When Jiuming woke from his deep sleep, a light rain was still falling, but the dense forest canopy blocked most of the raindrops, so not much water actually reached the ground.
The forest paths had turned muddy, though, and were even harder to traverse than they had been before Jiuming stopped to rest.
"Looks like the weather still isn't good for traveling."
Jiuming sat cross-legged inside the shelter. The campfire in front of him had gone out completely, leaving only a patch of ashes. Listening to the rain pattering against the leaves outside, he found himself reluctant to set off.
"I don't know how long I slept. I doubt anyone could have kept up with my pace yesterday. I need to hold on to that advantage."
Despite the bad weather and muddy roads, Jiuming decided to keep going. The dark sky made it impossible to tell the time, and after sleeping, he could no longer judge how long it had been since he set out. With no sense of the time, he couldn't be sure whether anyone had gotten ahead of him.
Having made up his mind, Jiuming put on his dried outerwear and left the shelter. A chilly breeze swept over him, making him instinctively pull his coat tighter. Then he leaped onto a branch and continued on his way.
After an unknown length of time, Jiuming's expression suddenly changed as he traveled. He stopped dead.
"What's that smell?" A foul stench hung in the air, and the sharp scent of blood rushed into Uzumaki Jiuming's nostrils.
"BOOM!!!!" Just as Jiuming hesitated over whether to keep going, a massive explosion sounded up ahead. A moment later, a powerful shock wave sent the trees rattling.
At the sound of the explosion, Jiuming turned around without a second thought and immediately ran toward Konoha.
"An explosion that loud definitely wasn't caused by a bunch of kids."
"With blood in the air this strong, something must have gone wrong."
"This is a dangerous place. I need to get out of here fast!"
Jiuming was perfectly clearheaded. He didn't foolishly go investigate what had caused the explosion. All he knew was that the area ahead was extremely dangerous, and the best way to deal with danger was to keep a low profile!
But Jiuming's plan still fell through. The moment he entered this area, someone sensed him.
"Oh? There's still one straggler?"
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
A deep male voice rang out in the quiet forest, followed by the sound of kunai cutting through the air. Those two sounds made Jiuming's scalp prickle, and his body tensed instinctively, ready to fend off an attack.
"Too late? Damn it!"
Jiuming's airborne body twisted, allowing him to dodge the kunai flying toward him at high speed. Without looking back, he dashed away once more. He wasn't arrogant enough to think he could take on his pursuer head-on. Anyone who dared attack so close to Konoha had to be extremely strong.
"Trying to run?" A figure suddenly appeared right in front of Jiuming and kicked straight at his chest. His pupils contracted at the sudden attack, and he had just enough time to raise his arms in front of his chest.
"Thud!"
"Oh? Not bad."
Before Jiuming could get a good look at his attacker, a second attack came—a close-range Taijutsu strike. A figure rushed at Jiuming and swung a fist at his face.
"If I can see the attack coming, his Taijutsu probably isn't that strong."
Watching the fist aimed at his face, Jiuming ducked to avoid it, then thrust off the ground with both feet and quickly sprang backward, putting distance between himself and his opponent.
Only then did Jiuming have a chance to examine his attacker.
The man was middle-aged and heavily built, around 1.75 meters tall. His height and build made him look imposing. Jiuming estimated he weighed about two hundred pounds. He seemed to be around thirty, and Jiuming had never seen him before.
His massive frame was comparable to those of the Akimichi Clan.
"Who are you?" Jiuming sized up his opponent as he reached into his tool pouch and took out a kunai, gripping it tightly. Having a weapon in hand gave him at least a little more confidence.
"Heh! You're pretty good, kid. Much better than those brats before you."
"Konoha really knows how to train its people."
The middle-aged man didn't answer Jiuming's question. Instead, he spoke to himself, his narrow eyes roaming over Jiuming as he held off on attacking.
Although the middle-aged man hadn't revealed anything about himself, Jiuming could still glean some information from his words. The man had probably already run into some children from Konoha before him. And considering what he'd said and the stench of blood drifting from up ahead, Jiuming realized that the man had likely come specifically to ambush children from Konoha.
"Is he killing the students taking the Ninja Academy exam? Why? To weaken Konoha's future forces?"
"Or does he have some other target?"
Jiuming knew there were quite a few children from Konoha's Kekkei Genkai clans in this year's group. Other villages coveted them as research subjects. That included him: the Uzumaki Clan was also a clan of great research value~
"Earth Style: Earth Spear!"
While Jiuming was still considering his enemy's identity, the man made his move. He rapidly formed Hand Seals, then shouted as several earthen spikes erupted from the ground beneath Jiuming and thrust toward him.
"Can a jutsu like that even hit anyone?" Watching the man perform the technique, Jiuming felt confused. The spikes were sprouting from beneath the man's feet, while Jiuming was about five meters away. They weren't extending very fast, either. There was no way such a slow jutsu could hit anyone—unless the man had some trick up his sleeve.
"Mind's Eye of the Kagura!"
Jiuming formed the Ram Hand Seal and spread out his sensory field. With the Mind's Eye of the Kagura, he could clearly sense the enemy's Chakra beneath his feet. And that wasn't all: he could sense the enemy's Chakra beneath his own feet, too.
"So that's how it is!" The moment he sensed the Chakra under him, Jiuming leaped away from where he'd been standing. The instant he moved, several sharp earthen spikes shot up from that very spot, moving with shocking speed.
"The spikes in front of me are a feint. The real attack is coming from underground. He's taking this seriously, all right, just to deal with a kid?"
Uzumaki Jiuming landed on a branch, gripping his kunai tightly in one hand, his expression grim.
"This kid..."
"He's not like the others I dealt with before."
Seeing Jiuming dodge his sneak attack, the middle-aged man's smile faded and his expression darkened. His trick had never failed him. He'd killed plenty of children from Konoha, and even some Chunin from the village had fallen for it.
The red-haired kid standing on a branch in the distance had managed to dodge his attack. That truly surprised him.
"Earth Style—"
The middle-aged man formed Hand Seals and said the words, but the very next moment he appeared beside Jiuming, stabbing at him with a kunai.
"Body Flicker Technique?" The instant the man appeared beside him, Jiuming sensed his presence. If he'd been relying on his eyes to track the man, his body would have been pierced while he turned to look for him.
Jiuming reacted quickly. The moment the man appeared beside him, he pushed off the branch and accelerated away from his original position, dropping toward the ground.
"Tch, you dodged again?"
"Hm? What's that smell?"
"BOOM!!!"
Just before Jiuming left the branch, he had stuck an Explosive Tag to it. The tag exploded as soon as he moved away. The powerful blast threw him off balance, and he crashed to the ground, scraping his arm in several places.
"Still alive!"
Jiuming had no time to worry about the pain in his arm. He quickly got to his feet and formed Hand Seals.
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
The next moment, a Concealed Shadow Clone identical to Jiuming appeared at his side. Braving the shock wave from the explosion, it charged toward the ground beneath the branch where the enemy had just been.
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"
"Phew~"
A few more deafening blasts followed. The Shadow Clone that had just charged ahead set off several Explosive Tags, and the powerful shock wave made Jiuming raise an arm to shield his eyes.
"Is he dead?"
The enemy's Chakra had completely disappeared from Jiuming's perception through the Mind's Eye of the Kagura. Still uneasy, Jiuming refused to let down his guard. He waited until the smoke had completely cleared before carefully examining the blast site.
The two explosions had turned the area into a small crater, and the surrounding trees had fallen outward. Faint flames still flickered on the charred bark. Unrecognizable remains lay scattered around the center of the blast. Seeing the stark white bones exposed on some of them, Jiuming couldn't help letting out a sigh of relief.
"Ugh..."
As he stared at the scene, Jiuming's face turned ashen and he couldn't stop himself from vomiting. But he hadn't eaten anything, so all he brought up was stomach acid.
"You wanted to kill me? I'll scatter your ashes to the wind!"
After recovering a little, Jiuming wiped his mouth and curled his lips into a smile. His expression brimmed with the joy of having survived. He deactivated the Mind's Eye of the Kagura.
"Oh? Not bad, kid. You managed to take out Fatso?"
Without a sound, someone appeared beside Jiuming. He didn't notice the newcomer until the man spoke. Jiuming's scalp prickled, and he immediately activated the Mind's Eye of the Kagura and dodged sideways. But the next instant, a streak of blood flew from his back.
"There's someone else?"
"I let my guard down!"
Jiuming quickly put some distance between himself and the newcomer. His clothes had been slashed open across the back, and a long wound ran diagonally from his shoulder to his waist. Fortunately, it wasn't very deep and hadn't bled much.
"Earth Style: Earth Wood Technique!"
Before Jiuming could get a good look at the newcomer, the man had already performed a jutsu. As his voice rang out, the earth beneath Jiuming split apart, and two hemispherical boulders, each two meters tall, rose on either side and rapidly closed in on him.
"Damn it, does every one of you want to kill me?"
Jiuming's expression hardened as he quickly reached for his tool pouch.
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