Who Are You

Lin Chongshu vaulted over an earthen wall and passed through two alleys.

The village had already descended into chaos. Explosions and battle cries from the village entrance had drawn most people to the front line and rear gate.

He avoided several groups of Genin rushing past and quickly found the house where Karin and her mother had once lived, but it was empty.

He followed the direction of the rear gate through two more alleys and spotted Karin behind a row of mud-brick houses. Her red hair stood out sharply among the crowd.

She was being escorted between two Kusagakure Genin, one on either side, as they followed the evacuation flow toward the rear gate.

Lin Chongshu hurried after them, adjusted his facial features to resemble an ordinary Genin passerby he had seen earlier, then slipped into the crowd from the side and blocked the three of them.

"Wounded have appeared ahead. She needs to go treat them immediately."

Karin froze when she saw him.

[Detected Karin's intense negative emotions toward the host: fear, vigilance, resistance. Reward extraction complete.]

[Obtained: Six Paths Sage Body: Incomplete Uzumaki Version +1]

One of the Genin looked back toward the rear gate. The people over there had nearly all fled.

He released Karin's arm and shoved her toward Lin Chongshu. "Then she's your responsibility... We're leaving first." Before he could finish, the other Genin grabbed him.

"Wait." That Genin stared at Lin Chongshu, his gaze traveling from head to toe. "Where's your identification? Take it out and let me see."

Lin Chongshu met his gaze for a second.

"Who carries that kind of thing around with them?" Lin Chongshu's tone did not change.

The Genin grew even more suspicious.

He stepped forward and shielded Karin behind him. "We're evacuating now, and you didn't bring it?"

This was the site of the Chunin Ninja Exams. Kusagakure did not have as much talent as the Hidden Leaf Village, so it could not assign every Genin a dedicated instructor. Naturally, no one could know everyone else, which was why they all carried identification.

Especially when they were fleeing for their lives, how could they possibly leave something so important behind?

Lin Chongshu did not answer.

The Genin's fingers had already touched the hilt of his Kunai. "You're not from Kusagakure. Who are you? What do you want?"

Lin Chongshu fell silent for two seconds, then smiled. "You really are smart..."

Before he could finish, he suddenly stepped forward. The hair hanging over his forehead turned white in an instant, his pupils narrowed into orange-yellow slits, and his eye markings lengthened.

Green light burst from his fingertips as the Chakra Blade flashed down. The green arc sliced precisely across the Genin's throat, severing his windpipe and blood vessels at once. Blood sprayed from the wound and splattered across the mud-brick wall.

The Genin clutched his neck and toppled backward, making muffled bubbling sounds through his mouth. His eyes were wide open; even as he died, he had not understood what had happened.

[Detected Karin's intense negative emotions toward the host: extreme fear, shock. Reward extraction complete.]

[Obtained: Six Paths Sage Body: Incomplete Uzumaki Version +1]

Karin screamed and staggered two steps back.

The other Genin fumbled through hand seals, his fingers still trembling. Before he could finish them, Lin Chongshu slapped him across the head.

Lin Chongshu's force was so great that the Genin's head twisted halfway around, and his body turned halfway with it before collapsing.

[Detected Karin's intense negative emotions toward the host: extreme fear. Reward extraction complete.]

[Obtained: Six Paths Sage Body: Incomplete Uzumaki Version +1]

The alley fell silent.

Karin's glasses had slipped crookedly to one side, their lenses dotted with splashed blood.

She desperately shrank back, flailing both hands before her. "Who are you? What do you want?"

Lin Chongshu crouched down, wiped the blood from his face, and looked at the trembling Karin. Suddenly, he became interested. This was the perfect chance to extract more Sage Body energy!

He deliberately leaned closer and lowered his voice. "I'm your future master. Your life is over. From now on, you belong to me."

Karin sat collapsed on the ground, bracing herself with her hands as she backed away. Her body began trembling uncontrollably.

[Detected Karin's intense negative emotions toward the host: fear, rejection. Reward extraction complete.]

[Obtained: Six Paths Sage Body: Incomplete Uzumaki Version +1]

Hearing the dense footsteps gathering around them again, Lin Chongshu realized he could not delay any longer.

He took Karin's mother's earring from his clothes and dangled it before Karin. "I was lying. I was just teasing you. I came to save you. Your mother sent me."

Karin's crying stopped for a moment. She stared at the earring for several seconds, then reached out and snatched it, clutching it tightly in her palm.

Her lips were still trembling, but her eyes had changed.

Clutching the earring, she looked up at Lin Chongshu. Just as she was about to say something, he quickly pulled her up from the ground.

A cold shout came from the alley entrance. "Stop."

A ninja stood at the entrance with both hands in his pockets.

He glanced at the two Genin corpses on the ground, then at Karin, whose hand Lin Chongshu was holding. His tone was unhurried. "What are you doing?"

Lin Chongshu released Karin's hand and pushed her one step behind him.

Before he could speak, the man did not even take his hands out of his pockets. Dozens of Shuriken appeared out of thin air and rained down on Lin Chongshu.

Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!

Lin Chongshu's body was instantly riddled with Shuriken.

Karin screamed, but immediately afterward, Lin Chongshu's body turned into a puddle of water.

Water Release: Water Clone Technique!

A hand suddenly reached out from behind her and grabbed her wrist. She spun around sharply to see Lin Chongshu pulling her out of the alley.

Lin Chongshu dragged Karin into another side alley. At its end stood a waist-high earthen wall, and beyond it lay the sandy ground outside the village.

When they were still three steps from the wall, the man suddenly appeared at the alley entrance. His hands remained in his pockets, and his breathing had not faltered in the slightest.

Lin Chongshu stopped short, panic rising in his heart.

In Sage Mode, he was more than twice as fast as usual, yet this man had still caught up in the blink of an eye.

So strong! This man was stronger than everyone he had ever fought.

He shielded Karin behind him. His Sage Mode pupils contracted rapidly, his senses pushed to their limit as his hands flew through seals.

"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"

Water gathered before him, forming the outline of a water dragon.

The water dragon sprang from the ground, opened its huge maw, and crashed toward the figure at the alley entrance.

Taking advantage of that opening, Lin Chongshu scooped Karin up and turned to run for the earthen wall.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

A violent gust poured in from the alley entrance, forcibly suppressing the water dragon's momentum.

The dragon warped in midair under the force of the wind. The shape of its head was torn apart, shattering into a great spray of water that was swept back by the gale and splashed all over Lin Chongshu.

"Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique!"

Just as Lin Chongshu stepped onto the earthen wall, several wind blades skimmed past his body. His clothes were sliced open in several places, blocking his path.

But the skin beneath his clothes was protected by a layer of fine sand, and he did not bleed.

The man stood at the alley entrance. Seeing that Lin Chongshu had somehow remained uninjured, he finally pulled one hand from his pocket. "Interesting..."

With his escape attempt thwarted, sweat began to seep into Lin Chongshu's palms.

Yet throughout that rapid exchange, the opponent had cast his jutsu far faster than Lin Chongshu could in Sage Mode. He had even been able to precisely cut him while the water dragon was being suppressed.

Could a Kusagakure Chunin really be this strong?

"You're not from Kusagakure." Lin Chongshu stared at the shadow at the alley entrance.

The man was silent for a moment, then gave two soft chuckles. "Neither are you."

Lin Chongshu slowly clenched his hand at his side. Sand silently flowed around his feet as golden sand was drawn from beneath the ground into his palm by magnetic force.

Unless he was certain of killing someone, he never used Magnet Release in front of others.

It was both his trump card and his fatal weakness. If someone recognized Magnet Release and word reached the Land of Wind, Rasa would certainly go mad and intensify the hunt for him.

But he had no other choice now. If he was held up here, he would still be dead.

He raised his right hand, and sand began circling around them.

The man across from him tensed his shoulders slightly.

He stared at the sand in Lin Chongshu's palm, the curve of his lips widening a little. "Magnet Release? Heh heh, I know who you are now."

He stepped forward, moonlight slanting across his face from the alley entrance. "You're Lin Chongshu, the rogue ninja from the Land of Wind!"

Lin Chongshu's pupils shrank sharply. "Who exactly are you?"