant, Hyuga Kagami had predicted every part of Zabuza's next tactical move through the flow of chakra and minute changes in the muscle groups of his limbs.

And so...

Stop!

Lean back!

Hyuga Kagami completed the entire sequence in almost one fluid motion. He easily avoided Zabuza's horizontal slash without putting even the slightest distance between them.

"How is that possible..."

Seeing Hyuga Kagami evade his slash by neither too much nor too little, as though he had no concern that Zabuza would follow up with another attack, Zabuza's heart sank.

Only then did Zabuza realize that Hyuga Kagami had seen through his plan, but it was already too late to change tactics.

Taking advantage of the moment Zabuza had swung his blade and could neither withdraw nor alter his move in time, Hyuga Kagami lowered his body, slipped into Zabuza's reach, and unleashed a series of Gentle Fist strikes with both arms.

Staring fixedly at Hyuga Kagami's chakra-coated palms, Zabuza's heart plummeted.

Whether he tried to swing his blade again or simply discarded it to form hand seals, it was already too late.

Thud, thud, thud...

A series of dull impacts against flesh reached the ears of everyone nearby.

With each blow, Zabuza's entire body trembled. At last, like a deflated ball, he collapsed limply to the ground!

Hiss...

Whether it was the three members of the Kirigakure Assassination Squad or Konoha's Anbu, all of them secretly sucked in a breath.

For no other reason than that Hyuga Kagami had resolved the fight too cleanly and too easily!

Against an expert like Zabuza, even Kakashi, renowned as a genius, or the Anbu Jonin beside him, could not be completely certain of victory.

Yet Hyuga Kagami had dealt with Zabuza after just one simple exchange. The entire process had been effortless, as if his opponent were merely a novice Genin.

Standing in the clearing, Hyuga Kagami still wore that calm expression, neither surprised nor pleased.

He glanced at the three Kirigakure ninja in the distance, then flicked the unconscious Zabuza from the ground with his foot. Turning, he kicked him toward the three Kirigakure ninja.

"Take him and get lost!"

Two Kirigakure ninja caught the Zabuza Hyuga Kagami had kicked over, while the third said, "We were ordered to hunt down Rogue Ninja!"

Hyuga Kagami tilted his head slightly upward and looked down at the Kirigakure ninja with contempt. "Those Rogue Ninja you mentioned are my mission targets. If you dare interfere, I don't mind taking all of you out as well."

Looking at the unconscious Zabuza, then at the two Konoha Anbu watching them like tigers from nearby, the Kirigakure group exchanged glances before carrying Zabuza away in a hurried retreat.

After the Kirigakure ninja withdrew, Hyuga Kagami did not greet the two Anbu. He simply called over Guy, who had already wrapped his wounds, and continued tracking the group of wandering ninja.

The two Anbu looked at each other.

The older Anbu muttered, "Hey, that kid used Gentle Fist just now, right? Is he from the Hyuga Clan?"

Kakashi, wearing a fox mask, nodded. "Yes. I know both of them. They were classmates from my class. One is Might Guy, and the other is Hyuga Kagami."

The older Anbu was immediately surprised. "If I remember correctly, aside from you, there did not seem to be anyone impressive in your class. So how..."

Of Kakashi's classmates, eighty or ninety percent had already died in the war. Most of those who survived were merely Chunin, while Kakashi had reached Jonin rank at a young age. Thus, in this Anbu's eyes, Kakashi was unquestionably the finest ninja of that class.

Kakashi himself was baffled as well.

He had never held a particularly deep impression of Hyuga Kagami. He had seemed ordinary, with nothing especially noteworthy about him. Yet Hyuga Kagami's performance today had shocked him. In particular, the confidence with which he disregarded the formidable Kirigakure Assassination Squad unconsciously reminded Kakashi of his teacher, the Fourth Hokage.

The older Anbu continued with a sigh. "Make a record of it. Report it to Lord Hokage when we return. Talent like that should be recruited into the Anbu as a priority."

On Hyuga Kagami's side.

As they sped along, Guy could not help asking, "Kagami, why didn't we ask those two Anbu for information about the wandering ninja?"

Hyuga Kagami smiled. "There was no need. The appearance of Kirigakure's Assassination Squad proves that those wandering ninja are indeed Kirigakure Rogue Ninja. The Anbu were probably only there to monitor the Kirigakure Assassination Squad entering the country. Otherwise, they would have acted long ago."

Without needing much thought, Hyuga Kagami had already pieced together the general situation.

By sending out an assassination squad, Kirigakure clearly intended to clean house themselves and take the bodies away afterward. This also suggested that there might be ninja with bloodline limits among the Rogue Ninja.

Kakashi and the other Anbu were obviously sent to monitor the Kirigakure Assassination Squad entering the country. Their mere standoff without fighting made that clear.

Guy found that reasonable as well.

If those two Anbu were only responsible for monitoring the Kirigakure Assassination Squad entering the country, they probably had little information on the wandering ninja. Besides, Guy and Kagami had already locked onto the fugitives' trail, so there was indeed no need to waste more time.

Guy then said, "Kagami, what you did earlier was incredible. That guy seemed pretty strong, but I never expected he couldn't even block a single move from you."

The corners of Hyuga Kagami's lips rose slightly as he gave a restrained smile...