The Senju of the Forest

Standing in mid-air is a position that requires great finesse.

Many ninjas possess Earth Style techniques and can launch surprise attacks from underground; the Kikaichū are particularly adept at this. By remaining in mid-air, one has an unobstructed view of all directions, allowing for a better response to various offensives.

Yura lifted her eyelids, and the moment the killing intent fluctuated across from her, she launched her attack.

On the ground, a massive swarm of Kikaichū erupted, surging up from the earth like a fountain; at the same instant, the headless corpse opposite Yura fell backward.

Ignoring the Kikaichū, Yura propelled herself from the air, thrusting her left hand into the ninja's heart. With a flick of her wrist, she pulled out a pulsating heart. After a single glance, she curled her lip in disgust; she would have no use for hearts from the Aburame clan in the future.

It wasn't that they were dirty, but they were far too fragile, failing to meet the standards for forbidden technique modification.

She tossed it aside and glanced at the ninja's head. Behind her, deprived of their master's direction, the Kikaichū buzzed about like headless flies, instinctively fleeing from Yura before vanishing into the dense forest.

There was no need to worry about the escaped swarm, but the intelligence inside the ninja's brain needed to be processed.

As the ninja's head hung in mid-air, Yura snapped her fingers. The entire head burst into flames, eerie blue ghost fire dancing as it melted away like dripping wax.

Yura turned, heading off in pursuit of the final two.

This time, she had truly crossed the line with Konoha. From here on out, a life-or-death feud was set in stone unless one side backed down. Given Yura's personality, it was impossible for her not to retaliate, so the question was how.

Even brothers must settle accounts clearly; Yura's grudges against Hashirama and Tobirama would naturally be calculated separately.

A simple thought crossed her mind, and she had an idea: it was necessary to pay a visit to Konoha and greet Tobirama.

Deep in the forest, the ninja wearing the Dog-Mask moved at high speed in silence. Only a moment later, he was forced to stop. On the tree trunk before him, an arrow had pierced through the wood, and on the torn scrap of cloth pinned to it, fresh ink read...

Captain! Stop! Prepare for battle!

Have they caught up?

Eight hundred meters away in a straight line through the forest, White Fox braced her bow, aiming steadily at the rapidly moving Yura.

Sensing the killing intent locked onto her rising and ready to strike, Yura did not slow her pace, closing the distance.

Three hundred meters, two hundred, one hundred, fifty...

Just then, an arrow wrapped in blue light whistled through the forest, piercing multiple tree trunks before shooting toward Yura's face from the side.

On a tree trunk in the woods, the man in a combat stance saw the arrow appear, his pupils constricting as he locked his gaze onto Yura, who had abruptly manifested in mid-air.

In the air, Yura's figure performed an eerie, sudden stop. The arrow grazed the tip of her nose and missed, burying itself into the forest on the other side with a dull thud.

At the same time, the man's hands blurred into phantoms, silently forming hand seals as his chest expanded.

Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique.

The Great Fireball is known as a "merciful" technique, as it is difficult for a normal ninja to kill with it; because the fireball travels too slowly, it is easily dodged. However, its power is genuine. Using this technique is usually intended to force an opponent to move or to block a pursuit.

But a Great Fireball of this magnitude was not for tactical positioning; it was enough to kill many Genin or Chunin in a single hit.

Suddenly, a giant fireball erupted in the forest, nearly ten meters in diameter, engulfing a vast space. It was a small sea of fire, and the trees caught in its wake were ignited one after another, turning into burning torches.

The giant fireball pushed forward in a straight line, plowing a trench a foot deep along the ground.

This strike was enough to force the aggressive enemy back temporarily. Being closed in on to that distance just now had truly been dangerous.

Invisibility?

If it weren't for White Fox assisting from the side to break that dangerous technique, he likely would have lost his head without even realizing it. What a dangerous enemy...

Amidst the firelight, beneath the Dog-Mask, the ninja's pupils suddenly contracted...

What!?

He saw that from within the giant fireball, which had traveled less than ten meters, a dark shadow emerged, her entire body wrapped in burning flames. She moved through the air with the eerie grace of flight. It was clear that the flames burning around her were only burning in the void around her body, unable to touch her flesh in the slightest. Under her cold, scarlet gaze, a chill rose in his heart.

This is bad...

As his muscles tensed instinctively, his chakra erupted in an instant.

It had been said long ago that Yura's hair was fireproof; ordinary flames like these couldn't hope to harm her in the slightest. Yura crooked her finger.

Uchiha?

In an instant, a series of dense, cutting sounds erupted all around the Dog-Mask Ninja. However, they only carved shallow wounds; lines of blood bloomed simultaneously on the Dog-Mask Ninja's face, hands, and legs.

Unlike Yura's scythe, her hair was merely sharp. She lacked the force-exertion techniques of sword arts, so her cutting power was insufficient.

The Dog-Mask Ninja stood on the tree trunk, his body stiff, surrounded by hair and unable to move. He looked at Yura with scarlet eyes.

Remaining in mid-air, Yura stopped her advance. Behind her, the Great Fireball roared as it plowed forward for another fifty meters before exploding, flames soaring into the sky.

"Senju of the Forest?" Yura asked, tilting her head amidst the firelight.

This technique of erupting chakra throughout the body had been used by the First, the Second, and Tsunade as well—though Tsunade was more adept at concentrating it at a single point.

Thus, a layer of chakra on the skin acted as armor, cushioning the cuts from Yura's hair like a gasket.

Come to think of it, the average Senju clan member did not possess vast amounts of chakra; it was the Uchiha who had that. The characteristic of the Senju clan was actually this unremarkable ability to precisely control their entire body's chakra. This was the foundation of "clapping hands together and having whatever they call for appear." However, Hashirama only clapped his hands when performing Wood Style; for ordinary techniques, he also had to form seals, such as for the Summoning Technique.

The standout among them was Tobirama, who simplified the seals for most Water Style techniques.

Consequently, most Senju ninjas could perform ninjutsu much faster than the average ninja.

In terms of pure ninja talent, the talent of the Senju clan was actually quite ordinary.

However, they could not help the fact that their ancestors were the Sage of Six Paths, granting them an incredibly rich repository of ninjutsu resources, which often led to the emergence of various powerhouses within the clan who were proficient in ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu.

Therefore, once these resources were lost and the Senju surname was discarded, the majority of the Senju clan would inevitably fade into obscurity among the common folk.

Before there was time for a reply, an arrow whistled out from the side of the forest, aimed directly at the torso with a strange angle that targeted Yura's heart; it undulated in the air like a skipping stone, making its trajectory difficult to predict.

Having learned a lesson, the attacker chose to aim for the larger surface area of the torso this time, rather than attempting a one-hit kill with a headshot.

From Yura's perspective, every tree standing in the path of the arrow was silently pierced through, and even the strands of hair blocking its trajectory were snapped without a sound; thanks to the hair she had spread across a hundred-meter radius around her, Yura had sufficient time to detect the arrow's flight path in advance.

Any minute movement of air or vibration would be transmitted back to Yura along those strands.

Immediately, Yura raised her hand, and her pristine white kimono transformed into a pitch-black hue in the blink of an eye; with a wave of her arm, her wide sleeve swept out and collided with the speeding arrow, and amidst a resounding metallic clang, the arrow's trajectory was deflected, causing it to plunge into the ground and create a jagged, circular crater a meter wide in the blink of an eye.

Holding the bow eight hundred meters away, the White Fox ninja's pupils constricted.

She blocked it...

With a wild roar, the Dog-Mask Ninja, who had been pinned to the tree, unleashed a surge of chakra throughout his entire body; ignoring the deep wounds carved into his flesh, he used brute force to continuously snap Yura's hair, appearing as if he were about to break free from his restraints.

Strength Enhancement Technique!

As expected, a look of realization appeared in Yura's eyes.

Unlike Tsunade, who could unleash it at will, he required an explosive burst to activate it, and its destructive power was nowhere near as extreme as Tsunade's.

However, this is where it ends.

A sickle hovering around Yura's body shot out with rapid speed.