Kazuma wasn't dead.
He lay on the ground screaming.
Both arms were broken; the agony drenched him in sweat and drained all color from his face.
Kitazawa stepped up and knocked him out with a single punch.
Kazuma couldn't die yet.
He was the target Kitazawa had chosen for his Substitute Technique.
Kitazawa straightened and looked over at Kurenai and the others—Yakushi Kabuto among them—their fight still raging.
He thought it over and didn't step in.
Building combat experience isn't a bad thing.
He couldn't protect them every second anyway.
Kurenai's opponent was Fuen, a young woman with long black hair and vivid makeup.
"Earth Release: Flying Thrown Stones!"
Fuen flashed through hand seals. The ground burst open and countless shards of rock whirled up, kicking a dust storm around her.
Kurenai reflexively backed off—
—and immediately sensed the problem.
This Earth Release wasn't an attack; it was disruption.
Fuen's figure vanished inside the swirling grit.
At that moment the ground beneath Kurenai writhed and thrust up into a sharp rock pillar—like a spear lunging from below to run her through.
"Rasengan!"
Kurenai had expected the ambush and was ready.
Crack!
The pillar shattered and spun away in pieces.
Body Flicker!
Without pausing, chakra surged under Kurenai's feet and she sprang back, opening space.
As the seconds passed, the dust thinned.
Kurenai glanced back—and caught the faint outline of Fuen.
Her hands snapped up and she sent a flurry of shuriken flying.
"Earth Release: Rock Pillar!"
A massive rock column surged up in front of Fuen.
The shuriken thudded into the stone.
Like a wall, the pillar blocked both the barrage and Fuen's line of sight.
The instant Fuen lost visuals, Kurenai moved.
She flickered to the pillar and slammed a Rasengan into it.
Boom!
A gaping hole blew through the column.
"What—?"
Fuen found herself staring into Kurenai's eyes.
Her heart lurched; she started to slip away—when the sky went dark.
Fuen froze on instinct.
She glanced left and right. Everything was pitch-black.
A nameless fear crept up her spine.
What technique is this?
Silence closed in. She couldn't see a thing—not the world, not Kurenai.
Her fingers tightened around a kunai.
A sound whispered at her back.
She whipped both hands and hurled the blades.
Kurenai appeared at her left, and a Rasengan crashed into her.
Fuen screamed once and went limp, unconscious.
Kurenai let out a breath.
Fuen wasn't weak—maybe not jōnin-class, but definitely elite among chūnin.
And her specialty—Earth Release that obscured vision—naturally blunted genjutsu.
Good thing the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique paired with Rasengan was strong enough to finish it cleanly.
The corner of Kurenai's mouth lifted. Close call.
With Kitazawa around, her strength had skyrocketed.
If she could fully master sealing arts next, she'd be a proper jōnin.
Seeing Kurenai win, Kitazawa shifted his gaze to Kabuto.
Kabuto's opponent was Fūka.
Of Kazuma's three subordinates, Fūka was unquestionably the strongest—
—because she could freely use all five basic natures.
"You're pretty good," Fūka purred, licking her lips, eyes turning sultry. "Come to onee-san—I'll show you pleasure like you've never known."
Kabuto's answer was simple.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Shuriken!"
"Someone doesn't know how to take a hint," Fūka laughed, flying through seals as the ground's stone rose into spikes and smashed into the wind-charged shuriken.
Body Flicker!
Chakra burst under Kabuto's feet. He closed on Fūka, kunai in hand, its edge sharpened with wind chakra.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Blade!"
Blue light flashed along the blade, a razor arc scything toward Fūka's throat.
"Got you, little boy."
Fūka's eyes widened; invisible chakra flared.
"Temporary Paralysis Technique!"
Kabuto's body locked in place.
The kunai froze a hair's breadth from Fūka—no closer.
She slid past the blade and drifted up to Kabuto, leaning in with red lips.
Her secret art—the Execution by Kiss.
Through a kiss, she could drain her target's chakra.
In the original tale, even Naruto got a taste of this—though Naruto wasn't alone in a fight.
He had a fox.
When Fūka drew in Nine-Tails chakra, it ruined her, and she died for it.
"I've found your weakness," Kabuto said suddenly.
"What was that?" Fūka paused the kiss, eyes narrowing.
"Your five-nature ninjutsu isn't smooth," Kabuto said evenly. "Especially the beat when you switch natures—there's always a hitch."
He'd been trading blows with Fūka for a while.
He'd finally put it together.
When Fūka chained the same nature—say, wind—she was fluid.
But switching from wind to earth brought a momentary stall.
Most important was her ceiling.
A shinobi who truly controlled all five natures would, under normal circumstances, be jōnin-class.
Fūka was not jōnin-class.
If something's off, there's a trick.
If she wasn't a jōnin, then it had to be some special secret art.
"You really are clever," Fūka giggled. "Which just makes me want to eat you up even more!"
"Hair Binding Technique!"
She tossed her head; her hair lengthened in a rush, snaking out to bind Kabuto.
At that instant, Kabuto—supposedly trapped by Temporary Paralysis Technique—moved.
He'd kept her talking to buy time to break the bind.
Temporary Paralysis Technique was a special genjutsu.
Kabuto rolled his right wrist and sliced through her hair with the kunai.
He used the opening to dart back and create distance.
"No! My hair!"
Fūka's face twisted. "You bastard! I'll kill you!"
Hair?
A spark went off in Kabuto's mind.
He remembered her threat to "eat" him, and a theory snapped into place.
"Water Release: Snake's Mouth
Fūka raced through hand seals. Chakra flooded into water that pooled and coursed around them like a shallow stream.
"Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder!"
She pressed both hands to the earth, ramming lightning chakra down.
Lightning erupted, racing along the watercourse in a blinding flash.
"Wind Release: Gale Palm!"
Kabuto clapped his hands and blasted a gale forward.
They collided.
Bolstered by the stream, the lightning punched through the wind.
The surge swallowed Kabuto, paralyzing and searing him. He hit the ground hard.
"That's what happens when you don't behave," Fūka sniffed, then smiled again. "But it'd be a shame to waste your chakra."
She crouched over him and leaned in to kiss once more.
A blue edge flickered and was gone.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Blade!"
Kabuto's kunai swept—and took her head clean off.
"H-how are you awake already?" Fūka's severed head hovered, scarlet hair streaming.
"So your true body really is the hair," Kabuto said, perfectly calm at the gruesome sight.
As for how he woke so fast—Yin Healing Wound Destruction.
He'd mapped the lightning's main path and layered yang-release chakra in advance to cut the damage as much as possible.
Especially around his head, Yin Healing Wound Destruction kept his consciousness intact.
Kabuto didn't wait for a reply. His arm blurred.
The kunai flashed again and again.
That beautiful red hair fell in chopped lengths, scattering across the ground.
"No!"
Horror and disbelief twisted Fūka's features.
Too late.
As the last locks were severed, her consciousness slipped away for good.
Kabuto dropped onto his rear and wiped the sweat from his brow.
Even with Yin Healing Wound Destruction, being engulfed by a wide-area lightning technique hurt like hell. His body was marked up all over.
Kitazawa flickered to a stop in front of him.
He held out a hand and let pale green chakra flow.
"Thank you, Kitazawa-sensei."
Kabuto felt the tension melt as the burns knotted by lightning began to knit over at speed.
"Just don't blame me for not stepping in sooner," Kitazawa said with a grin.
"I understand."
Kabuto had noticed Kitazawa finished his own fight before him—and then simply watched.
He'd figured it out: this was training.
In the brutal shinobi world, that was the right call.
Kabuto's eyes slid, almost involuntarily, to Aburame Torune and Uchiha Izumi.
Their fight had just ended.
Unlike Kabuto's one-on-one, they'd gone two-on-one against Fudō.
Fudō was a massive, powerful male shinobi—an Earth Release specialist.
Right off the bat, Uchiha Izumi opened her one-tomoe Sharingan.
She flashed through seals and spat a huge fireball.
"One-tomoe Sharingan?" Fudō shook his head. "A mere genin—how reckless."
"Rock Armour!"
His body turned harder than rock.
He crashed through the fireball without a scratch.
"What—?"
Izumi's pupils tightened.
A heartbeat later, Fudō was in her face.
His punch slammed into her stomach and launched her.
She hit the ground and coughed blood.
"Hm?"
Fudō took a step—then swarms of black insects boiled up from the ground and crawled over his feet.
He ignored them, trusting in Rock Armour.
He snapped a kick to fling off most of the bugs, then lumbered toward Izumi—
—and suddenly locked up.
The remaining insects spewed potent venom.
It ate through his hardened skin and flooded inward.
"Urk!"
Fudō crashed down and stopped breathing.
"Torune's venom is nasty," Kabuto murmured, impressed.
"His bugs can kill even a jōnin," Kitazawa said, drawing back his hand. "Patch up the rest yourself—I'm going to check on Izumi."
"Understood, Sensei."
Most of Kabuto's damage was already handled; only minor cleanup remained.
"Izumi, how are you feeling?"
Kitazawa set a hand to her forehead.
Pale green chakra flowed in.
Kabuto's lightning wounds were mostly external.
Izumi had taken a body-blow to the gut—her internal organs were damaged.
"Sorry, Kitazawa-sensei. I held everyone back," Izumi said, embarrassed.
Kabuto and Torune had decided the fight.
She alone had been floored by a single punch.
[Your student Uchiha Izumi feels she's not strong enough. As her teacher, you should help her improve.]
[Current Mission: Help Uchiha Izumi become elite among chūnin.]
[Reward: Demonic Illusion: Mirror Heaven and Earth Change.]
[Accept?]
Kitazawa's brows rose.
A pleasant surprise.
"Demonic Illusion: Mirror Heaven and Earth Change"—a Sharingan genjutsu that dispels an enemy's illusion and reflects it back.
In other words, a hard counter to all non-Sharingan genjutsu.
His eyes dropped to the objective.
His first thought was to help Izumi awaken two-tomoe.
But her path wasn't like Sasuke's—it was more conventional.
In the original, she awakened three-tomoe witnessing the clan's night of annihilation.
Getting her to two-tomoe would be tricky—she'd need the right stimulus.
Even so, there was plenty to do with fire and genjutsu in the meantime.
"Torune and Kabuto came up through Root. Their training was brutal, so they're stronger overall," Kitazawa said as he healed. "Once this mission wraps, I'll teach you genjutsu and fire style to boost your power."
"Thank you, Kitazawa-sensei!" Izumi said, grateful.
"It's nothing," Kitazawa replied. "I'm your teacher. Teaching you is only natural."
Truth be told, even without the objective he'd planned to raise Izumi's level.
"You all did great—clean finish on Kazuma's three underlings."
When he was done healing, Kitazawa smiled at Kurenai and the others and gave them their due.
"Well, the hardest one—Kazuma—was handled by you. If we couldn't at least clean up his lackeys, we'd be letting you down," Kurenai shot back with a teasing glare.
"But we're not done yet," Kitazawa said, giving her cheek a playful pinch—earning an instant death-glare.
Kabuto and the others were still right there.
They were very tactful and kept their heads down like they'd seen nothing.
"Kurenai, take Kabuto and the rest to find Asuma," Kitazawa said, voice turning serious again.
"What about you?" Kurenai frowned.
"I'll disguise myself as Kazuma and lead the Guardian ninja who back him to assassinate the Land of Fire's daimyō," Kitazawa said. "You and Asuma guard the daimyō in advance and be ready to save him."
"Won't they see through it?" Kurenai asked, worried. "Those Guardians are all Special Jōnin."
"I've learned a disguise technique. They won't notice," Kitazawa said.
"Be careful," Kurenai murmured. She still wasn't entirely at ease, but chose to trust him.
"If Asuma asks where I am, tell him I'm monitoring Kazuma. When the assassination starts, I'll appear," Kitazawa added after a beat.
"Okay."
Kurenai turned to Kabuto and the others. "Let's move."
After they left, Kitazawa glanced at the corpses of Fudō, Fuen, and Fūka.
After a moment's thought, he burned them to ash with Fire Release.
Dead men tell tales, but since the trio served Kazuma and not one of the Five Great Villages, they weren't worth much.
He couldn't be bothered to lug them back to Konoha.
Kitazawa walked over to the unconscious Kazuma.
He raised his hands and formed seals.
"Substitute Technique!"
Chakra surged from his palms and wrapped Kazuma completely.
Kitazawa's features shifted.
At the same time, a flood of ninjutsu knowledge flashed through his mind.
"This technique is downright busted," Kitazawa muttered, glancing down at himself.
He was now Kazuma—and he now "knew" a slew of wind and earth techniques.
Unfortunately, it was only temporary.
Once the technique ended, the wind and earth releases would vanish without a trace.
If it worked otherwise, he could've used this to learn a mountain of jutsu overnight.
He hauled Kazuma up and vanished.
Capital of the Land of Fire.
"What did you say?" Sarutobi Asuma was stunned. "Kazuma's going to assassinate the daimyō? He's lost his mind!"
"No time to waste," Kurenai said gravely. "Notify Chiriku and the others—we set up early. Kazuma won't succeed."
"Right!"
Asuma thought it through—and realized it was good news.
He'd been waiting for Kazuma to slip up; the chance had finally come.
Then his heart skipped.
He remembered Kitazawa telling him he had a way to make the daimyō despise Kazuma and his people.
Was this the plan?
No time to dwell. Asuma gathered Chiriku's group and headed for the palace where the daimyō resided.
After some hesitation, he chose not to warn the daimyō ahead of time, and instead set an ambush around the palace.
Kurenai and Kabuto's team joined him as backup.
Time ticked by.
Night fell. Six figures strode openly up to the palace gates.
Kazuma led them.
"So he really came," Asuma breathed, eyes locked on Kazuma.
He'd mulled it over for a long time and concluded Kitazawa's plan was to impersonate Kazuma and attempt the assassination.
But the five Guardian ninja behind "Kazuma" shook his certainty.
Basic Transformation would never fool special jōnin—especially right in front of them.
Could it actually be the real Kazuma?
A second later, Asuma had his answer.
"Earth Release: Rock Pillar Prison!"
"Kazuma" slammed both palms to the ground.
In an instant, rock pillars erupted up to ring the palace, forming a temporary cage.
"Kazuma-sama, what are you doing?"
The palace guards swarmed in.
"Wind Release: Flower Scattering Dance!"
Without a word, Kazuma conjured a compact whirlwind that flung every guard away.
They weren't shinobi; they couldn't resist at all.
"K-Kazuma, you—"
The palace doors blew open. A middle-aged man stared at him, shaking.
"Your Excellency the Daimyō," Kazuma boomed. "If you won't support me, I'll simply replace you with one who will!"
"Asuma!"
The man suddenly thought of something and shouted, "Asuma—save me, quickly!"
~~~
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