Mist Demon? Too Weak!

At this moment, Nichiyo, Gin, Tsukihime, and the slightly weaker Uncle Ryu were together.

Their combined strength was already no weaker than an elite Anbu squad from one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

As for the ninjas hired by the Gato Company, there were quite a few of them.

More than twenty in all.

But most were rogue ninjas who had defected from minor hidden villages.

Roughly half of them barely measured up to Genin;

the rest were only at the level of trainee ninjas.

Only their leader had chakra fluctuations that seemed to be at Chunin level.

This rabble thought they could pick a fight with Natsume and the others.

They were simply overestimating themselves and courting death!

Before long, several assassins who had leaped out from the trees on either side were dead in a single exchange, collapsing in pools of blood.

Then, in less than half a minute,

the remaining dozen or so assassins were all killed by Nichiyo and the others.

They hadn't even used the Sharingan. A few minor ninjutsu were all it took to wipe out the enemy.

The thick stench of blood spread through the air, staining the ground red.

The two Gato Company employees who had led the way were so terrified that they trembled and collapsed to the ground.

"Young Clan Head, the area is clear!"

"So these are the assassins sent by the Gato Company? They thought they could kill us with skills like these? How laughable!"

Natsume nodded, but didn't let his guard down.

Instead, he warned the others, "That was just the warm-up. The main course hasn't arrived yet."

Nichiyo and the others: ???

And in the very next moment,

a thick fog began to rise around them.

It quickly swallowed everything in sight.

"What is this? Morning fog?"

"No! This isn't natural fog. There's a faint trace of chakra mixed into it!"

"This must be a ninjutsu cast by someone!"

"Is it the Hidden Mist Technique? How is that possible? Have ninjas from Kirigakure come?"

Nichiyo and the others were startled and immediately went on guard.

They quickly closed in around their Young Clan Head, Natsume, to protect him from attacks from all sides.

The next instant,

the fog to their right suddenly contracted.

"Body Flicker Technique: Mist Body Flicker!"

"Hidden Mist: Silent Killing Technique!"

Then a flash of razor-sharp steel appeared, aiming straight for Nichiyo.

"Nichiyo, watch out!"

Gin shouted.

Fortunately, Nichiyo had been on guard, and his reflexes were sharp. Uchiha Nichiyo reacted at once.

He activated his Two-Tomoe Sharingan and read the attack's trajectory.

Then he swung a Kunai with his other hand, blocking the fierce slash.

"Clang—"

The shrill clash of metal rang out.

The immense force behind the great sword carved a deep notch into the Kunai in Nichiyo's hand.

It even knocked the weapon flying.

But the Kunai's deflection threw the fatal strike off course.

The blade only grazed Nichiyo's shoulder.

It left a shallow gash, but didn't sever his head.

"Damn you!"

Seeing his younger brother hurt, Tsukihime was furious.

She threw a punch, its fierce force driving straight toward the shadowy figure in the fog.

"Boom!"

Her heavy punch was blocked by the flat of his great sword.

But the force sent him flying.

He staggered back more than ten meters before vanishing into the thick fog once again.

"Nichiyo, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. It's just a small wound."

"But our enemy is strong! He's on a completely different level from those assassins."

Nichiyo quickly used chakra to stop the bleeding from his left shoulder and warned the others.

His right hand, which had been knocked aside along with his Kunai, was still trembling. That alone showed how powerful his enemy was.

At the same time,

a deep male voice soon came from the distant fog.

"What a powerful punch!"

"Not bad. Which village are you from? Why aren't you wearing Forehead Protectors?"

"Wait... are those...?"

"The Sharingan!!!"

"Are you ninjas from Konoha?!"

Zabuza's startled shout came from within the fog.

He had thought his targets were just a few worthless ninjas from minor hidden villages.

He hadn't expected them to be so formidable.

Not only had they stopped his unbeatable Mist Decapitation Technique, one of them even possessed the famed Kekkei Genkai known as the Sharingan.

"Looks like I've run into some tough opponents!"

"Ninjas from the Uchiha Clan won't be easy to deal with."

"Damn it, I charged too little!"

"I'll have to ask that bastard Gato for more money later."

Zabuza lamented to himself.

He was also lucky he hadn't shown himself first, and had let those worthless underlings test the waters.

Otherwise, he might already have been done for.

"Can you pinpoint the enemy's location?"

Uncle Ryu asked calmly.

Nichiyo searched the area with his Sharingan, then shook his head.

"No."

"There's a little chakra mixed into the fog, and it's interfering with the Sharingan's ability to lock onto him!"

"Fog, a sword, and impressive strength... He must be the famous Kirigakure rogue ninja, the Mist Demon, Zabuza Momochi, right?"

Tsukihime, who had plenty of experience with missions, spoke up.

She had immediately guessed the enemy's identity.

Among the Uchiha Clan, she was a rare ninja who specialized in Taijutsu.

She hadn't used her full strength in that punch.

But it had still been a heavy blow.

Even an ordinary Jonin would have struggled to block it.

Yet Demon Zabuza had seemed to take it in stride. He was clearly no ordinary opponent.

"So you've heard of me. Then you really are closely connected to Konoha!"

"Or are you the Uchiha survivors who defected from Konoha a while ago?"

"Forget it. None of that matters..."

"Inside my fog, you're all as good as dead."

"No. Since you know my name, I'll do my best to leave your corpses intact!"

His arrogant threats echoed from every direction in the fog.

Hidden within it, Zabuza kept talking to buy time.

At the same time, he moved swiftly, searching for weaknesses and openings among his five opponents.

He was determined to kill them all with his next strike!

"This is getting tiring!"

"Ugh... This fog is so thick, it's making my eyes hurt."

"Let's blow it away!"

Natsume rubbed his eyes, yawned, and said casually.

Then he clapped his hands together.

A violent surge of chakra burst forth, sweeping outward from Natsume like successive gales.

In a little over ten seconds,

it had blown away all the thick fog around them...

"Whoosh—"

After the wind died down, everything around them came into clear view.

At the same time,

a certain Mist Demon was standing in the distance, sword in hand.

He stared at Natsume and the others, completely dumbfounded.

Well, damn!

His Hidden Mist Technique wasn't impossible to counter.

But he had never seen anyone dispel it by force with such an enormous amount of chakra.

"Who the hell is that kid?!"

"How can he have so much chakra?"

"And the other four are protecting him. He must have an important position."

"Could he be Konoha's Jinchuriki?!"

Zabuza was stunned.

Usually, only a village's Jinchuriki could have such an enormous amount of chakra at such a young age.

But how had the boy hidden his presence so well just now?

He couldn't believe he'd misjudged someone.

He'd assumed the youngest kid was probably the weakest. Instead, the boy was incredibly powerful!

"Awesome! Long live the Young Clan Head!"

Gin cheered excitedly as the fog cleared and their vision returned.

Just as he'd thought, that damn Hidden Mist Technique was nothing in front of their Young Clan Head!

"All right, the fog's gone."

"That guy's too weak to be worth my time. You can deal with him."

"Especially you three, Nichiyo, Tsukihime, and Gin. Work on your teamwork and try to capture him alive."

Natsume waved a hand and gave the others their orders.

Zabuza might have been fairly strong, but he was only around elite Jonin level.

A few days ago, Natsume might have been interested in playing around with him.

But now, he couldn't be bothered.

After all, what child would take on an adult seriously?

He'd let Nichiyo and the others use Zabuza for practice instead.

"Understood!"

Nichiyo and the others answered, tightened their grips on their weapons, and rushed toward Zabuza in the distance.

Meanwhile,

the moment Zabuza heard that the kid had called him too weak to be worth fighting, he flew into a rage, his brows furrowing.

He'd never met such an arrogant brat in his life!

He had been considering retreating.

Now he quickly resolved to kill these ignorant ninjas—and that kid, too!