Chapter 18: An Ill-Timed Ambition
Uchiha Akira looked at the man before them with an expression of pure bewilderment. 'Is this guy's brain damaged?' he wondered. Had rogue ninja become so brazen, so utterly unaware of their own insignificance in the grand scheme?
"With your Sharingan, my Demonic Mirror Technique can achieve true perfection! Surpassing the Sannin, attaining true immortality… it will no longer be a dream!" Hiruko's gaze was fixed on Kakashi, burning with a disturbing, fanatical heat.
Kakashi felt a shiver that had nothing to do with the night air. He stared at Hiruko as if the man were a peculiar insect. 'He wants the Sharingan? Then why is he fixated on me? The most orthodox Uchiha in generations is standing right next to me!'
"Why seek me out?" Kakashi asked, his voice flat. "My Sharingan is transplanted."
"Precisely!" Hiruko exclaimed, as if this were the key point. "Its transplanted nature proves your body's high adaptability! You are the perfect vessel for my Demonic Mirror Technique!" He seemed possessed by his own vision, speaking with theatrical patience.
Watching this, Uchiha Akira nearly laughed aloud. This rogue ninja truly had no grasp of the current reality. His demeanor, as if he held all the cards against the two of them, was ludicrous.
"Demonic Mirror Technique?" Kakashi echoed, genuine confusion in his tone.
Hearing the puzzlement, Hiruko puffed up with pride. "The Demonic Mirror Technique is my masterpiece! Its full effects aren't for you to know yet." His eyes then slid to Akira. "How fortunate. An Uchiha clansman is present as well. What a delightful coincidence."
"Do you even know who he is?" Kakashi asked, his look now one of undisguised amusement, as if observing a court jester.
"Does it matter?" Hiruko waved a dismissive hand. "He's just another Uchiha brat. He's not Uchiha Fugaku. What threat could he possibly pose?"
Uchiha Akira spoke then, his voice calm and measured. "I heard you were once close with the Legendary Sannin. I've always wondered… how does your strength compare to theirs?"
The words struck a nerve. Hiruko's face darkened instantly. This was his deepest, most festering wound. During the Second Great War, the Sannin's fame had spread across the world, while he remained a mediocre, forgettable Konoha jonin. He couldn't even glimpse their shadows. The jealousy had festered, driving him to forbidden research and the creation of the Demonic Mirror Technique—a vile art meant to steal the bloodline limits of others.
"You Uchiha whelp," Hiruko spat, his voice turning cold. "You'll witness my strength soon enough!"
"I'll leave this to you, Senior Akira," Kakashi said, taking a step back.
In the next instant, the dark forest was illuminated by a burst of blue-white lightning.
THUD!
Hiruko, caught completely off-guard, barely managed to raise his arms in a cross-block. The force of the blow sent him flying backward into the dense trees.
ZZZRT!
Uchiha Akira seemed to transform into the lightning itself. A dazzling streak of blue light, he vanished from the clearing and shot into the forest after his target.
Kakashi merely glanced in the direction they'd disappeared, then turned his attention back to the camp. He held absolute confidence in Akira. While Hiruko had been a jonin during the last war, longevity in the shinobi world didn't equate to power. Kakashi himself was proof—a jonin at twelve, and now, with his mastered Chidori, a formidable combatant among them. And Uchiha Akira had just gone toe-to-toe with a tailed beast. That placed him on a level where even the Sannin would find him a serious challenge. There was nothing to worry about.
"Kakashi! What's happening?"
The sounds of combat had roused the others. Hyuga Kamon, Chiba Ryu, and the rest arrived at Kakashi's side, weapons ready, sleep banished from their eyes.
"A stroke of luck, or perhaps misfortune," Kakashi said lightly. "A rogue ninja came looking for me."
"Rogue ninja?" Hyuga Kamon's Byakugan activated instantly, veins bulging around his eyes as he peered into the forest. He quickly located the fierce, high-speed skirmish. "Hiruko. An old… acquaintance of the Sannin," Kakashi supplied.
"A friend of the Sannin?" Chiba Ryu's eyes widened. "Is Uchiha Akira alright? Should we assist?"
Hyuga Kamon shook his head, a slight, disdainful curve to his lip. "Unnecessary. The rogue named Hiruko is on his last legs. He won't hold out much longer under Akira's assault."
"A Sannin-contemporary, that weak?" Chiba Ryu muttered, incredulous. "It seems he's made no progress in all his years as a missing-nin."
"The audacity, to attack us here…" he added, shaking his head.
"Remember, this is a warzone," Hyuga Kamon said with a shrug. "Rogue ninja who rely on the underground black market for intel often operate on a delay. Their information is rarely timely." In his view, Hiruko had picked a fight he was destined to lose—spectacularly.
"Well? Has he been captured?" Chiba Ryu asked.
Kamon's Byakugan-focused expression shifted to one of surprise. "I spoke too soon. This Hiruko… his technique is unusual. He's fused with a summon. A transformation."
He let out a low exclamation. "The hybrid creature Hiruko became… it's escaping. Uchiha Akira is in pursuit, but… they've moved beyond my visual range." A flicker of something—not concern, perhaps mild irritation—crossed his face.
"Shouldn't we go after them? To be safe?" Kakashi suggested, though he felt no real alarm.
"There's no danger," Hyuga Kamon stated flatly, waving a hand. "Hiruko is gravely injured. Uchiha Akira will have him subdued within ten minutes, at most."
Chiba Ryu fell silent. He understood the unspoken tension—the long-standing, subtle rivalry between the Hyuga and Uchiha clans. Kamon's reluctance to involve himself further wasn't shocking.
"As you wish," Kakashi said, his tone neutral. His faith in Akira's capabilities remained unshaken. He didn't believe for a second that Hiruko possessed a trick potent enough to overcome the shinobi who had faced down the Six-Tails.
Elsewhere in the forest, Hiruko's situation was dire. He had merged with his summoned creature, becoming a monstrous, winged beast over ten meters long that crashed through the woodland in a frantic attempt to flee.
Uchiha Akira was a blur of blue lightning, dancing around the lumbering chimera. With precise, surgical strikes, bolts of concentrated lightning chakra shot from his position, each one striking a wing joint or a leg tendon, preventing the creature from achieving lift-off or gaining stable speed.
Hiruko, inside the beast, seethed with rage and panic. He had not expected to encounter such an immovable wall on what was supposed to be a simple hunting trip. He had come to the border war between Konoha and Kiri seeking a suitable bloodline limit to complete his Demonic Mirror Technique. After weeks of fruitless searching, stumbling upon Kakashi had seemed like fate's reward. The Sharingan was one of the pinnacle bloodlines he sought. He'd planned to ensnare Kakashi with a subtle curse mark, making him easy prey for later capture and the final, grotesque ritual.
He had never accounted for the Uchiha beside him being anything more than a standard clansman. That had been a catastrophic miscalculation.
(End of Chapter)
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