"Dead men don't need to know so much."
The infiltrator disguised as the Kazekage spoke coldly and slowly drew a short blade.
Then he exchanged a glance with his companion.
In an instant, they lunged at Yubi to kill him.
An expert's skill showed the moment he made a move.
Even setting aside their current offensive, Yubi had realized these two were no ordinary fighters when the "infiltrator" who had just approached him turned and thrust a kunai at him...
They definitely weren't ninja from a minor ninja village.
They were operatives deliberately trained to die on their missions.
Their movements were clean and decisive, without the slightest hesitation.
The pressure they put on their opponent exceeded even that of Amegakure's elite troops.
Their overall abilities were exceptional.
Whoosh!
The fake Kazekage slashed at him, his eyes warily fixed on Yubi's hands.
"Noticed, have you?" Yubi curled his lips.
What keen perception.
Swish!
Ninjutsu: Blade Intent Manipulation.
Controlled by a slender thread, the scalpel became a glint of cold light, silently appearing beside the man's temple.
Clang.
His opponent instantly changed moves, using his excellent swordsmanship to parry the flying blade with his short blade.
"Watch out for his concealed weapons."
He even warned his companion.
Meanwhile, the other man had already closed in behind Yubi, once again thrusting his kunai at an opening in Yubi's defenses.
But the boy dodged easily, as though he had eyes in the back of his head.
"You two aren't planning to use ninjutsu, but want to take me down with taijutsu instead. Afraid of alerting the village guards?" The two attacked Yubi from the front and rear.
The three darted and shifted across the sand, their figures moving at tremendous speed as they fought.
Under the fake Kazekage's fierce handling, combined with the effects of chakra, his short blade even left fleeting afterimages.
It looked very much like some special sword technique.
Yubi spoke with a smile as he defended himself.
After all, they were still within Sunagakure's boundaries. Even though this was a remote spot on the outskirts... with Sunagakure's patrol schedule, someone would notice this place sooner or later.
Therefore, these two had to kill him as quickly as possible.
Besides, ordinary ninjutsu caused quite a commotion and wasn't suitable for an assassination mission like this.
Hearing Yubi's teasing, both men felt their hearts grow heavy.
They had been lying low in Sunagakure for a long time to gather intelligence for their organization, and Yubi's rise naturally hadn't escaped their notice... Everyone in Sunagakure knew Yubi was an outstanding medical ninja, but he had only graduated from the Ninja Academy about a year ago. He was still just a genin and had only completed one mission outside the village so far.
Although he had participated in the war between Sunagakure and Amegakure, he had only provided aid in the rear.
How could this brat be so difficult to deal with?!
Forget genin... at this level of close combat, his peculiar taijutsu alone put him at least on the level of a chunin.
And then there was this bizarre ninjutsu.
There was a wet puncturing sound.
Blood splashed as a flying blade shot through the air and pierced one assassin's shoulder, making his movements stiffen.
This flying blade came and went without a trace, making it extremely hard to guard against.
Even if they made a point of dodging or blocking it... Yubi controlled more than one flying blade.
The fake Kazekage grew somewhat anxious at the sight.
He spat a senbon from his mouth and formed hand seals as he drew back.
As the ninjutsu activated, the senbon shooting toward the boy suddenly multiplied into a whole swarm.
Clink, clink, clink.
Yet just as their combined efforts had failed to subdue the boy, the moment the senbon drew near, a series of sharp sounds erupted around Yubi, as though something were there knocking every last senbon to the ground.
"Threads again..."
The fake Kazekage's pupils contracted.
Yubi's threads weren't merely for controlling flying blades. They were also his "weapons."
The threads on his fingers were finer than ordinary steel wire, yet tougher, lighter, and more agile.
Daylight would have been better, but in the already dim night... the threads were extremely difficult to spot during their rapid exchanges.
His short blade had also been entangled or blocked by those threads several times, and they repeatedly forced him and his companion back, preventing them from closing in on their target.
It wasn't as though they had never seen threads used to attack, but someone who used them with such elaborate skill... this boy was the only one.
These weren't the chakra threads used by Sunagakure's puppeteers. In Yubi's hands, they were more like a special kind of ninja tool.
Another silent glance passed between them.
The two decided to stake their lives on it... Given the situation, they had to use ninjutsu.
Even if they alerted Sunagakure... they had to follow orders and bury Yubi!
Their two lives in exchange for the boy's.
But just then.
The other assassin had just finished his hand seals and had yet to unleash his nature transformation technique.
Yubi had already leaped into a crouch before him, both hands raised high like a pair of wings.
The man was about to react when his vision suddenly doubled and his limbs stiffened.
"Poison!"
As expected of a well-trained ninja, he immediately understood.
The flying blade that had stabbed him earlier had been poisoned.
But it was too late... The boy's movements and reactions seemed even faster and more efficient than during their earlier exchanges.
"Data capture complete."
Through his unfocused gaze, he saw the boy's face slowly lift from below, and his lips move gently.
"Death Waltz."
As those words left his mouth.
There were no hand seals. It wasn't ninjutsu.
It was still that unique method of controlling ninja tools.
Not far away, the fake Kazekage's scalp prickled, but he was too late to stop it.
He watched the boy's hands dance swiftly, and the threads drifting before him abruptly erupted into a huge, dark whirlwind of cold glints. The tangled, razor-sharp threads instantly wrapped around his colleague.
Then, as the threads pulled and contracted, his companion's body burst apart, shredded to death on the spot.
He was reduced to chunks of flesh scattered across the ground.
"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!"
Snake, dragon, rabbit, tiger-the fake Kazekage completed his hand seals and gave a low shout.
He spewed a straight stream of flame from his mouth at Yubi's back, the fire surging ever more violently as it traveled farther.
The firelight illuminated everything within a hundred meters.
But when the flames receded, all he could see was scorched black sand and rising heat. Yubi's corpse was nowhere to be found.
"You two... are from Konoha?"
Just as the fake Kazekage was looking around, a familiar voice came from a spot more than a hundred feet away.
He jolted and immediately looked toward the sound, finding Yubi completely unharmed.
Yubi wore a smile.
His opponent's swordsmanship... and the ninjutsu that multiplied the senbon bore traces of something in the vast database of his memories.
He had carefully thought back just now.
Suddenly... he had recalled a name: Konoha's... Genma Shiranui.
His opponent's attack pattern, or rather, his style... was very similar to that character's.
He didn't know what relationship the two had.
At present, Genma Shiranui was still only a child and hadn't even graduated from the Ninja Academy.
If Kumogakure could kidnap Kushina from Konoha, then... there was nothing surprising about Konoha sending two people to lie low in Sunagakure and attack him.
Objectively speaking, Sunagakure's overall defenses weren't as strong as Konoha's.
The problem was... there were quite a few factions within Konoha as well.
Whose orders were these two assassins following?
"It probably wasn't that old man Hiruzen Sarutobi... I know my own limits. There's no way a brat like me could attract the Hokage's attention in this Shinobi World war. This method and style... do seem very much like him... Shimura Danzō."
Yubi spoke softly.
"Don't tell me... you're from Root?"
There was no reply. The fake Kazekage simply charged straight at him.
There was something of a resolve to prove his conviction through death in it.
But that silence, in Yubi's eyes... had already given him his answer.
In the distance, Sunagakure's guards were already rushing over.
His opponent's fate was already sealed.