Chapter Twenty-Six: Unexpected Incident!

When Uzumaki Kuming awoke from his slumber, a light drizzle was still falling from the sky. However, the dense forest canopy blocked most of the droplets, so very little rain actually reached the ground.

The path through the forest, however, had become muddy and was even more difficult to traverse than it had been before Uzumaki Kuming stopped to rest.

"Looks like conditions aren't great for traveling."

Uzumaki Kuming sat curled up in his shelter; the campfire in front of him had completely died out, leaving only a pile of embers. Listening to the sound of rain hitting the leaves outside, he felt a reluctance to continue his journey.

"I don't know how long I slept. My pace yesterday should have been fast enough that no one could have caught up, so I must maintain that advantage."

Despite the inclement weather and muddy roads, Uzumaki Kuming decided to press on. The dim sky made it impossible to tell the time, and after his sleep, he could no longer judge how long it had been since he set out. Having lost his sense of time, he couldn't be sure if anyone had managed to get ahead of him.

Having made his decision, Uzumaki Kuming put on his dried coat and stepped out of the shelter. A cold breeze hit him, causing him to instinctively tighten his coat before he leapt onto a branch and began to move.

It was unclear how much time had passed when Uzumaki Kuming, in the middle of his trek, suddenly changed expression and came to a sharp halt.

"What is this smell?" A foul, fishy stench permeated the air, and the pungent scent of blood rushed into Uzumaki Kuming's nostrils.

"BOOM!!!!" Just as Uzumaki Kuming hesitated over whether to proceed, a violent explosion erupted ahead. The next second, a powerful shockwave caused the trees in the forest to rattle and sway.

Hearing the explosion, Uzumaki Kuming didn't even think; he turned around and immediately began running in the direction of Konoha.

"An explosion of this magnitude could never have been caused by a group of children."

"With such a thick scent of blood, something unexpected must have happened."

"This is a place of trouble; I must leave quickly!"

Uzumaki Kuming's mind was perfectly clear. He didn't foolishly go to investigate the cause of the explosion; he only knew that the area ahead was extremely dangerous, and the best way to deal with danger was to "lay low"!

However, Uzumaki Kuming's plan fell through, as he had already been sensed the moment he stepped into this territory.

"Oh? A fish that slipped through the net?"

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

A deep, heavy male voice rang out through the silent forest, followed by the sound of kunai cutting through the air. These sounds echoing in the woods made Uzumaki Kuming's scalp tingle, and his body subconsciously tensed up, preparing to respond to the attack.

"Too late? Damn it!"

Uzumaki Kuming's leaping figure twisted in mid-air, dodging the rapidly flying kunai, and then he surged forward again without looking back. He wasn't arrogant enough to think he could trade blows with the assailant; the fact that the other party dared to strike so close to Konoha suggested their strength was likely formidable.

"Trying to run?" A figure suddenly appeared directly in front of Uzumaki Kuming, delivering a kick aimed straight at his chest. Seeing the sudden attack, Uzumaki Kuming's pupils constricted, and he only had enough time to raise his arms to block in front of his chest.

"Bang!"

"Oh? You've got some skills."

Before Uzumaki Kuming could get a clear look at his attacker, a second strike followed. It was close-quarters taijutsu; the figure rushed toward him, raising a hand to strike at Uzumaki Kuming's face.

"I can see the movements of the attack; the taijutsu shouldn't be too overwhelming."

Uzumaki Kuming watched the fist hurtling toward his face, bent his waist to dodge the attack, and then pushed off the ground with both legs, jumping backward to put some distance between himself and his opponent.

Only then did Uzumaki Kuming have the chance to observe the attacker.

The man was middle-aged and somewhat large, standing about 1.75 meters tall, with a build that made him look quite burly. Uzumaki Kuming estimated the man weighed around 200 pounds. He looked to be about 30 years old and was a complete stranger.

His massive frame was comparable to those of the Akimichi Clan.

"Who are you?" While sizing up his opponent, Uzumaki Kuming reached into his ninja tool pouch and pulled out a kunai, gripping it tightly. Having a weapon in hand gave him a small sense of security.

"Heh! Kid, you've got good moves—much better than those other brats from before."

"Konoha really does have a knack for training people."

The middle-aged man didn't directly answer Uzumaki Kuming's question, instead speaking to himself. His narrow eyes scanned Uzumaki Kuming up and down, though he held off on launching another attack.

Although the man didn't reveal any information about himself, Uzumaki Kuming was able to glean some details from his words. It seemed the man had already encountered other children from Konoha before him, and combined with the bloody scent from ahead, Uzumaki Kuming realized the man was likely there specifically to intercept children leaving Konoha.

"Is he actually slaughtering students from the ninja academy exams? For what purpose? To weaken Konoha's reserve forces?"

"Or is there some other objective?"

Uzumaki Kuming knew that there were many children from Konoha's bloodline limit clans among this year's group; these individuals were research materials coveted by other ninja villages. Even he himself, as a member of the Uzumaki Clan, was a clan of great research value.

"Earth Style: Earth Spike!"

While Uzumaki Kuming was still pondering the enemy's identity, the man had already made his move. He performed hand seals rapidly, and with a loud roar, several earth spikes erupted from the ground beneath the enemy, thrusting toward Uzumaki Kuming.

"Can this kind of ninjutsu even hit anyone?" Watching the man perform the technique, Uzumaki Kuming was puzzled. The spikes grew from the ground beneath the man, but he was nearly five meters away, and the growth speed of the spikes wasn't fast. It would be a miracle if such a slow technique could hit anyone.

"Mind's Eye of the Kagura!"

Uzumaki Kuming formed the "Ram" seal and opened his sensory field. Under the perception of the Mind's Eye of the Kagura, he could clearly feel the enemy's chakra fluctuations beneath the man's feet. Not only that, but he also felt the enemy's chakra beneath his own feet.

"So that's it!" The moment he sensed the enemy's chakra beneath him, Uzumaki Kuming leapt up, abandoning his position. The very next second, several sharp earth spikes erupted from the spot where he had just been standing, their speed astonishing.

"The spikes in front were a feint; the real killing blow was beneath me. To be this serious against a mere child?"

Uzumaki Kuming landed on a tree branch, gripping his kunai tightly, his expression cold.

"This kid..."

"He's different from the ones I dealt with before."

Seeing that Uzumaki Kuming had dodged his sneak attack, the middle-aged man's smile faded, and his face darkened. This trick of his had always been foolproof; he had killed quite a few children from Konoha, and even some chunin who had left the village had fallen victim to his ambush.

The red-haired brat standing on the branch in the distance had actually managed to dodge his attack, which truly caught him off guard.

"Earth Release."

The middle-aged man formed hand seals, chanting the name of the Earth Release technique, yet in the very next second, he appeared at Jiuming's side, brandishing a kunai to strike at him.

Body Flicker Technique? Jiuming sensed the man's presence the instant he appeared beside him; had he relied on his naked eyes to observe his opponent, his body would have been pierced the moment he turned his head to search for the man's figure.

Jiuming's reaction speed was not slow. The moment the man appeared, Jiuming pushed off the tree branch, immediately accelerating away from his previous position and dropping toward the ground.

"Tch, dodged it again?"

"Hm? What is this smell?"

"BOOM!!!"

One second before leaving the branch he had been standing on, Jiuming had attached an explosive tag to it. After he departed, the tag detonated instantly. The intense blast of wind caused Jiuming to lose his balance, sending him crashing to the ground with several abrasions on his arms.

"Still not dead!"

With no time to tend to the pain in his arms, Jiuming quickly rose to his feet and formed hand seals.

"Shadow Clone Technique!"

In the next second, a shadow clone identical to Jiuming appeared at his side and, ignoring the gale force of the explosion, charged rapidly toward the ground beneath the branch from before.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

"Whew~"

Following that, several more loud bangs erupted as the shadow clone detonated several more explosive tags. The intense shockwave forced Jiuming to raise his arm to shield his eyes.

"Is he dead?"

Within the perception of his Mind's Eye of the Kagura, the opponent's chakra had completely vanished. Still, Jiuming remained suspicious and did not lower his guard until the smoke had entirely cleared, at which point he carefully inspected the site of the explosion.

The two explosions had turned the area into a small crater, with the surrounding trees toppled outward. The charred bark still flickered with faint embers, and scattered at the center of the blast were unrecognizable remains. Seeing the stark white bones exposed among the debris, Jiuming could not help but let out a sigh of relief.

"Ugh."

As he stared, Jiuming's face turned ashen, and he could not help but retch. However, having eaten nothing, he only brought up thin, watery bile.

"Want to kill me? I'll scatter your ashes to the wind!"

After composing himself, Jiuming wiped the corner of his mouth and curled his lips into a smirk, his smile filled with the joy of having survived a brush with death. He then deactivated his Mind's Eye of the Kagura.

"Oh? Not bad, kid. To think you actually managed to ambush and kill Fatty?"

Silently, a figure had arrived at Jiuming's side. It was only when the person spoke that Jiuming realized someone had approached him. His scalp tingled, and he instantly reactivated his Mind's Eye of the Kagura, shifting his body rapidly to the side, but in the next second, a line of blood sprayed from his back.

There was someone else?

I was careless!

Jiuming quickly put distance between himself and the newcomer. The clothes on his back had been sliced open by a kunai, leaving a long wound running diagonally from his shoulder to his waist, though the bleeding was minimal and the wound was not deep.

"Earth Release! Earth Wood Technique!"

Before Jiuming could get a clear look at his attacker, the man had already unleashed a ninjutsu. As the words left his lips, the ground beneath Jiuming's feet split open, and two hemispherical rocks, each two meters high, rose from the left and right, rapidly closing in on him.

"Bastards, does everyone want my life?"

Jiuming's expression hardened as he swiftly reached into his ninja tool pouch.