The Hunt

Meanwhile, a grim game of cat and mouse was playing out in Konoha Forest.

Thick trees lay snapped, enormous craters pocked the ground, and countless Kumogakure Ninja had died with terror frozen on their faces. The stench of blood had swallowed this Forest of Death whole.

This place had become a Bloody Mist Village...

Eiji's blue eyes flashed through the dark forest like a ghost. Apart from Warui, the Jonin, and a handful of Chunin still fighting back, the Kumogakure Ninja were scattering like lambs before a slaughter!

At first, the Kumogakure Ninja had thought victory was theirs, so they had attacked Eiji together.

But to their shock, Kunai, Shuriken, and all manner of Lightning Release Ninjutsu stopped briefly just short of Eiji before either bouncing away or falling to the ground.

A few Kumogakure Ninja had refused to believe it and kept pressing him at close range. Then azure light had appeared around Eiji's hand, and he had crushed their heads with it.

The mood in the forest had changed completely.

In the dark forest, a Kumogakure Ninja gripped a Kunai. His face was stricken, his breathing ragged, every hair on his body standing on end!

Where? Where is he...!?

Explosions and his comrades' screams kept sounding from deep in the forest, now distant, now close. Even a disciplined Kumogakure Ninja couldn't help sweating under that kind of pressure!

Closer...

The sounds were closer...

He was coming this way!

The Kumogakure Ninja swallowed. His mouth hung half-open, his throat unbearably dry!

The crunch of leaves and twigs underfoot pulled his nerves taut. Then a pair of azure eyes slowly emerged from the darkness—

"No, don't come any closer..."

Closer. Pure white hair, an arrogant expression—it was Ryuuzaki Eiji!

He smiled!

"Stay away...!" The Kumogakure Ninja stumbled back half a