"Vacuum Sphere... That's Danzo's technique," Naraku muttered under his breath, watching the air bullets hurtling from the shadows.
At least one of the attackers belonged to the Shimura clan.
Effortlessly dodging the incoming projectiles, Naraku darted toward the source of the attack.
"You!" Asuma, who had barely recovered from the earlier explosion, was shocked to see Naraku charging again. But—Naraku didn't stop. He dashed straight past him.
"What is he doing?" Asuma frowned, confused.
Suddenly, a swarm of black insects surged from a nearby tree, engulfing Naraku.
"Chidori!"Electric arcs surged around Naraku's body in a bright blue flash, lighting up the forest.
The insects covering him spasmed in the electric current, dying instantly.
"Insects... Is that an Aburame clan jutsu?" Naraku narrowed his eyes.
If the vacuum sphere signaled a Shimura ninja, the chakra-feeding insects certainly meant someone from the Aburame clan.
It puzzled Naraku—why would members of such a respected clan be part of this ambush?
The Aburame were one of the four noble clans of Konoha. From birth, their bodies were offered as hosts to unique insect colonies that lived symbiotically beneath their skin, feeding on their chakra and obeying their commands. In return, the insects became living weapons.
Naraku considered the implications. It was clear now: Danzo and the Third Hokage had sent these three assassins, calculating that this team would be "enough" to take care of him—and if not, they could claim plausible deniability.
Someone would surely come afterward to clean up the scene, erase the traces, and blame the attack on another village.
"They only sent three... Do they think so little of me?" Naraku smirked coldly.
"Hyuuga Naraku!!!"A crazed roar echoed from behind.
Naraku turned—only to see a bloodied, furious Asuma charging at him.
"Don't pretend you're not the target here!" Asuma yelled.
Even if he didn't fully understand the situation, he could tell Naraku was being ambushed. Despite having just dueled him, Naraku had been holding back—not even activating his Byakugan.
The realization stung deeply.
He had been dismissed. Mocked.
To Naraku, fighting him hadn't even required effort.
Contempt—that was all Naraku felt for him.
"Don't get in my way," Naraku said coldly.
With a swift movement, he struck Asuma's tenketsu, sealing off his chakra.
Boom!
"Damn it! DAMN IT!"Asuma fell face-first into the dirt, coughing up grass and soil. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move his chakra.
All he could do was pound the ground in impotent frustration.
"Wind Style: Vacuum Wave!"The Shimura ninja attacked again, sending a slicing wind blade toward Naraku.
Naraku barely jumped aside.He still didn't activate his Byakugan—almost as if mocking them.
The wind blade carved through a massive tree behind him, slicing it cleanly.
As the leaves fluttered, a masked figure finally emerged from the trees.
His face was blank, eyes dull and lifeless like still water.
This Shimura ninja wasn't about to fight a Hyuuga head-on in close combat. He raised his hands and said:
"Wind Style: Vacuum Serial Waves!"
Dozens of slicing air blades formed at once, emitting a buzzing hum as they filled the sky and shot toward Naraku.
There was no escape—every angle was covered.
But Naraku did the unthinkable.
He charged forward.
A blue chakra barrier rose from his body, enveloping him in a shimmering dome.
"What... is that?" the Shimura ninja murmured.
Even with his extensive knowledge of Konoha clans, he couldn't recognize this as a Hyuuga technique.
"Eight Trigrams: Heavenly Spin? No... It can't be!"
While Heavenly Spin—Hakkeshō Kaiten—was the Hyuuga clan's ultimate defense, this technique was different.
Heavenly Spin expels chakra from all tenketsu while spinning rapidly. But this…
This was something else.
Naraku's barrier compressed and condensed chakra into a hardened shield—more like a miniature Susanoo than a traditional Hyuuga technique.
Wind blades that could slice thick trees glanced off him like leaves in a breeze.
It wasn't that the attack was weak—Naraku's defense was beyond imagination.
Within a 100-meter radius, the forest was torn apart. Trees toppled, soil churned, and the land itself transformed under the onslaught.
But at the center of it, Naraku stood untouched.
He calmly raised a hand and began weaving hand signs.
"Lightning Style: False Darkness."
Pure lightning chakra surged into a sharp electric spear, which launched at the Shimura ninja like a javelin.
"Hah! What a fool," Asuma growled from the ground, watching bitterly."Doesn't he know lightning loses to wind?"
His humiliation was boiling into hatred. A black seed had taken root in his heart—one that whispered for Naraku's downfall.
"I hope he gets torn apart... killed, even…"
The Shimura ninja remained still, unfazed. He weaved a quick hand sign.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
A violent gale blasted forward to intercept the lightning spear.
But—
"Heh~" Naraku smirked.
"Elemental weaknesses? That logic doesn't apply to me."
The electric spear blazed through the wind without slowing down.
The ninja's eyes widened.
"Impossible...!"
Lightning surged through his body before he could react.
The crackling current knocked him unconscious, his limbs jerking as he collapsed to the ground.
Naraku didn't intend to kill him.
He wanted him alive.