The Beginning Is The End?

Madara paused mid-leap toward the ravine, his voice carrying a barely perceptible rasp: "Are you that hard up for money?"

"I founded an organization."

Kosuke's body moved faster than his words, his form vanishing from the spot in the blink of an eye.

"Captain, the target's heading southeast. They're hauling two carts of cargo—they won't get far."

Kosuke crouched on a tree branch, chewing on a blade of grass. He spat out the stem at the report: "Oh, looks like some young lady out on her training trip got spotted by us."

Madara's gaze fell on Kosuke's face, five years his junior. Seeing his half-smirk, he couldn't tell what scheme was brewing in that head of his.

"Everyone, suppress your chakra." Madara lowered his voice, taut as a drawn bowstring. "The Uzumaki clan's sensory abilities aren't for show!"

The group quickly sealed away their chakra, their forms flickering through the green forest like phantoms.

Within the dense woods, the chorus of insect calls echoed, and several pairs of Sharingan bled a faint scarlet glow between the shadows of the trees.

Nine chakra fluctuations flickered like fireflies in the dark.

In Kosuke's two-tomoe vision, they transformed into nine pulsing, blood-red points of light.

"That kunoichi..." Kosuke's left hand gripped a tri-pronged kunai, sunlight dancing along its edges like fragmented golden serpents. "Take her alive."

A low grunt escaped Madara's nose.

He knew better than Kosuke that leaving a captive for interrogation was the smarter move.

And the woman seated on the cart clearly held greater intelligence value.

He drew his Kusanagi Sword a third of the way from its sheath, the blade reflecting the fleeting afterimages of rapidly retreating trees.

Eight Uzumaki ninja fanned out in a semicircle around the convoy on alert, while only the red-haired woman remained seated motionless on the cart.

Even over the rutted road, not a single eyelash of hers trembled.

Thirty zhang.

Madara and Kosuke led four Uchiha jonin in leaping and weaving between the trees, each footfall on a branch precisely timed to the gaps between insect chirps.

Twenty zhang.

The creaking groan of the cart's overburdened axle gradually reached their ears.

Six civilians bent their backs, pulling the cart forward. With every step, the rustle of straw sandals crushing fallen leaves mingled with heavy, labored breaths.

This provided perfect cover for the approaching squad.

Fifteen zhang.

Madara's right hand flashed a tactical signal: Tiger—Ram—Rat.

Kosuke's lips curled into a bloody grin.

He recognized it as the code for "priority elimination."

In the same instant, both of them erupted with chakra!

Kosuke's Lightning Release chakra condensed into electric currents at the soles of his feet, the branch he'd stepped on instantly carbonizing.

Madara's Body Flicker Technique left a trail of scarlet afterimages, the clatter of his armor plates striking together like a battle horn.

By the time Madara's Kusanagi Sword sliced through the first Uzumaki ninja's throat, Kosuke's tri-pronged kunai had already been ripped from the enemy's back.

Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!

Madara and Kosuke's chakra surged violently in their chests as they both opened their mouths and spat out massive fireballs, instantly tearing through the forest's tranquility.

"Enemy attack!"

The red-haired woman's eyes snapped open, her azure pupils reflecting two molten, magma-like fireballs.

The first Uzumaki jonin to react began forming hand seals, but just as the seals were about to complete, Kosuke charged in and severed his wrist.

"Ahhh—"

The first agonized scream of the battle rang out.

As Madara's Kusanagi Sword, under the cover of the fireball, slashed through the second guard's throat, the woman seated on the cart flickered and vanished from its surface.

"Formation Seven!"

The remaining four Uzumaki guards instantly converged and formed seals.

Water Style: Water Wall Technique and Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall Technique rose in crisscrossing layers.

Half a second!

Four black shadows cut in swiftly from the southeast, their scarlet Sharingan weaving a net of death through the dense forest.

At that moment, Kosuke's Sharingan spun abruptly. Several kunai he'd thrown flew precisely toward three enemies forming seals, but upon contact, they burst into white smoke!

Substitution Technique!

Thud! Thud! Thud!

With three dull impacts, Kosuke's form suddenly dissipated.

Boom!

When Kosuke reappeared, he had already slammed a palm into the woman's back.

Instantly, a mouthful of blood burst from her lips.

Bearing the searing pain in her back, she leaped forward, fingers forming seals as she clearly shouted: "Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique!"

In that instant, a ten-meter-high curtain of water surged skyward, the rolling waves carrying immense force as they crashed down like a natural torrent.

At the same time, those Uzumaki ninjas tore up the surrounding trees by their roots, sweeping them into the flood.

Seeing this from afar, Madara roared: "Kosuke!"

But his voice was instantly swallowed by the roar of the waves.

Kosuke's ten fingers fluttered like butterfly wings as he rapidly formed seals.

The next second, as the flood bore down on him, he suddenly appeared before it and bellowed: "Earth Style: Multiple Earth Flow Walls Technique!"

In the blink of an eye, the ground cracked open with a boom, and five yellow earthen walls burst forth, standing tall before the flood.

The collision of water and earth erupted with a thunderous roar.

The first earthen wall met the waterfall head-on. Water splashed like exploding fireworks, yellow mud and blue currents intertwining and spraying in stark contrast.

Yet the waterfall's impact was too terrifying. The wall held for only a few seconds before its surface rapidly caved in, cracks spreading like a spider's web.

In those few breaths, Kosuke activated the Body Flicker Technique again, trying the same trick—a palm strike to take down the woman.

But the moment his form vanished, a trap woven from Chakra threads and Exploding Tags materialized around the woman.

Seeing this, Kosuke had no choice but to adjust his trajectory, slapping the neck of a red-haired ninja caught in the melee.

Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire!

Madara's seals were faster than his voice. Several fireballs, guided by Chakra control, shot precisely toward the Uzumaki ninjas.

At that moment, Kosuke spun around and hurled several Exploding Tags at the red-haired woman.

The azure Chakra flickering between the talismans emitted a dazzling light.

In an instant, the Exploding Tags detonated within the trap the woman had laid, forcing her to leap out from within it.

As she emerged from the chaos of the explosion, gripping her Naginata, she suddenly raised the blade to block.

A piercing clash of metal rang out.

Clang!

The crisp sound of blades meeting was clean and sharp, sending fine ripples of Chakra radiating around them.

Just as she tried to pull back and form seals for a Sealing Technique, a soft voice whispered into her ear from behind.

"Don't move, little beauty~"

Kosuke pressed a Kunai to the woman's throat, his left hand sticking an Exploding Tag against her lower abdomen. "I hear the Uzumaki clan's Medical Ninjutsu can reattach severed limbs?" His nose nearly brushed the stray hairs behind her ear. "Want to bet whether you can still be pieced together after the explosion?"

The woman's entire body tensed up.

Feeling that wicked palm pressed against her lower abdomen, her fair skin flushed crimson, spreading from the roots of her ears to the nape of her neck.

"You despicable, shameless, filthy, vile, lecherous, underhanded scoundrel!"

In the midst of this long string of curses, the figure before her suddenly vanished with a bang, scattering into white smoke.

The woman looked down sharply, only to find her lower abdomen still pressed firmly by a scorching palm, while a chill crept across her neck.

"Tell them to stop resisting," Kosuke's voice mixed with the hot breath of his breathing against her ear, "or I'll slit this skin so delicate it could break at a touch!"