Taking Down An Rui

After following the direction Orochimaru and Jiraiya had left in for a while, they unexpectedly came upon a fork in the road.

Sakumo frowned at the sight and glanced at Hoshi. "Should we split up and pursue them?"

"Let's take a look first." Hoshi stepped forward and carefully examined the two paths. Sure enough, he spotted a tiny arrow scratched into the entrance of one path with a kunai.

Seeing the arrow, Hoshi smiled. That careless idiot Jiraiya definitely wouldn't have thought of this. At a time like this, they still had to rely on Orochimaru.

"This way."

With that, Hoshi pulled Sakumo down that path. They had not gone more than a few minutes before they heard Jiraiya's frantic wailing and shouting.

Hoshi and Sakumo exchanged a glance before hurrying forward. They had not run far when they spotted Orochimaru and Jiraiya, though the pair looked rather miserable now.

Having fled for their lives, both of them were covered in tiny cuts from the leaves of the surrounding plants.

And An Rui was staring at them smugly.

"Run, then. Why aren't you running anymore?"

Orochimaru and Jiraiya panted heavily as despair gradually filled their hearts. It had been so long, yet Hoshi and the others still had not caught up. They had probably met with disaster as well.

At that thought, Jiraiya could not help feeling sorrowful. Who would have thought that the Ninja Academy Quartet would fall into the hands of someone like this before they could become powerful ninjas renowned throughout the Ninja World?

No. No matter what, Jiraiya had to take a gamble. With that thought, he threw caution to the wind. He pulled out his last kunai from his clothes and shouted at An Rui in the distance, "You bastard, I'm going to fight you!"

With that, he charged at An Rui with his eyes shut like a young bull. An Rui's face was full of disdain. He sidestepped Jiraiya's pathetic thrust, then kicked him squarely in the ass.

Jiraiya fell to the ground, and the kunai in his hand flew aside. He hurriedly reached for it, but An Rui approached with a vicious grin and planted his foot on Jiraiya's chest.

Bending down to pick up the kunai Jiraiya had dropped, An Rui idly toyed with it as he said maliciously, "Should I stab you in the throat, or should I stab you in the heart?"

Jiraiya did not answer. Instead, he spat a mouthful of saliva right into An Rui's face, then turned to Orochimaru and shouted, "You idiot, what are you standing there for? Run!"

But Orochimaru, frozen in place, did not turn and flee. He clenched his fists. Jiraiya was a friend he had only just managed to make—how could he abandon him?

But what could he do? He did not even have a kunai on him. He definitely could not win in close-quarters combat, and the only thing he could use was that bundle of steel wire from earlier.

Looking at the bundle of wire in his hand, Orochimaru recalled a ninjutsu that had vaguely begun to take shape in his mind before. If he used Chakra to shoot the wire directly outward, could he restrain the enemy in an instant?

At a life-or-death moment like this, there was no time to worry about anything else. He could only gamble. He hurriedly unwound the steel wire from his hand, measured the distance, and tied a pebble to the very end as a weight.

Then, with everything on the line, he hurled the steel wire in his hand. If it succeeded, this technique would be called: Shadow Hidden Wire Hand.

Fortunately, Orochimaru was quite skilled at throwing. The steel wire with the stone attached passed right through An Rui's hand.

Orochimaru infused the wire with Chakra and rapidly flicked his wrist. Under the control of his Chakra, the threads truly followed his command and wrapped around An Rui's right hand, which held the kunai.

Orochimaru gripped his wire-wrapped left hand with his right, then decisively threw himself backward. The moment he fell, the steel wire between them snapped taut. Before An Rui could untangle it, the force pulled his hand aside.

Orochimaru gritted his teeth and continuously struggled against An Rui, while An Rui came to his senses and tried to take the kunai with his other hand to cut the wire.

How could Jiraiya give him that chance? At the crucial moment, he erupted as well. Already far stronger than others his age, he now used every ounce of strength in his body to grab the foot An Rui had planted on his chest and shove it hard. He actually managed to break free from beneath An Rui's foot.

The instant he regained his freedom, Jiraiya slammed a Rocket Headbutt into An Rui's chin.

Today, I, Squirtle, will let you taste what ** feels like with a Rocket Headbutt! The sudden blow to his chin blanked An Rui's mind, and the abrupt agony made him loosen his grip on the kunai.

When An Rui recovered, rage surged into his head. He, a proud Iwagakure Genin, had been made to look this pathetic by two Konoha brats. If Qiu found out, he would laugh himself to death.

An Rui no longer bothered trying to cut the steel wire. He clenched his usable left hand into a fist and punched Jiraiya in the face.

The punch was no light one. Jiraiya was sent flying, along with two of his teeth.

Jiraiya fell to the ground, completely losing his ability to fight. An Rui turned around, picked up the kunai, sliced through the steel wire, and then slowly approached Orochimaru with the kunai in hand. "You two little brats actually made Lord An Rui look this miserable. I suppose you do have some talent for becoming ninjas.

"But this is as far as you go. Even if the Sage of Six Paths came back to life today, he couldn't save you. I said so!"

Just as An Rui declared this fiercely, a figure emerged from the forest. The newcomer looked at An Rui with a face full of mockery. "Even the Sage of Six Paths couldn't save them? You sure know how to talk big."

Hearing that voice, An Rui, who had already raised his kunai, froze. Then he put on an expression as though he had seen a ghost and shrieked, "You... you're that brat from before! How are you alive? How could you possibly be alive? Where's Qiu? Did you kill him by yourself? How is that possible?!"

As An Rui began to question his entire life, he suddenly saw a streak of silver flash before his eyes. Then an arm clutching a kunai shot high into the air.

That was... that was my hand! Hoshi's figure silently appeared beside him. He blinked at the still-stunned An Rui and said, "Not by himself. There was me too."

The pain of losing his arm made An Rui scream instinctively. He wailed like a pig while shouting in disbelief, "Impossible! This is impossible! Who the hell are you?!"

In the distance, Sakumo shook his head. He had not expected this Genin named An Rui to be so weak beneath his bluster. Holding White Fang, he rushed forward, ready to finish An Rui with a single slash.

But at that moment, another figure appeared with astonishing speed. The man was so fast that he seemed to teleport to Hoshi's side, raising a hand and knocking An Rui unconscious with a chop.

Only after An Rui collapsed did Hoshi clearly see the... Uchiha Clan Crest on the newcomer's back.