"You... you're supposed to be caught in my genjutsu!"
The Iwagakure chunin checked again and again. He had clearly injected his Yin Release chakra into Kiyohara's body and confirmed the genjutsu had taken effect.
How was he acting like nothing happened?
Did he break it instantly?
No, that couldn't be right. He hadn't seen Kiyohara make any counter-moves, and his chakra flow was completely stable.
"There's a lot you don't understand."
The rogue ninja Kiyohara controlled Kiyohara's body and smiled.
The next moment, he pulled a kunai from his ninja pouch and rushed at the Iwagakure chunin at blinding speed.
The speed was so fast that before the Iwagakure chunin could react, he crashed to the ground.
A line of blood appeared across his neck, his eyes fixed on Kiyohara.
Even in his final moments, he remained puzzled. Why was someone wearing a genin's uniform able to take him down, a chunin, in one strike?
Could it be a jonin running a sting operation?
Unfortunately, before he could think much more, massive blood loss made everything go dark, and he fell silent.
Body Flicker Technique!
"That Body Flicker Technique was so fast..."
Kurenai watched Kiyohara, who seemed to disappear and reappear, understanding it was an optical illusion created by his extreme speed.
"Kurenai, use your genjutsu to control the other chunin."
Having regained control of his body, Kiyohara crouched low and dragged the Iwagakure chunin's corpse into the bushes.
The smell of blood hadn't drifted over yet. They needed to take out the other Iwagakure chunin stationed at different positions around the outpost.
That way, even if the two genin discovered them, it would be much easier to handle.
"Got it."
Kurenai nodded.
She followed Kiyohara, carefully staying hidden.
Because they'd dealt with the Iwagakure chunin so quickly, the other one hadn't even noticed.
By the time he did, he saw a black-haired woman with curly hair casting a genjutsu on him.
"Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique!"
Kurenai formed hand seals and released her signature technique.
"Ahhhhh!"
The scarred Iwagakure chunin stared in horror at the illusion suddenly appearing before him.
He saw his comrades dying in front of him, powerless to stop it.
Unable to do anything, unable to change anything.
The day he lost his closest friend, lost that bond, was the greatest pain of his life.
"Alright, he's caught in the genjutsu."
Kurenai let out a breath.
The Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique could draw out the deepest fears in a person's heart, causing them to lose their rationality and freeze in place.
Looking at the terrified Iwagakure chunin, Kiyohara had already thrown a shuriken.
Swish.
The shuriken passed through his throat, spraying blood.
People die when they are killed.
(n/a: haha)
If Kiyohara didn't kill these enemies, these enemies would turn around and kill Kiyohara.
After all, these guys were planning to push straight from the Land of Grass into the Land of Fire's territory.
To put it bluntly, they were a bunch of invaders.
Kiyohara showed no mercy in his actions. Having spent this much time in the shinobi world, he'd gradually adapted to this atmosphere.
"Enemy attack, enemy attack! Captain Hikaru and Captain Tatsuchi are both dead!"
The remaining two genin finally spotted Kiyohara and Kurenai.
"Earth Release: Earth Spear!"
One of the Iwagakure genin quickly formed hand seals, condensing a spear-like weapon from the ground that looked like mud, shooting it at Kiyohara.
The one on the right did the same, using an identical technique.
Two mud-like spears rapidly closed in.
"Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder!"
Kiyohara formed hand seals with both hands, and suddenly a burst of pale blue electric arcs erupted from the ground in front of him.
Crackle!
The electrical discharge easily neutralized both spears formed by Earth Release techniques.
"Damn it, he's a Lightning Release user."
Teruki's face darkened.
Among chakra natures, there were relationships of dominance.
And Earth Release was countered by Lightning Release!
Facing Kiyohara, they were naturally at a disadvantage from the start!
"Demonic Illusion..."
Kurenai on the side also seized the opportunity and tried to cast a genjutsu.
"Retreat!"
Teruki called to his companion.
The two of them immediately rushed into the bamboo forest without looking back, running quickly into the distance.
"Kurenai, don't chase them."
Kiyohara stopped Kurenai from continuing her genjutsu.
"We're not taking them down, Kiyohara?"
Kurenai was puzzled.
From what she could tell, Kiyohara should still have enough energy to use more jutsus.
Why didn't he attack just now, and why did he stop her from attacking?
"Our goal is to attract the attention of Iwagakure shinobi, not to wipe them all out."
Kiyohara explained.
Even if they could kill one or two more, it wouldn't change the situation here.
Better to let them pass on the intelligence so more Iwagakure shinobi would focus on them.
That way, they'd have completed their mission.
With the rogue ninja Kiyohara around, Kiyohara wasn't afraid of ambushes.
He'd finally understood just how overpowered Kato Dan's Spiritualization Jutsu really was.
Enemies couldn't see where his soul body appeared from or how it possessed and killed them.
It was completely maxed out in both intelligence gathering and assassination capabilities.
The only weakness was that while Kato Dan's soul was separated, his physical body would be left in an undefended state.
But Kiyohara didn't have that problem.
The rogue ninja Kiyohara could wander around freely without affecting him at all.
"I see."
Kurenai nodded her head.
So that was it.
Kiyohara really lived up to being the team captain. Even in battle, he didn't lose his head in bloodlust and knew when to stop.
"Alright, let's split the lo... I mean, take inventory of the assets."
Kiyohara said.
This was an outpost, so some portion of food supplies would be stored here.
They couldn't take that part.
Sealing scrolls had limited capacity. They couldn't carry everything.
But there were also ninja tools and armor. These didn't take up much space and could be placed in sealing scrolls to take away.
Before long, Genma, who'd been waiting outside, noticed the enemy had run straight past Kiyohara and hadn't come through his position at all.
"Come on out, Genma. I just had you stationed there in case we couldn't kill the chunin and they escaped. Now that two genin got away, it doesn't matter."
While lifting his shirt to pull out a sealing scroll from inside, Kiyohara started loading things into it.
"Don't be shy, everyone take some."
Kiyohara said.
"Uh..."
Only then did Genma realize that this guy Kiyohara had actually planned from the start to send him to deal with a chunin!
"Kiyohara, you brought a sealing scroll?"
Kurenai was confused.
Most shinobi didn't normally carry sealing scrolls. Ninja pouches were sufficient for daily use.
Bringing an extra sealing scroll would affect their agility somewhat.
After all, whether it was the inner chain mail or the outer ninja vest, everything was designed for light equipment, not heavy armor like in the Warring States period.
"If I didn't bring a sealing scroll, wouldn't all this stuff go to waste?"
Kiyohara said matter-of-factly.
He still had a pile of debt on his back.
Seven hundred thousand ryō in total.
He'd given one hundred thousand ryō to Tsunade, and most of the remaining six hundred thousand ryō had been spent on medicinal ingredients.
The money left over, aside from essential ninja tools and equipment for making forbidden drugs, went to this sealing scroll.
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