Hyūga Ming hid in the shadow of a roof beam, quietly observing the fight below.
Not everyone possessed powerful sensory abilities—at the very least, neither of the two chūnin locked in battle beneath him did. They were still fighting intensely, completely unaware of his presence.
"Water Release: Water Shuriken Technique."
After several exchanges, Kusamori leapt back, rapidly forming hand seals. Several shuriken condensed out of thin air, flying forward with tremendous force.
His opponent—a chūnin wearing a straw hat, his face wrapped in bandages—was pierced straight through by the water shuriken.
Yet no blood spilled. Only streams of water flowed from the wounds.
Bang!
The body collapsed into a puddle.
Hyūga Ming saw it clearly.
In the moment they separated, the enemy had already completed the seals for a Water Clone. Using the clone to block Kusamori's vision, he had circled around under cover of the house's darkness, slipping behind Kusamori while continuing to form hand seals.
"Water Release: Poison Mist Technique!"
The chūnin bit down on a pill. Chakra surged into his mouth, mixing with the crushed medicine and turning into a dense purple mist that blasted straight toward Kusamori.
Sensing danger behind him, Kusamori spun around and raised his kunai—only to be swallowed by the purple fog.
The poison cloud lingered briefly before dispersing.
Kusamori dropped to one knee.
The enemy chūnin drew his blade and charged, clashing directly with Kusamori's kunai.
Clang!
But Kusamori was already poisoned, and the prolonged fight had drained him badly. He was immediately pushed into a losing position.
In Hyūga Ming's eyes, this wasn't just being suppressed—
Kusamori was about to die.
The poison itself wasn't especially potent, but continuing intense combat after being poisoned only accelerated its spread. Once it reached the heart, there would be no saving him.
Kusamori clearly understood this as well. Gritting his teeth, he rapidly formed seals.
Bang!
White smoke burst forth. The enemy's blade slashed through a block of wood.
Kusamori turned and ran without hesitation.
He had no intention of continuing the fight—survival came first.
But the enemy chūnin had no intention of letting him escape and immediately gave chase.
"Always acting like a big-shot in front of me. Turns out you're nothing special."
Hyūga Ming curled his lip.
It was his turn now.
After careful calculation, he had already devised a complete method for instantly killing a chūnin.
First, he took out an explosive tag, fixed it to the roof beam, and used chakra to set a precise three-second detonation.
Then—
He threw a shuriken straight at the pursuing chūnin.
3
Hearing the whistling sound, the chūnin spun around and knocked the shuriken aside with his blade.
At the exact moment the shuriken was deflected—
Hyūga Ming activated the Substitution Technique, swapping places with it and appearing diagonally above the chūnin.
The chūnin's eyes widened.
He hadn't seen how Hyūga Ming got there at all—it was as if he'd exchanged positions with the shuriken itself.
What kind of jutsu is that…?
2
It didn't matter.
Seen or unseen—he was dead either way.
Hyūga Ming wore his signature grin, teeth flashing white.
The chūnin was now fully within the range of [Sap].
A translucent club manifested behind him and smashed straight into the back of his head.
[Sap] dealt no direct damage—but its effect was brutal.
The chūnin's prepared Water Body Flicker instantly failed.
He'd been saving it in case Kusamori counterattacked midway. It was just a precaution—
And now it was completely useless.
Hyūga Ming activated Substitution again, swapping positions with the explosive tag.
1
For a full second, the chūnin clearly saw the swelling tag, moments away from detonation.
He kicked off the ground, trying to leap back—
Too late.
0
BOOM!
The explosion hurled the chūnin through the air.
Only then did Hyūga Ming flip down from the roof beam.
The chūnin lay outside the house, his front completely charred.
Still alive.
Hyūga Ming, ever the benevolent soul, couldn't bear to see someone suffer.
He casually tossed several shuriken enhanced with [Bear Pounce], striking the chūnin square in the head.
The head exploded like a watermelon.
A familiar prompt flashed before his eyes.
[EXP +1234]
"Now that is respectable experience."
Hyūga Ming stepped forward and picked up the drop.
Skill: Nen Stitching (Unusable)
"Machì's ability from the Phantom Troupe."
"It's actually perfect for a medical ninja—and extremely versatile."
Unfortunately, he didn't meet the requirements to use it yet.
"Keep it for now. Might be useful later."
He stored the skill away. Other than that, nothing else had dropped.
Hyūga Ming shook his head and walked out.
Kusamori, who had been fleeing, had already stopped—likely realizing from the explosion that the situation had turned.
Seeing Hyūga Ming emerge, Kusamori let out a long breath of relief and hurriedly rummaged through his ninja pouch, swallowing an antidote pill.
The purplish tint on his face faded at a visible rate.
As expected—mediocre poison.
If this had been poison from Chiyo or Hanzo, Kusamori would already be halfway into the grave.
Speaking of Chiyo…
She should still be relatively young at this point, right?
I wonder if swimsuit Chiyo—
Hyūga Ming violently shook his head, forcibly ejecting the mental image.
Old Chiyo in a swimsuit had barged into his mind far too vividly.
Never think about that again.
He looked at Kusamori.
A shuriken was already pinched between his fingers.
He began seriously considering whether to just kill Kusamori right here.
After all—
That was over a thousand experience points.
Kusamori, too, became alert at that moment.
Normally, he wouldn't have taken a mere genin seriously—but right now, having just taken an antidote, fighting would risk the poison flaring back up.
He had no intention of dying from poison because of a genin.
The atmosphere between them turned tense.
Dangerous intent silently spread.
Especially when Kusamori noticed the shuriken in Hyūga Ming's hand, his face went pale.
This lunatic really wants to kill me…
At last, Hyūga Ming sighed helplessly, his face full of regret.
"Kusamori-sama… are you alright?"
As he spoke, he put the shuriken away.
Killing Kusamori now would make his undercover work far too troublesome.
At the very least, he had to wait until he could make contact with Hanzo.
Kusamori finally relaxed a little.
"What was that explosion just now? Where's Suiame?"
"Suiame?" Hyūga Ming replied with a playful expression. "You mean the ninja who attacked you just now?"
"I saw him daring to attack you, sir. I got so angry that I blew him up on the spot."
Bullshit.
Kusamori roared internally.
This bastard clearly just wanted to kill someone.
But the real question—
How did he kill a chūnin so cleanly?
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