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Hayato was carrying a worn-out bundle on his back, moving swiftly through the forest. Maybe it was because he had awakened the Hulk's bloodline limit, but his body had definitely grown stronger than before.
Even if he had trained nonstop for a whole year before, his body never really got much stronger. But ever since the Hulk's blood awakened inside him, despite being on the run constantly, barely having time to train or even eat regularly, his strength had improved a lot.
Hayato could only chalk it up to the power of his awakened bloodline.
His breathing was a little heavy, but he didn't slow down — moving fast and agile through the woods. After spending so much time traveling through forests lately, he had gotten pretty good at moving stealthily between the trees.
Meanwhile, after Hayato's last village was wiped out, Danzo and his men had caught up. It didn't take long for them to find traces of Hayato again.
"Lord Danzo! We've found fresh tracks left by the target. Judging from them, he passed through here less than an hour ago. We'll catch up to him soon," one Root agent reported to Danzo.
"Oh? Is that so? Then let's speed up!" Danzo looked up at the sky and spoke in a low voice, his eyes now burning with urgency.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh — Danzo's group quickly gave chase.
Compared to Danzo's experienced men, Hayato was just a rookie. Before transforming into the Hulk, his strength wasn't even up to a normal lower-rank ninja.
Plus, he had no battle experience with other ninjas — he had no clue how to hide his tracks or avoid being tracked. So it was easy for Danzo's team to catch up with him.
"So this is the kid? Just looks like any ordinary guy. But that bloodline limit of his… damn, it's strong! Go!" Danzo sneered down at the figure weaving through the forest. With a flick of his hand, his Root members instantly charged forward.
Whizz, whizz, whizz — kunai tied to ropes flew out, embedding themselves in nearby trees and the ground around Hayato.
Then several figures moved swiftly, and in the blink of an eye, ropes had bound Hayato tightly.
The Root ninjas stared at how easily they'd tied him up. It felt too simple. Yeah, too simple. This was the same dangerous outlaw who had slaughtered a village before, even wiped out ninja from the Uchiha and Hyuga clans, and had annihilated an entire Root squad — yet here he was, so easily caught, it almost felt unreal.
"What a useless piece of trash. My expectations just dropped. If you can't show me something worth admiring, then just die!" Danzo appeared in front of Hayato with a flash, looking down on him with disdain.
"Damn it! I'm about to get away, and you won't even let me!" Hayato glared at the Konoha ninjas with fierce resentment.
"Hmph? Get away? Not a chance. Since you have a special bloodline limit, unless you become my tool, you must be destroyed," Danzo sneered coldly.
"Damn it… who are you?" Hayato took a deep breath, finally understanding Konoha's attitude. They were really ruthless.
"Danzo. Leader of Root. Now, let me see your bloodline limit. If you really are worthless, I'll kill you just like I did that village," Danzo said flatly, looking at Hayato with arrogant curiosity to test just how powerful that bloodline was.
"What? What did you say?" Hayato was stunned. He thought he'd misheard. That village was just a bunch of ordinary people — normally ninjas wouldn't attack civilians.
"Oh? Looks like you care about that village, huh? If you don't show enough potential, you'll disappear from this world just like they did," Danzo said without a flicker of emotion. The hundreds of lives lost there didn't even register in his mind.
"You, you… you actually massacred a whole village? They were just ordinary people! Just ordinary people! You're ninjas from Konoha, how could you do that?!" Hayato couldn't help but shout, his breathing growing uneven, emotions spiraling out of control.
"They were nothing but ants! Just crushed without a second thought!" Danzo said coldly.
"Ants? Crushed? Aaaahhhh!!! You all deserve to die, deserve to die!!!" Rage exploded inside Hayato like never before.
He'd never hated anyone as much as Danzo — not even those who bullied him before were as despicable in his eyes.
"....."