One Second, Three Po

Shiba Seika quickly swept his gaze across the Sunagakure squad.

The enemy had four people: besides Pakura, there was a loudmouthed, arrogant Puppet Master, a solitary man posing on the highest treetop, and a silent, sword-wielding ninja who had actively circled around to flank them.

Unfortunately, reality wasn't a game—enemies didn't have their ninja ranks plastered on their foreheads.

Shiba Seika could only rely on subtle behavioral cues and personal intuition to make judgments.

The man on the treetop carried heavy authority, suggesting his strength was likely considerable;

The Suna ninja flanking from the side was hard to gauge, but his emotions seemed the most stable, indicating a composed mindset.

As for the Puppet Master directly ahead, though he spouted arrogant nonsense, his speed when revealing himself was the slowest among these Suna ninja—a textbook case of weak skill and a loose tongue.

With a slight shift of his eyes, Shiba Seika immediately locked onto his breakthrough target.

He first deliberately taunted loudly: "Ha! A mere Sunagakure, the dead last among the Five Great Shinobi Countries, a broken-backed dog beaten bloody by Konoha in every Great Ninja War, and you dare to spout nonsense here?"

At the same time, he hid one hand behind his back, out of the enemy's line of sight, and secretly signaled his teammates—

Create distance, focus on the Puppet Master!

This taunt from Shiba Seika struck a raw nerve, instantly making the hot-tempered Puppet Master boil over with rage.

"Kid, what did you say?!"

Their captain tried to stop him, "Wait!"

Though proud, the captain knew their mission's priority was securing supplies and money—fighting and killing were means, not ends.

But the Puppet Master was already beyond listening.

"Scum like Rain Ninja dare to look down on us?! Who do you think you are?!"

The Puppet Master waved his hand, pulling Chakra threads to send a humanoid puppet lunging straight at Shiba Seika!

What a fragile mentality. Shiba Seika smirked inwardly, but outwardly feigned weakness, leaping back.

"Don't run!"

The Puppet Master gave chase, charging to the front of the formation in an instant.

Shiba Seika parried the puppet's barrage of needles, senbon, and Shuriken with his blade while calmly measuring the distance with his eyes.

The moment he judged the opponent had stepped into the kill zone, he stopped abruptly and shouted, "Now!"

In an instant, sharp paper javelins rained from the sky; a massive earthworm summoning beast erupted from the ground, locking the Puppet Master in place; Karasuba followed up with a lightning strike while drawing his blade and charging the enemy!

The Akatsuki's coordinated assault landed all at once, like an inescapable net, leaving the Puppet Master no room to flee!

In that moment, he seemed to hallucinate a giant "Death" character rushing toward him!

"What?! Save me, Captain! Canaan! Pakura! Save me!!"

The Puppet Master's scream cracked.

The Sunagakure squad leader's eyes nearly split with fury!

He was about to use the Body Flicker Technique to rush in for a rescue, but several hidden Paper Butterflies suddenly flew out from the branches beside him, exploding in succession and slowing his movements.

This was, of course, Konan's handiwork from the air!

In the end, only Pakura, who had been at the rear, moved from behind to ahead, dodging several Paper Butterfly interferences in an instant and overtaking her two useless teammates.

She was just one step away from reaching the Puppet Master and saving him.

But before that final step could land, a man and a blade appeared before her!

It was Shiba Seika!

From the moment of contact until now, though Pakura hadn't spoken a word, Shiba Seika's attention had been fixed squarely on her!

He swung his blade, forcing Pakura back.

Then, as she backflipped twice to create distance, Shiba Seika didn't pursue but cautiously chose to keep observing.

Seeing one of the Fireballs orbiting Pakura change its trajectory, he immediately abandoned his blade without hesitation and formed hand seals!

Substitution Technique!

Sure enough, the next moment, one of the Fireballs floating behind Pakura's head suddenly accelerated, shooting straight to Shiba Seika's face in an instant!

"Sss!"

In that split second, the sound of water vapor violently evaporating rang out from Shiba Seika's body, which turned into a charred corpse in an instant, then—"Bam!"

It transformed back into a log.

Pakura narrowed her eyes after creating distance, a hint of surprise on her face.

"Quite cautious, Rain Ninja."

An ordinary ninja wouldn't have so decisively used the Substitution Technique in what seemed like an advantageous position.

Cautious ninja Shiba Seika picked up his discarded blade, offering no reply, his focus locked entirely on Pakura.

Pakura's signature technique, "Scorch Release: Over-Steam Kill," could instantly evaporate all moisture from a target's body, boasting terrifying lethality against all carbon-based life forms—he had no choice but to be cautious.

The trickier part was: the original text offered no solution to this technique.

Because in the original story, Pakura was subdued by Talk Style, and no one had ever cracked her technique—leaving Shiba Seika with nothing to copy.

But thankfully, the one in a hurry right now wasn't him.

Behind him, the Puppet Master's scream cut off abruptly, his breath nearly gone.

Hot on its heels came the Sunagakure Captain's furious accusation: "Pakura, why didn't you save him?!"

Hearing the Lone Sand Ninja, who had been standing aloft, rebuke Pakura like this, Shiba Seika vaguely grasped something and revealed a mocking smile.

"I see—so you were sidelined and sent down to the Land of Rain because of that? A pitiable hero, Miss Pakura."

He deliberately didn't lower his voice; with a ninja's five senses, it was enough for both sides to hear clearly.

In an instant, the Sunagakure Captain was shocked and enraged, while Pakura's face darkened.

After the Puppet Master, another member of the Sunagakure squad was about to lose their composure.

Two sentences broke three people's defenses—Shiba Seika's knack for exploiting weaknesses was clearly that of a seasoned veteran.

"Enough with the lip service, Rain Ninja!"

As she spoke, Pakura drew a Kunai, launched herself, and charged at Shiba Seika again!

Her speed was even faster than before!

This time, Pakura was genuinely angry!

"Shushushu!"

Konan quickly dropped a volley of Paper Javelins to support Shiba Seika, but Pakura casually swung out a Fireball, easily evaporating them all.

Shiba Seika tossed his blade and formed hand seals.

"Clone Technique!"

The clone charged forward headlong, while the real body grabbed the blade and retreated.

Until he found a way to counter Scorch Release, he still didn't dare get close to Pakura.

Pakura wielded two Kunai in her hands, suppressing multiple clones of Shiba Seika with sharp attacks.

At the same time, the two remaining Fireballs around her orbited like Floating Cannons, moving autonomously, tracking targets automatically, and aiding Pakura in shattering Shiba Seika's clones one after another.

The scene looked extremely perilous!

In less than two seconds, Pakura was about to clear out this wave of clones and reach Shiba Seika, yet the solution to Scorch Release still seemed nowhere in sight.

Was it really unmanageable?

Shiba Seika's mind raced. He cautiously clashed blades with Pakura a couple of times, unwilling to fight head-on, retreating steadily, his attention always fixed on those two terrifying Fireballs.

Pakura's anger still burned.

"Heh, your blade is far inferior to your mouth. Is this all you've got, you little Rain Ninja brat?"

In her fury, the usually silent Pakura began to taunt as well.

But her sting was a far cry from Shiba Seika's earlier three-break-in-one-second.

Shiba Seika remained calm!

Rushing wouldn't solve anything.

Besides, they'd already taken one of the enemy's men—now it was the other side who should be panicking, raging, and breaking down.

He kept observing intently, thinking hard!

How could a carbon-based lifeform possibly counter the rapid-dehydration Scorch Release: Over-Steam Kill?

Until—he noticed that the last two Fireballs around Pakura, after many sorties, had finally dimmed in color and were on the verge of vanishing.

And just then, Pakura's assault slowed, and she brought both hands behind her back!

In that instant, Shiba Seika's eyes lit up, his gaze sharpening abruptly!

He realized—the key to cracking it had finally revealed itself!