Chapter 24: Chapter - 24 Battle with Zabuza
After the two sides retreated, the scene suddenly fell into a strange silence.
Guy looked solemn. After this short confrontation with Zabuza, more than ten stab or cut wounds appeared on his body, although these wounds were really shallow and not really penetrating through his skin, he was injured anyway.
Zabuza was also not in a much better condition, he was panting heavily while holding his broad sword.
During the confrontation, Guy was able to deliver a kick to Zabuza in the ribs, the effect seemed to be certainly visible from Zabuza's current state who was unable to straighten his waist properly, and signs of feeling dull pain were visible from his breathing.
Kuroto standing on the tree saw this opportunity and immediately said, "Guy, you can retreat, let me handle him from here on."
Guy didn't argue to Kuroto's order and silently stepped back for a quick retreat.
Although the confrontation just now was short, it did allow Guy to weigh his options against Momochi Zabuza. He understands it all full well that if not for using Hachimon Tonkou, it would be really difficult for him to beat the enemy.
As soon as Guy retreated, Kuroto silently stepped down on the ground below from the tree branch. In the presence of everyone, Kuroto calmly walked forward towards Zabuza and said with the same contemptuous tone, "I am different from Guy, I won't need to get so serious to deal with a low-level, no-name, pathetic Mist ninja like you."
Kuroto's tone clearly showed he was looking down at Zabuza similar to how Boa Hancock looks down on everyone except for Luffy, he was clearly expressing that he was talking to a pathetic bug he could squash at his whim, or at least that's what he wants everyone here to believe.
But where did Zabuza received such contempt? He was now furious for being looked down on: "A brat like you dare to call me a no-name...! That's it now you have done it!!!"
... step…. step…. fooosh….
Kuroto immediately injected chakra into his legs and rushed towards Zabuza at a flashing speed!
This was the opportunity he was waiting for!
Although Zabuza was surprised by Kuroto's sudden change of actions, but he wasn't just some rookie ninja, after all, refocusing his mind to the state of battle-ready, he immediately slashed his sword horizontally opposite to the direction of Kuroto's incoming momentum.
"Swish…"
The cutting wind generated by the slash rushed in Kuroto's direction.
But Kuroto wasn't afraid at all, and no one has noticed the Tenseigan shining with magnificent light under the goggles he was wearing.
Through the incomparable insight on the Tenseigan, he had already noticed the flow of Chakra in Zabuza rushing towards the Chakra veins in his hands, and at the same time, there was no chakra rushing towards his legs at such intensity adding to the fact that there was no sharp contraction of muscles in his legs.
This series of small details led Kuroto to know Zabuza's tactical intentions in advance.
Zabuza made the horizontal slash just to force Kuroto back, the leg muscles didn't contract to show there would be no follow up chasing or incoming sword slash attacks towards Kuroto's retreat, and since the chakra was still continuously rushing towards his hands indicated that he plans to use ninjutsu attack to follow up the previous slash.
After understanding Zabuza's intention and making all the tactical calculations in a matter of split seconds, Kuroto directed chakra in his muscles accordingly.
For the others witnessing the fight.
Kuroto suddenly stopped!
Leaned back a little! And then rushed towards at a faster speed....!
Kuroto's whole set of movements were done in an instant while avoiding the cross slash; with almost no extra effort, he didn't retreat and went ahead in Zabuza's direction.
"...…What............??????"
Seeing that the enemy didn't change his direction or retreated, it seemed that he wasn't worried whether Zabuza would add a follow-up sword slash, instead use ninjutsu in the direction of his retreat, that is if he did retreat.
Instantly he realized that Kuroto has seen through his tactic, but now it was already too late to change his course of action, Kuroto was already very close and not at all deceived, as soon as he approached Zabuza, he waved his hands and struck a series of Gentle Fist attacks.
Seeing the incoming strike, Zabuza's heart couldn't calm down.
At this moment, whether he swings the sword or directly discard it to make a series of hand seals to launch some ninjutsu attack, it was already too late.
Bang… bang… and bang......
A series of low muffling sounds of palm hitting the body sounded in the field, but it was transmitted clearly to the ears of everyone present here.
Amidst the sound of the palm strikes, Zabuza's body trembled and finally dropped to the ground like a deflated ball.
…...plop...
…..
.
......hisssss...…
Whether it was the other three Anbu of the Mist Village or Konoha's Anbu, both sides took a cold breath.
Not for anything but because Kuroto solved Zabuza like a piece of cake!
Is it so simple to defeat Zabuza?
Obviously, No!
The strength of Momochi Zabuza is simply amazing, neither Hatake Kakashi, hailed as the most genius in this generation of Konoha Shinobi, nor the Anbu Shinobi standing next to him would be able to win against him with complete certainty.
But Kuroto appeared so relaxed, the confrontation was so simple, and he defeated Zabuza pretty easily as if the opponent was just some fledgling underdog.
Kuroto's on the other hand, still kept the indifferent and cold expression.
He glanced at the three other mist shinobi standing not far away, turned around, and kicked the unconscious Zabuza in their direction.
"Take him and get out!"
The three Mist Shinobi's supported Zabuza, while one of them spoke, "We are ordered to hunt down the rebellious nin!"
Upon hearing this reply Kuroto raised his head slightly, looked at the Mist ninjas, and said coldly, "The rebellious nin you speak of is my target. If any of you dare to intervene, I don't mind disposing of you lot together."
Seeing the unconscious Zabuza and 2 more Konoha Anbu, standing not very far away, Mist's group looked at each other, nodded to each other, and then hurriedly retreated while carrying Zabuza on their backs.
After the Mist Shinobi's retreated Kuroto didn't speak anything to the Anbu, directly called Guy, who had wrapped his wounds, and continued to chase after the mission target.
.................................….
After both Guy and Kuroto left, the two Konoha Anbu ninja looked at each other.
The elder Anbu muttered, "Hey, did that kid used Revolving Heaven just now? Is he from the Hyuga Clan?"
Kakashi who was still in his Kitsune Mask nodded to the elder Anbu's word and spoke, "Well, I know both of them. We are from the same class from the academy, one is Might Guy, and the other one is Hyuga Kuroto."
Elder Anbu was surprised by Kakashi's words, "If I remember correctly, in your year, other than you there were no promising students, right? Then how come both of them were so strong?"
That's right, most of the Shinobi's of Kakashi's year have already died in the war, and those who survived were high-level chunin, only Kakashi was ahead of his pears and managed to qualify as a Jonin at such a young age, so in the eyes of Anbu, Hatake Kakashi is the most genius of his generation, but here it appears that's not entirely the case.
Kakashi was also at a loss at this moment.
He didn't have a very deep impression of Kuroto, according to his understanding Hyuga Kuroto was a mediocre student and didn't have any sort of talent to attract any attention to himself, but Kuroto's performance today really surprised him, the attitude and confidence Kuroto showed in the face of the assassination unit of the Mist Village, unconsciously reminded Kakashi of his teacher, Namikaze Minato!
The elder Anbu continued with some emotions in his words, "Make sure to write down the event of today and report to Hokage-sama after returning. Such talents should be brought to Anbu first, especially in the situation the village is facing currently."
........................…
On Kuroto's side.
Guy couldn't help but ask Kuroto, "Kuroto, why don't we just ask the Anbu ninja if they have any information about those rebellious ninjas?"
Kuroto smiled upon hearing Guy's question, "Because it would be pointless, so there is no need for that since the Mist Assassination unit appeared here indicates that those wandering ninjas are indeed rebellious-nin of Mist Village, and the appearance of Konoha Anbu here should be only for monitoring this very assassination unit, otherwise they would have already started the battle."
Now there is no need to think anymore, it is not difficult to guess.
Mist Village sent assassination unit simply means they want to clean up their mess themselves and take away the corpses with them. This means that there might be a ninja among the rebels with Kekkai Genkai unique to the Mist Village
Kakashi and the other Anbu were obviously sent to monitor the entry of the Mist assassination unit in the Land of Fire, this can be confirmed because they didn't start the battle but only stood in a stalemate.
Now that Guy heard Kuroto's words, it made sense.
'If the Konoha Anbu ninjas were only responsible for monitoring the entry of the Mist assassination unit, then they wouldn't have exact information about the team of those wandering ninjas. Moreover, I have already locked the traces of the team of wandering ninjas, so there's no need to delay any time.' Thought Kuroto silently.
Then they continued to chase when suddenly Guy said, "Kuroto, what you did just now in the battle just now was really beautiful, I really didn't expect that the enemy couldn't even stop or counter your approach."
Kuroto's lips curved slightly after hearing Guy praise him, although only slightly but he smiled in a reserved manner............
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Chapter 25: Chapter - 25 Chase Continues
In the performance just now, Kuroto was actually a little proud, but he would not let it go to his head.
The reason for that is very simple.
No matter how strong Zabuza is, after a hard fight with Guy both his stamina and physical strength were consumed a lot, and the most important thing is that he had broken a few ribs. Although a small injury from a shinobi's standard that wasn't very visible from the outside, but it still had a great impact on his combat capacity, especially limited his physical skills.
This is one of the main reasons why Zabuza intended to make Kuroto fall back and rely on the long-range ninjutsu tactics because engaging in taijutsu combat would have undoubtedly given Kuroto an advantage because of his rib's injury.
Therefore, it won't be wrong to say that Kuroto not only took advantage of the opponent's injury but also exploited it pretty effectively, and coupled with the advantage provided by the incomparable insight of the Tenseigan, his win was pretty much guaranteed.
Various factors piled together to create this quick victory for Kuroto.
Of course, it also shows that Kuroto is changing. His original mediocre self is disappearing and is now being replaced by a powerful person with great determination and keen insight who is good at grasping the right opportunities.
Guy who was running on the side asked with some curiosity at this moment, "Kuroto, you didn't seem to be afraid of those mist shinobi's, what do you think was their shinobi rank?"
Kuroto replied: "He should only be a Tokubetsu Jonin at best."
In particular, although Tokubetsu Jonin also falls in the category of a Jonin, they are actually quite different from the real Jonin level, because the term Jonin is a very broad ranking concept with many monsters hidden in it, and in some cases, various Kage-level power-houses also falls in this rank.
On the other hand, Tokubetsu Jonin is a very special class, because the truly strong ninjas easily get promoted to a Jonin quickly, therefore, most of the ninjas who stay at Tokubetsu Jonin rank are inferior to real Jonin ninjas, and the probability of encountering a Kage-level shinobi in this ranking is much less.
Secondly, Kuroto's attitude towards the Mist Village Shinobi wasn't entirely because of his confidence in his strength, but also partly an act.
In fact, Kuroto already began his performance as soon as he was aware of the Konoha Anbu's confronting Mist Village assassination Unit.
Kuroto wants to change the image of his previous mediocre self, but he doesn't want to be seen as an aggressive or ardent person either, therefore who to use as his stepping stone to achieving this objective is very important for him, in terms of strength he has already reached the level of a Tokubetsu Jonin, only the lack of combat experience is a problem for him, therefore suitable opponents are important for both aspects, and luckily enough these Mist Shinobi's just so happens to fill both the category.
His arrogant attitude against the enemy was also a planned tactic, belonging to the Hyuga Clan, one of the major Clan of Konoha Village makes his status to be classified as a noble, even if he is of the branch part, so being a rich and powerful with slight arrogance makes for a perfect image for a shinobi with noble lineage.
And, being a little arrogant makes it difficult for others to mess around with him. When facing an arrogant person, truly smart individuals will definitely think twice before having any unhealthy idea or provoking him for their own good, and this will eventually reduce many troubles for him.
But there is one more reason that prompted Kuroto to build a strong image for himself as soon as possible.
A few days back he learned from Yue a piece of information that is very useful for him. In view of the shortage of manpower in the village, the senior management has decided to select a group of individuals to be promoted to the rank of Tokubetsu Jonin.
And Kuroto definitely wants to seize this opportunity, to get rid of his status as a Chunin promoted during war-time. Currently, his Shinobi status is much inferior to that of a normal Chunin.
Therefore, if he becomes a Tokubetsu Jonin it would be equivalent to stepping up two ranks in one small leap, and he would have surpassed all the Chunin and free from the status of being classified as 'Cannon Fodder' class, by being viewed as a member of high-level combat power in the village.
By becoming a Tokubetsu Jonin be can also submit requests to the village to learn some advanced ninjutsu and even some secret skills if shows his appropriate worth by accumulating the trust of village authorities.
In the beginning, Yondaime-sama also gained the opportunity to learn Hiraishin no Jutsu by accumulating merit points on the battlefield of the second shinobi world war and completing various missions, and obtaining Hiraishin no Jutsu allowed him to lay out a solid foundation for him to eventually reach the combat class of a Kage level Shinobi in due time.
And Kuroto isn't going to waste this opportunity either, therefore becoming a Tokubetsu Jonin is much important for him to obtain some resources, who don't have any inheritance left to him.
While all this was going on within Kuroto's head, both of them finally found the group of wandering shinobi.
There was a total of five of them, all dressed in Mist Shinobi uniform, the leader had white hair tied in a bun with two scarlet dots on his forehead which indicated that he is a member of the Kaguya Clan belonging to the Mist Village.
As soon as Kuroto realized the enemy he spoke in a low voice, "Be careful he seems to be a member of the Kaguya Clan with Shikotsumyako kekkei genkai."
Guy nodded cautiously.
The well-known Kaguya Clan isn't something to be taken so lightly, Guy, who has experienced the war on the Mist front knows this better than Kuroto, the Kaguya Clan is both notoriously powerful and psychologically crazy beyond recovery, therefore they are really feared on the battlefield.
While Kuroto and Guy were analyzing the enemy while still being hidden, one of the rebellious shinobi standing opposite to the ninja of Kaguya Clan among them spoke out loud, "Did Konoha get so weak to have sent two brats to chase us?"
The other companions also laughed, and teased, "Ha ha ha ha… I heard that Konoha's Yondaime Hokage died in his own village not long ago. It seems that the days when Konoha was hailed as the strongest of the five-ninja village is coming to an end...… ha ha ha ha"
Not being provoked because of the mockery, Kuroto looked around and confirmed that there was no other presence nearby, and he decided to try out something that he thought of just now.
Shikotsumyako kekkei genkai of the Kaguya Clan combined with their superb physique almost integrates attack and defense. The general method of combat and weapons won't be of much use against them. Even the Gentle Fist may not be much effective in penetrating the skeletal carcass of Shikotsumyako kekkai genkai, therefore Kaguya Clan is said to have unmatchable taijutsu skills, and unfortunately for the two chunin, both of them are taijutsu specialists.
Therefore, Kuroto decided to use Rein Wheel assault, to attract the leader of this wandering ninja unit and try to seal his chakra with a gentle fist strike before the opponent could activate his kekkai genkai.
After making up his mind, Kuroto deliberately showed a weak front to make the enemy less cautious of him, "This is the territory of the Fire Nation, please leave immediately!"
When the enemy ninjas heard Kuroto's plea, they laughed unscrupulously, some even became so carefree to even take out wine flask from their waist pocket and started drinking wine, not at all being watchful of Kuroto and Guy.
'Nice!' Kuroto thought inwardly.
Taking a few steps forward, Kuroto pretended to present a little weak stubborn attitude, and shouted, "If you don't leave at this very instant, then don't blame Konoha for being rude!"
Now, this attracted the attention of all the others, Kuroto was using the backing provided by the Konoha Village, therefore the ninja of the Kaguya Clan also walked forward a few steps towards Kuroto, and said with a mocking smile: "Boy, you know who I a..."
Just halfway through his sentence, then suddenly he felt a strong force acting on him and drawing him in the direction of Kuroto.
As soon as the target flew up, Kuroto intercepted him instantly!
Originally, there was only a gap of about 10 meters between the two parties, and as the enemy walked closer to reduce that distance, he reached towards Kuroto in the blink of an eye under the acting force of Rein Wheel, as soon as the two sides intercepted.
Bang... bang… bang…
With the muffled sound of palm strikes, the ninja of the Kaguya Clan didn't even get the opportunity to active his Kekkai Genkai ability, due to chakra points being sealed by Gentle palm strikes.
Sealing all the Chakra points wasn't the end, Kuroto went further and used Gossip Palm strikes against him, aiming at the vital points and due to the enemy being unable to protect himself, it destroyed his brain.
As a result of which the whole person fell to the ground like a sandbag without being able to do anything.
These rebellious shinobi are different from the Mist assassination unit they faced not long ago, the task requirement is to dispose of these ninjas, therefore Kuroto went for the killing strikes from the very beginning.
At the same time, Kuroto initiated the attack he also signaled Guy; therefore, Guy also went ahead to start his series of close quarter combat with the other shinobi.
Except for the ninja of the Kaguya Clan, the other four were only high-level genin therefore even before Kuroto could come to support Guy, they were already lying in a pool of blood.
Kuroto and Guy didn't waste any time, after rechecking of anyone's presence around and repeatedly confirming that no one else was left to be disposed of, they sealed the corpses of ninjas in the sealing scroll and returned to the village without any more delay.
On the way, Guy couldn't help but ask in wonder, "Kuroto, what was that attack just now? How come the leader of these wandering shinobi flew towards you?"
Kuroto smiled and spoke with an arrogant snort, "Don't think that you are the only one with a secret technique at his disposal. The trick I just used is a secret technique too."
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