One of Hyuga Akira's lessons to Nagato was not to think of himself as a Shinobi, but as someone who used chakra-a Chakra User for short.
Shinobi were tools, while Chakra Users were people who wielded power.
By rejecting that identity from the outset, he would not put himself in the same position as Shinobi.
Although Nagato did not quite understand the difference between those two identities, he vaguely felt that something about Hyuga Akira's teaching was off.
"Then, Teacher," Nagato asked curiously, "does being a Chakra User have anything to do with Amegakure?"
"No." Hyuga Akira shook his head. "Remember, you aren't a Shinobi. You naturally stand apart from them. You can cooperate with Shinobi or pretend to be one, but you aren't one of them. None of the Shinobi factions have anything to do with you, either. In the future, you can create your own faction for Chakra Users."
Like the Akatsuki, or the Akatsuki.
Although Yahiko had founded it, Nagato was the one who ultimately brought it to prominence.
Nagato nodded, only half understanding.
"In any case, I'm only giving you a suggestion about your future path. You have to choose what kind of path to take yourself," Hyuga Akira said solemnly.
His most important teaching for Nagato was not passing on these abilities, but guiding his thinking.
He believed that in the heart of this Nagato, who would find a way to true peace in the future, his teachings had already become a seed. Sooner or later, it would take root, sprout, and flourish.
Provided Hyuga Akira had not slaughtered the entire Shinobi World before then.
Someone as peace-loving as him probably would not go that far... right? Hyuga Akira silently reaffirmed his flimsy persona.
"Yes." Nagato nodded seriously as well.
He had absolutely no idea just how dangerous his teacher was to this Shinobi World.
After all, to monsters, a player who had grown strong was a nightmare.
"Keep training. How far you go in the future will depend on you." Hyuga Akira knew perfectly well that the identity he had given Nagato would bring him many dangers in the future.
But he had even more faith that a certain old bastard named Uchiha would make sure Nagato grew up safely. A few hardships were nothing; as long as he stayed alive, there was hope.
The future would make the entire Shinobi World very interesting.
Hyuga Akira chose not to leave at all that day. Instead, he went through everything with Nagato in detail, from beginning to end.
It was to keep him from taking the wrong path in the future.
He did not know whether Jiraiya would teach Nagato as he had in the original history. After all, the flapping of his butterfly wings had caused quite a stir.
What the future would become was now entirely unknown.
By the time darkness fell, Nagato had collapsed on the ground from exhaustion. Suddenly, he looked outside in confusion. "Teacher, it feels like someone's coming."
"Hmm?" Hyuga Akira looked outside in surprise, activating his Byakugan.
His gaze quickly passed through the cave and tree after tree, revealing several figures running swiftly toward him.
"Monsters delivering themselves to my door?" Delight flashed across Hyuga Akira's face.
"Teacher, is someone really coming?" Nagato asked uncertainly.
Hyuga Akira gave Nagato a meaningful look. He could actually use Mind's Eye of the Kagura passively. After a moment's hesitation, he said, "Go hide inside. Don't come out unless I call you."
Nagato looked at the smile his teacher could not suppress. It seemed as though something dangerous had happened, so why did his teacher look so happy?!!!
Nagato did not ask. He simply nodded silently and hurried deeper into the cave.
As Hyuga Akira had said, he was merely a weak apprentice Chakra User with no real fighting ability.
Hyuga Akira stepped out of the cave and looked at the three people gradually approaching.
Soon, he frowned again, anger appearing on his previously cheerful face.
Farther away, an enormous mass of chakra was also approaching swiftly. It was Murakami Hana.
Did that guy have nothing to do all day, every day?
He did not need to think to know who the three approaching people were. It was that fat Shinobi. He had never expected the man to come looking for him.
The drops from a Chunin were much better than those from a Genin.
He had even brought two freebies. They were only Genin, but they were better than nothing.
What Hyuga Akira could not stand was that the idiot had not known to be more careful and had drawn Murakami Hana over.
How was he supposed to kill them and get drops now?
He could only console himself with some experience.
Soon, he spotted the fat Shinobi and his two companions in the darkness. The three burst out of the woods and leaped straight in front of Hyuga Akira.
"Boy, we meet again." A malicious smile appeared on the fat Shinobi's face. His breathing mask had been smashed earlier and could no longer conceal his malice.
Hyuga Akira swept his gaze over the three: two unfamiliar Genin and one Chunin.
Murakami Hana was moving quickly in the distance, but he still needed some time to arrive. Hyuga Akira rapidly formed the hand seals for Unknowing Fire.
He wondered whether he could finish off the fat man before him in such a short time.
The fat man had no idea what Hyuga Akira intended. He merely said with a face full of malice, "No matter how talented you are, a dead genius won't attract anyone's attention."
Whoosh!
Hyuga Akira wasted no words. With a flick of his hand, the Bronze Blade appeared in his grip. Flames ignited along the blade as he charged at the fat Shinobi.
Murakami Hana would arrive in one minute.
Chapter 61: The Fat Shinobi's Attack
"Kill him," the fat Shinobi said coldly.
The two Shinobi beside him, already prepared, rapidly formed hand seals.
"Water Release! Water Wave!" Both spat out torrents of water at Hyuga Akira, blocking his forward charge.
He pushed off the ground, directing his force backward, and leaped back, flipping onto the rock wall to avoid the water.
By then, the fat Shinobi had also finished his hand seals.
"Water Release! Purple Rain Technique!"
Purple raindrops fell from the sky into the streams the other two had spat out. Purple rapidly spread through the water, soon turning the ordinary streams purple.
The two stopped their ninjutsu as well. Water Wave was not a sustained technique, but the purple water did not disappear. Instead, it collected on the ground into a small pool, which turned entirely purple beneath the purple rain.
Hyuga Akira clung horizontally to the rock wall. Through his Byakugan, he watched the chakra gathering in the pool below, with a considerable amount flowing upward as well.
"A combination ninjutsu?" Hyuga Akira looked at the distance between himself and the fat Shinobi's group.
The pool lay directly between the two sides. In the distance, Murakami Hana was rapidly approaching.
I can't drag this out any longer.
Hyuga Akira raised his hand and threw several Shuriken at the three.
Facing the incoming Shuriken, none of them even tried to dodge. They simply let the Shuriken strike them.
But the flying Shuriken passed through their bodies.
"Genjutsu?" Hyuga Akira quickly identified the situation, his hands immediately beginning to form seals.
"Genjutsu: Release!"
He disrupted the chakra inside his body, trying to dispel the genjutsu affecting him.
"It's useless." The fat Shinobi leaped onto the pool with his two companions and rapidly approached Hyuga Akira.
He cast his genjutsu through poison. Purple Rain Technique combined the poison he had prepared in advance with chakra.
It then mixed with the water spat out through Water Wave to form poisonous water, whose moisture rapidly became vapor and rose.
As long as the body absorbed this pervasive moisture, it would fall under his genjutsu.
Genjutsu: Waterfall Basin Technique.
As long as the surrounding vapor did not disappear, his genjutsu would activate without interruption. Although it was only a low-level genjutsu that confused the target's vision, no one could escape it as long as it kept activating.
Genjutsu: Release could only dispel the current genjutsu. When the next one activated a moment later, it would have to be used again.
There was no need to explain any of that to his opponent. Running across the pool and onto the rock wall, the three attacked Hyuga Akira.
Hyuga Akira struck first, swinging his flaming Bronze Blade through their bodies, only to cut through empty air.
That made him realize that unless he dealt with the genjutsu, he could not determine where his enemies were at all.
An invisible Kunai sliced across his shoulder, leaving a wound. Had Hyuga Akira not dodged in time, it would have plunged into his heart.
"You'll die here," the fat Shinobi's illusion said coldly as it attacked Hyuga Akira.
Who would die here was still uncertain.
Hyuga Akira grinned. "All I need is to know you're here."
His Byakugan had also become useless now. It could see the flow of chakra, but the poison-induced genjutsu had already affected his vision.
What he saw was not necessarily real.
Relying on instinctive perception, Hyuga Akira moved left, but a cut still opened on his face. At the same time, sharp pain suddenly erupted in his abdomen. Something had struck him there, and he reached forward, trying to grab something.
But his hand felt nothing solid.
"So it deprives me of my five senses?" Hyuga Akira smiled faintly, and his figure abruptly vanished.
An Explosive Tag slowly fluttered down where he had stood. It was already glowing, clearly having been activated the moment he took it out.
"Oh no!" The fat Shinobi's pupils suddenly contracted before he could get away.
Boom!!!
A violent explosion swept outward.
Appearing on the other side of the pool, Hyuga Akira could not see whether the three had been caught in the explosion. But no experience notifications appeared before him, which also meant none of them had died.
He took out a Detoxification Pill and swallowed it. By then, he had realized that the pool was the medium through which his opponent cast the genjutsu.
His scrambled senses quickly returned to normal.
Although this genjutsu had the advantage of persistence, its weakness was that once an opponent realized the problem, a single Detoxification Pill could break it.
And the pill's medicinal effects would keep the poison from interfering with him for a while.
Now Hyuga Akira saw three figures lying on the ground. The already expended Explosive Tag could not serve as a medium for the Substitution Technique.
Hyuga Akira could only rush across the pool on foot.
Before he even reached the three, Hyuga Akira threw three Shuriken. Empowered by Kumate, they flew with overwhelming force, about to claim the three men's lives.
Just then, a figure suddenly darted out and stood in front of the fat Shinobi, swinging a Kunai to block the incoming Shuriken.
Clang! The instant the Kunai collided with the Shuriken, the newly arrived Murakami Hana frowned. The force behind it was astonishing. Rather than being knocked away immediately, the Shuriken kept spinning against the Kunai, sending sparks flying.
In the end, he flicked his Kunai upward and knocked it away.
He blocked the Shuriken aimed at the fat Shinobi, but the other two were not so lucky. Both had their lives taken by Kunai.
Two experience notifications flashed before Hyuga Akira's eyes in the distance.
[Experience 356] [Experience 364]
He had still failed to kill the fat Shinobi. Hyuga Akira looked resentfully at the badly injured, wailing man, never stopping his run as he crossed the water and approached Murakami Hana.
"Two should be enough to vent your anger, right?" The smile had vanished from Murakami Hana's face.
He had not expected this useless fool to dare try killing Muyu again. If replacing him yet again had not been somewhat troublesome, he would have killed him himself.
Hyuga Akira walked up to the fat Shinobi and looked down at the wailing man.
At the moment of the explosion, the man had still managed to put some distance between them. His injuries looked frightening, but the strength of his voice made it clear that they were not serious.
Hyuga Akira glanced at Murakami Hana, who was also staring fixedly at him. He knew he could not kill the idiot right under his nose.
He kicked the man in the face.
Thump!
[Experience 1245]
"Now that's enough." Hyuga Akira looked straight at Murakami Hana.
Murakami Hana nodded, his expression unpleasant. As long as he did not kill the fool, that was enough.
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