Flying a Kite

Hyuga Qingchuan put away the Spirit Bow and drew a kunai.

He sprinted forward, bypassing the traps.

He rushed to Mo Lin's side, ready to finish him off.

Only to find that there was no need.

Mo Lin's head was already a bloody pulp. With injuries like that, he could not have been deader.

Forget treatment—even the Torture and Interrogation Department would probably have trouble searching his memories.

A thought stirred in his mind.

"Spirit Network!"

Ribbons drifted around him, though they were far fewer than when he used it in the village.

He grabbed one of them. "Dad's position hasn't changed. He's still there."

Hyuga Qingchuan leaped straight over Mo Lin's corpse.

Following the direction sensed by the Spirit Network, he raced ahead at full speed.

Mountain Dragon Stronghold.

Hyuga Kaze slumped against a wall, covered in blood, his clothes in tatters.

His arms hung limply at his sides, his forearms bent at unnatural angles. They were clearly broken.

His eye sockets were swollen, his eyelids drooping as he stared fixedly at Da Tu in front of him.

Da Tu's condition was the opposite of Hyuga Kaze's.

He was much cleaner, though the blood that occasionally spilled from his mouth when he smiled showed that he was not doing much better.

He grinned, his mouth full of blood.

"This is the first time I've been beaten so badly that my organs were ruptured. I almost died."

"The Gentle Fist truly lives up to its reputation."

"But..." Da Tu's grin widened, and his eyes grew even crazier.

"In the end, I won. I can still move, while you..."

"Both your arms are broken, and you can't even stand."

"I beat the Gentle Fist!"

Hyuga Kaze's eyes were lifeless. At those words, he suddenly let out a scornful laugh.

"It doesn't matter. My son has already escaped."

"Escaped?"

Da Tu looked as though he had heard a joke.

"At your son's level, you think he could escape from Mo Lin?"

"You really are absurdly confident!"

He burst into laughter, aggravating his internal injuries and causing him to spit out another mouthful of blood.

"Damn it, this Gentle Fist crap is really insidious."

Enduring the agonizing pain inside his body, he walked toward Hyuga Kaze step by step.

"No matter what, I'll give you a dignified death."

He raised his fist, drawing his body back to gather strength, ready to deliver Hyuga Kaze the final blow.

Seeing this, Hyuga Kaze closed his eyes in despair.

After fighting this long, he no longer had the strength to resist.

The only reason he had managed to beat his opponent into this state was because he had exploited the advantages of the Byakugan and the Gentle Fist to the fullest.

That was also because his opponent happened to be a Taijutsu ninja whose strength lay mainly in close combat.

If he had faced someone else just now, even an ordinary Chunin, he would not have had the slightest advantage.

Just as the fist was about to smash into Hyuga Kaze.

Suddenly!

Da Tu sensed something as fast as lightning hurtling toward him.

Instinctively, he swung the fist he had been about to throw at the object.

Pfft!

His arm collided with a streak of light.

The light dispersed.

But he immediately felt something strange in his arm. It had gone numb.

He subconsciously lowered his head and saw that his entire right forearm was gone.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of something flying away. Looking closer, he saw that it was his missing forearm.

He stared blankly at the semicircular, mangled wound connecting his upper arm and lower arm.

For a moment, he could not process it.

Then a wave of intense pain hit him, forcing a howl from his throat.

"Ah..."

"My hand..."

His breathing grew faster and faster, each breath ragged.

Enduring the agony, he turned and looked toward where the streak of light had come from.

The brat Mo Lin had just gone after was now standing quietly at the edge of the forest.

He held a massive Spirit Bow in his hand and watched Da Tu coldly.

"Brat! You're not dead!"

"You actually dared to come back!"

Da Tu gritted his teeth and pulled out a kunai with his left hand.

He used the Body Flicker Technique and charged toward Hyuga Qingchuan.

A second arrow of light shot toward him.

He barely managed to deflect it aside with his kunai. Before he could steady himself.

A third arrow of light had already reached him, striking his lower abdomen.

"Urgh!"

Da Tu staggered back several steps and vomited a mouthful of blood.

Looking down, he saw that his lower abdomen was a mangled mess of flesh and blood.

If he had not specialized in Taijutsu and trained year after year, making his body stronger than that of ordinary ninjas.

That attack would have killed him.

"Brat!"

He bared his teeth, hatred surging through him.

But the brat was already well beyond the range of his shuriken.

He could only use the Body Flicker Technique and charge forward again.

After deflecting another incoming arrow of light, he finally entered throwing range.

He hurled the kunai in his hand with all his strength, then pulled out several shuriken and threw them after it.

Just as the hidden weapons were about to reach the brat's eyes.

Hyuga Qingchuan left behind an afterimage and vanished.

When he reappeared, he was once more outside throwing range.

"Bastard!"

Severely wounded as he was, Da Tu simply could not keep up with Hyuga Qingchuan's speed.

He could only grit his teeth and chase after him again.

He had already thrown all his hidden weapons. Now, he only had one kunai left.

He gripped the kunai tightly and, after blocking several arrows of light.

Finally rushed in front of Hyuga Qingchuan and drove the kunai viciously at him with all his strength.

Even after being wounded again and again, he was still a Jonin—and a Taijutsu ninja at that. Hyuga Qingchuan could not withstand a full-force strike from him.

The kunai stabbed viciously into Hyuga Qingchuan.

"Hm? That didn't feel right!"

The next moment, Hyuga Qingchuan's body turned into a puddle of water and splashed to the ground.

"Water Clone?"

Da Tu's heart skipped a beat. "That brat had one hand holding that Spirit Bow the whole time."

"When did he form hand seals?"

He turned his head and saw that the brat was already outside throwing range again.

Damn it!

He cursed inwardly.

Just as he turned to attack again, another arrow of light came flying at him.

Da Tu hurriedly slashed it apart with his kunai, then used the Body Flicker Technique to appear before Hyuga Qingchuan.

But Hyuga Qingchuan used the Body Flicker Technique to get away again.

Then another arrow of light came flying at him...

The cycle repeated itself. Every time he painstakingly closed the distance.

That brat would pull away again, continuously firing arrows of light from that strange Spirit Bow.

Those arrows of light were not as powerful as the one that had struck his forearm.

But they came one after another, leaving him unable to guard against them all.

The slightest lapse would see him struck, and no matter how strong his body was, it would still be reduced to a bloody mess.

At last, after being hit by another arrow of light, he no longer had the strength to pursue.

He staggered back several steps and slammed heavily into the wall.

Hyuga Qingchuan did not approach. He simply kept drawing his bow and firing.

He continued adding wound after wound to the figure slumped against the wall.

For the final blow, Hyuga Qingchuan gathered a little strength and shot him in the head, taking his life.

When he saw that the figure by the wall no longer moved, he finally relaxed.

Panting heavily, he dragged his feet over to the dumbfounded Hyuga Kaze.

"Dad, how are you?"

"Why did you come back?" Hyuga Kaze asked instead.

"How could I leave you behind?" Hyuga Qingchuan looked at him as if the answer were obvious.

"What about the other one?"

"Dead. He chased me into the woods, and I killed him with one arrow."

Hyuga Kaze was greatly surprised by that.

That man was not weak. Had he really died so easily?

Just as he was about to ask, Hyuga Qingchuan spoke first.

"Can you still move? Want me to help you up?"

As he spoke, he moved to help Hyuga Kaze to his feet.

"Hey, hey, hey! My arms, my arms are broken! Don't touch them!"

Hyuga Kaze cried out in pain.