The Last Thread of Fortune

Hinata Yota felt a chill in his heart.

A ninja's intuition was never baseless.

Especially for a taijutsu ninja like Might Guy, who had honed his body to its limits, his sense of danger far exceeded that of ordinary people.

If even he felt such an intense sense of crisis before the battle had begun, one could imagine the pressure Uchiha Lieyang brought.

Kakashi lifted his forehead protector, revealing his tightly shut left eye.

"The only people who can keep up with Lieyang's speed are Guy and me."

"My Sharingan will track his movements, and Guy will intercept him head-on."

"No one else should attempt close combat."

Torifu Akimichi said, "What if the control fails?"

"Retreat immediately."

Kakashi did not hesitate.

"Don't use your lives to stall him."

"Lieyang excels at high-speed ambushes. Once the formation collapses, any rescue attempt will only expose more openings."

Kurenai Yuhi asked, "What if he targets Yota first?"

"I'll block the first strike."

"What about the second?"

"Guy will take over."

Might Guy nodded heavily.

"As long as Kakashi lets me see his first move clearly, leave the rest to me."

Nara Shikaku pondered for a moment.

"The Ino–Shika–Chō Team will not approach the frontal battlefield."

"I need enough distance to observe Lieyang's movement patterns."

"Inoichi will maintain the mental link, while Torifu protects us."

"Once Kakashi and Guy force him into the designated area, I'll use the Shadow Imitation Technique."

After reading the final page of intelligence, Kakashi returned the scroll to the Root ninja.

"What about the remaining Root personnel?"

"They've already dispersed toward the target area."

"Tell them not to engage Lieyang."

The Root ninja looked up.

"They're responsible for reconnaissance."

"The reconnaissance team from earlier is already dead."

Kakashi stared into the eyes behind the mask.

"Sending more people close will only increase the casualties."

"Hinata Yota will conduct long-range surveillance."

After a brief silence, the Root ninja nodded.

"Understood."

Kakashi turned to the others.

"One final reminder."

"Our target is not an ordinary rogue ninja."

"He has already wiped out several teams led by jonin, yet his true strength has never been fully revealed."

"Do not mistake the records in the intelligence for his limit."

"Any carelessness will get you killed."

No one objected.

Kakashi raised his right hand.

"Move out."

Everyone simultaneously used the Body Flicker Technique and headed for the area provided by Root.

The tenth day after Uchiha Lieyang's defection.

Sunlight filtered through the dense canopy, casting broad patches of dappled light across the ground.

Lieyang walked alone through the mountain forest.

He was not moving quickly.

He even seemed leisurely.

He did not use Lightning Body Flicker or summon any Shadow Clone Techniques. He merely followed an untraveled path through the woods at an unhurried pace.

After several consecutive days of battle, his Chakra, physical strength, and spiritual power had all completed another transformation.

The enhancement brought by the First-Stage Gene Lock had begun to stabilize.

Lieyang closed his eyes.

Deep within his consciousness, a blurry scale gradually appeared.

One side represented the fortune he had expended to open the Gene Lock and awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan.

The other represented the fortune that had gathered again after he killed Konoha's pursuers and completed his life transformation over the past few days.

The scale, which had initially been severely tilted, was now slowly recovering.

Only the last thread of difference remained between its two sides.

"Almost there."

Lieyang opened his eyes again.

He had not truly seen fortune.

It was more like a higher-dimensional perception born after his soul, having crossed into this world, was tempered by the Gene Lock and fused with the source of his life.

It could not be measured with Chakra.

Nor could it be observed by the Sharingan.

Yet it allowed him to vaguely sense his own condition.

Once that final thread of fortune returned, the instability caused by opening the lock for the first time would be completely balanced.

By then, the First-Stage Gene Lock would truly become his foundation.

Lieyang continued forward.

After a few steps, he suddenly stopped.

There were no footsteps.

No Chakra.

There was not even any clear killing intent nearby.

Yet the instinct lingering deep within his genes had already caught an extremely faint sense of scrutiny.

It was not those Root ninjas from before.

There were more of them.

They were farther away.

And they were more cautious.

Lieyang circulated his Chakra.

His eyes quickly turned crimson.

Three black tomoe slowly rotated around his pupils.

He did not search for their positions, nor did he change direction.

He merely waited in silence.

Several dozen miles away, Kakashi led the joint pursuit force forward without pause.

They were moving at half the speed they had maintained when leaving Konoha.

Hinata Yota remained at the center of the formation, veins bulging around his temples.

"Byakugan!"

His black-and-white vision rapidly expanded outward.

Beneath the ground.

Between the treetops.

Behind the rocks.

Every Chakra signature entered his field of view.

The three teams spread out in a fan formation.

Kakashi's group of four held the center.

Ino–Shika–Chō circled in from the left.

The Root team advanced from the right.

They remained close enough to conceal their movements while still being able to support one another in time.

"Nothing unusual ahead."

Hinata Yota lowered his voice.

"No Chakra signatures have been found within five hundred meters."

Kakashi raised a hand.

"Continue."

The group moved forward again.

Might Guy landed at Kakashi's side, his movements growing lighter and lighter.

He no longer spoke of the danger he felt.

Because that sensation no longer needed to be voiced.

For every mile they drew closer to the target, the warning bells in his body grew heavier.

"Kakashi."

"I feel it too."

Kakashi lowered his forehead protector. His Three-Tomoe Sharingan was already activated.

Hinata Yota's observation range soon extended to nine hundred meters.

The next moment, his body suddenly stiffened.

"Target located!"

Everyone stopped at once.

"Direction?"

"East of straight ahead."

"Distance?"

"Nine hundred meters."

Hinata Yota drove his Byakugan to its limit.

Layer upon layer of trees ceased to obstruct his vision.

Nine hundred meters away, a figure was walking slowly through the mountain forest.

Black hair.

Uchiha clan attire.

A sword at his waist.

A Chakra volume far beyond what the intelligence records described.

"Confirmed. It's Uchiha Lieyang."

The moment Hinata Yota finished speaking, Lieyang in the distance suddenly stopped.

Then he slowly turned his head.

Those crimson Sharingan eyes looked through the layers of forest toward the joint pursuit force.

Hinata Yota's breathing caught.

A chill instantly crawled over his back.

He was clearly standing nine hundred meters away, with countless trunks and branches between them.

Lieyang had not activated the Byakugan either, so he could not possibly have truly seen him.

Yet the moment the Byakugan's gaze fell upon him, Lieyang turned around!

"He noticed me."

Hinata Yota's voice tightened.

Kakashi's gaze darkened.

"Are you sure?"

"He hasn't pinpointed my location."

Hinata Yota forced himself to keep the Byakugan active.

"But he sensed that someone was watching him."

"At a distance of nine hundred meters, with so many obstacles in between, he reacted based solely on the feeling of being observed..."

He swallowed.

"This is no longer something an ordinary sensory ninja can achieve."

Kurenai Yuhi looked ahead.

"No wonder Root's reconnaissance team couldn't even send back intelligence."

Kakashi immediately raised his hand and made a new signal.

"Stop advancing in a straight line."

"Kurenai, contact Shikaku."

"Tell Ino–Shika–Chō that the target has detected something unusual. Have them keep their movements down and approach slowly from the left flank."

"Understood."

"I'll notify Root."

Kakashi looked at Hinata Yota again.

"Don't keep watching his eyes."

"Only observe the Chakra around him and his direction of movement."

"Yes."

The three teams adjusted their positions again.

Everyone slowed down even further.

Lie Yang did not flee.

He merely kept walking forward, occasionally stopping to glance in different directions through the forest.

Every time he turned his head, Hinata Yota's heart clenched violently.

Eight hundred meters.

Six hundred meters.

Three hundred meters.

The joint pursuit force steadily closed in.

Lie Yang's pace never quickened.

"Why isn't he leaving?"

Kurenai Yuhi lowered her voice.

"Since he has already realized someone is tracking him, there's no way he can't tell that Konoha sent a stronger team."

Nara Shikaku's voice came through Yamanaka Inoichi's mental link.

"He's waiting for us."

"One of the survivors from before brought back a message."

"Uchiha Lieyang remained in the Land of Fire to wait for someone worthy of making him act personally."

Hearing that, Might Guy slowly clenched his fists.

The sense of danger had become so intense that it stung his skin.

Yet he did not retreat.

Instead, he adjusted his breathing to its most stable rhythm.

One hundred and fifty meters.

One hundred meters.

Cold sweat covered Hinata Yota's forehead.

Every sweep of Lie Yang's gaze felt as though it brushed across his Byakugan.

Though their eyes had never met directly, the invisible pressure grew heavier and heavier.

"This is the limit."

"If I keep observing with the Byakugan, he'll definitely pinpoint us."

Kakashi nodded.

"Confirm the target's position."

"Straight ahead, one hundred meters away."

"No Shadow Clone Technique."

"There are no Chakra reactions underground either."

Kakashi raised a hand and lifted his forehead protector.

The Three-Tomoe Sharingan in his left eye was fully revealed.

Might Guy exchanged a glance with him, and both instantly understood the other's intent.

The two of them moved forward first.

Kurenai Yuhi and Hinata Yota followed close behind.

Ino–Shika–Chō on the left flank closed in at the same time.

Root on the right flank also pressed into its designated position.

One hundred meters.

Eighty meters.

Sixty meters.

Everyone suppressed their breathing to the faintest level as Chakra surged rapidly through their meridians.

Fifty meters.