At that moment.
Inside the harbor.
Hidden among the ships moored there, a group of Kirigakure Anbu Ninja stood ready for action.
"All squads, pay attention. The target's cargo ship is about to dock!"
"According to our intelligence, the rogue ninja Zabuza is aboard that ship!"
"This time, we absolutely cannot let him escape again!"
Watching the large cargo ship draw closer in the distance,
the Anbu Captain of Kirigakure warned his subordinates in a low voice.
They had been ordered by the Fourth Mizukage to capture Demon Zabuza for years now.
They had let him escape time and time again. It was utterly humiliating!
And now, he was actually sailing toward the Land of Water in broad daylight, practically walking into their trap.
If they still failed to capture this rogue ninja today,
these Anbu members might as well give up ninjutsu and go home to farm...
And so, the Kirigakure Ninja held their breath, their weapons at the ready.
Soon, the cargo ship was less than a hundred meters from the shore.
Just then.
A figure suddenly appeared at the bow of the ship in the distance.
"What's going on? What happened?"
"Why's there only one kid?"
"Is that kid a ninja too?"
"Zabuza's sending a little kid ninja to die for him?!!"
The Kirigakure Anbu were taken aback.
They had dealt with Zabuza plenty of times.
The man didn't seem like the sort to stoop so low!
"Captain, wait. Something feels off about that kid!"
"Off?"
They took another look.
Then they suddenly realized—
the boy on the cargo ship had vanished.
The next moment,
he crossed dozens of meters in an instant, appearing above the water by the shore.
Then he walked toward the shore, one step at a time.
With every step he took, violent chakra surged and trembled, sending ripples across the surrounding water and kicking up wave after wave of spray, like a light drizzle.
Through the hazy view, countless droplets seemed to divide everything around them. It was as though they had fallen into a gray-white dream, where everything had turned unreal...
"Something's very wrong!"
"Who cares if something's wrong? Kill him!"
"We absolutely cannot let Zabuza and the others escape today!"
The Anbu Captain roared.
He swiftly directed his subordinates to launch their attack.
Clearly, all the Kirigakure Ninja realized
that the boy approaching them through the mist was no ordinary opponent.
And so,
the next moment, more than twenty ninja poked their heads out
and launched their attacks.
Countless kunai, shuriken, Water Release Ninjutsu... and more.
Hundreds, thousands of attacks surged toward Natsume, blotting out the sky.
Unfortunately, none of them hit the boy. They all passed through his illusory figure and struck the distant water, sending up even more spray.
Seeing this, the Kirigakure Ninja nearly began to doubt their own eyes. They stared so hard their eyeballs almost popped out!
Every face bore the words, "I don't believe it."
What the hell was that monster?
How had he dodged so many attacks?
"Was that the Body Flicker Technique?"
"Afterimages left by high-speed movement?"
"Impossible! Unless he's the Raikage, how could anyone's Body Flicker Technique do that?!"
"And to dodge more than a hundred attacks without a scratch? Even the Fourth Raikage couldn't do that, could he?"
"What the hell is going on?!!"
Clearly, what they were seeing had far exceeded the ninja's understanding.
But the very next moment,
a chilling voice suddenly rang out beside the Anbu Captain's ear.
His scalp prickled—
"Those aren't afterimages from movement. They're afterimages of time!"
"Shing—"
A flash of cold light swept past.
Swift and brutal as wind and thunder!
Blood sprayed as it claimed the Anbu Captain's life!
Ever since gaining Hashirama Cells and greatly reducing the side effects of using the Sharingan,
Natsume had made even greater strides in developing and using his Sharingan abilities.
His left eye alone had gone from a maximum of three stages of Setsuna to four.
"Mangekyō Sharingan, left eye: Setsuna!"
"Four stages: sixteenfold speed boost!"
A sixteenfold increase in speed!
It brought Natsume's instantaneous speed to the very brink of breaking the sound barrier.
At that speed, he was almost as fast as a car hurtling along at 1,200 kilometers per hour!
He didn't even need a technique. Simply crashing into someone would be enough to turn them to mush!
If Natsume hadn't strengthened his body with Hashirama Cells and protected himself with a massive amount of chakra,
moving at this speed alone would have crushed his body like a pancake under the tremendous wind resistance...
At that moment, they saw a figure suddenly appear beside them.
Their captain had already been killed outright.
The Kirigakure Anbu Ninja around him were terrified out of their wits!
Still, many of them immediately steeled themselves and roared, charging at Natsume once more.
"Kill!"
"Attack!"
The next moment,
the "Grim Reaper" moved again.
He vanished from the spot in an instant, leaving two deep craters in the deck from the force of his push-off.
At the same time,
the three nearest Kirigakure Ninja hadn't even seen what happened
before they were sent flying, crashing hard into the cabin. Their organs were shattered, and they died on the spot.
Charge! Rush! Rampage!
Unstoppable!
Every enemy standing in Natsume's way was dismantled in an instant, wiped out, and finished off!
One Kirigakure Ninja after another charged in, only to die on the spot, like moths rushing into a flame.
That razor-sharp Chakra Blade sliced across the back of a man's neck
as easily as a knife through tender tofu, leaving a thin red line.
Then the blood burst forth.
It poured out in an unstoppable torrent, devouring life.
That figure, ghostlike and impossibly fast, was so hard to follow it seemed like a phantom hunting its prey.
And anyone it touched died in a single strike!
No chance of survival!
That was what true efficiency looked like!
That was the art of speed!
Far away, aboard the cargo ship,
Nichiyo, Tsukihime, Gin, Zabuza, and the others were all stunned.
"Nichiyo, what's going on? Can you see him?"
Gin asked, stammering.
In the distance, all he could see were bursts of destruction flashing across the harbor.
Kirigakure Ninja flew through the air like chicks and died on the spot.
Ship after ship was torn apart and brutally wrecked as if someone were demolishing houses... so frail they seemed like a bunch of little girls ready to burst into tears.
Yet their own Young Clan Head, the one launching the attacks, was nowhere to be seen.
Nichiyo's mouth hung open as he focused his Two-Tomoe Sharingan, trying with all his might to track the Young Clan Head.
But he could only catch a faint glimpse of Natsume when he darted from one place to another.
"It's Taijutsu! Pure speed!"
"The Young Clan Head's speed has already surpassed the limit your eyes can follow."
Tsukihime, who had been quiet all along, explained, her Three-Tomoe Sharingan active.
Even she could only just barely see Natsume move.
If she tried to fight him, she wouldn't stand a chance!
Before she could even react, the Young Clan Head's blade would have already cut her throat!
So this was the Young Clan Head's true strength?
What magnificent Taijutsu!
Nichiyo and the others were already deeply shaken.
But Zabuza, who had once been their enemy, was even more horrified.
He couldn't believe that the boy had such speed and strength! How many times faster was he than his own Mist Body Flicker?
No wonder the kid had been so calm all along.
With strength like that, if he had wanted to,
back when they first met,
Zabuza would probably already have had his throat cut.
And he'd always been so proud of his Silent Killing Technique.
Compared to this kind of speed, what the hell was he?
So this was the confidence that let the kid take on all of Kirigakure?
Zabuza gave a self-deprecating laugh.
He struggled to steady his trembling right hand.
Just watching from a distance had been enough to make him feel fear all over again.
It was truly a strange feeling!
A moment later, after recovering from the shock,
Tsukihime was the first to leap off the ship and join the battle.
"Stop staring. Let's move!"
"If the Young Clan Head kills them all, what do we need to do?"
Nichiyo drew a kunai and gave a cold laugh.
He jumped off the deck and charged for the shore.
"Right, right! Wait for me!"
Gin shouted, hurrying after him.
Seeing this, Zabuza and the other man also sprang into action.
Before you continue