"Swoosh—"
The flare's light was still burning overhead.
Guy had already sprinted twenty meters ahead.
The trees rushed past on both sides, dead branches crackling beneath his feet.
Genma and Ebisu were desperately chasing after him, but the distance between them only kept growing.
"Guy! Wait—"
Ebisu's voice was torn apart by the wind.
Guy did not wait.
There was only one location left in his mind.
Team 7.
The outermost position.
The farthest.
The most dangerous.
"Faster! Even faster!"
He roared inwardly.
The Yijin Jing circulated wildly within him, warm currents flooding through his entire body.
He was already moving twenty percent faster than usual.
Sounds of fighting came from ahead.
Metal clashing.
Muffled groans.
"Yugao! Watch out!"
Gekko Hayate's voice.
Hoarse, urgent, and clearly breathless.
Guy burst out of the woods.
An open clearing lay before him.
Three figures were fighting in the clearing.
Two small ones and one large one.
Gekko Hayate gripped a kunai, covered in blood. His steps were unsteady, but he was still lunging forward.
Uzuki Yugao stood behind and to his side, a short blade in her hand. Its edge was full of chips, her hair was disheveled, and blood streaked her face.
Opposite them stood a man with a scarred face.
He was around forty, his face thick with flesh. A scar slanted from his left brow to his chin, looking vicious and terrifying in the firelight.
He held a massive saber, its blade longer than an adult's arm.
His right hand glowed with an earthy yellow light.
An Earth Release ninja!
Not an ordinary bandit!
The man slashed down. Gekko Hayate could not dodge in time and could only raise his kunai to block.
Clang—
The kunai flew from his hand.
Hayate was flung backward, crashing to the ground and rolling twice.
"Hayate!"
Uzuki Yugao rushed forward, stabbing her short blade toward the man's back.
Without even turning his head, the man swung his left hand behind him.
Bang!
Yugao was knocked flying. She slammed into a tree, slid down, and clutched her chest as she coughed up blood.
"Cough... cough, cough..."
Gekko Hayate forced himself up, his coughing especially clear in the night.
But he could not stand steadily.
His legs were shaking.
His chakra was exhausted.
Guy's gaze swept across the clearing and found the third person lying on the ground.
That child whose name he could not remember.
He lay facedown in a pool of blood, completely motionless.
A long gash ran across his back, flesh and skin split open.
He was taking in more air than he let out.
Blood was still seeping from the wound.
Guy's pupils suddenly contracted.
He knew that child.
He usually sat in the last row, in the corner, and never spoke.
What was his name again...
What was his name?!
He could not remember!
But they were classmates who attended lessons together!
A companion!
Scarface held his saber as he looked at Gekko Hayate and Uzuki Yugao, grinning.
"You two brats can really hang on."
He took a step forward.
"Too bad hanging on won't help."
Blood dripped from his blade.
"I'm a Chunin who defected from Iwagakure. I've been hiding in this godforsaken place for three years, just waiting for the heat to die down so I could go back."
He raised his right hand, and the earthy yellow glow brightened.
"Looks like today's your unlucky day."
Uzuki Yugao gritted her teeth and tried to stand.
Her legs went weak.
Gekko Hayate braced himself against a tree, trying to get in front of her.
But he could not straighten up either.
The man looked at them like they were two ants about to die.
"Don't worry. I'll send you on your way together."
He raised his saber.
Then—
"Stop!!"
A furious shout exploded from the edge of the woods.
Guy charged out.
Scarface turned his head and saw a small green figure racing toward him.
He froze for a moment.
Another brat?
Then he sneered disdainfully.
"Another one here to die."
He swung his right hand, launching the earthy yellow light.
"Earth Style: Earth Spike!"
The light condensed into three sharp earthen spikes and shot toward Guy.
Guy twisted aside and dodged the first.
He ducked beneath the second.
The third grazed his shoulder, tearing away a piece of cloth.
But he did not stop.
He kept charging.
The man's expression changed slightly.
The brat had some skill.
But he had no time to waste on these kids.
He glanced over his shoulder.
His planned escape route lay there.
As long as he shook off these two troublesome brats, he could slip into the forest and vanish without a trace.
But those two brats clung to him like chewing gum.
A vicious glint flashed through Scarface's eyes.
His right hand gathered light again, but it was not aimed at Guy.
It was aimed at the child lying on the ground.
That useless thing who was barely alive.
Kill him, and the other two would definitely panic.
Once they panicked, he could escape.
The earthy yellow glow in his right hand grew brighter and brighter.
Gekko Hayate's eyes widened.
"NO!!"
Uzuki Yugao pushed herself upright against the tree, trying to rush over.
But she was too far away.
Her legs were weak too.
There was no way she could make it in time.
Scarface grinned.
"Earth Style: Earth Spike—"
Guy's eyes widened as well.
At that instant, time seemed to slow.
He saw the child on the ground.
Lying motionless in a pool of blood.
He saw the despair on Gekko Hayate and Uzuki Yugao's faces.
He saw the three Earth Spears take shape, aimed at the child's back.
He saw the child's finger twitch.
He was still alive.
Still alive!!
Guy's mind buzzed.
Everything else vanished.
The Yijin Jing, the rhythm, the gradual progression.
All of it was gone.
Only one thought remained.
That child could not die!
At that moment, Guy did two things.
Man's Heaviness.
Automatically adjusted weight: 0–10,000 jin.
The numbers displayed on it were three hundred each.
Six hundred jin in total, weighing him down for months.
At that moment.
Reset to zero!
"Crack."
A very soft sound.
Guy's whole body sprang upward.
That was what it felt like when six hundred jin suddenly vanished.
Light.
Too light.
So light it felt as though he might float away.
But Guy didn't let it go to his head.
He took a deep breath.
Dai's words flashed through his mind.
"Eight Inner Gates is a forbidden technique."
"Gate of Opening, Gate of Healing, Gate of Life, Gate of Pain, Gate of Limit, Gate of View, Gate of Wonder, Gate of Death."
"Guy, unless absolutely necessary—"
It was absolutely necessary now!
He raised his hand.
Clenched his fist.
"Eight Inner Gates—"
"Third Gate, Gate of Life! Open!"
There was no buildup.
No prelude.
He went straight to the limit—the Third Gate!
"Bang!"
A wave of air exploded outward.
Guy's skin suddenly turned bright red.
The veins on his forehead bulged.
Dai had told him that the Fourth Gate, Gate of Pain, was the dividing line.
It would truly unleash his strength, but it would also damage his body.
But—
Guy looked at the three Earth Spears that had already left their wielder's hand.
He watched them fly toward that child.
He saw the despair in Gekko Hayate and Uzuki Yugao's eyes.
"Fourth Gate—"
"Gate of Pain!! Open!!!"
Bang!!!
The wave of air exploded, ten times stronger than the previous two.
The fallen leaves around him were blasted away, the grass was torn up, and stones sprayed outward like bullets.
Green steam rose from Guy's body.
It was faint.
But it was real.
He vanished.
No.
He hadn't vanished.
He was simply too fast.
So fast that not even an afterimage could be seen.
The Scarface man only felt his vision blur.
A green shadow swept past the edge of his sight.
The next second—
Bang!
The three Earth Spears exploded into fragments in midair.
Scarface froze.
He hadn't seen what happened at all.
He only saw that the green figure was somehow already standing in front of the fallen child.
He was holding a kicking stance.
Faint golden light still radiated from his right leg.
Vajra Leg!
The golden light was especially dazzling amid the green steam.
Scarface's pupils contracted violently.
What... what the hell is this?!
A child?!
Some little brat?!!
He kicked my Earth Spears apart?!!
Guy withdrew his leg.
He turned around.
And looked at him.
Those eyes were frighteningly bright.
It was as if two balls of fire were burning inside them.
Scarface instinctively took a step back.
But the next second, he came to his senses.
What was he afraid of?
How powerful could some little brat be?
That move just now must have relied on some secret technique. He wouldn't be able to maintain it for long.
He tightened his grip on his cleaver, and earthen-yellow light gathered once more.
"Brat, you—"
Before he could finish speaking—
Guy had already charged over.
This time, he was even faster.
Scarface had no time to react.
He only saw the green shadow swell before his eyes.
Then came a leg.
A leg wreathed in golden light.
A leg surrounded by green steam.
A leg!
"Vajra Whirlwind Leg!!!"
BOOM!!!!!!!
The tremendous impact shook the entire forest.
The Scarface man was sent flying as if he had been hit by a train.
He didn't merely fly.
He was launched.
"Crack, crack, crack!"
He smashed through three trees in succession.
The first snapped in half.
The second split down the middle.
The third was driven straight into the trunk behind it, embedded half a meter deep.
The great cleaver spun seven or eight times through the air before stabbing into the ground ten meters away.
The blade was still trembling.
Hummm—
Silence.
Gekko Hayate stood with his mouth open, forgetting to cough.
Uzuki Yugao gripped the tree trunk, forgetting to breathe.
Shiranui Genma and Ebisu had just charged out of the woods. They stood at the edge of the clearing with their eyes wide, completely motionless.
Everyone was staring at the green figure.
Guy stood where he was.
His right leg was still held in the position of his kick.
The golden light was slowly fading.
Green steam continued to rise from his body.
He slowly lowered his leg.
And stood straight.
He turned his head and glanced at Scarface, embedded in the tree.
The man didn't move.
His eyes were wide open, but there was already no light in them.
He was dead.
With one move.
He had been kicked to death!
Guy took a deep breath.
The green steam around his body slowly faded.
His skin returned from bright red to normal.
The bulging veins receded.
He took two steps forward.
His leg suddenly gave way.
He nearly fell to his knees.
But he held himself up.
And stood straight.
He turned around.
And looked at Gekko Hayate and Uzuki Yugao.
He grinned.
The motion tugged at the wound at the corner of his mouth, sending a stab of pain through it.
But he still raised his thumb.
His teeth gleamed.
"It's all right now."