Looking at Hyuga Lan, who showed not the slightest fear and instead wore a mocking expression, Dekai felt a surge of anger.
This reckless branch-family brat clearly had no idea how notorious Dekai was.
In that case, he would just have to show the boy what he could do.
"I'll handle the Byakugan brat. You take care of the other three."
At Dekai's command, the men in the squad began attacking Gekko Hayate and the others.
Seeing this, Hyuga Lan instructed Anko and the others,
"Fall back while you fight. I'll deal with him quickly, then come help you."
Dekai saw that Lan was still concerned about the others even with him standing right there and snapped,
"Worry about yourself first!"
Gripping a long blade, Dekai swung it down at Lan with all his strength.
Crack!
The veins on Lan's face bulged, making his expression look somewhat savage. At the same time, his already translucent eyes became even more crystalline. His Byakugan had activated.
Through the Byakugan's keen vision, Lan quickly realized that the jōnin named Dekai was unlike the Special Jōnin he had easily killed earlier.
The amount of chakra Dekai possessed alone far exceeded that of an ordinary jōnin, putting him on par with an elite jōnin.
Without using the Tenseigan's power, dealing with Dekai quickly wouldn't be easy.
Lan pulled a kunai from his pouch and charged at Dekai. Using the Byakugan's insight, he slipped to the side to avoid Dekai's slash, then thrust the kunai toward his waist.
Dekai hurriedly turned his blade to block the kunai.
With a sharp clang, the kunai struck the Ninja Blade, sending sparks flying.
Clang, clang, clang...
Lan fought Dekai with his kunai. Because of his age, Lan was naturally far weaker than Dekai.
But with the Byakugan's insight, he could always evade Dekai's attacks, and the two were evenly matched for a while.
Dekai grew increasingly frustrated when he failed to overcome Lan after so many attacks.
From their brief exchange, he had realized that Lan's swordsmanship was improving rapidly. The boy was using him as a whetstone to train.
This wouldn't do. Something was off about the Byakugan brat. He couldn't let the fight drag on.
With that thought, Dekai found an opening and put some distance between them. He rapidly formed Hand Seals, then slammed both hands onto the ground.
"Lightning Release: Earth Flow!"
Two streaks of lightning surged from his palms and burrowed underground, racing toward Lan.
With no one else nearby, Lan lowered his head and charged straight at Dekai, facing the Lightning Release Ninjutsu.
Watching Lan charge at him despite the incoming attack, Dekai couldn't understand why he would do such a thing. Wasn't he asking to die?
Did he think he was the Fourth Raikage, able to withstand ninjutsu with his bare body?
As Lan drew closer to the lightning of Earth Flow, a vicious grin spread across Dekai's lips. He could practically see Lan being blasted into a charred corpse.
Die!
Dekai released even more chakra, and the lightning of Earth Flow shone brighter and brighter.
Amid the rumble of thunder, Lan plunged into the range of Earth Flow's attack.
But the expected sight of Lan being blasted into a charred corpse never came. Instead, just before the lightning touched his body, it vanished as though drawn away by something more enticing.
In an instant, Dekai's Earth Flow disappeared into thin air, and Lan was now right in front of him.
Dekai stared at Lan, who had charged up to him, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"You... How is this possible..."
Before Dekai could finish asking, Lan reached out toward him. Powerful streaks of lightning surged in his palm.
"Here, have these back."
With that, Lan slammed the ball of lightning into Dekai, then quickly retreated.
The moment the sphere of lightning touched Dekai, it rapidly expanded and transformed into streaks of lightning that completely engulfed him.
"Ah... Ah..."
Dekai let out a series of agonized cries. Being struck by his own Lightning Release Ninjutsu was a truly miserable experience.
Step, step...
Lan stopped retreating and watched as the lightning completely swallowed Dekai, continuing until he had turned into a charred corpse.
The man hadn't been lying. His Lightning Release Ninjutsu really could turn someone into a charred corpse. He just hadn't expected that someone to be himself.
The ability to absorb an enemy's ninjutsu and send it back at them was the power of the Tenseigan. Lan had clearly lowered his head and charged forward to conceal the fact that he possessed it.
What he had just used was the Tenseigan's ability to absorb ninjutsu and chakra.
And the move had indeed been powerful. If they had only fought with Taijutsu, Lan might have continued sparring with Dekai to improve his own skills and adapt more quickly to the changes the Tenseigan had brought to his body.
But since Dekai had foolishly tried to use ninjutsu against him, Lan had no choice but to use the Tenseigan's power to send him on his way.
After dealing with Dekai, Lan quickly ground his corpse to dust to prevent anyone from discovering his secret through him.
Once everything was taken care of, he hurried in the direction Anko and the others had gone. When he arrived, he saw them on the verge of defeat under the Kumogakure squad's assault.
When the Kumogakure squad saw Lan arrive without their captain, they panicked. They abandoned their attacks on Anko and the others and fled.
They clearly knew that anyone who could defeat Dekai so quickly was far beyond their ability to handle.
With Lan joining the fight, the Kumogakure squad met the same fate as the Kumogakure shinobi he had killed earlier.
When the fighting finally subsided, Anko, Gekko Hayate, and the others breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed onto the ground.
If Lan had arrived even a little later, the outcome might have been reversed.
Over the past few days of fighting against Kumogakure, they had realized that although they and Lan were all Special Jōnin, their strength was worlds apart.
Lan's Special Jōnin status was merely a rank the village had assigned him. It didn't really count.
True Special Jōnin were like them: stronger than Chunin, but still far weaker than jōnin.
Just as Lan thought the war would end before long, he had no idea that he was the one secretly pushing events along.
After discovering that Kirigakure and Sunagakure wouldn't recover anytime soon and no longer posed a threat, Kumogakure and Iwagakure decided to stake everything on one decisive battle and completely destroy Konoha.
Through information sent by its many spies, Konoha learned that the Fourth Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki had not appeared for many days. The Third Hokage immediately realized what the enemy intended.
But before he could personally head to the battlefield to face Kumogakure, news of war arrived from the Land of Earth, which bordered the Land of Fire.
Konoha had entered its most dangerous period since the death of the Fourth Hokage and his wife.