The Battle Begins 1/2

At Inari Shrine, two ninja sat around a bonfire.

The genin idly stirred the embers with a stick, while the chunin gazed up at the stars, for some reason lost in melancholy.

About a hundred meters away,

three people lay in ambush.

"Xian and I will make the move. Hú will provide support."

Hayato had no objections to this arrangement. When it came to assassination, he was like a little brother compared to those two.

With the simple plan settled, they began to creep closer. When they were just over twenty meters away, the chunin who had been staring at the sky warily looked into the darkness. In truth, he had neither seen nor heard anything. It was simply some kind of sixth sense. The genin was startled by the chunin's reaction, his gaze still confused.

No matter what, it was too late.

"Hatake Style Ultimate Technique: Swift Pounce."

Hatake Kaito swept past like a breeze.

The chunin opened his mouth to shout, but only a gurgling sound came out. He clutched his throat, blood gushing from it. Terror filled his eyes before they gradually dimmed. He was dead.

Before the genin could react, a cold blade rested against his neck.

Moonlight Sharoro's voice was icy. "Don't move! Move—you die. Shout—you die!"

Sarara was completely different from usual.

Before Hayato had time to marvel at it, he saw the dead chunin's chakra suddenly condense into a mass—something a corpse should not have.

"Scatter! It's a trap!"

Hayato only had time to shout.

Bang!

The chunin exploded. Literally!

In an instant, flesh and blood flew everywhere.

Hatake Kaito had been closest to the corpse, but his reaction was swift, and not a drop of blood touched him. Moonlight Sharoro was no slower. She shoved the genin in front of herself to use him as a shield.

A pale rib bone had pierced through the genin's chest. He clearly would not survive.

"Konoha ninja, you really came. Hahaha."

Mad laughter came from above. Three ninja stood atop the shrine's torii gate.

The man in the middle was wrapped head to toe in layers of bandages, with only two deeply sunken eyes exposed. He was the one speaking, the enemy jonin.

The two on either side were both genin.

Where was the other chunin?

Hayato looked into the darkness, where heavy footsteps sounded.

An enormous fat man walked out with a dwarf sitting on his shoulder. The fat man had no refined chakra and was not a ninja. The dwarf was the chunin.

So the enemy had seven people after all; they had counted the fat man too.

Hatake Kaito said in a low voice, "Who are you? You know we're from Konoha, yet you still dare oppose us."

"Hehehe..." The bandaged man gave a strange laugh. "Are Konoha's people so impressive? Why don't I think so, Hatake Kaito?"

"Who are you?!"

Hatake Kaito's identity had been exposed despite his mask. Either someone had leaked the mission information, or the bandaged man before him knew Hatake Kaito very well.

Only the Third Hokage in the village knew of this mission, and Hatake Kaito naturally did not suspect him. That was why he was asking about the bandaged man's identity.

"Who am I? Who am I! Who am I?!"

The bandaged man suddenly flew into a rage. He tore away the thick bandages, revealing a withered face like that of a dried corpse.

"Daisuke? You're Mishiyama Daisuke!" Hatake Kaito suddenly laughed. "A traitor who followed Orochimaru. How did you end up looking like this? Orochimaru abandoned you, didn't he?"

"No! Lord Orochimaru would never abandon me. As long as I bring back the heads of Konoha ninja, Lord Orochimaru will surely take us in again."

At last, Hayato understood. This Mishiyama Daisuke had once been a Konoha ninja, then he had defected alongside Orochimaru, and now Orochimaru had abandoned him.

That was why Mishiyama Daisuke knew Hatake Kaito, knew about the connection between Inari Village and Konoha, and knew Konoha would send ninja to rescue them without charge. In other words, they had deliberately let Tuan Hachiro escape. Mishiyama Daisuke's target was the ninja who came to carry out the mission.

Mishiyama Daisuke stubbornly believed that as long as he brought Orochimaru the heads of Konoha ninja, Orochimaru would accept him again.

What a hateful yet pitiful man.

That explained the earlier suspicious points.

What a relief!

Hayato let out a breath. His compulsive need to get to the bottom of things and his Sherlock Holmes addiction had finally been appeased.

"Kill them!"

Mishiyama Daisuke pointed at the three of them.

The first to attack were the two genin beside Mishiyama Daisuke. Hayato moved to help, only for the fat man and the dwarf to block his path.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Hayato threw two kunai.

The dwarf ducked behind the fat man.

Clang!

One kunai missed, while the other struck the fat man's belly and made a crisp sound.

The fat man was wearing metal armor.

Then...

"Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms."

Hayato rapidly closed in on the fat man. The dwarf leaped down from his back and sank into the ground.

All thirty-two of Hayato's strikes landed on the fat man.

The fat man swayed twice, then swung his fan-sized hand at Hayato.

"Hehehe..." Mishiyama Daisuke laughed strangely. "I didn't expect you to be from the Hyuga Clan. A big catch—Lord Orochimaru will definitely be pleased. Oh, what a coincidence. Shidaiwan's physique is immune to the Gentle Fist."

Shidaiwan was not a ninja, and the thick fat on his body was unusual. The chakra used to strike acupuncture points could not penetrate it, nor would it harm his internal organs.

"Oh, really?" Hayato smiled. "You make it sound as if the Hyuga Clan can only use the Gentle Fist."

Bang! Bang! Bang!

More than a dozen explosive tags stuck to Shidaiwan's body detonated in succession.

Shidaiwan moved so slowly that even an ordinary person could outpace him. Hayato had had more than enough time to cover him in explosive tags. If explosive tags were not so expensive, Hayato could have plastered a hundred of them on him earlier.

Surprised? Wasn't expecting that, were you?

After the explosions, neither the metal armor nor the thick fat had fully protected Shidaiwan. He had become a bloody mess and collapsed to the ground, yet he was somehow still alive.

The dwarf emerged from the earth, curling into an iron ball covered in sharp spikes.

"Brat, I can absorb iron powder from the ground and form it into a spiked ball. How does this defense compare with the Hyuga Clan's absolute defense? Hahaha."

As he spoke, the spiked ball began to spin and roll toward Hayato, accelerating as it rotated.

Sigh!

Another troublesome opponent for the Gentle Fist.

"Xian, should we switch—uh."

Moonlight Sharoro was flicking her blade downward, shaking off the beads of blood on it. Her two opponents—were already down.

"What is it?" Sarara asked.

"Nothing." Hayato said gloomily. He had been planning to switch opponents with Sarara.

"Five-Colored Strings!"

Five thin strings lashed against the spinning spiked ball. Three bounced away, while the remaining two wrapped around it.

Hayato smiled and continued releasing more strings.

After a while, the spiked ball stopped spinning and became a ball of thread that slowly rolled across the ground.

"Brat, if you've got the guts, let me out!" the dwarf continued shouting.

Hayato said, "Say one more word, and I'll sink you in the lake."

Then the ball of thread fell silent.

Done and dusted!

"Useless trash." Mishiyama Daisuke remained unmoved.

Little did he know that in Orochimaru's eyes, he was not even worth calling trash. Trash could at least be recycled, but he had no value left to reuse. That was why he had been abandoned.

"You two go rescue the villagers. Leave him to me."

Hatake Kaito slowly drew his sword.

Compared to rescuing villagers, Hayato wanted more to watch a battle between jonin up close. But there were probably many traps in the shrine, and they needed Hayato's Byakugan. Those traps might not hurt Sarara, but the villagers would be another matter.

Hayato and Sarara exchanged a glance, then rushed toward the shrine.

Finish the work early, finish for the day early—maybe they could even come back in time to see the ending. That was the thought Hayato and Sarara shared in that instant, a rare moment of perfect understanding.