บท 2: Has White Fang Been Reborn?

Three beams of white light severed the necks of the three ANBU. There was no time for screams, for pleas, for understanding the betrayal.

In an instant, they were alive, full of false admiration and blind loyalty.

The next, their lifeless bodies fell to the ground, their ANBU masks rolling away, revealing faces frozen in an expression of pure disbelief.

In those last seconds of consciousness, a torrent of thoughts rushed through their dying minds:

Had Captain Luo Lei really attacked them?

What the hell was going on?!

They were comrades... weren't they?

Wasn't he afraid of being accused of treason?

Wasn't he worried about losing his reputation, being reprimanded by the Hokage, and being ostracized by Konoha?

Unanswered questions swirled in their minds as life escaped them. In the end, they could only collapse, soaking the ground with their blood.

Perhaps, even in their last breath, they didn't understand.

Luo Lei, who had always proclaimed himself a faithful follower of the Will of Fire, the heir to Sakumo Hatake's will... why was he so different now?

Betraying your own was unforgivable...

"Huh?"

Luo Lei's bitter laugh broke the silence. Looking at the three fallen ANBU, he shook his head indifferently.

"Unforgivable, they say," he muttered, his voice barely a whisper. "As if you knew anything about forgiveness."

"I just wanted to train hard and live a good life," he continued mumbling more to the corpses. "But reality... reality didn't give me any chance."

He remembered the days after Sakumo Hatake's death. How he had given up much of the ANBU's power, hoping that would appease suspicions, that it would allow him to live in peace. But not even that had worked.

"Blindly yielding," he spat the words with contempt, "only makes others become more aggressive."

His gaze swept across the battlefield, aware that they were surrounded. The irony of the situation didn't escape him.

These ANBU, these pawns, had expected him to cover their retreat. To sacrifice himself for them!! LIKE SAKUMO HAD DONE!!!

"I'm neither foolish nor naive," Luo Lei declared, his voice gaining strength with each word. "I've been hiding my strength, holding back. But now..."

His sword, the blade still stained with the blood of his former comrades. Chakra began to flow through it, making the sword glow with a blinding white light.

"Now that I'm cornered, I have no other choice." His eyes hardened, all doubt or remorse disappearing from them. "...It's time to let go completely and kill without remorse."

The air filled with tension, charged with the metallic smell of blood.

"....S-Shit!" exclaimed one of the Sand ninjas, breaking the silence. "Did you see that? He just massacred his own!"

"No... it can't be," stuttered another, instinctively backing away. "That move... is it the Hatake Kenjutsu?"

A Chunin, with a pale and sweaty face: "Everyone be careful! This guy... he's a monster!"

Several Chunin retreated. The panic was palpable on their faces.

The Sand Jonin fixed their eyes on the short chakra sword glowing in Luo Lei's hand.

The glow reflected in their dilated pupils, evoking memories of the legendary White Fang of Konoha.

"Impossible," muttered one of them, his voice laden with fear and admiration. "That Kenjutsu... not even the Hatake clan knows it. How the hell...?"

Silence fell again, broken only by the soft whistle of the wind through the trees.

Finally, the female Jonin spoke, her voice a sharp edge that barely concealed a tremor of rage and fear:

"Damn it, Luo Lei," she spat the words as if they were poison. "They've made fools of us. They said you could barely hold a sword, that you were a nobody. What else are you hiding, huh? What other lies have you made us swallow?"

Luo Lei remained motionless for a moment, as if weighing his response. Then, with a careless movement, he removed his cat mask.

The impact was immediate. More than one held their breath, surprised not only by his youth but by the almost unreal beauty of his features.

His black hair fell in soft waves to his shoulders, framing a face that seemed sculpted by an artist obsessed with perfection. But it was his eyes that captured attention: black as a bottomless well, bright and sharp as the edge of a katana.

"Come on, don't mess with me. Did you really believe that Sakumo Hatake's disciple would be useless with a sword? I thought you were smarter than that."

The female Jonin seemed to crumble for an instant, her previous bravado shattered by the revelation. "No... it can't be," she muttered. Her eyes scanned the young ninja's face, lingering on his perfectly proportioned lips.

She swallowed visibly before trying to compose herself. When she spoke again, her voice tried to be seductive, but the underlying tremor betrayed her.

"Hey, Luo Lei," she said, forcing a smile. "You've really messed up, haven't you? You killed your own. Konoha will tear you apart if they find out." She paused, nervously licking her lips. "But... what if you come with us? In Suna, we know how to value talent. We could... protect you."

The wind blew stronger, ruffling Luo Lei's hair, as if nature itself held its breath awaiting his response.

But he shrugged again with indifference.

"Join you? Don't make me laugh. What I want... I'll have... with my own hands. And neither Konoha, nor Suna, nor anyone will stand in my way." He tightened his grip on the sword, the white chakra dancing over his skin as if it were an extension of his very being.

"Let's waste no more words!" roared one of the Jonin.

"Get him!!" shouted another, his eyes bulging with panic.

"Kid, go to hell!" spat the third.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The three Sand Jonin moved, their bodies becoming blurs as they attacked Luo Lei from three directions.

'Shunshin no Jutsu', Luo Lei thought calmly.

The chakra in his body swirled, forming invisible currents that electrified the air around him. Turning him into a shadow.

WHOOSH!

"Such speed..." muttered one of the Chunin, his eyes unable to follow the movement.

"Such powerful chakra..." whispered another, feeling how the pressure of Luo Lei's power crushed him.

The woman's face contorted in horror as she realized what was about to happen. "No!" she screamed in panic. "Fall back! Don't engage him in close combat!"

But her words came too late.

In an instant that seemed to stretch eternally, a sword descended in a deadly arc towards one of the Jonin.

"Nooooo!" The Jonin's torn scream resonated in the place.

His face paled, cold sweat bursting from every pore as the hair on his body stood on end. In his desperation, he channeled all the chakra he could to his body, forming an invisible barrier in a last attempt to save himself.

CLANG!

The metallic sound resonated. The Jonin's defense disintegrated as if it were made of paper. Luo Lei's sword cleanly pierced the Sand ninja's neck.

For a moment, time seemed to stop. The Jonin's eyes widened, a flash of amazement and disbelief shining in them before fading forever.

His mouth opened, but no sound came out. Only a silent question: How?

Thud

The dull sound of the head falling to the ground was followed by a geyser of blood that gushed from the severed neck.

The lifeless body collapsed a second later, blood quickly soaking the thirsty earth.

"Damn it!!" The horrified screams of the other two Jonin resonated. They tried to retreat, their feet slipping on the ground now wet with their comrade's blood.

But he was already upon them, his blurred figure materializing like a specter of death.

At such close range, ninjutsu was useless. In their desperation, they drew their kunai.

CLANG! CLANG!

Two more metallic sounds resonated in rapid succession, the echo bouncing between the trees like a macabre mockery. The Jonin's hands shattered like dry branches, their kunai flying through the air.

Their bodies went rigid, paralyzed by shock and pain.

Before the incredulous eyes of the remaining Sand ninjas, the heads of the two Jonin cleanly separated from their bodies. For an instant, they seemed to float in the air, their expressions frozen in a mask of horror.

Then, they fell to the ground with a thud, rolling to a stop next to the bodies that were already collapsing.

The silence that followed was absolute. Not even the birds dared to sing.

In less than a minute, three elite Jonin had been decapitated. Their bodies lay on the ground like broken dolls.

The remaining Sand ninjas watched the scene, paralyzed with terror.

"Damn it!" The broken voice of one of the Chunin broke the silence. "All the information we had about this guy is false."

"His strength... is close to Kage level," whispered another. "How could Konoha hide such a monster?"

The woman, who moments before had tried to seduce Luo Lei, felt her entire body freeze.

Her pupils contracted until they were barely dots in a sea of terrified white. Reality hit her like a punch to the stomach: from the beginning, they had been the prey.

Her mind screamed in panic.

The man before her... no, the creature before her, was it really human? So young, and already... a monster more terrifying than the legendary White Fang of Konoha.

________

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