Cutting bullets with a blade

"Don't move! Hands up!"

Uchiha Naruto turned toward the voice and saw a man in a black suit step out of the shadows behind the trees, aiming a handgun at him from over ten meters away.

The man stood over six feet three and looked around thirty, in the prime of his life. Holding his gun in one hand, he produced an ID with the other. Its gold rising-sun badge gleamed in the moonlight.

"Good evening, Mr. Samurai. I'm John Odagiri of the Public Security Bureau's Fifth Division, Metropolitan Police Department."

John Odagiri had black hair and yellow skin, but his eyes were deep-set, his nose prominent, and his irises tinged with blue. He spoke exceptionally fluent Japanese and appeared to be of mixed ancestry.

He stared at Uchiha Naruto with burning intensity, as though he were a peerless beauty or a priceless treasure.

Although Uchiha Itachi's looks were certainly impressive, being ogled like that by some half-foreign guy still made Uchiha Naruto uncomfortable.

"That paranormal livestream caught our Public Security Bureau's attention after it aired online. Based on my experience, I can say with certainty that what happened on the stream wasn't fake. That slash of light you unleashed earlier wasn't a special effect or a trick, either. We've been searching for people with supernatural powers like you!"

So he was from the Public Security Bureau.

Unlike the Criminal Affairs Department, the Public Security Bureau nominally belonged to the Metropolitan Police Department but actually answered to the National Public Safety Commission, which was directly under the Cabinet. Japan's public security authorities primarily handled national security and intelligence, monitoring religious groups, the yakuza, foundations, and other social organizations domestically while conducting counterespionage against foreign threats.

This Fifth Division must be the country's special department for dealing with supernatural incidents.

With that thought, Uchiha Naruto asked flatly.

"And?"

"I'd like you to come back to the Metropolitan Police Department with me for questioning. We mean you no harm. On the contrary, we come with goodwill and friendly intentions. We've long hoped to cooperate with people who possess supernatural powers like yours."

"This is your idea of goodwill and friendly intentions?"

Without a trace of fear, Uchiha Naruto pointed at the dark muzzle aimed at him.

"Oh, please don't do that. Calm down, Mr. Samurai!"

John Odagiri took two steps backward without changing his expression, but his two-handed grip on the gun never wavered. He was clearly well trained.

"No, no, no, I don't want things to be like this, either. But you're no ordinary person. If you refuse to cooperate or even resist, things could get very dangerous. I hope you understand."

"No, I don't!"

Uchiha Naruto smiled and rested his hand on the Chakra Blade at his waist. John Odagiri's expression immediately darkened.

"Damn it, get your hand off that sword!"

"That blade of light you used earlier only reached about five meters. We're twelve or thirteen meters apart now. Can your katana reach this far?"

Anger flashed in John Odagiri's eyes, but he barely managed to suppress it as he spoke in a threatening tone.

"Besides, you probably don't know much about my sidearm. This isn't a Nambu M60 for Japanese girls. It's a semiautomatic SIG Sauer P226, with a twenty-round magazine and a muzzle velocity of three hundred and fifty meters per second. At this range, dodging is impossible. I guarantee you'll end up full of holes!"

"Heh... what gave you the impression that slash was my full strength?"

A mocking smile appeared on Uchiha Naruto's face. His Sharingan gleamed scarlet as he drew his blade with a reverse grip.

"FUCK! Hell, your eyes... what kind of devil are you?"

John Odagiri's expression changed. Then he gritted his teeth and pulled the trigger!

Bang, bang, bang, bang-!

Bullets flew from the muzzle, its flashes glaringly bright in the night.

Cold flashes of steel flickered in the moonlight, deflecting and slicing down more than a dozen bullets.

A few lucky bullets slipped past Uchiha Naruto only because he had foreseen that their trajectories would miss him.

"Lord, how is this possible?!"

After instinctively emptying his magazine out of habit, John Odagiri stared at the unscathed Uchiha Naruto, his face ashen and his eyes filled with disbelief.

In the two years since his transfer from America to Japan, John Odagiri had encountered nonhuman beings such as yokai before. In most cases, bullets could injure those monsters, and quite a few had even been shot dead on the spot.

That was what had given him the confidence to leave the main force behind and approach Uchiha Naruto alone to negotiate.

But the almost miraculous sight of someone cutting bullets with a blade still left John Odagiri dumbfounded.

He hurriedly dropped his empty SIG Sauer P226, now as useless as scrap metal, onto the ground. Then his right hand reached toward the bulge at the back of his waist.

John Odagiri suddenly felt a light breeze sweep past him. The young man in the Akatsuki cloak brushed past his shoulder, then leaped onto the archway.

An instant later, searing pain shot through his right wrist!

"This is just a small warning. If you go to the hospital now, they can still reattach it. I have no designs on your Metropolitan Police Department, but that doesn't mean I'll let you threaten me."

Uchiha Naruto stood atop the archway and looked down, his expression devoid of joy or sorrow.

Just then, a tremendous roar came from the sky, rapidly drawing closer.

A helicopter bearing the words "Metropolitan Police Department" circled above the abandoned mall, its searchlight casting a beam onto Uchiha Naruto.

Accompanied by shrill sirens, three police cars smashed through the railing and charged straight in.

"You... can't escape. Our Public Security Bureau has already sealed off the front and rear exits... and more reinforcements are on the way..."

John Odagiri's face was pale, his forehead covered in fine beads of sweat. With practiced movements, he pulled off his belt and bound his arm to stop the bleeding, then sank onto one knee and spoke through clenched teeth.

"Don't move, or we'll shoot!"

"Odagiri, your hand... call an ambulance!"

"The target is resisting! Fire at will!"

Seeing the scene before them, the officers emerging from the police cars drew their handguns without hesitation and aimed at Uchiha Naruto atop the archway.

"Heh, that's a little bright."

The helicopter's beam shone down on Uchiha Naruto. Ignoring the armed officers surrounding him, he narrowed his eyes slightly and looked up into the sky.

A hint of displeasure crossed his face. He brought his hands together and apart, took a deep breath, then exhaled toward the sky. An enormous fireball shot upward!

"What's that fire down below?"

"Quick! Gain altitude!"

At the observing copilot's roar, the Metropolitan Police Department helicopter's pilot hurriedly climbed. The fireball swept past just a few meters from the fuselage and exploded in the sky behind the helicopter.

A huge, brilliant firework blossomed in the night sky, scattering sparks over the whirring rotor blades and tail.

Although the helicopter wasn't shot down on the spot, flames engulfed its fuselage. Even if it could still fly normally, the pilot was terrified and hurried to make an emergency landing in an open area of the abandoned mall.

"Bastard, what have you done?!"

"That was the second warning. The next one won't be so mild."

Before the dumbfounded officers and John Odagiri's furious stare, the mysterious young man in the Akatsuki cloak held his right hand upright before his chest, his index and middle fingers pressed together. His expression remained indifferent as his entire body vanished like smoke in full view of everyone.