In the end, however, they stuck to their original plan.
They had already prepared for a confrontation with Shin; backing down now was simply not an option.
After all, the Reincarnators who hailed from the System were a bunch of audacious daredevils.
They all knew that a mission like this—relatively straightforward with an incredibly lucrative reward—was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. To pass it up out of caution was to risk falling behind, a mistake they might never recover from.
To put it more bluntly, in the future, the lack of these specific resources or upgrade points could mean being unable to acquire a critical ability when they needed it most. That could lead to a fatal gap in their combat builds, a weakness that an enemy could exploit.
Such a failure wouldn't just lead to their own demise; it could drag down the very teammates who trusted them with their lives—the people they had fought alongside for years, the ones who had their backs without question.
Sakamoto Kenji's team was not willing to accept such a grim, helpless fate.
As mentioned before, this group of Reincarnators was exceptionally powerful, and with great power came great ambition.
That was precisely why they needed to take this risk, to land what they believed would be a decisive blow.
It was another clear, cloudless night. The moon bathed the world in a brilliant, almost day-like luminescence. For most, this light was a welcome sight.
For an assassin, however, a moon this bright was a curse. It stripped away their concealment, drastically reducing their chances of a successful strike and making a clean getaway nearly impossible. It was a debilitating handicap in every sense.
But now, everything was in place. Even their star performer—Shin—had arrived. To back out at this stage would be to throw away all their preparations.
If they let this chance slip through their fingers, the entire situation would become exponentially more complicated.
"He who hesitates is lost," Sakamoto Kenji thought. Through their mental link, he sent a single, decisive command to his four teammates: "Go."
An assassination, long in the making, had officially begun.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Without warning, Kenji fired three shots at Shin.
But as Shin effortlessly dodged all three bullets, he realized something was terribly wrong.
He wrapped an arm around Kushina, preparing to teleport away.
But Domon Kyouji was already there, blocking their path.
Kyouji was tall and powerfully built, a true master of martial arts.
It only takes one move for a master to show their quality. With a fluid motion, Kyouji shifted his stance, his hands forming a horizontal push straight out of Tai Chi.
Shin knew he couldn't parry it. He immediately teleported with Kushina.
They reappeared several hundred meters away, ready to flee the battlefield entirely.
At that moment, Kenji, having already relocated, pulled out a basic 40mm mortar.
He then produced a large bag of special mortar shells and began his barrage.
Kenji and his team knew that a mortar's arcing trajectory had almost zero chance of hitting a target as agile as Shin.
But he set it up anyway.
These were special shells—specifically, smoke grenades.
Thump, thump, thump.
Several smoke grenades landed, quickly blanketing the area in a strange pattern.
From the canisters, a peculiar smoke billowed out, merging into a dense, impenetrable fog.
The five Reincarnators immediately equipped their infrared night-vision goggles.
If they were facing a typical Dragon Ball-world enemy, this tactic would have been devastatingly effective.
Especially against a Super Saiyan, whose transformation often depended on a clear line of sight and stable conditions. This smoke would have thrown them into complete disarray, making them blind and vulnerable.
With the enemy in the dark and the Reincarnators in the light, it would have been a simple matter to pick them apart.
After the Super Saiyan state wore off, their target would have been at their mercy.
But Shin was different.
He hadn't prepared any infrared goggles.
But he did have the Sharingan.
The moment he activated his fully matured Sharingan, the world transformed...
He might not have night vision, but the Sharingan more than compensated for that technological gap.
He immediately targeted Ishigami Mamoru.
Logically, at this point, Mamoru should have been focused on setting up his defensive measures, leaving him momentarily exposed.
In any team, when one member is focused on a specific task, the others provide cover. But here, with the smoke providing concealment, Mamoru was effectively on his own.
This was an extremely dangerous position to be in on the battlefield.
As expected, Shin seized the opening, landing a powerful strike on Mamoru's back.
The others heard Mamoru's pained cry.
He was sent flying by the blow. In most of the System's team battles, the first one kicked out of the fight was usually the support.
But Mamoru's physical resilience was astounding. He was a dedicated defensive specialist, after all. Even after taking a direct hit from Shin, he didn't even cough up blood.
He was thrown out of the immediate fight, but this wasn't a tournament ring. He could rejoin the battle at any time.
Still, a cold fear gripped Mamoru. That was the first time his opponent had used a real ability, and it had caught him completely off guard.
As Shin searched for his next target, the situation on the battlefield shifted once again.
Although Mamoru was physically uncomfortable, for someone who made a living by tanking hits, his ability to take a punch was second to none.
The remaining four Reincarnators formed two pairs.
They stood back-to-back, guarding against another sneak attack from Shin.
All except for Sakamoto Kenji.
As the team's leader and strategist, he had to constantly analyze the ever-changing battlefield.
Besides, Kenji was positioned far from Shin. Finding him in this chaos wouldn't be easy.
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