The instant the man made his move, Tsunade cried out and hurried toward Kana, while Hatake Sakumo and Heizo Hattori stepped into his path, stopping him from advancing any farther.
Hatake Sakumo drew the short chakra blade from his back, its edge reflecting a dazzling flash of white light. No one could have imagined that this merely average-quality chakra blade would one day become a fang that claimed countless lives, earning Hatake Sakumo the name White Fang.
The gleam of the blade blurred the attacker's vision, but his wealth of experience kept him from hesitating. He swung his kunai toward Hatake Sakumo's vital points, only for the chakra blade to intercept it.
Taking advantage of that blinding flash, Heizo Hattori slipped into the attacker's blind spot. Bringing his family's inherited assassination techniques fully into play, he landed a merciless blow on the attacker's body.
As a traditional ninja clan, the Hattori family emphasized killing with a single strike. If they failed to finish an enemy immediately, their weakness in head-on combat might cost them their lives. Heizo Hattori, however, had already learned to combine his family's traditions with the ability to fight face-to-face, and the deadly edge of that combination now became all the more apparent.
The attacker felt the strength drain rapidly from his body. His vision went black, and he sank to his knees, seemingly unable to fight any longer. He was not dead. Heizo Hattori had guessed that he was an evil god's follower and might possess information Kazemori Masaki needed, so he had spared his life.
"Ah!" Before Hatake Sakumo and Heizo Hattori could breathe a sigh of relief, they heard Kana scream. They hurriedly turned and saw another man closing in on her, ready to strike.
Damn it, there's another one!
*Good thing Tsunade's already