The smoke from the gunpowder cleared, and Sarutobi Shinnosuke sat down uncontrollably, utterly exhausted.
"Should be dead, right?"
Sarutobi Shinnosuke stared at the figure in the black smoke, desperate to see Kairen's silhouette vanish.
But to his disappointment, Kairen — shirtless, a thick black belt at his waist — still wore a cold sneer.
Fatigue slowly sharpened Shinnosuke's thinking. He kept shaking his head.
"Impossible, impossible. Even if he has this smoke-transformation kekkei genkai, he still needs chakra to perform it. I attacked him so long, yet there's no sign his chakra is drained. How is that possible?"
Using any ninjutsu requires chakra; the same goes for Kekkei genkai. There wasn't a hint of exhaustion on Kairen's face — it was as if the chakra inside him was an ocean: vast and inexhaustible.
"Could it be… he's a descendant of the Senju?" Shinnosuke guessed immediately.
Only descendants of the Senju or Uzumaki clans possessed such enormous chakra reserves.
Besides, a special kekkei genkai wouldn't appear out of nowhere on an ordinary civilian — only the Senju clan had that kind of mutated bloodline trait.
Kairen crept slowly toward Shinnosuke. Shinnosuke scrambled to his feet and took a defensive stance, watching Kairen's every move.
With a single hand he formed a seal and instantly teleported.
"One-handed Body Flicker!"
Shock filled Shinnosuke's eyes; he couldn't react in time. In an instant Kairen's foot slammed into his jaw.
Several teeth flew out. He crashed into a rock, blood spurting from his mouth, the light in his eyes dimming.
"Moku… Moku Kairen!"
Hatred filled Shinnosuke's gaze.
Kairen flashed again, stomping on Shinnosuke's abdomen and pinning him to the ground.
Sarutobi Shinnosuke struggled with all his might, but he couldn't break free from Moku Kairen — who was comparable to a strength-type Special Jōnin.
He stopped struggling and looked up at Kairen with hateful eyes.
"Kairen, I'm the eldest son of the Sarutobi house — the son of the Third Hokage. How dare you lay a hand on me! You will die. You will definitely die."
Kairen planted his foot on Shinnosuke's face.
"You already used a killing move on me — so I can't strike you back? Just because you're the Hokage's son?"
"...Just because you're the Sarutobi heir, am I supposed to cower before you? What kind of logic is that?"
"You deserve to die!"
Sarutobi Shinnosuke's face twisted. He was following in his younger brother's footsteps — getting trampled on by a low-ranking civilian underling and pinned down by a foot.
He could fully understand Asuma's anger, his distortion.
"Ka…ck…"
Moku Kairen drew the sword he had sheathed at his waist. The blade glinted coldly as he pressed the spine of the sword against Shinnosuke's face.
"Y—you want to do what?"
Fear rose in Sarutobi Shinnosuke's chest. The look of terror grew in his eyes. Nobody welcomed death — except the undying like Kairen and Hidan.
"Scared now, huh? So you, too, cling to life. I wonder if this cut will kill you."
Kairen sneered. He was effectively immortal, but these shinobi were fragile — one slash and they'd die.
"Moku… Moku Kairen!"
Sarutobi Shinnosuke's hands began to tremble.
He could not die. He couldn't be killed by a civilian underling. He still had ambitions: to become Hokage, to bring the Sarutobi family to greatness.
"Kai… Kairen!" Kurenai stepped forward two paces, her worry peaking. "You can't kill him. If you kill him, you'll really have to flee."
The consequences for a rogue shinobi were grim — a life of constant fear, always watching for the Anbu's hunt.
Shinku also stepped forward two paces, pleading: "Kairen, don't kill him. I can't stand by and watch you strike the village's shinobi."
Kairen was silent for a moment.
The man on the ground, Shinnosuke, laughed brazenly.
"You won't go through with it, right? You're afraid of the pressure from the Sarutobi house."
"Looking for death!"
Kairen's mind went cold. With both hands gripping the sword hilt, he thrust it toward Shinnosuke's head.
Silence — even the wind through the trees dared not blow.
"Glurp…"
Sarutobi Shinnosuke swallowed. The tip of Kairen's blade was pressed to his forehead; blood had already begun to flow, but the wound wasn't deep.
Shinku grabbed Kairen's wrists and blocked the blade.
Nearby, Yūhi Kurenai hurried forward, tears falling as she clutched Kairen's sleeve.
"Kairen, I don't want to see you flee. I want to grow up with you, change the village together."
The girl cried, she couldn't bear to watch Kairen wander the world alone, constantly at risk of endless Anbu assassination attempts.
"Kurenai…"
Moku Kairen's heart softened and he slowly withdrew his blade.
But he didn't let Shinnosuke off completely. While Kurenai was still recovering, he lashed out and chopped the right hand of Shinnosuke.
The blade sank into the earth. Two of Shinnosuke's fingers — the middle and the index — were severed.
Those two fingers were crucial for forming hand seals.
"Arghhh—" Shinnosuke screamed in agony, rolling and writhing on the ground.
"This is your lesson. Don't bark around me again. If there's a next time, I'll kill you. I don't care if you're the Hokage's son!"
Kairen said, then lifted his sword and walked toward the ridge.
Kurenai followed. Shinku helped Shinnosuke to his feet and in an instant teleported toward the frontline medical camp.
...
Moku Kairen sat on the highest rock, looking down over the forest.
Yūhi Kurenai stood behind him, gently pressing the youth's temples with her soft hand, soothing the turbulent feelings in his heart.
Moku Kairen thought carefully. If he walked away after that one strike, Yūhi Kurenai and her father couldn't leave with him.
If they watched the eldest Sarutobi be killed by him, they would surely be punished by the Sarutobi clan.
He couldn't take Yūhi Kurenai with him and run either — a delicate girl could be killed by a single kunai.
Seeing Moku Kairen's mood calm, Yūhi Kurenai sat down as well and leaned shoulder to shoulder with him.
"You really are impossible to worry about. Offending Asuma was one thing — but now you chopped off Sarutobi Shinnosuke's fingers. You've completely enraged the Sarutobi family."
Kairen gave a faint smile. "So what?!"
Kurenai nestled against his shoulder. He stroked the girl's hair; it was smooth and silky, like conditioner.
"I won't let them catch you. Don't underestimate my speed."
Kurenai remembered Kairen's speed back then — like a streak of green light. She pinched his shoulder gently.
"You won't die. You were lying to me earlier."
Kurenai thought Moku Kairen wouldn't die — but in truth he had already died and resurrected. The pain of death had numbed him, so he behaved as he pleased.
Kairen leaned back and slowly lay on the rock. Yūhi Kurenai lay down too, resting against his chest.
A gentle breeze wandered through the trees and lifted the young couple's hair.
The girl whispered softly, "If things could always be like this, how good it would be. No need to think about those complicated matters."
"Kairen, promise me — don't flee the village. We should grow up together and change the village."
Kairen raised his thumb. "Alright. I promise. I'll try not to flee the village. I'll protect you, Kurenai."
"You're so sweet!" The corner of the girl's mouth curved up.
Kairen spoke solemnly, "If you promise a girl you must keep it — because that's my Kairen way of the Ninja!"
...
The chapter for the power stones. Thank you. So from now on, let's make it easier. For every 100 Power stones, you get +1 additional chapter