Haruto Saito led his team westward!
Meanwhile, Hattori Tatsuno was rushing toward the east!
In just over ten minutes, the two sides met in the dense forest!
Within the forest.
As Haruto Saito moved forward, he suddenly sensed something and instantly accelerated. In two swift flashes, he vanished into the distance! A few hundred meters ahead, Hattori Tatsuno, who was also advancing, abruptly stopped, dropped to one knee, and said, "Greetings, my lord!"
"Come, I need to talk to you!" Haruto Saito leaped down from a tree and gave Hattori Tatsuno a series of instructions.
Before long, Kakuzu arrived with his team!
Everyone halted.
Kakuzu noticed the tall figure standing beside Haruto Saito, draped in a black cloak, his face hidden beneath a massive hood, exuding an aura of mystery... Kakuzu couldn't tell who this person was, but he could sense the immense danger emanating from him!
"Who is he?" Kakuzu hesitated and asked, glancing at Hattori Tatsuno.
"Candle Dragon, you stay here with your team," Haruto Saito first ordered the Root ninja captain, then gestured toward Kakuzu. "Come, let's talk over here!"
Candle Dragon watched calmly as Haruto Saito led Kakuzu and the mysterious figure away.
He ordered the team to rest in place!
Haruto Saito took Kakuzu and Hattori Tatsuno to a small lake nearby. He signaled to Hattori Tatsuno, who immediately removed his hood...
"You! You! Hattori Tatsuno! You!" Kakuzu was shocked, instinctively stepping back several paces, fully alert. Then, he looked at Haruto Saito with a mix of confusion and suspicion. "You… you're working with him? Have you betrayed Konoha?"
Though Kakuzu wasn't a Konoha ninja, he was still stunned!
This was an earth-shattering revelation!
"Can't you tell? He's not the real Hattori Tatsuno," Haruto Saito said.
"Huh?" Kakuzu frowned, carefully scrutinizing Hattori Tatsuno. He could indeed sense a difference—though the aura was the same, the demeanor was off. The real Hattori Tatsuno had sharp, piercing eyes filled with an aggressive edge!
But this one… seemed dull, lacking spirit in his gaze.
They say the eyes are the windows to the soul!
That saying held true!
"So..." Kakuzu dragged out his words, glancing back at Haruto Saito. "Who is he? And why is he pretending to be Hattori Tatsuno?"
"Hattori Tatsuno is dead—I killed him!" Haruto Saito declared, pointing at the figure. "And this is a resurrected version of Hattori Tatsuno, revived through a forbidden technique. He is completely under my control and follows my every command. You can think of him as a puppet ninja I created from Hattori Tatsuno's body…"
"Edo Tensei?" Kakuzu gasped.
"No!" Haruto Saito shook his head. "This forbidden technique is not Edo Tensei. The current Hattori Tatsuno has a normal body like any other ninja, except for the revival seal on his forehead. He doesn't have infinite chakra, nor does he retain his past memories..."
Haruto Saito had chosen to tell Kakuzu in private, avoiding the Root ninjas.
Because Root ninjas couldn't be trusted!
Even if they weren't hostile now.
After listening to Haruto Saito, Kakuzu understood, but he was still deeply shaken… Haruto Saito had actually killed Hattori Tatsuno and turned his corpse into a puppet ninja?
And he had done it so flawlessly!
What kind of forbidden technique was this?
It was likely an ability that surpassed even the puppet mastery secrets of Sunagakure in the Land of Wind!
"Don't let anyone else know about this. Until his identity is exposed, he's our ultimate trump card!" Haruto Saito warned. "Hattori Tatsuno was stronger than me—I only defeated him using Flying Thunder God. This guy can help us handle major threats, understand?"
Kakuzu nodded.
For some reason, he felt a sense of fear toward Haruto Saito!
If someone as powerful as Hattori Tatsuno could be slain and turned into a puppet…
This was beyond terrifying!
It was just like when the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, first created Edo Tensei during the First Shinobi World War—it struck fear into people's hearts! Being Haruto Saito's enemy… was a terrible fate.
Meanwhile…
Dozens of kilometers to the west…
At the valley where Haruto Saito and Hattori Tatsuno had their final battle, seven figures suddenly appeared, standing atop a cliff, gazing into the distance. They were all wounded, with three of them sustaining serious injuries.
These were the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist!
They had retreated after being injured but couldn't leave directly. Instead, they had followed the traces of the battle between Haruto Saito and Hattori Tatsuno, tracking them… Since the battle moved unpredictably rather than in a straight line, they had to take a roundabout path.
Whereas Hattori Tatsuno and Haruto Saito had traveled in direct lines!
That was why they hadn't encountered each other.
"The trail ends here!"
"This might be where the final battle took place! Where is the Adviser?"
"The Adviser likely killed Haruto Saito but was wounded and went to find a place to recover!"
"Search the area. The Adviser might have left a sign nearby."
After a brief analysis, the seven figures disappeared into the surroundings once more.
...
By dusk, in Furuta Village.
Under Kakuzu's lead, a group of people entered the Furuta Village command post… Each one wore a black cloak, shrouded in mystery. For now, Haruto Saito wouldn't reveal himself. Kakuzu would take charge of Furuta Village's affairs, while Haruto Saito and the others would pretend to be his subordinates.
Night fell quietly.
Under the night sky, the Furuta Village command post was brightly lit. The northern courtyard had already been sealed off by Root ninjas.
Inside a grand residence in the northern courtyard.
On the second floor, inside a bedroom.
Haruto Saito had set up a sealing barrier, preventing external sensory detection.
Then, he sat at a table and pulled out a stack of over a thousand cards!
These were all dropped by Hattori Tatsuno!
Since he had died as a Super Boss, the drop rate was extremely high. It could be said that most of his abilities and items had materialized into cards!
This guy was proficient in all attributes!
And he even had samurai skills!
That was why so many cards had dropped!
It was actually fewer than Haruto Saito expected, but still reasonable. After all, not every multi-attribute ninja was a jutsu instructor. Even someone like the young Hiruzen Sarutobi would have mastered thousands of jutsu, far beyond Hattori Tatsuno's level!
Time to sort them out!
Haruto Saito began picking through the cards, categorizing them!
Many of the B-rank and lower jutsu cards were useless because Haruto Saito had already maxed out his collection of Water and Wind Release techniques from the Mist Ninja stronghold he raided a year ago.
Though Hattori Tatsuno was an all-attribute ninja, he specialized in Water and Wind Release, with fewer jutsu from other attributes.
After half an hour, Haruto Saito had sorted most of them.
"This card..." Haruto Saito picked up another card and suddenly paused, frowning.
This card wasn't dropped by Hattori Tatsuno—it was a special achievement reward! A prize for being the first to defeat a Super Boss!
An S-rank Universal Jutsu Upgrade Card!
Haruto Saito frowned because the card had two usage options...