Fell for the Trap

He remembered the birthday gift his miserly teacher had given him back when he was a ninja in the Rain Ninja Village, though he had already killed that teacher.

He pulled it out while running and took a look. "Sure enough, an Explosive Tag."

After confirming the lethal weapon in his hand, Tu Wu looked back. Sure enough, Zhou Yang had already closed to within three meters of him.

Zhou Yang had naturally noticed his opponent's movement just now. He found it somewhat strange, but no matter how he looked at the situation, he held an absolute advantage. He could not stop because of such suspicions.

"Low-level ninja commonly use tools such as kunai and shuriken, a series of thrown or close-combat weapons. Even after reaching Middle Ninja, these weapons remain their primary armaments. Only Middle Ninjas and above have enough chakra to use large numbers of ninjutsu or high-level ninjutsu. At Tu Wu's current level, he shouldn't have anything capable of turning this around. Wait, I nearly forgot about that thing." As Zhou Yang pondered, Tu Wu suddenly tore off his clothes, revealing a thoroughly hysterical expression. He seemed to have lost the ability to think, focused only on doing everything possible to escape the nightmare chasing him. He threw away his clothes, hoping they could delay Zhou Yang for even a moment.

He threw it at him. Zhou Yang did not slash through the clothes before him like an unstoppable force, instead choosing to go around them. Tu Wu, who glanced back, froze inwardly. Could it be? Could it be that he knows what I found just now? Has he already predicted this much?

Yet the explosion Zhou Yang had expected did not come. "Hm? Did I guess wrong?"

Tu Wu opened his palm, glad that he had not used that thing just now. Otherwise, his only means of turning things around would have been gone. But seeing how cautious Zhou Yang was, he began thinking again. How could he make Zhou Yang fall for it?

Because Zhou Yang had gone around, the distance between them widened somewhat. But that only gave Tu Wu more time to think; it was not enough to let him escape.

Zhou Yang could not be bothered to keep chasing like this. He was preparing to remove the second seal, but his opponent suddenly stopped.

"Huh? You're not planning to run anymore?"

"That's right. I'm not running anymore. I can't outrun you, and if I keep running, the outcome won't be any different from now. I still have to fight you."

"Then why not burrow underground?"

"Underground? At the distance we've come, I reckon you'd be in front of me before even half my body got in."

"Then let me see your final struggle!"

"Tch. I think you've gotten one thing wrong. I ran not because I couldn't beat you, but because I wasn't certain I could kill you. What gives you such confidence? That you think I'm already dead? Just because of your powerful physique?"

"Then what is it? Why not try it and see?" With that, Zhou Yang charged straight at him.

Tu Wu formed a hand seal, and dozens of copies of him immediately appeared around him. Zhou Yang did not panic when he saw them, because the seal his opponent had formed was not the Ren seal for the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique. Therefore, those clones were all fake. His opponent merely believed Zhou Yang could not tell real from fake, so he had chosen this method to confuse him.

Indeed, this ninjutsu might be rather useless against ninja, but it was extremely effective against a non-ninja like him. If he cultivated his qi to a sufficiently high realm and could sense things without having to calm down first, then this technique would no longer work against him. But he did not yet possess that ability, so he could only determine the real body from the disturbances produced when those clones attacked.

"Fake. This one's fake too. This one too. What is this guy trying to do? If he doesn't act soon, all these clones will be dealt with." As Zhou Yang thought, one of the many Tu Wus suddenly turned and fled.

"That's the real one!" Without another word, Zhou Yang removed the second weight from his leg. The tree trunk beneath his feet was immediately smashed halfway through. Then, with a sudden burst forward, the already teetering trunk snapped completely. The weight and tree trunk fell to the ground, kicking up a huge cloud of dust, while all the surrounding fakes vanished.

With his speed raised another level, Zhou Yang caught up to the fleeing Tu Wu within five seconds. While chasing him, Zhou Yang also heard the sound of Tu Wu stepping on tree trunks as he ran. That completely confirmed his target.

This time, you definitely won't escape.

The running Tu Wu tried to turn and see where Zhou Yang was, but the instant he looked back, a hand like a pincer clamped around his throat. Though the hand was not large, its immense strength made that irrelevant. Tu Wu had finally been caught.

"Run. Why aren't you running now?"

"Cough, cough. I didn't expect you to become even faster. I really, really don't know how such power could be hidden inside that small body of yours." Tu Wu struggled to speak with his throat gripped.

"That needn't concern you. Goodbye."

"Wait. I have a question. Can you at least let me understand before I die?"

"Sorry, I'm not an encyclopedia, and I have no reason to explain anything to you. Goodbye."

"You really won't even grant a dying man his final wish? How heartless."

At that moment, Zhou Yang suddenly felt a bad premonition. He did not know where it came from. Clearly, all he had to do was swing his blade and everything would be over, yet something felt wrong.

Zhou Yang raised his blade to strike. As Tu Wu watched the short sword come down, he suddenly revealed a strange smile. He then formed a hand seal, an especially simple one. Although Zhou Yang had never learned ninjutsu, he had read the Chakra Refinement Method and Hanzo's notes, so he recognized this seal. It was the activation seal.

"Activate? Activate what? Wait, could it be?" The moment the thought arose, Zhou Yang stopped his blade and hurled Tu Wu away with his other hand. "This lunatic, he wants to die together with me!"

Though Zhou Yang had reacted quickly, Tu Wu exploded half a second after being thrown out. Zhou Yang, being the closest, could naturally not escape unscathed. The cause of the explosion was, of course, the Explosive Tag on Tu Wu's body.

The Explosive Tag's blast damaged the surrounding trees to varying degrees and kicked up a vast cloud of dust. At that moment, someone hiding in the shadow of a tree suddenly stepped out. It was Tu Wu. He had not died, and he was almost completely uninjured! What was going on? Did Tu Wu possess a ninjutsu that made him immune to Explosive Tags?