Gift

"Who are you looking for?"

"You..."

Even when facing this extremely dangerous boss lurking behind the scenes, Ning Qi remained relaxed.

"Are you one of Danzo's people?" The masked man sized Ning Qi up, his gaze lingering on those pale, ghostly eyes for a long while. He seemed to recognize him, and his already icy voice dropped even lower. "Hyuga... Ning Qi."

Ning Qi was slightly taken aback, then quickly understood. This was not wartime, and the major ninja villages were relatively isolated from one another. The reputation of Konoha's Twin Prodigies might not have truly spread that far. He had never had any contact with Obito, so the name Hyuga Ning Qi under Danzo's command was more likely something White Zetsu, that freak exceptionally gifted at gathering intelligence, had told Obito.

Saved the trouble of introducing himself, Ning Qi nodded, smiling amiably.

"Yes. I want to work with you. Help me wipe out the Hyuga Lineage, and as payment, I'll join Akatsuki afterward and work for you. How about it?"

"..."

The masked man tilted his head as he looked at him.

"You?"

It wasn't Danzo who wanted to cooperate with me, but you, a puppet from the branch family?

An indistinct, strange laugh came from beneath the mask. It seemed to mock the Hyuga Lineage's internal strife, yet also seemed to ridicule the absurdity of the person before him.

What value did someone who could be turned by the Hyuga main family at any moment have as a partner?

The laughter gradually faded. The masked man's tone became lighter as he looked at Ning Qi, like two friends chatting. He asked,

"How did you know I'm with Akatsuki?"

Though his voice was calm, the question struck directly at the heart of the matter.

Ning Qi blinked, then understood.

At this point in time, although Obito had already pushed Nagato to rebuild Akatsuki with the primary goal of capturing the tailed beasts, he was not yet Tobi, Akatsuki's future reserve member.

When he attacked Konoha, caused the Nine-Tails disaster, and even, according to the original plot, helped Itachi slaughter the Uchiha clan of the police force, he had not done so as a member of Akatsuki.

On the surface, this masked man had no connection whatsoever with Akatsuki.

Which made Ning Qi's source of information for directly seeking out Obito to join Akatsuki highly intriguing.

"Thinking of what excuse to make?"

The masked man shook his head and stepped toward Ning Qi one step at a time.

Ning Qi pressed his lips together. He had no intention of waiting helplessly for death. He drew the short blade from behind him, its point aimed directly at the man before him.

He warned him calmly,

"I wouldn't advise you to come any closer."

The masked man paid it no mind and waved a hand.

"If you can't make something up, don't force yourself."

"I'll help you."

The instant the masked man took another step, Ning Qi's expression sharpened.

"Wind Sword Style: Zephyr!"

A breeze swept past. Layer upon layer of sword shadows seemed to stab into an invisible barrier, all passing straight through the masked man's body without leaving so much as a scratch!

Instead, the masked man's lightly extended hand was about to press against Ning Qi.

"Lightning Sword Style: Lightning Walk!"

In the next instant, Ning Qi moved like lightning, evading that palm and appearing some distance behind the masked man. A massive tree was severed in a single strike. Violent lightning clung to the short blade, hissing and roaring as it cut through the masked man's waist—yet he still acted as if nothing had happened.

He withdrew his hand from the air, slowly turned around, and looked at Ning Qi. In an approving tone, he remarked,

"Not bad swordsmanship. Abandoning your Hyuga Gentle Fist wasn't such a foolish choice after all."

Integrating chakra elements into swordsmanship was indeed a unique idea, and Ning Qi's command of both wind and lightning attributes clearly marked him as exceptionally talented.

What a pity.

"Only not bad..."

Ning Qi murmured, narrowing his eyes. Those mist-colored eyes silently watched the masked man before him.

A rare opportunity.

Then let's give it a try.

"Wind Sword Style: Storm Slash!"

Ning Qi rushed forward like the wind, his blade carving out a tornado that swept toward the masked man!

"Is that all you've got?"

"I'm already tired of seeing it."

The tornado storm passed through the masked man's body. At the instant he fully stepped out of it, a gleam flashed through Ning Qi's eyes.

Weakness Insight!

"Trick Sword Style: Withering!"

Ning Qi raised the short blade in his hand high overhead. A viscous, eerie curtain of black light swallowed the starry sky.

The surrounding plants rapidly decayed and withered.

The masked man likewise felt his skin rapidly aging and his limbs becoming exceedingly stiff.

He frowned.

Genjutsu?

If so, why couldn't the Sharingan dispel it?

Before he could think further, he felt an intense sense of danger envelop him.

There were still two seconds before he could use intangibility again.

This Ning Qi had already seen through the pattern of his ability. As expected of the Byakugan, it was even better than the Sharingan at perception.

Yet even at this point, the masked man remained calm.

Ning Qi was hiding too many secrets. He intended to interrogate him thoroughly afterward.

In the final second, Ning Qi's short blade finished charging and slashed down at the masked man below with extreme speed. A black curtain wrapped around the blade, producing a sound like a demon's savage laughter as it tore through the air.

The masked man had become frail with age, but it did not affect his movements much. His palm was already pressed to the ground. All he needed to do next was use the Uchiha Flame Formation to block the attack, and he would be safe.

Yet before he could act, the next second came with a bang. The blade, wrapped in countless black curtains, suddenly shattered into fragments!

The genjutsu was dispelled, and the masked man's aged body returned to normal.

Both of them froze.

...So it was an unfinished technique?

The blade lay shattered across the ground. Seeing Ning Qi stand foolishly before him with only a hilt left in his hand, the masked man shook his head and placed his palm on the shoulder of the seemingly exhausted Ning Qi.

"I really am still far behind," Ning Qi murmured, seemingly assessing the gap between himself and the masked man.

"Whatever you have to say can wait," the masked man said indifferently. He would not let the other man die so easily before extracting all the information from him.

The enormous suction erupting from the eye beneath the hole twisted even space into a vortex.

"Then I suppose that'll be a long time from now." Ning Qi smiled faintly and continued with his final words. "I brought you a small gift."

"Do me a favor and make sure you take care of all of them."

The masked man frowned slightly. He had no idea what gave Ning Qi the confidence to speak of "a long time from now." He was about to suck Ning Qi entirely into the Kamui dimension.

The next second.

Thud.

Ning Qi's head suddenly drooped, and he immediately transformed into a short blade that fell to the ground.

An A-rank ninjutsu.

Sword Shadow Clone.

The inspiration had come from the Lightning Release Shadow Clone.

Both clone techniques consumed half of the user's chakra and possessed most of the original body's combat power.

The only difference was that the Lightning Release Shadow Clone could only use Lightning Release, while the Sword Shadow Clone could only use swordsmanship.

The masked man did not know how this technique had come to be, but he clearly understood that he had been played. No wonder the other man had seemed so strangely reckless from beginning to end. He had merely sent a clone here to toy with him, so naturally he did not care in the slightest.

At some point, the Mangekyo Sharingan beneath the mask had already become filled with killing intent.

Using me as a tool to test your sword? You really don't value your life.

He picked up the short blade from the ground. A clear tracking mark remained on it.

He raised his head. Under the moonlight, birds flitted through the forest.

Someone was coming.

They were probably Konoha ninja following this tracking mark.

Recalling Ning Qi's earlier words, he snorted coldly.

"Trying to kill with a borrowed blade?"

The other man had deliberately provoked him, clearly intending for him to deal with the Konoha ninja who came following this tracking mark.

Although his killing intent was swelling and he desperately needed someone to vent on, the thought that this might be helping Ning Qi eliminate his rivals made him forcibly suppress his emotions. He had no intention of walking into Ning Qi's trap.

This inexplicable encounter had left him simmering with anger. Ning Qi was strong, but compared to his audacity, that strength seemed almost insignificant.

Just as he was about to retreat, the masked man seemed to sense something. He suddenly turned his head toward a direction in the darkness and softly repeated the word Ning Qi had mentioned.

"Gift..."

Ning Qi wanted to kill with a borrowed blade, but he clearly did not realize that what had come knocking truly was a fine gift.

Take it.

Or not?

Not far away, Kakashi suddenly covered the eye beneath his forehead protector.

"What is it, Kakashi? Ning Qi's tracking mark is just ahead. We need to hurry over and support him."

"Let's go. It's nothing." Kakashi shook his head. Though he was somewhat puzzled, he still suppressed the disturbance in his Sharingan.

Their enemy now was the man called Madara Uchiha. They had to eliminate him to ensure that tomorrow's war between Konoha and the Uchiha would proceed without unforeseen complications. That was the purpose behind forming this dagger-like strike team!