The Price of a Pierced Collarbone and a Tragic Last-Second Counter-Kill

"Pfft—"

The dull thud of a sharp blade brutally tearing through fabric and flesh erupted suddenly in mid-air, amidst the howling wind.

The tip of the dark green kunai plunged into the area just below Baishi's left collarbone without the slightest resistance. The moment the poisoned blade entered his flesh, an incredibly overbearing, scorching sensation surged wildly through his veins, causing the muscles in half of his shoulder to spasm uncontrollably.

A look of ecstasy instantly flooded the Iwagakure jonin's rugged face. With the enhancement of his Earth Release: Hardening Technique, the piercing power of this strike was enough to run a Wild Boar through. He was already prepared to savor the sight of this Konoha rat wailing in agony and falling to a desperate death.

However, the next second, the ecstasy on the jonin's face froze completely.

No screams, no retreat.

Where their gazes met, Baishi's cold, sharp eyes held not a shred of fear of death; instead, they radiated a madness and extreme rationality that made one's scalp tingle.

"You..." The jonin's pupils contracted violently, his heart hammering uncontrollably.

He realized with horror that instead of dodging, Baishi had stepped forward with ferocious intensity, meeting the poisoned kunai embedded in his own body!

"Crack!"

The chilling sound of the blade forcibly scraping against the collarbone rang out. Baishi had actively used his bone and the surrounding contracting muscles to lock the kunai's blade firmly in place. The entire weapon, up to the hilt, was buried deep within Baishi's flesh.

This was Baishi's calculation!

With no leverage in mid-air and his speed and strength completely suppressed, he had turned his own body into the perfect bait and shackle. Using the "tunnel effect" created by the pierced collarbone and muscle spasms, he had forcibly welded the jonin's left arm to his own body!

"Madman! Get off!"

The experienced Iwagakure jonin sensed the lethal crisis instantly. He roared, attempting to pull his left hand free.

It was too late.

Baishi's left hand, like an iron vice, clamped down on the wrist of the hand the jonin used to hold the kunai. His fingernails dug deep into the gaps of the skin protected by the Hardening Technique, and blood began to seep out between his fingers.

"Got you."

Baishi remained expressionless, his voice turned raspy by the excruciating pain.

His right hand, which had just finished unleashing a max-level Lightning Release and whose meridians were still aching, suddenly snapped into a hand blade.

He squeezed the last remnants of chakra in his body without hesitation, even forcibly drawing upon the energy meant to maintain the incomplete Uzumaki Constitution's healing. Blinding blue lightning exploded from his fingertips once more; the high-frequency vibrating lightning-attribute chakra sliced through the air with a "hissing" sound, forming a solid blade of electricity half a meter long.

"No! Wait—" The jonin's eyes bulged, his thick body struggling desperately in mid-air.

But the distance between them was too close—so close that he didn't even have the space to weave signs for a Substitution Jutsu.

Murderous intent surged in Baishi's eyes. Without any flashy movements, his right-hand lightning blade traced a blinding blue afterimage, stabbing upward with ruthless precision into the jonin's undefended left chest.

"Shing—Boom!"

The Lightning Release chakra sliced through the jonin's bulletproof vest without resistance, shattered his ribs, and plunged accurately into his frantically beating heart.

Violent, high-voltage current detonated inside the chest cavity.

The jonin's body snapped into a reverse-arched bow, his eyes bulging instantly, the bloodshot orbs nearly popping from their sockets. The smell of charred meat mixed with a thick, pungent scent of blood erupted between them.

That powerful heart, under the zero-distance explosion of a max-level Lightning Release, was instantly charred into a lump of coal.

Life was completely extinguished.

"Thud!"

The two tightly entangled bodies, like two heavy meteorites, slammed into the semi-dried Underworld Swamp at the bottom of the canyon.

Muddy water and gravel splashed several meters into the air.

The surroundings were left with only the sound of occasional falling rocks from the collapsing canyon walls and the faint "crackling" of residual lightning charges in the air.

In the mire, Baishi shoved the massive corpse off his body.

"Cough... cough-cough!"

He knelt on one knee in the mud, coughing violently, the blood he spat out streaked with a shocking dark purple.

The poison was taking effect.

His vision began to blur with double images, and his left side, from collarbone to fingertips, had lost all sensation. The scorching pain of the venom corroding his nerves was ten times more intense than the tearing of his cells by the Lightning Release chakra.

Baishi gritted his teeth, his right hand gripping the hilt of the kunai protruding from his collarbone.

"Chakra remaining... seven percent."

The cold data in his brain constantly reminded him of his current limit. He couldn't pull it out; once the kunai was removed, the artery, losing its pressure, would instantly spray blood, and the toxin would rush into his heart within ten seconds as his blood circulation accelerated.

Being ruthless to oneself was the only bargaining chip for survival.

A flash of ferocity crossed Baishi's eyes. He pressed his right palm against the area around the wound, precisely channeling the last bit of his Lightning Release chakra.

"Zzzzt—"

Faint blue arcs of electricity danced at his fingertips, stabbing directly into the muscle tissue near the wound.

He was using the high heat generated by the Lightning Release chakra to forcibly cauterize the blood vessels and flesh around the wound over a large area!

The smell of charred meat rose once more. The muscles on Baishi's face twitched violently from the extreme agony, yet he didn't let out even a single muffled groan.

The charred flesh temporarily blocked the spread of the toxin, and the incredibly tenacious vitality of his incomplete Uzumaki Constitution began to slowly repair his damaged internal organs.

Baishi gasped for air, cold sweat and mud dripping down his chin.

Eight Iwagakure elites, completely wiped out.

In this encounter where the odds were heavily stacked against him, he had managed an impossible counter-kill by relying on the explosive power of his max-level Lightning Release, extreme information warfare, and a ruthless disregard for his own well-being.

Yet, he did not relax in the slightest; his cold, sharp eyes remained locked on the cliff edge above the canyon, which was still shrouded in smoke and dust.

He knew very well that a true hunter never reveals themselves while the prey still has the strength to struggle.

"Plop."

A piece of rubble rolled off the edge of the cliff and fell into the mire.

Immediately following, a set of footsteps—extremely light, yet carrying an air of absolute control—slowly emerged from the depths of the smoke.

The newcomer wore the standard-issue windbreaker of the Konoha ANBU, his face covered by a plain white mask devoid of any markings. He stepped over the ruins of the collapsed rock wall, looking down from his vantage point at the tragic, carnage-filled scene at the bottom of the canyon.

The ANBU captain, codenamed "Venom Fang."

Venom Fang's gaze swept across the surroundings. The severed limbs shattered by Explosive Tags, the corpses charred by Lightning Release, and the Iwagakure jonin who had died in such a miserable state caused a flash of undisguised shock to pass through the depths of his eyes.

His original plan had been to use Baishi as cannon fodder to stall the Iwagakure squad for a few minutes; once the Iwagakure had finished their killing, he would emerge to clean up the mess and conveniently frame Baishi's death as either desertion or a defeat in battle.

But he had never imagined that this low-level ANBU, who appeared utterly mediocre in his files and had even been trembling with fear, would actually drag an entire elite Iwagakure squad to their graves!

"This is truly surprising, Owl."

Venom Fang stepped onto a protruding rock, his voice dripping with undisguised mockery and coldness.

"I originally thought you would, at most, survive the first round of Earth Release. I never expected you to force that notorious Iwagakure mad dog to such an extent."

Baishi knelt halfway in the mire, a poisoned kunai embedded in his left shoulder, his right arm hanging limply at his side, his chest heaving violently. He stared coldly at Venom Fang without speaking, looking like a dying beast that had exhausted every ounce of its life force.

"However, this works out well."

Venom Fang slowly drew the ninja sword from his back. The blade glinted with a chilling, cold light in the dim canyon.

"You have exceeded the requirements of your mission as bait. As your captain, I will carve your name in the very corner of the Memorial Stone. Of course, that is on the condition that... you die at the hands of the Iwagakure."

Venom Fang walked toward the mire step by step, no longer bothering to conceal the killing intent radiating from his body.

"If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for offending someone you shouldn't have. The orders of Danzo, and the tacit approval of Namikaze Minato... cannon fodder like you without any background don't even qualify to be a pawn."

Distance: ten meters.

Baishi kept his head lowered, his messy black hair obscuring his eyes.

"Is that so..."

A hoarse voice squeezed out of Baishi's throat, carrying a trace of imperceptible mockery.

Venom Fang sneered, gripping his ninja sword with both hands as chakra instantly flooded the blade: "Rest in peace!"

Just as Venom Fang leaped high into the air and his blade was about to sever Baishi's head, Baishi suddenly raised his head. Where was the despair and dying dejection that should have been in those eyes? There was only the cold, lethal trap of someone who had seen through everything!

His right hand, which had appeared to be hanging limply in the mud, suddenly gave a violent tug.

"Cling—"

A thread-thin steel wire, buried deep within the mire, was pulled taut in an instant.

Venom Fang's pupils constricted as his gaze followed the direction of the wire.

Beneath the mire where he was about to land, three micro-Explosive Tags—soaked through by mud and water but wrapped in a razor-thin layer of Lightning Release chakra—were flickering with a lethal red light!