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While Hayata Hayato was busy training on his own, the people in Konoha had finally come to a decision after long deliberation: they were heading to the Land of Rain to capture Hayato.
If they couldn't bring him back alive, then bringing back his corpse would be acceptable too.
As for who they were sending—The team included Uchiha Homura and Uchiha Kōrō, both strong members of the Uchiha clan.
From the Hyuga clan, they sent Hyuga Nichiyu, an elite jonin from the branch family. Akimichi Kafu from the Akimichi clan was also part of the team. On top of that, they brought along several sealing experts from the sealing squad.
Altogether, around twenty people were sent. Every one of them was powerful—at the very least, they were all jonin-level.
Most of them had their own bloodline limits or unique family jutsus. This jonin-only task force was seriously no joke—they were elite among elites.
Hayato had no idea that Konoha had sent people after him again, and even less clue that this time, it was a team full of top-tier ninjas. His previous displays of power were just too overwhelming, especially his unique bloodline limit.
No one had ever heard of such a thing before, and it was so strong that people started thinking it might even be more powerful than the Sharingan.
So, from Konoha's point of view, Hayato had to be brought back—no question. Getting him alive would be ideal and super beneficial.
But even if they could only recover his body, it would still be a huge deal. They might be able to learn something from studying it. Of course, all of this was just Konoha's wishful thinking.
Meanwhile, Hayato was in the middle of his training, carrying a massive boulder on his back—over a meter tall, nearly two.
Gritting his teeth, he ran forward with it, each step making his legs tremble and leaving deep footprints in the ground. But he didn't stop, didn't give up.
He didn't have any fancy training techniques, so all he could do was rely on these old-school, brute-force methods to get stronger, to build up his power.
Good thing his healing factor was ridiculously strong. If it were anyone else doing this kind of intense training without any guidance, they'd probably have ended up with internal injuries—or worse, torn muscles and permanent damage.
"ROAR!!" With a loud shout, Hayato lifted the boulder off his back and hurled it aside, landing with a loud boom. Then he collapsed to the ground, completely exhausted, breathing hard.
Every muscle in his body felt like it was being torn apart. Even his organs ached. But thanks to his Hulk bloodline, Hayato didn't think much of it—it was just part of the process.
Even though he was totally worn out, Hayato forced himself to sit cross-legged and start drawing out chakra. He'd noticed that in this kind of extreme state, his chakra extraction speed was way faster than usual—and he could pull out way more chakra too.
He kept up this crazy routine day after day, treating his own body like it wasn't even his, like it didn't matter if it broke down or not.
But all that hard training was paying off. Hayato's chakra level had already reached chunin-level, and not just average chunin—he had more chakra than most chunin out there.
On top of that, his physical strength was off the charts. One look at his thick, rock-hard muscles said it all. His speed had also skyrocketed. Physically, Hayato was an absolute beast.
The only issue was… he barely had any real combat experience. Sure, he'd fought some Konoha ninja before—he even killed two Kage-level fighters, Danzo and Hatake Mosu.
But those fights were all won by sheer force while he was in Hulk form. He just smashed his way through, no technique involved. So in terms of actual battle skills and experience—he didn't have much.
And on top of that, his attack moves were pretty limited. Besides the basic three ninja techniques, the only jutsu he knew was the Rasengan. Other than that, he relied on his fists.
Still, even with his limited moves, Hayato's overall strength put him at the top among chunin. It was all thanks to his insane training.
…
"Up ahead is the Land of Rain," Uchiha Homura said, turning to address the group behind him. "From this point on, we have to stay sharp. This isn't the Land of Fire, and it sure as hell isn't Konoha. If anyone sees us, eliminate them. Do not—do not—let our presence be discovered."
After all, this wasn't just a couple of ninjas sneaking in. They had a whole squad of nearly twenty, and every single one of them was at least jonin-level.
If the Rain village caught wind of this, they might think Konoha was launching a full-on invasion.
"....."