436 Learning Ninjutsu in a Glance

Shinju frowned as he looked at the chakra barrier in front of him.

"This is…"

The barrier's strength wasn't very high for him—he could basically break it just by throwing a punch.

What truly caught his interest was the life fluctuation hidden inside the barrier…

"This might be a forbidden technique activated by sacrificing life…" Shinju guessed.

Then, he raised his hand!

With a loud bang, the barrier shattered into pieces under Shinju's tremendous force!

Inside the barrier—

The middle-parted man and the three brothers who were fighting were all stunned!

"This is a forbidden technique completed by Asaka sacrificing his life—who broke it?!" one severely injured Land of Haze's ninja clutched his chest and said.

"This middle-parted man is already hard enough to deal with, and now another one shows up… If this keeps up, we won't be able to complete our mission!" another Land of Haze's ninja echoed.

The four Land of Haze's ninja brothers were named Asaka, Hiruga, Yoruga, and Yūga.

Earlier, the four of them had been fighting the middle-parted man together.

After realizing how powerful he was, Asaka used the forbidden technique "Guide to the Yellow Springs," opening a massive barrier. By sacrificing his own life, he summoned creatures from the realm of death, trying to hold the middle-parted man back so his brothers could escape.

But the middle-parted man was overwhelmingly strong—he dealt with the death-realm creatures with ease and gave them no chance to flee…

"This can't go on!" Hiruga said through gritted teeth.

The next moment, he formed hand seals and charged straight at the middle-parted man, shouting loudly:

"Land of Haze's Ninja Forbidden Technique!"

"Whooo—!!"

A crimson storm erupted instantly, giving the middle-parted man no chance to escape as it swallowed him whole!!

This was the Land of Haze's ninja's ultimate attack technique, unleashed by sacrificing life itself—capable of shredding a ninja's body into pieces with ease!

A few seconds later, the crimson storm dissipated.

Hiruga was dead!

At the spot where the red storm had been, the middle-parted man stood wrapped head to toe in a mysterious black substance, completely unharmed!

"So this is the technique you get by sacrificing your lives? Pretty mediocre, huh? (＾ワ＾)" the middle-parted man mocked.

"Hand over the Hashirama cells obediently, and I'll let you die a little more comfortably!"

As he spoke, he slowly walked toward the terrified Yoruga and Yūga.

The next instant—

Splurt!!

Blood sprayed everywhere!

An extremely long chakra blade pierced straight through the middle-parted man's chest!

The middle-parted man turned his head back in shock, only to discover that at some point, a red-haired man wearing a Konoha forehead protector had appeared behind him!!

"You—"

Blood choked his throat. Before he could finish his sentence, he collapsed to the ground, motionless!

Behind him, Shinju spread his hands.

"So I was wondering how tough your body really was. ┐(´-｀)┌"

Across from him, Yoruga and Yūga exchanged a look. (≖╻≖;)

It was hard to imagine that the terrifying enemy who had forced them to use life-sacrificing forbidden techniques had actually been backstabbed!

Still, this red-haired man didn't look like a good guy either!

Shinju reached out and crooked a finger at the two Land of Haze's ninja brothers.

"Hand over the Hashirama cells, and I can spare you both some physical suffering."

Although their other brothers were already dead, Yoruga and Yūga strictly upheld the ninja code, valuing the mission above their own lives!

"In your dreams!"

Yoruga roared in fury, then shouted loudly:

"Land of Haze's Ninja Forbidden Technique—"

A few seconds later—

Shinju kicked the two Land of Haze's ninja brothers lying on the ground.

"What, you're already down? You haven't even finished casting your forbidden technique yet! (๑ت๑)"

After saying that, Shinju rummaged around on them for a bit and found the culture tank containing the Hashirama cells!

"All that effort wasn't for nothing—finally found it!"

After that, Shinju hoisted the half-dead Land of Haze's ninja brothers up, planning to use them as bargaining chips to have a proper negotiation with the Land of Haze.

"Oh right, take the middle-parted guy too. That ninjutsu of his that creates black armor is really strange…"

As he spoke, Shinju turned back, planning to grab the middle-parted man—

ヽ( ຶ▮ ຶ)ﾉ!!!

"Where is he? ⊙▽⊙"

"He was just right here—how did he suddenly disappear?! (๑ʘ̅ д ʘ̅๑)!!!"

"Don't tell me he didn't actually die? That shouldn't be possible—I pierced straight through his heart with that strike… --003d_--003d"

Afterward, Shinju searched the forest again, but still couldn't find any trace of the middle-parted man!

After bidding farewell to Chino, Shinju picked up Neji and the others who were far away in the Land of Valleys, and returned to Konoha together!

...

Inside a different dimension.

Victor wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and looked down at the middle-parted man lying on the ground.

"Deepa, to save you, I really walked the edge between life and death."

Deepa opened his eyes, still full of defiance.

"Next time I fight him head-on, I won't lose again! I'll carve the flesh off his body slice by slice! (ꐦ ಠ 皿 ಠ)"

Victor replied,

"Give me a break. Even the two of us together aren't his match!"

"Didn't you hear the boss tell us to be careful around him… I honestly think even the boss isn't his opponent! Σ( ° △ °|||)︴"

"Speaking of the boss, that reminds me—the Hashirama cells are gone, and you're hurt this badly. How are we supposed to report back…〒_〒"

...

Land of Fire, Konoha Village.

Shinju created a shadow clone and recorded the details of this mission experience in full.

This was something every ninja had to do after completing a mission.

After that, he wrote a letter to the Land of Haze's Ninja Village, describing what had happened this time and asking how much money they were willing to pay to ransom their people…

Once everything was done, Shinju pulled out a game console and started an intense and thrilling match.

But because his mind was still occupied with other thoughts, he lost three games in a row!

Shinju simply tossed the console aside and muttered to himself,

"How exactly did that middle-parted man disappear…"

"Even though I didn't activate chakra sensing at the time, he vanished right behind me—I definitely should've noticed something…"

"And why was he also trying to seize the Hashirama cells?"

After thinking it over, Shinju felt that the root of everything still lay with Victor's company!

He summoned the ANBU and ordered,

"Investigate Victor's company."

The Masked Man nodded.

Shinju continued,

"Oh right—has anything turned up on Kara?"

The ANBU shook his head.

"The Kara organization operates extremely covertly. Please give us some time."

"Alright, you may withdraw," Shinju waved his hand.

After that, Shinju went back to handling paperwork as usual and got off work.

On the way home, Shinju passed by Ichiraku Ramen and saw Jiraiya eating inside the shop.

"Sensei," Shinju called out as he naturally sat down beside him.

"Konoha keeps getting better and better. You've worked hard, kid," Jiraiya said sincerely, patting Shinju on the shoulder.

Shinju chuckled.

"If you really feel bad for me, then—"

Before he could finish, Jiraiya cut in,

"Then I'll treat you to a bowl of ramen!"

"Eat as much as you want today—it's on me! ୧⍢⃝୨"

Shinju nodded.

"Works for me!"

Very soon, Jiraiya's eyes went wide!

Shinju ate eighteen bowls of ramen in a row!

Jiraiya said,

"You don't have to go this far just to bankrupt your sensei… Σ(っ °Д °;)っ"

Shinju waved for the nineteenth bowl, slurping noodles as he said,

"No, I'm genuinely exhausted."

"Using your brain burns a lot of energy too."

Jiraiya touched his deflated wallet, wondering how he could sneak away without paying.

Tsunade's allowance for him was really limited.