Natada's sacrifice had bought Rikako and Hoefu time to escape, but they hadn't accounted for the amount of chakra Kairen possessed.
Although Kairen's chakra reserves were only at the level of a Chūnin, after resurrection his chakra would instantly recover, making it practically inexhaustible.
Kairen had been continuously using the Eight Gates Body Flicker, with the second gate, the Gate of Rest, already opened. The rate at which his body's energy burned was even faster, and his Body Flicker speed was double what it had been before.
But exhaustion also doubled. After wiping his neck twice along the way, Kairen finally found the two inside a cave.
If not for his Byakugan being open the entire time, he might have lost track of Rikako and Hoefu.
Kairen hurled a kunai with an explosive tag into the cave, forcing Rikako and Hoefu out.
The explosion echoed, and Rikako looked at Kairen with a grim expression.
"Natada, he?!"
Kairen twirled his blade, a cruel smile curling at his lips.
"You'll both be seeing him soon enough!"
"Damn it!" Rikako cursed under her breath. She and Hoefu used chakra to hasten their movement, but their chakra was already running low.
Hoefu's face was pale. He weakly opened his eyes and gently pushed Rikako forward.
"...Run, I'll hold him off!"
"Hoefu!"
Kairen suddenly flickered forward and drove his blade straight through Rikako's chest.
"I don't have time to listen to your nonsense."
"Rikako—" Hoefu tried to reach out, but could only watch as the woman he loved perished in another man's hands.
"...H-Hoefu... I... l-love..."
She never managed to finish the last word. Rikako slowly collapsed, and as she fell, the black cloth slipped from her head.
Her light brown hair spilled down slightly, her pale face as delicate as carved jade. A beauty of the desert winds—surely that phrase was meant for her.
Kairen cast her one regretful glance. Their camps were different. Life and death between them was inevitable.
"Aaaaah—" Hoefu roared like a man who had lost his very soul.
If this were the main Naruto story, this moment would've triggered a flashback lasting ten minutes or more. But Kairen had no such time.
Blade in hand, he slowly approached.
Hoefu suddenly stirred. A faint blue chakra ignited around him, growing denser, deepening rapidly into a dark blue.
"Wind Release Secret Art · Hundred Slashing Wind Blades!"
Hundreds of blades of wind materialized around him, each about a meter long, shrieking with the sound of air being torn apart.
Kairen's eyes gleamed with fanaticism as he watched Hoefu's final dance.
"Hahaha... Then let me, Moku Kairen, bear the brunt of your last dance!"
Enduring unbearable pain, Hoefu poured all of his remaining chakra into the countless wind blades.
"Hundred Slashing Wind Blades · Release!"
The blades of wind shot forward like a storm, aimed straight at Kairen.
Kairen thrust his sword into the ground, letting his white robe fall open, exposing his torso. Arms wide, he embraced the coming torrent.
The countless wind blades filled the entire space. Even with Body Flicker, there was no way to escape.
"Shu-shu-shu—"
Hundreds of vacuum blades ripped through the air, easily piercing Kairen's flesh, organs, and bones.
His body was shredded to pieces on the ground. Even the sword he had stabbed into the earth was shattered into fragments.
"Ding!"
[You were killed by Special Jōnin Hoefu using Wind Release. EXP +300!]
Hoefu's final secret art had overwhelming power, surpassing the limits of normal Wind Release, reaching the level of an A-rank ninjutsu.
"Cough... cough..." Hoefu spat blood, falling to his knees. His chakra was gone, and his life was at its end.
"...Rik...ako..."
He collapsed, crawling desperately toward Rikako's corpse.
When he got close enough, he tried to reach for her hand, but his strength had completely left him.
'Move!'
'Please move!'
As he felt life slipping away, Hoefu's heart thrashed in desperation.
Then, a small, childish hand took Rikako's hand and slowly placed it in Hoefu's.
He understood everything, but had no strength left to question it. His lips trembled.
"...Rik...ako... wait for me..."
His eyes closed. His life was gone.
"Fire Release · Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Kairen's Fire Release burst forth, as though to serve as a funeral pyre for these lovers in a time of war.
...
After returning to his position, Kairen cleaned up all traces of battle and the corpses of Sunagakure shinobi.
Only after finishing did he sit beneath the massive rock that shielded him from the wind and rain.
He closed his eyes, letting the night's cold wind wash over him.
He had always thought the faces of Sunagakure shinobi were cold and merciless. But today, this squad had shown him otherwise.
Ninjas were living, breathing people. They too had emotions.
That was why Danzō was so committed to erasing emotion, cultivating truly heartless shinobi.
Shabei's cruelty, who treated human life as nothing.
Dōheimon's persistence, chasing Kairen even with his chakra completely drained.
Ōmori Kawa's humor—what kind of ninja was afraid of ghosts?
The love between Hoefu and Rikako...
Cruel and bloody as they were, the glimmers of humanity fascinated Kairen.
This world was far more thrilling than the censored world of his old browser games.
Kairen opened the Infinite Resurrection System interface, navigating to the ninjutsu exchange screen.
He now had 600 EXP—enough to exchange for a B-rank Fire Release ninjutsu.
Scrolling through, he noted that Fire Release jutsu rarely exceeded B-rank. Most were lower. A-rank techniques were rare, and forbidden jutsu even rarer.
To enhance jutsu, one either needed Sage Arts—for example, Jiraiya's Sage Art: Toad Oil Flame Bullet—or combination ninjutsu, like Hiruzen Sarutobi's Five Styles: Great Explosion Jutsu.
Kairen also noticed something: nearly every Fire Release jutsu was expelled from the mouth.
Which raised the question—how did people manage to call out the technique name while breathing fire?
The system explained: "Please don't concern yourself with such details, Host!"
Kairen nodded wordlessly, then spotted a Fire Release technique from one of the movies.
[B-rank Ninjutsu: Fire Release · Demon Lantern]
A unique Fire Release technique mastered by Kusagakure's Ryūzetsu and Muku. It required only the Tiger Seal and did not need fire to be expelled from the mouth.
Just like Hoefu's Wind Release earlier, chakra was released externally to form flames. It was a highly practical Fire Release.
Kairen exchanged immediately.
[B-rank Ninjutsu: Fire Release · Demon Lantern successfully exchanged!]
A flood of memory rushed into his mind. Kairen quickly grasped the chakra flow, nature transformation, and shape manipulation of Demon Lantern.
He pressed his hands together into the Tiger Seal.
"Fire Release · Demon Lantern!"
Endless fire-natured chakra streamed from his tenketsu, and soon, more than a dozen fireballs formed around him, shaped like horned demon heads.
"Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh!"
He launched them at a massive boulder in front of him. In an instant, the rock was reduced to scorched rubble.
Lowering his hands, Kairen nodded in satisfaction. Demon Lantern also involved external chakra control and mental focus during casting.
After practicing Demon Lantern, Kairen formed hand seals and unleashed the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu, beginning his self-destructive training.
His next goal was to develop his jutsu mastery to the level of seal-reduction perfection, then move on to the next stage—casting with single-hand seals.
[Fire Release · Great Fireball Jutsu Seal Reduction Training Progress: 20%]
[Body Flicker Jutsu Seal Reduction Training Progress: 50%]
[Fire Release · Ash Pile Burning Seal Reduction Training Progress: 40%]
...
The chapter for the review. Thank you so much