Wind Release: Vacuum Arrow!

How did a young, weak, solitary lion hunt?

Weak in body and separated from its pride, with no lioness to teach it how to hunt, it would have been an easy meal for even a pack of hyenas on the vast grasslands.

But the legendary lion Engalalerrick did this—

It joined a new pride. When numerous adult lions bared their fangs and claws at a lone young cub, it put on an exceedingly humble display.

It won the pride's sympathy by acting submissive and pitiful, securing a chance to survive. When the pride hunted, it quietly watched and learned. At mealtimes, it was driven away, left to carry a scrap of meat from the edges of the kill off to a corner, where it ate alone.

Alone, it did everything it could to learn, grow, and grow strong.

This continued until Engalalerrick was four years old, when it began hunting in a way far beyond its years—

Alone, brave, cunning, and ferocious!

It began taking on elephants far stronger than itself, and torturing seemingly fearsome rhinos as if they were mice. Its menu grew ever more varied: elephants, rhinos, hippos, giraffes, and adult buffalo.

It even had ten different ways to hunt adult buffalo alone!

Biting through their legs, breaking their spines, clamping its jaws over their muzzles until they suffocated, darting beneath their bellies to sweep their legs out from under them, chasing them down from behind to attack their rumps, sinking its claws into their anuses...

But whatever the method, the key was always the same: how to approach the prey—

Quietly, soundlessly, with steps that sealed its fate before it even noticed.

Hyuga Yu calmly observed the scene in the forest ahead—

About one kilometer in front,

was a squad of three Kirigakure Ninja.

After receiving the signal, they kept closing in on the location of the Konoha side, which had been cut off.

The three figures ran through the forest with their hands behind their backs, weaving around one massive tree after another.

Then, about three kilometers away,

three Kirigakure Ninja and the Red Eye boy who had split off from Ao's squad were locked in a fierce battle with Hyuga Hideki's Shadow Clone Technique. No—it wasn't really a fierce battle. It was more like a pack of hyenas circling a blind lion, wearing down its strength in waves as they looked for a chance to deliver a fatal blow.

Farther behind them,

stood Hyuga Tetsu and another Konoha Chunin, both at a loss. The Konoha Chunin seemed on the verge of losing his reason as the situation took a sudden turn.

He shouted a few words at Hyuga Tetsu, then gripped his kunai, steeled himself, and charged into the battle.

He might not have known that Hyuga Hideki was only a Shadow Clone Technique, but he probably understood that if Hyuga Hideki died, he wouldn't survive either. So he risked his life to go help.

Unfortunately, this was a battle between ninja.

With no reliable information, jumping into a losing fight where they had no way to counter the enemy's advantage in ninjutsu—

the result was this:

Hyuga Tetsu, who still had his wits about him, couldn't stop the Chunin in time. The man charged into the thick fog, and a few dozen seconds later, fell completely silent.

Hyuga Yu closed his eyes.

The bulging veins around his eyes gradually receded.

He sprang into action,

leaping from the treetops to the branches ahead like a great roc spreading its wings.

The instant his toes touched the trunk, he twisted at an odd angle. Before the branch could sway under his weight and momentum, he had already pushed off and launched himself forward.

With barely a sound, Hyuga Yu raced along a path formed by one great tree after another.

Using chakra and the force of a tree trunk to propel oneself from tree to tree was a specialty of Konoha Ninja. The Kirigakure squad ahead of him had clearly never trained in it. They were better at Water Walking, traveling over lakes and seas atop the water. And so—

Hyuga Yu was closing in on them at more than twice their speed.

800 meters,

600 meters,

400 meters,

When the distance between them had narrowed to less than 200 meters,

Hyuga Yu abruptly stopped on a thick tree trunk and drew back the fingers resting on the bowstring.

At the same time,

strands of razor-sharp chakra surged from the pathways in his hands and spread over the arrow.

Mastering Wind Release: Vacuum Blade was the same as mastering the technique of coating ninja tools with Wind Release Chakra. And if he coated an arrow with Wind Release: Vacuum Blade,

the ninjutsu would reduce the arrow's air resistance and increase its speed, range, penetration, and sharpness, turning it into another mid-range technique—

"Wind Release: Vacuum Arrow!"

The Kirigakure squad ahead finally sensed that something was wrong. The purple-haired squad leader abruptly made a hand signal, stopping his teammates.

"Wait, I think I heard something!"

The brown-haired Kirigakure Ninja beside him looked around in confusion. He hadn't heard a thing.

"What sound?"

"Like someone stepping on a tree branch."

The brown-haired Kirigakure Ninja blinked. "Captain, are you sure? Couldn't it be the wind?"

The very next instant,

"Boom!"

Behind the Kirigakure squad,

the wind suddenly howled, leaving behind a spiraling trail!

An arrow over a meter long, trailing a yellow flame, crossed the 200-meter distance in an instant and pierced straight through the back of the purple-haired Kirigakure Ninja's head.

Beside him, the brown-haired Kirigakure Ninja's pupils contracted sharply. Before he could react,

two seconds later,

"Boom!"

The same roaring blast of wind exploded!

Beside him, the head of another Kirigakure Ninja, equally stunned, burst like a watermelon.

His teammate crumpled to the ground.

"So fast!"

The brown-haired Kirigakure Ninja snapped back to his senses. He had no time to mourn his teammate's death; he was already on guard. Turning around, he formed the hand seals for the Body Flicker Technique and stared intently at the forest behind him, where nothing stirred, ready to vanish from the spot at any moment.

And yet,

the more he watched, the more uneasy he felt.

For no reason he could explain, he felt that someone was standing behind him, watching the back of his head with an emotionless, icy gaze. The way they looked at him was like he was a "can of food," as if they were wondering what shape his brain would be once they cracked him open.

The brown-haired ninja shuddered and whipped around.

Then he saw—

A sword slashing toward him as he turned!

It was an invisible Wind Blade, a sword made entirely of densely packed, pale yellow blades of wind.

In desperation, the brown-haired Kirigakure Ninja reflexively gripped the hilt of the ninja sword at his waist, drew it, and raised it to parry!

The two blades met!

"Shing!"

Instead of the clang of crossing steel, there came a smooth slicing sound, like a sharp blade cutting through iron.

The fine ninja sword, made of tempered steel, was like cheese beneath a glowing-hot knife before this blade of countless tiny, razor-sharp Wind Blades, which scraped against one another with a silent shriek.

It split in two.

As the broken blade flew apart, the brown-haired Kirigakure Ninja finally saw the eyes of his attacker.

They were pure white, so calm they sent a shiver down his spine.

The brown-haired Kirigakure Ninja's eyes widened. Clutching his own split throat, he croaked out the last question of his life:

"W-Who are you?"

Hyuga Yu answered without hesitation:

"Sarutobi Asuma."