Ximu examined the corpse again and again. With no belongings that could prove the man's identity, he could only judge by the man's skin tone, the quality of his clothes, the calluses on his hands, and the old scars on his body.
Not every Anbu Ninja had this ability, but in Konoha Anbu, every squad needed at least one person who did.
Li Tong gathered his thoughts and looked at the corpse again.
The B-Rank Ninjutsu Random Card was in Item Space, but Li Tong couldn't take it out in front of everyone. The others couldn't see the card, but if he made strange movements, he would surely attract attention.
--
Name: Boli
Identity: A ninja in the assassination scout tactics unit of Amegakure, Land of Rain.
Reputation: 16 points.
Relationship: Hostile.
--
This was the information on the Rain Assassin. With 16 reputation points, according to the reputation scale, he should be a Chunin!
Boli's body hadn't burned for long. The explosion had completely ruined his face, and although he had burns, his body hadn't been entirely charred.
Ximu examined him for a long time without getting up.
People crowded both ends of the street, leaving a stretch of road about fifty meters long empty. Li Tong and the others stood in the middle of it. The discussion about Li Tong had begun as soon as he appeared and hadn't stopped since; it was only growing louder.
Whoosh!
A figure suddenly appeared to Li Tong's right, wrapped in a black cloak and wearing a mask. He stood tall, his presence distinct and profound.
"Captain!" Chen He hurriedly greeted him with respect.
The Anbu Captain who had arrived was Hatake Sakumo—the White Fang!
"What happened?" White Fang asked calmly, glancing at Li Tong.
"It happened like this, Captain. Just now, this man walked past him and bumped his shoulder. Then..." Chen He quickly gave a concise account of what had happened. "Then... he pulled out an Explosive Tag... This man had slipped it into his pocket..."
"Oh?" A flicker of surprise crossed White Fang's eyes as he glanced at Li Tong.
Catching an Explosive Tag barehanded and throwing it back to kill the attacker outright was no easy feat. Even an elite jonin wouldn't throw one by hand; that wasn't how they were used. The orthodox technique for a ranged attack was to connect the tag to a Kunai with chakra threads, then throw the Kunai to carry the tag toward the enemy.
An Explosive Tag was made of paper, and paper was soft. It simply couldn't be thrown very far.
A dozen or so meters away, Ximu finally stood and hurried back. He respectfully reported to White Fang, "Captain, my examination found calluses on both hands, and signs of repeated impact and conditioning on his elbows and knees. He had more than forty old injuries, including over ten from ninjutsu. His boots weren't made in the Land of Fire, but his outer garment had been purchased in Konoha... Considering his slow reactions and his failure to dodge the Explosive Tag that came from behind, I suspect he was an assassin who underwent brutal training. His strength shouldn't exceed Chunin level."
"Mm." White Fang nodded, then flashed over to the corpse and crouched down to examine it himself.
Li Tong's thoughts stirred, and he stepped forward.
Chen He didn't stop him.
With White Fang here, Chen He wasn't worried that Li Tong would cause trouble.
Li Tong walked up beside White Fang, right in front of the corpse. He casually raised a hand, as if his shoulder felt stiff and he was stretching it, then turned his wrist and lowered his hand again... In reality, he had grabbed the three cards hovering above the corpse—visible only to him—and stored them in Item Space.
White Fang soon stood up and glanced at Li Tong. "You can go."
"Uh... I'm not needed anymore?" Li Tong asked, taken aback.
"No," White Fang said.
"Then I'm off!" Li Tong turned and left.
Chen He watched Li Tong's departing figure, then leaned closer to White Fang and lowered his voice. "Captain..."
"He's a Rain Ninja suicide operative. We only spread the news this morning, and they launched an assassination by noon. That means he was already in Konoha Village, and there's probably more than one of them," White Fang said quietly. "I'll report this to Lord Hokage. Keep a close eye on the kid."
******
Under the crowd's many different gazes, Li Tong pushed through the people and quickly left the busy street. He turned into an alley and, before the Anbu Ninja tailing him could catch up, swiftly took four cards out of Item Space.
One was the B-Rank Ninjutsu Random Card he had earned for defeating a stronger enemy, and the other three had dropped from the Rain Assassin he had killed.
Li Tong quickly used the B-Rank Ninjutsu Random Card.
"Ding! The host has randomly obtained the B-Rank ninjutsu Lightning Release: False Darkness!"
"False Darkness?" Li Tong's eyes flashed with excitement. In the original story, the technique had been shown to be extremely powerful. Though only a B-Rank ninjutsu, it had tremendous offensive power and could be used for both close- and long-range attacks.
Kakuzu of the Akatsuki had used this technique to attack Kakashi Hatake. Kakashi Hatake had countered it with the S-Rank ninjutsu Double Lightning Blade.
It wasn't that S-Rank ninjutsu was inferior to B-Rank ninjutsu. The two techniques simply had different properties. Countering a ranged technique with one meant for close combat put the latter at a disadvantage, but this still showed how powerful False Darkness was.
B-Rank ninjutsu generally required jonin-level skill to master, without considering talent. But because he had used the card, Li Tong had already learned the technique. The problem was... he wasn't sure he had enough chakra to use it.
There were three cards left!
An A-Rank Taijutsu card: Taijutsu: Dual Blade Double Strike.
A D-Rank ninjutsu card: Water Style: Hidden Mist Technique!
And a Basic Healing Card!
Pressed for time, Li Tong didn't look too closely. He used the Taijutsu card and the D-Rank ninjutsu card first, then held the Basic Healing Card and asked the sprite in his mind, "What does this do? How do I use it?"
"After the host uses a Healing Card, it can restore negative physical conditions, including but not limited to flesh wounds, sealing damage, curse damage, poison damage... Use it after sustaining an injury."
"Got it." Li Tong nodded at once and stored the Basic Healing Card in Item Space.
"What rules determine which cards drop from enemies I kill? For example, how can I make someone drop an A-Rank ninjutsu card?"
"Any ability possessed by an enemy you kill is eligible to drop. The chance is random. For example, if the enemy knows an A-Rank ninjutsu, killing them gives you a chance to obtain an A-Rank ninjutsu card!"
Li Tong continued down the alley, chatting with the sprite in his mind. As he reached the crossroads, a terrifying sense of danger suddenly engulfed him. A chill ran through his body.
Pfft!
A piercing whistling sound came rushing toward him, reaching his side in an instant.
At that moment, Li Tong instinctively twisted his body, leaned back slightly, and turned his head. As soon as he saw what was flying toward him, he thrust out his hand... and caught the black Kunai. The powerful momentum flung his arm backward, forcing him to take a step back.
But he had still managed to catch the Kunai flying at high speed!
His instinctive twist and dodge had relied on this body's muscle memory, while catching the Kunai had relied on Li Tong's abilities from his previous life. He had only ever caught playing cards back then, and none of them had come with this much force. But in this life, Li Tong was far stronger than he had been before.
A black-cloaked man stood in the dim shadows to the right of the crossroads, staring at Li Tong in astonishment.
He'd actually caught it!
The man had received orders from his superiors that morning to kill this brat. He had planned to observe him first, but when an opportunity like this presented itself, he had attacked. He had thought one Kunai would be enough to kill the brat. He hadn't expected him to be able to catch one barehanded.
Five or six meters away, Li Tong frowned at him.
Li Tong's left eye had unusually sharp vision, so he could see that the eyes beneath the man's oversized hood were completely white, with wrinkles around them.
--
Name: Hyuga Anan
Identity: A member of the Internal Affairs Force of the Hyuga Clan in Konohagakure, Land of Fire.
Reputation: 987 points.
Relationship: Hostile.
--
"The Hyuga Clan sent someone this quickly. Konoha is supposed to protect me, yet they actually dared to send someone to kill me." Li Tong's thoughts raced. "His reputation is already close to a thousand points. His strength must be nearing jonin level. An elite Chunin, then?"
Li Tong's whole body tensed. He wasn't sure he could beat this man.
The two of them stared at each other.
Hyuga Anan suddenly turned his head to look to one side, then looked back at Li Tong and gave him a cruel, mocking grin. He raised a hand and drew it across his own throat, openly threatening him with murder.
Still watching Li Tong, Hyuga Anan backed away a few steps, swiftly formed Hand Seals, and vanished from the spot.
Li Tong stared at the place where Hyuga Anan had disappeared. Feeling the pressure, he couldn't help asking, "Sprite, if... hypothetically, I killed an elite Chunin from the Hyuga Clan, is there a chance he'd drop a Byakugan Kekkei Genkai card?"
"It's possible!" the Card Emperor Sprite replied firmly.
Before you continue