The head that had rolled to the ground wore a pained, faintly bewildered expression. What had just happened carried an indescribable hint of mockery...
For the enemy, this definitely counted as being capsized in a gutter. A ninja with absolute confidence in his own strength would inevitably face situations involving such an extreme reversal. His death was merely one of the prices that had to be paid.
First shocked, then enraged, the enemy launched even more shuriken toward Hagane Zhen.
Hagane Zhen had expected this sort of attack. Thus, after landing, he did not hesitate for even a moment. Chakra erupted beneath his feet, and he lunged behind a large tree like a violent gust of wind, concealing his body.
Puff, puff, puff—the rain of shuriken stabbed into the ground, then spread along Hagane Zhen's path of movement, finally pinning the outer side of the tree full.
One enemy ninja did not participate in the shuriken attack. He watched Hagane Zhen's movements and position, rapidly formed hand seals, and then merely shifted two or three body lengths to the side. As a result, Hagane Zhen, who had been trying to evade him, was exposed in his line of fire once more:
Water Style: Water Bullet Technique!
Immediately afterward, a huge water bullet came crashing toward Hagane Zhen.
Facing such a large-area ninjutsu, Hagane Zhen did not panic. He had been in the ninja world for a year. He could not claim to have experienced a hundred battles, but he at least possessed the basic qualities of a ninja.
His hands came together naturally, and his fingers smoothly formed the seals for a counterattack:
Fire Style: Great Fireball!
An orange-red fireball more than two meters in diameter shot straight toward the water bullet, which had already covered half the distance.
Among ninja clans that used Fire Style, nearly every clan possessed basic ninjutsu with similar hand seals, similar chakra flow, and similar effects. Even the names were almost the same... They were nothing more than names such as Great Fireball, Big Fireball, Explosive Fireball, Flame Bullet, and Great Flame Bullet.
Fire struck water. The flames died as the water boiled. Amid dense sizzling sounds, the scale and power of the two techniques canceled each other out. Intense white steam, stirred up by the high temperature, rapidly surged and spread through the forest, greatly obstructing the ninjas' vision.
The enemy's sensor ninja was not here, making the environment even more favorable for Hagane Zhen. The obscured vision nullified the enemy's numerical advantage, while Hagane Zhen excelled at backstabbing.
He pressed his side against the tree trunk behind him, and Mayfly Technique activated once more. Like a skilled swimmer diving beneath the surface, his body slowly merged into the tree trunk.
Relying on his memory from moments ago, Hagane Zhen swiftly moved through the trees and earth. Before long, he found the ninja who had used Water Style to fight him.
Silently, he arrived behind the enemy. As luck would have it, the enemy was slowly retreating, and his back pressed directly against a large tree. It was the correct choice. With his vision severely obstructed, keeping his back against cover could effectively prevent attacks from behind.
But this time, he had outsmarted himself.
Hagane Zhen's upper body emerged from the tree trunk above. Like a ghost, he reached out both arms. His right arm locked tightly around the enemy's neck, while his left arm swiftly wrapped around the man's front. Like pounding rice cakes, he drove his fist into the man's chest two or three dozen times in rapid, ferocious succession.
The mechanical repetition and crisp, clean sounds of flesh being pierced all represented coldness and grim killing intent.
In the blink of an eye, there was no longer any question of whether the man could survive. His internal organs had been smashed so thoroughly that they could have gone straight into a hotpot.
Hagane Zhen's figure vanished once more.
The more he fought, the more he could feel the changes taking place in his body. In the past, whenever he used ninjutsu, the release of chakra was always accompanied by a severe sensation of being drained, as if part of his vital essence, spirit, and energy were being forcibly stripped away.
After using ninjutsu, he would feel himself become shriveled and weak.
But this time was different. During the battle, he felt a sense of overflowing strength. Every cell grew more active as the fight continued, bursting with greater vitality... If he had previously been as flat as a plank, he could now at least feel the equivalent of a 36D.
Hagane Zhen understood in an instant. Perhaps ordinary people were simply unsuited to becoming ninjas. Chakra severely overdrawed a person's life force.
"Who was attacked? Explain the situation and report your position!" an enemy shouted loudly.
Making a sound in the dense steam was definitely not the right choice. Hagane Zhen was searching for his next target, so he immediately charged toward the direction the voice had come from.
"Three left." He silently counted in his heart.
But when he slipped near that enemy and was preparing to carry out another assassination, a faint sizzling sound suddenly reached his ears and aroused his vigilance.
"Not good. It's a trap!"
In a place Hagane Zhen could not see, a cruel smile appeared on the ninja's face. Then he formed the final hand seal.
Hagane Zhen was using Mayfly Technique to flee at top speed because he had guessed what kind of attack his opponent was about to launch.
That enemy had used himself as bait, deliberately luring Hagane Zhen over. A stack of Explosive Tags on his body had already completed its pre-ignition. Immediately afterward, the seven or eight sheets layered together began releasing their energy.
A blazing white light suddenly flared. Under the immense radial force of the blast, the ninja's body, falling branches and leaves, and the surrounding soil all shattered at once!
Several large trees were blown apart at the waist. Amid the creaking and groaning of their collapsing trunks, Hagane Zhen's body was forced out of a section of tree.
He was not particularly skilled at using this technique. Although he had retreated from the blast point as quickly as possible and avoided the main damage, the impact of the explosion still forced his figure to reveal itself.
The powerful shock wave even dispersed the surrounding steam, and the battlefield's blocked visibility was restored.
This kind of "carefree" attitude that completely disregarded one's own life was truly unimaginable.
The enemy had no idea how Hagane Zhen carried out his assassinations. He had merely noticed the death of his second companion, then roughly estimated Hagane Zhen's movement speed by comparing their previous positions. Relying on such unreliable information, he had directly begun a suicide attack.
No, it was not carelessness. It should actually have been numbness. With information severely lacking, he had wagered his life outright. How was that any different from suicide? His self-detonation might very well have blown up nothing but air.
Of course, Hagane Zhen still gave the other side some credit. Due to his lack of experience, his movements had been extremely linear, and the enemy had nearly guessed his path correctly. Fortunately, he had remained vigilant and suffered no actual harm.
In other words, the enemy's death had been completely meaningless.
Life seemed to be something utterly worthless, while death seemed more like a form of release.
Two updates a day during the new-book period. Updates will be posted at around 5–6 p.m.