Bam!
Naraku planted his feet and surged forward with a burst of force, hurtling toward the Chunin who had come to rescue Kawakami.
As for Kawakami, he was already lying on the ground. Judging by all the blood covering him, he was either dead or crippled.
"Kawakami!"
The Chunin who had rushed over looked on with grief and anger.
That grief soon turned to fury. He fixed his gaze on Naraku's real body, his eyes brimming with killing intent.
Then he charged, kunai in hand.
Naraku paid him no mind. Under his control, his two Shadow Clones went to attack the other Chunin, while he closed in and engaged this one.
Clang! Clang!
The sound of kunai clashing rang out again and again, sparks flashing through the air.
Because of his age, Naraku had not devoted much effort to training in Taijutsu. Compared with his mastery of ninjutsu, his Taijutsu was only average.
But thanks to his nimble movements and vast reserves of chakra, he was able to suppress his opponent with Taijutsu alone.
A pale blue glow flickered over Naraku's body, chakra covering nearly every inch of him. In this state, the power of all his Taijutsu attacks was greatly enhanced.
For now, Naraku was only treating his opponent as a training partner. Otherwise, he would have finished him off already.
With the help of the two Shadow Clones, the remaining Chunin was gradually pushed onto the defensive as well.
Meanwhile, Shisui was facing two Jonin and a Chunin at once, yet he seemed completely at ease. He had not even activated his Sharingan.
After all, the Stone Ninja Village was only a small ninja village. At most, its Jonin were about as strong as Konoha's Special Jonin.
For Shisui, dealing with ninja of that level wasn't a problem. He might not be able to take on five at once, but three was no issue.
When he saw that Naraku had stabilized the situation, Shisui grew even more relaxed. He even gave up attacking and simply relied on his exceptional speed to keep the others tied up.
But while Shisui was in no hurry, the scarred man and his companions were another matter.
"Who is this guy? How can he be so strong?" Seeing how relaxed Shisui looked, the scarred man realized just how wide the gap in their strength was.
"Nomura," the man behind the scarred man said.
"Maybe we should let it go. After all, this whole thing was our—"
"Let it go?" Nomura gave a bitter smile. "Jiro, ever since we accidentally killed Nakada Sono, there's been no way to let this go."
Jiro, the man who had just spoken, fell silent at those words.
Nakada Sono was Nakada Shun's son.
A year earlier, Nakada Sono had been traveling through the area with a merchant caravan. At the time, Nomura and Jiro had been away on a mission.
When the two sides ran into each other, Nakada Sono mistook them for bandits who meant to rob the caravan. Without a word, he attacked them.
Nomura and the others had no intention of simply waiting to be killed, so the outcome was easy to imagine. Nakada Sono had been no weakling; he had even reached the rank of Chunin.
But he was no match for Nomura and Jiro. Outnumbered two to one, he died beneath their blades.
Nomura had planned to kill the rest of the caravan too, but Jiro stopped him.
Later, when Nakada Shun learned that his son had been killed, he was consumed by rage. How could he not avenge his son?
When he found out that people from the Stone Ninja Village had killed his son, he sneaked into the village alone. At the time, Nomura, Jiro, and the village's other Jonin were all away on missions, leaving only an elderly Jonin behind to guard the village.
Inside the Stone Ninja Village, Nakada Shun killed not only that Jonin but also several young people. Unfortunately, Nomura's son was among them.
That was how their grudge began.
After killing those people in the Stone Ninja Village, Nakada Shun's anger had mostly cooled. When all was said and done, he was just a merchant. He had some strength, but not enough to take on an entire village.
So he had no intention of pursuing further revenge. But Nomura had no intention of letting him go.
Nakada Shun was quite strong, and he lived in the Land of Fire. Unable to find an opportunity to assassinate him, Nomura and the others chose another form of revenge: robbing his goods.
Their grudge had continued ever since. Nomura and his companions' actions had dealt a great blow to Nakada Shun's business, which was why he had thought of hiring ninja to escort his cargo.
Of course, he had his own motives too. He wanted to use Shisui and the others to settle the trouble with the Stone Ninja Village once and for all.
Meanwhile, the two remaining Jonin from the Stone Ninja Village had gradually gained the upper hand against Nakada Shun by working together.
But when they noticed the situation on Nomura's side, they couldn't feel happy about it.
In terms of strength, the two of them were no match for Nakada Shun. They only had the advantage in numbers.
Even so, taking him down quickly was out of the question.
And there was more than just the trouble with Nomura's group. They had also seen Naraku easily suppressing the two Chunins, not to mention Kawakami lying on the ground.
For a while, the Stone Ninja Village's fighters found themselves in a dilemma, unable to advance or retreat.
By contrast, Nakada Shun felt differently. As he looked at the people from the Stone Ninja Village, he still hated them, but not as fiercely as before. His hatred was now strongest for Nomura, the man who had personally killed his son.
Shisui didn't know the details of their grudge, but he didn't want to become a tool for someone else's revenge. That was why he hadn't killed Nomura and the others.
With his strength, he could have taken them out long ago.
"So that's how it is, Shisui." Naraku wasn't surprised by what Shisui was doing. Shisui truly loved peace. He was someone who had inherited the true Will of Fire.
"In that case, let's finish this quickly."
Suddenly, Naraku drove off with his right leg, moving so fast that he stirred up a gale. His leg tore through the air and slammed into his opponent like a battle-axe.
Boom!
In an instant, the man was sent flying backward like a cannonball.
"Pfft!"
A mouthful of blood sprayed from his lips.
He then glanced at the man being attacked by the Shadow Clones, gave a slight shake of his head, and headed straight for Shisui.
His own strength was already at the level of a Special Jonin. A Chunin from a small village like this was no challenge for him anymore.
"Not bad," Shisui said with a smile. Naraku's performance had impressed him in every respect, not least of all his strength.
The people from the Stone Ninja Village were all shocked by what they saw. Naraku was wearing a mask, so they couldn't tell how old he was. To them, he looked like a powerful ninja who was simply a little short.