"The same person…" Hanzo Ryūno stared at the sketch, his eyes gleaming with intensity, his expression turning fierce.
"Sir," the thin, dark-skinned ninja spoke again, "based on our intelligence analysis, this individual is likely an elite jonin, highly skilled in assassination techniques, and possesses a unique secret jutsu that allows him to move underground… This technique bears a resemblance to the secret arts of the Hidden Stone Village, but we cannot confirm if it's the same jutsu… As for his age and other abilities, we lack sufficient information to make a judgment. When he killed Kuroinu, his speed was extraordinary, and the method he used remains unknown. However, it's reasonable to speculate that he has mastered many unique secret techniques. Assassins often do…"
"Hmm…" Hanzo Ryūno hummed thoughtfully, his anger subsiding slightly. This assassin was clearly a powerful ninja. The fact that he had escaped from the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist indicated that he possessed extraordinary abilities.
A ninja like this causing damage to the Hidden Mist's covert operations unit wasn't necessarily anyone's fault. It simply meant that this individual was exceptionally strong!
"After I leave, send a message to the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. Hand over command of the Hawk Unit to them!"
"Yes, sir!" the thin ninja acknowledged.
"Any news about the remnants of the Uzumaki clan?" Hanzo Ryūno asked next.
******
Haruto Saito felt a surge of tension. Hanzo Ryūno's reputation was far too high. The threat he posed alone was even greater than that of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist combined. At the same time, Haruto couldn't help but feel a thrill of excitement.
He could deduce why Hanzo Ryūno was looking at his sketch.
The image on the sketch depicted Haruto as he had appeared while systematically eliminating members of the Hidden Mist's covert operations unit.
Since Hanzo Ryūno was now also serving as the commander of the covert operations unit, it was only natural that his subordinates would report these incidents to him.
Haruto didn't flee. He stayed, waiting.
Waiting for an opportunity!
His Byakugan remained active, but since he was so close, the chakra consumption was minimal, allowing him to maintain it for an extended period. He kept his gaze fixed on Hanzo Ryūno and his subordinates as they discussed matters.
Unfortunately, Haruto didn't know how to read lips, so he had no idea what they were saying.
Hanzo Ryūno continued talking with his subordinates for over an hour before dismissing the eight ninja. His two bodyguards went to stand guard outside the door, leaving him alone in the room to review documents.
Another hour passed.
Hanzo Ryūno gathered everyone again and issued a series of orders.
Then, he and his two bodyguards disappeared from the room. Haruto immediately expanded the range of his Byakugan and saw Hanzo Ryūno leaving, heading out of the village.
Haruto thought for a moment but decided not to follow.
There was no point. He couldn't kill Hanzo Ryūno anyway.
The eight Mist ninja remained in the room, exchanging a few more words before leaving one by one. Six of them departed separately, each disguised as a different individual, and they all eventually left Duanhai Village.
Only two remained.
One was the thin, dark-skinned ninja who had been speaking with Hanzo Ryūno earlier. His name was **Bock**, an elite jonin with a reputation of 11,000.
The other was a young ninja in his twenties named **Daiki Tō**, a jonin with a reputation of nearly 5,000.
This was the opportunity Haruto had been waiting for!
With only two of them left, they would be much easier to deal with!
Bock and Daiki Tō spoke briefly in the room before Bock left alone, heading to the warehouse in the backyard. He opened a trapdoor and descended into the basement…
Haruto narrowed his eyes slightly. It was time to act. But how should he proceed?
Who should he kill first?
After a few seconds of consideration, Haruto vanished.
...
In the main hall of the house, Daiki Tō was tidying up the scrolls and documents on the table.
*Click! Clatter!*
An unusual sound suddenly came from the window at the front right of the house.
Daiki Tō immediately became alert, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword as he turned to look. He stared, unmoving, for a full half-minute, but no further sounds came from that direction. Still, his instincts told him something was wrong.
Finally, he moved, slowly walking over to the window. He drew his sword and gently pushed the window open. No one was outside. "Damn it," Daiki Tō muttered under his breath, guessing that a cat or a rat had passed by. He couldn't be sure.
Just as he was about to close the window—
Suddenly!
A figure appeared on the wall outside, jumping out from behind a haystack and scrambling to climb over the wall.
"Who's there? Stop!" Daiki Tō shouted, leaping out the window and rushing toward the wall.
The guilty flee when no one pursues!
A normal person wouldn't react so dramatically. Even if they thought a thief had broken in, they wouldn't act so hastily. But Daiki Tō was different. He was a member of the covert operations unit, and Hanzo Ryūno had just been there discussing important matters. If any critical information had been overheard, he would be held responsible!
Daiki Tō dashed across the yard, about to vault over the wall.
Suddenly, a pair of hands shot out from the ground, grabbing his ankles. Daiki Tō reacted quickly, slashing downward with his sword. At the same time, a figure flipped over the wall from outside, a blade flashing like a rainbow!
*Slash!*
*Slash!*
As Daiki Tō severed the hands gripping his ankles, the newcomer's blade sliced across his neck!
His head flew into the air, blood spraying as golden light flashed.
The severed hands dissolved into white smoke, and Haruto Saito, the real one, stood holding his bloodied sword, watching Daiki Tō's headless body collapse to the ground. He quickly collected the cards that had burst forth.
In truth, Haruto didn't need to go through so much trouble to kill Daiki Tō. He could have taken him head-on.
Daiki Tō wouldn't have lasted more than a few moves against him.
But the problem was that there were two enemies, and Haruto didn't want the other one to escape! That's why he couldn't afford to make too much noise or create strong chakra fluctuations.
That's why he had used tactics to lure Daiki Tō out of the house. The floor inside the house was made of wood, and his Earth-Style Subterranean Voyage technique couldn't be used on wood. If he had tried to use his clone to grab Daiki Tō from underground inside the house, it would have damaged the floor, alerting Daiki Tō and giving him a split second to react.
Even that brief moment of warning would have been enough for Daiki Tō to jump away. After all, he was a jonin.
"Thirty-seven," Haruto silently counted, then vanished again.
Returning underground, Haruto used his earlier observations to navigate toward the basement where Bock had gone.
Within a few breaths, Haruto sensed Bock's presence.
His heightened sensory abilities were incredibly sharp. Even underground, as long as the soil wasn't too thick, he could detect external presences. Bock was about ten meters ahead, with only about four meters of soil separating them.
Haruto advanced another three meters, leaving only one meter of soil between them.
At this thickness, the soil could no longer block the Byakugan's(perspective).
Haruto slowly moved his hands together underground and activated his Byakugan.
The world before him suddenly became clear.
His vision pierced through the one-meter layer of soil and entered the basement. The basement wasn't large, about thirty square meters, filled with bookshelves. Most of the shelves were empty, but a few were packed, seemingly containing intelligence scrolls.
"Are these the recent intelligence reports collected by the Hidden Mist's covert operations unit?" Haruto's heart stirred, and a strong sense of curiosity welled up within him.
He desperately wanted to know what the Hidden Mist's covert operations unit—or rather, Hanzo Ryūno—was doing in the Land of Whirlpools.
These scrolls might hold the answer.
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