The plaza outside the palace.
Kitazawa and Sarutobi Asuma faced each other down.
"Remember to keep it controlled, you two. Getting hurt at a time like this won't help your mission," Kurenai called from a short distance away.
Kabuto, Torune, and Izumi stood beside her, all curious who would win. Asuma was famous in Konoha—he was the Third Hokage's son, after all. But as Kitazawa's students, their allegiance was obvious.
"Come on!" Asuma said with full confidence. He didn't have a top-tier kekkei genkai, but he was a capable elite jonin good at Fire Style and Wind Style.
Kitazawa glanced at the weapons on Asuma's hands—chakra blades like knuckle-dusters, worn across four fingers of each hand.
Body Flicker!
Kitazawa blurred, streaking in at high speed.
"Good!" Asuma wasn't afraid of close combat. He clenched his blades, feeding Wind chakra into them until a faint blue sheen rippled across their surface.
Two blue flashes cut the air as both of Asuma's fists drove at Kitazawa.
Monster Strength!
Kitazawa planted his feet and threw a single punch.
Asuma froze for a beat. What—? Trading bare flesh against chakra blades?
No time to think. He narrowed his eyes: right fist straight to Kitazawa's punch, left blade cutting upward for the wrist.
The fists landed first.
The moment their right fists collided, Asuma's confident expression snapped rigid. An irresistible force surged out of Kitazawa's arm; Asuma's right arm went numb and his body was blasted backward.
Boom!
He slammed into the ground, dust billowing.
Kitazawa didn't chase, simply waited where he stood.
Kurenai stared, stunned. What just happened? She'd guessed Asuma wouldn't be Kitazawa's match—but not that he'd lose in a single exchange. Wasn't he an elite jonin?
"Amazing…" Izumi breathed. The Third's son, flattened by one punch? He wasn't weak—it was Kitazawa who was too strong.
"That's Tsunade-sama's Monster Strength," Kabuto said, pushing up his glasses in that oddly old-soul way. "Asuma-senpai got careless—or rather, underestimated Sensei."
Asuma scrambled up, torn between shock and shame. Losing that badly in front of Kurenai turned his face red-hot.
"Again!"
He wasn't about to accept that.
Fire Style: Ash Pile Burning!
A mass of chakra gathered in his throat; he exhaled a dense cloud of ash. Vision vanished in the grayout, and Asuma's silhouette disappeared with it.
Kitazawa felt the heat gusting in. The ash was scorching—close to molten levels; a brush would burn you. Worse, Asuma was hidden inside it, ready to strike from anywhere.
Water Style: Water Formation Wall!
Unhurried, Kitazawa formed seals. Water swelled out of thin air, spiraling around him into a ringed wall.
"The Second Hokage's water style…!" Asuma, hidden in the ash, felt a jolt. Only Tobirama's version formed four sides, circling the user rather than a single flat wall—meaning fuller coverage.
Ash slammed into water; steam roiled up—yet the wall didn't evaporate, new water constantly filling the gaps.
Kitazawa scanned the haze—then caught the shriek of something tearing air. He turned on reflex to see a chakra blade spear through the water and stab toward him.
Wind Style: Vacuum Blade!
At the last instant, Kitazawa caught it with a kunai—then heard a sharp crack a beat later. A fracture spidered through the kunai.
He wasn't surprised. A blade worth tens of millions of ryō splitting a sub-1,000-ryō kunai made sense.
Asuma flashed into view, gripped the blade, and wrenched—snapping the kunai clean in two.
Shing!
Kitazawa drew the ninja sword Hinata had given him, steel meeting the chakra blade with a squeal.
Asuma's brow rose. Nice sword. He was just about to switch tactics when his pupils jolted—Kitazawa's right palm lifted, a tightly compressed ball of chakra howling as it spun.
"Rasengan?!"
Asuma's heart lurched; he body-flickered backward on instinct. Kitazawa didn't pursue, letting the Rasengan unravel and sheathing the sword. He knew plenty of ninjutsu—but swordsmanship wasn't one of them. He really should find time to learn Konoha-ryu Kenjutsu, or Hinata's gift would gather dust.
Asuma stared, rattled. The Second's water style, the Fourth's Rasengan, and Tsunade's Monster Strength… what the hell? How did a run-of-the-mill academy teacher turn into the Hokage's heir apparent overnight? Compared to that, the Third's son looked like he'd learned nothing from his father—he hadn't even mastered a single one of Hiruzen's specialty techniques.
"Keep going?" Kitazawa asked with a faint smile.
"I've got one more jutsu," Asuma said after two seconds' silence. "If you can take it, I'll admit defeat."
He put away the chakra blades.
Welcoming Approach: Thousand-Armed Murder!
He clapped his hands; chakra roared out. Golden light washed the sky as a ten-meter Kannon with a thousand arms rose behind him.
"What technique is that?" Kurenai, Kabuto, and the others stared, stunned. None of them had seen it before—but they were sure it wasn't a Konoha jutsu.
Kitazawa recognized it at a glance: a secret art of the Fire Temple. He suspected it was related to sage practice somehow, though it was far weaker than true Sage Mode.
Eight Gates—Gate of Opening, open!
He could have just used Konoha's Body Flicker to slip it—but didn't need to. As the first gate opened, chakra in his body boiled.
"You can use the Eight Gates?!" Asuma blurted, shocked yet again—he'd lost count today.
Gritting his teeth, he sent the Kannon surging forward. A thousand fists clenched and all hammered down at Kitazawa.
Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!
A bang—twenty Kitazawas burst from the smoke.
Wind Style: Rasengan!
They sprinted Asuma's way, each palm blooming with a Rasengan infused with Wind chakra. Twenty Wind-Style Rasengans met the storm of fists. Blinding light swallowed the plaza—then came a chain of explosions. Under the slicing Wind chakra, the Kannon's arms shattered like wood being whittled to dust. In less than a second, the golden statue dulled and fractured apart.
Asuma went pale and sagged to the ground. Twenty clones and twenty Wind-Style Rasengans—just how much chakra did Kitazawa have to throw around like that? He certainly couldn't.
Deflated, he understood at last how vast the gap between them was. He was finished—strength, looks, even status. Third's son vs. Tsunade's student—no contest.
"You hurt?" Kitazawa dispelled the clones and walked over, raising both hands as soft green chakra flowed.
"Mystical Palm Technique…?" Asuma's mouth worked wordlessly. If Kitazawa could use Mystical Palm, his medical-ninjutsu alone was jonin-class—never mind the water style, Rasengan, Multi Shadow Clone, and Eight Gates.
"Thanks," Asuma said, standing. "You're a lot stronger than me."
"Then can we help you now?" Kitazawa asked, still thinking of the task Hiruzen had given him—complete this, and he completed his own mission too.
"Of course." Asuma drew a deep breath. "With your help, we can round up Kazuma and the rest in one sweep."
"We'll follow your lead," Kitazawa said with a nod.
"Let's talk inside." Asuma glanced at Kurenai, ultimately swallowing his questions.
They returned to the hall.
"The Guardian Shinobi are completely split," Asuma said slowly. "After a few clashes with us, Kazuma's group moved to another palace."
"If we just take them out, will the daimyō approve?" Kitazawa asked bluntly.
"He won't," Asuma said, shaking his head. "We've been waiting for an opening—waiting for Kazuma to make a mistake."
Kitazawa's thoughts flashed to the original events—Asuma had indeed gotten that opening when, for some reason, Kazuma tried to assassinate the daimyō.
"Waiting is too slow," Kitazawa said with an easy smile. "I've got a way to manufacture that opening."
He was thinking of his Substitute Technique—one that could copy looks, ninjutsu, even thought patterns.
"What do you have in mind?" Asuma asked quickly.
"I can make the daimyō loathe Kazuma's group," Kitazawa said.
"You're sure?" Asuma blinked, then added, "And the daimyō can't suspect us."
"I can do both," Kitazawa said, dead serious.
"If that's true, you're doing us a huge favor," Asuma said, tamping down his lingering doubt.
"Kitazawa's incredible," Kurenai couldn't help adding.
Asuma's expression hitched—ow. From the moment they arrived, Kurenai had been vouching for Kitazawa, even with a note of admiration.
"One more thing," Asuma said, steadying himself. "Kazuma's been missing about a week. I think he's preparing something in secret."
"Missing?" Kitazawa arched a brow. "Even you can't find him?"
"No," Asuma admitted, embarrassed.
Kitazawa thought back over Kazuma's jutsu. Could it be that so-called ultimate Earth Style revival? Earth Release Resurrection Technique: Corpse Soil. It animated corpses in the earth as the caster's puppets; paired with Earth Resurrection, the revived could use all the power they had in life.
If that was it, then there was a trail to follow—because "Corpse Soil" wasn't just any dirt; it was soil heavy with death. And where was saturated with death? Cemeteries.
"Got it. First we find Kazuma; then we sour him with the daimyō," Kitazawa summed up.
"You can find him?" Asuma asked, startled.
"I have a way. Whether it works is another question," Kitazawa said, standing. "I'll try first."
"All right." Asuma paused, then asked, "Do you have somewhere to stay?"
"At an inn," Kitazawa said. "No need to change—no point spooking Kazuma's side."
"Fair." Asuma glanced at Kurenai. "I'll go brief Chiriku and the others—put them at ease."
"Looks like this mission's going to go smoothly," Kurenai exhaled once he left.
"Asuma isn't unreasonable," Kitazawa smiled. "And he's grown here in the Capital." In the original, Asuma had an awakening here, came to understand Hiruzen, and stopped rebelling.
"Yeah," Kurenai agreed. He'd changed a lot—impulsive enough to challenge Kitazawa, but gracious in defeat.
"Kabuto, new task," Kitazawa said, turning to the trio. "Find the cemeteries around the Fire Capital."
"Cemeteries?" Kurenai frowned, puzzled.
Kitazawa ad-libbed a justification and described Kazuma's earth techniques.
"Such a vile Earth Style?" Kurenai's brows knit, anger rising. "Those who defile the dead deserve death!"
Kitazawa thought, just wait till you see tens of thousands of Edo Tensei… Even in the original, Tobirama caught heat for creating it—and even Hashirama disapproved. The dead should be left in peace.
"Just find the locations—don't scout them yourselves," Kitazawa added.
"Yes, Sensei," the three said, turning to go. Torune's insects and Izumi's Sharingan were perfect for reconnaissance—and with Kabuto's brain, Kitazawa felt confident entrusting them.
"I've informed Chiriku," Asuma said when he returned a moment later. "Once you find Kazuma, we move."
"Good," Kitazawa nodded. "In that case, we'll head out."
"Not staying for a meal?" Asuma asked, surprised.
"No. The sooner we find Kazuma, the sooner this ends," Kitazawa said, shaking his head.
"Asuma—one more thing," Kurenai said frankly. "I'm Kitazawa's girlfriend now."
With that, she left with Kitazawa.
No— Asuma's hand lifted on reflex. He'd suspected as much, but hearing Kurenai say it herself still broke his heart. And what could he do? He'd lost to Kitazawa in every way.
Two days later—Friday—Kabuto's team finished their assignment. Using the cemeteries they'd mapped, Kitazawa and Kurenai began their sweep. They finally located Kazuma in a graveyard north of the city.
"Four in total," Kitazawa reported to Kurenai and the others. He'd just used the Byakugan from a secluded spot. "If I'm right, it's Kazuma and his three underlings—Fudō, Fūen, and Fūka."
"Kazuma's mine. You three handle his men," Kitazawa ordered.
"Shouldn't we tell Asuma?" Kurenai worried for Kitazawa's safety.
"Delay brings danger," Kitazawa said with full confidence. "Trust me."
"…All right," Kurenai said, letting it go.
"Move." Kitazawa headed straight for the cemetery.
"Who's there?" a sharp voice snapped, and a volley of fireballs came screaming in. The caster was a beautiful red-haired girl—Fūka. Her true body was her hair; she could shift bodies through it and wield all five basic natures—Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, and Water. Very similar to Kakuzu's Earth Grudge Fear—only hair instead of hearts.
Kitazawa didn't move; Kabuto stepped up.
Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!
He tilted his head back and spat a gale; the chain of small fireballs blew apart.
"Konoha shinobi?" Kazuma emerged with a dark look. "Asuma's reinforcements?"
"Correct," Kitazawa said—and raised a hand. Wind Style: Vacuum Shuriken! The spinning shuriken screamed in, and Kazuma's face tightened as he brought up a wall of earth to block. Before he could breathe, cracks veined the wall and a Rasengan burst through.
Earth Release: Hiding in Rock Technique!
On the brink, he hurled his staff, flashed through seals, and sank into the ground—melding with the bedrock, like a stone-based version of the Hydration Technique.
Clang—the staff took the Rasengan and went spinning away.
Kitazawa leapt, forming seals in midair.
Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!
Chakra roared into flame, turning the ground into a sea of fire in an instant. The blistering heat forced Kazuma back out.
Wind Release: Flower Scattering Dance!
A sudden whirlwind rose in the blaze, shoving the flames aside as Kazuma's figure appeared. He glanced up—Kitazawa was no longer in the air. Heart lurching, he whipped his head around.
The flames to his left twisted—three roaring dragons burst free.
"There!" Kazuma slammed through seals.
Earth Style: Antlion!
The ground beneath him softened and began to churn, swallowing the fire dragons. The blaze guttered—and Kitazawa still wasn't there.
A split-air crack. Kazuma spun—Kitazawa's fist was already on him. He threw up both forearms on reflex—and that was that. Monster Strength at full tilt hit harder than a Rasengan; both of Kazuma's forearms shattered like chalk, and he went flying.