An Uneasy Night

"Sign-in successful."

"Congratulations, host. You have obtained: Intermediate Spiritual Pressure, Intermediate Shunpo, Beginner Kaidō."

Looking at the rewards from the sign-in, Naraku felt a surge of joy in his heart.

He opened his status panel, and the rank displayed had clearly changed to: Intermediate Spiritual Pressure (Chunin).

This confirmed that his earlier guess was correct—the upper, middle, and lower grades of Spiritual Pressure corresponded to Jonin, Chunin, and Genin. Now that his Spiritual Pressure had improved, it would make dealing with the Cloud Ninja from Kumogakure much easier.

What's more, the sign-in had also granted him Intermediate Shunpo and Beginner Kaidō. The upgrade to Intermediate Shunpo would greatly enhance his mobility. As long as he was fast enough, the enemy might not even be able to touch him.

Back in the day, the Fourth Hokage had made a name for himself across the ninja world with his unpredictable Flying Thunder God Technique, earning the title "Yellow Flash."

Compared to ninja techniques like the Body Flicker, Shunpo's advantage lay in the fact that it required no hand seals, making it even more agile than the standard ninja Body Flicker.

Additionally, the newly acquired Beginner Kaidō could serve as a substitute for Medical Ninjutsu. As long as the injury wasn't a lost limb or a fatal wound, it could be healed.

This greatly boosted Naraku's combat capabilities.

The rewards from this sign-in were truly a timely blessing.

The sounds on the rooftop faded away, but soon after came the faint creak of a wooden door being moved.

Naraku's heart tightened. The enemy was about to enter the room.

He prepared to use an incantationless Kido to slow them down while he made his escape with Shunpo!

But just then, Naraku felt the world spin around him.

"Damn... knockout incense. Crap, I've been had!"

And just like that, the rookie of the ninja world was knocked unconscious!

A moment later, a shadowy figure slipped into the room.

The intruder wore a black night-suit. He crept silently to Naraku's bedside, looked at the unconscious boy, pulled out a sack he'd brought along, stuffed Naraku inside, and turned to dash out of the Hyuga clan compound.

"Halt! Who goes there?!"

A loud shout rang out from the courtyard. It was Hyuga Hiashi. It seemed the Cloud Ninja had been discovered after all.

Hiashi, who had gotten up in the middle of the night, spotted a shadowy figure carrying a sack out of his son's room. He instantly realized his son had been kidnapped, and fury blazed within him.

My precious son is a prodigy gifted by heaven to glorify the Hyuga Clan, and you bastards dare to kidnap him? How can I tolerate this?!

Enraged, Hiashi gave chase to the shadowy figure. But no sooner had he reached the street than another shadowy figure lunged at him.

Meanwhile, other Hyuga clan members who had come out to investigate were also intercepted by enemies. Clearly, there was more than one assailant.

The figure blocking Hiashi shouted, "You go ahead! We'll hold them off!"

And so, the Hyuga clan members were held back, forced to watch helplessly as Hyuga Naraku was taken away.

Burning with rage, Hiashi threw everything he had at his opponent. It was obvious this one was the leader—if he could capture him, he'd learn their origins.

Naraku was stuffed inside the sack, carried on someone's back as they fled at full speed. With every jolt and leap of the Cloud Ninja, Naraku was tossed up and down inside the bag!

"Mmph..."

The violent jostling woke Naraku up!

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The moment he came to, Naraku was about to cry out, but then he realized—he'd been kidnapped!

He quickly stopped himself. Luckily, the Cloud Ninja, in his haste, didn't notice.

But now that he was awake, the constant shaking made him feel terrible, and he cursed inwardly: You bastards, making me suffer like this. Just you wait—I won't let you die easily.

He didn't know how long they ran, but eventually, the Cloud Ninja set the sack down. Naraku thought he was just tired, but then he heard voices from outside the bag.

"How did it go? Everything smooth?"

"Yeah, we managed to get the Young Master of the Hyuga Clan out. But the Captain and the others stayed behind to cover us—things don't look good for them."

"Is that so? Well, never mind. Successfully capturing a Hyuga clan member is already a big win. As for the Captain and the others, let's hope they make it out alive. If they fall in battle, it's a great contribution to the village, and the village will take care of their families."

"By the way, the kid's in the sack, right?"

"Yeah, I knocked him out with incense. He won't be waking up anytime soon."

"Good. As long as we bring back the Byakugan, that's a major achievement!"

"Speaking of which, why not just gouge out the Byakugan right there in the Hyuga compound? Why go through the trouble of taking the kid?"

"What do you know? Using the Byakugan depends on the person. If we just rip it out and bring it back, what if no one in the village is compatible? Bringing the whole person back means that even if something goes wrong during the transplant, we can still use the Hyuga to analyze the failure or find a fix. Alright, check on the kid—make sure he's not dead. If he's fine, let's get moving before anything else goes wrong!"

With that, the two Cloud Ninja approached the sack where Naraku lay.

Naraku's nerves were on edge. Even though he had just reached Chunin-level strength and had a bunch of Kido abilities, he had never actually fought an enemy in real combat. That left him feeling a bit uncertain.

As the two Cloud Ninja began to untie the sack, Naraku steadied his mind, pressed his fingers together, and prepared to unleash a Hado at any moment, catching the enemy off guard and dealing a heavy blow.

In that moment, as Naraku focused and waited, time seemed to stretch into an eternity.

The sack was opened. The two Cloud Ninja looked at the "sleeping" Naraku and let down their guard. "He's fine. Let's go—back to the village!"

The moment they turned their heads, Narak, lying in the bag, suddenly opened his eyes. He raised his right hand and aimed at the nearest Cloud Ninja, lightning flickering on his fingers. The next instant, White Lightning shot out, striking the Cloud Ninja square in the chest.

"Pfft... ah..."

The Cloud Ninja was hit by White Lightning. With his scream, the powerful impact sent him flying backward.

He hit the ground, convulsing nonstop, his chest a bloody mess, accompanied by the burnt smell of roasting flesh.

That poor Cloud Ninja had never imagined he'd be ambushed by a five-year-old child. He hadn't even thought to dodge, and it got him killed instantly.

"What? How? That cunning brat..."

The other Cloud Ninja saw the danger and quickly retreated.

Narak slowly stood up, brushed the dust off his clothes, and stared at the remaining Cloud Ninja. "I told you rats, disturbing my sleep in the dead of night—don't you know I'm a kid? Not getting proper sleep will affect my growth."

"Damn brat... I knew it. I shouldn't have underestimated you. People from Konoha are as cunning as ever."

"What do you mean, 'cunning'? I just wanted to sleep. You're the ones with bad intentions, you stinking rats. So... have you figured out how you want to die?"

"Kid, don't think taking down one of us with a sneak attack means you've won. He was just a Chunin. I'm a battle-hardened Jonin. A five-year-old brat like you—when I went on missions, you weren't even born yet."

The remaining Cloud Ninja stared at Narak, gripping a kunai tightly as he spat out the words.

"Ah... a Jonin? How terrifying. I'm just a five-year-old kid... Hey, how about we make a deal? You go back to your Land of Lightning, and I go back to my Konoha to keep sleeping. What do you say?"

"You little bastard, are you joking with me? After all the effort and cost we put in just for you, you can go die!"

With that, he charged at Narak.