Night, Chaos, and Battle (Part 2)

Hanyu pressed his elbow against the enemy's back and gave a light push. As he withdrew the short sword from his hand, the enemy's body, now devoid of support, slumped onto the ground.

You see, it is so simple for a person to die; ninjas like the Second Hokage, who could still pull a prank even while being cremated, are few and far between.

At this moment, the first enemy in the vanguard finally realized that someone had circled behind them. His gaze lagged behind, struggling to track the residual lightning trails left by Hanyu's high-speed movement, and then... he saw his fallen comrade.

With just a single glance, he could determine that his companion was already dead.

"A Lightning Style ninja!"

The enemy's pupils constricted slightly. He did not care about his comrade's sacrifice, as their mission tonight was a "succeed or perish" endeavor. What shocked him was the manner of his companion's death—killed before he could even react. Did that mean this Konoha ninja's speed was truly that fast?

Then this young Konoha ninja could not be taken lightly.

Intense Lightning Style chakra surged along Hanyu's palm, coating the short sword in his hand. In the darkness of the night, this "light blade" was exceptionally conspicuous. The sight of the corpse on the ground served as a grim reminder of the blade's lethality, and the surviving enemy had no desire to be skewered by such a weapon.

Hanyu stared fixedly at the enemy. Although he had taken out the first opponent with a surprise attack, that had relied entirely on the element of surprise. If his assessment was correct, every Sand Village ninja participating in the raid on the Konoha camp tonight should be a pillar of their battlefield strength... at least at the level of an elite Chunin or higher.

Therefore, Hanyu was extremely cautious.

The enemy was the same. In an instant, he had judged that Hanyu's speed was far superior to his own. When dealing with a speed-type ninja, a single second of carelessness could lead to decapitation, so the enemy was equally tense.

Yet, precisely because of this, when facing an opponent with a speed advantage, he had to confront them head-on—he even had to seize the initiative to attack!

Although the psychological shifts of both sides were complex to describe, in reality, all combat decisions were made in an instant. The enemy turned to catch sight of Hanyu, glanced at his fallen comrade, and then abruptly halted his charge toward the hospital barrier, turning instead to rush directly at Hanyu.

At the same time, his hands began the motions for hand seals.

Seeing the opponent's decisiveness, Hanyu naturally did not hesitate. Almost simultaneously, he surged forward again with that elusive, god-like speed. In the blink of an eye, the distance between them closed to the point where they were practically face-to-face.

At this moment, the opponent's technique was complete, and a wide-range ninjutsu surged toward Hanyu... Clearly, this coincidence of timing and distance had been calculated by the enemy:

Wind Style: Thousand Blade Net.

Dense wind blades converged into a net, descending upon Hanyu's head.

The frequency and density of this Wind Style attack were enough to shred Hanyu into a bloody mess, no matter how fast he was.

Setting aside the range of the enemy's technique, his choice to use Wind Style to counter Lightning Style was, naturally, the most orthodox and correct decision.

"Yeah, Wind Style counters Lightning Style—who doesn't know that?"

Using Wind Style to counter Lightning Style was such a textbook response that it was impossible for Hanyu not to anticipate the opponent's reaction... unless this enemy couldn't use Wind Style, he would obviously prioritize it in this situation.

Therefore, Hanyu's technique and the opponent's Wind Style were actually released at the same time.

Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!

A surging heatwave met the countless wind blades head-on, a crimson trajectory cutting through the pitch-black night sky. Then, the wind blades shattered the fire dragon into sparks, while the high temperature and updraft of the fire dragon rendered the wind blades' attack invisible.

Hanyu did not recognize this Wind Style technique, but as long as it wasn't a Kekkei Mōra, he had no reason to be timid. As the Fire Dragon Flame Bullet expanded suddenly like a bursting firework, with wind blades mixing into the heatwave, Hanyu did not stop his forward momentum; on the contrary, his lightning-clad body accelerated even further.

Thus, the crimson flames were dyed with another color of light... As long as he took advantage of the chaos in the fire, Hanyu could dash straight through the center.

Hanyu's rapid movement stirred the surrounding airflow. Under the effect of fluid pressure, the flames gathered along his trajectory, thunder crackled around his body, and sparks dotted his path. At this moment, the enemy was truly shocked.

Why! Why is it that we're both using ninjutsu, but you get to have special effects?!

Oh, no, what he meant was: why does this ninja use both Lightning Style and Fire Style? The Sage of Six Paths above, this doesn't fit the laws of the world!

The lightning-shimmering short sword stabbed toward the enemy's neck. However, at the final moment, the reflexes honed by countless battles saved his life. Although his vision couldn't keep up with Hanyu's movements, he shifted his body to the side almost subconsciously. Then, like a hot knife through butter, Hanyu's short sword effortlessly pierced his shoulder.

Missed?

Hanyu was slightly surprised, but he followed up by driving his knee into the opponent's abdomen, instantly kicking him away. The enemy's reaction speed was commendable, but that was as far as it went, because... Hanyu was not fighting alone. To be precise, the current battle was a 2v2.

Caught off guard and sent flying, the enemy had no way to adjust his posture while airborne, and at this moment, Hatake Sakumo had already appeared behind him.

This friend of his was much better with a blade than Hanyu... to be precise, in terms of swordsmanship, the two were not even on the same level.

Hatake Sakumo's short sword danced, severing the enemy's limb meridians in the blink of an eye. Then, as the enemy hit the ground like a broken sack, he pressed his short blade against the man's neck and asked in a cold tone:

"Numbers, objective, who is your commander?"

Did he really think he could get results from such a simple interrogation? The enemy had just wanted to express his resolve to die rather than surrender when he felt the cold edge lightly slide across his throat. After that, he could no longer speak.

Hanyu walked silently to the enemy's side and withdrew the short sword from his shoulder. He looked at Hatake Sakumo with some surprise, thinking to himself: do you want to interrogate him or not?

Seeming to read Hanyu's gaze, Hatake scratched his head and said, "Konoha has regulations that we should try to obtain intelligence from the enemy, so that's why I asked him. But I also felt he wouldn't say anything, so I just killed him."

Truly impressive; no one could find fault with that logic.

However... Hanyu sheathed his short sword and cast a more peculiar look at Hatake.

At this moment, he couldn't help but have two thoughts:

First, since you're so ruthless, why would you commit suicide later?

Second, so you're a kill-stealer too.