Chapter 25: The Red Eyes—Ranmaru!

Chapter 25: The Red Eyes—Ranmaru!

Hearing the boastful words of Jinin Akebino, wielder of the Blunt Sword: Kabutowari, the rest of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen let out low chuckles.

The Fourth Hokage?

If he encountered them, he'd end up as nothing more than a corpse.

"You'll never succeed."

A Konoha jonin, drenched in blood, lay prone on the ground, his face twisted with fury and despair as he glared at the group.

"Lord Hokage will make sure none of you leave alive. You'll die with no place to bury your bodies!"

"Haha, we'll see."

Jinin Akebino sneered as he drove his sword through the jonin's body, hoisting him into the air with wires, savoring the man's groans of pain.

Among the surrounding trees, several corpses could faintly be seen, strung up on barely visible threads.

Clearly, these victims had all been tortured to death by Jinin Akebino.

"Alright, enough playing around. Don't forget our mission," Juzo, the wielder of the Executioner's Blade, reminded indifferently, leaning against a tree trunk.

"It's just sabotage, easing the pressure on the front lines, right?"

Jinin Akebino scoffed. "Those idiots from Iwagakure and Kumogakure have already pulled back their forces, leaving only a token presence at the borders to pressure Konoha. Have they forgotten what happens when they lose?"

"I doubt that so-called Fourth Hokage will let go of war reparations."

Kirigakure had already suffered heavy losses in this war. If they couldn't extract sufficient benefits from Konoha, the pro-war faction would pay the price.

"Precisely because we can't afford to lose, we're here."

Juzo's tone remained cold.

"If we can take the opportunity to kill the Fourth Hokage, Konoha will descend into chaos. The other three villages—even Konoha's ally, Sunagakure—won't miss the chance to sink their teeth into Konoha. Kirigakure will reap the greatest benefits."

"Tch, no need to spell it out," Jinin Akebino said irritably, raising his sword to deliver the jonin a merciful death. But a bolt of lightning struck first, finishing the jonin before he could.

"Raiga, what's the meaning of this?" Jinin Akebino frowned.

Raiga Kurosuki, with his green hair and sharp teeth, replied coldly, "An enemy is approaching."

The rest of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen immediately grew vigilant.

Though their words dripped with disdain for Konoha's ninja, this was the village that had singlehandedly resisted three other great villages.

Having infiltrated so deeply into Konoha's territory, they couldn't afford to be careless.

Jinin Akebino glanced at the bag on Raiga's back and, while raising his blade in defense, asked, "That little brat you're carrying is pretty handy. Can I borrow him after this mission?"

"Ranmaru is my tool," Raiga's eyes flashed coldly. "Don't get any ideas about him!"

"Dojutsu kekkei genkai are rare indeed…"

Before Jinin Akebino could finish his mocking remark, several kunai with explosive tags flew toward them from a distance, cutting him off.

Of course, these weren't enough to harm them.

"Oh? A Hyuga brat?"

Easily deflecting the kunai and ignoring the explosion behind him, Fuguki Suikazan sneered as he caught a glimpse of a fleeting figure in the distance.

"Anyone want to take care of him?"

"Deal with it quickly," Juzo said, his expression shifting as he noticed Hyuga Fuji's shadow clone circling a hundred meters away, gradually retreating. "If we let him observe us with the Byakugan, we'll end up surrounded by Konoha forces!"

His words made Fuguki Suikazan raise an eyebrow. "It's obvious he's trying to lure us away. There must be other Konoha ninja nearby."

"We've already been discovered, so what does it matter? As long as we're not surrounded, what do we have to worry about?"

With that, Raiga transformed into a bolt of white lightning, speeding toward Hyuga Fuji's shadow clone.

The shadow clone's expression didn't waver. It cast a lingering glance at the bag behind Raiga, then focused on maintaining distance to buy time.

So that's how they'd managed to infiltrate this far without being detected. The eighth member…

The possessor of the Red Eyes bloodline—Ranmaru.

No wonder his Byakugan had missed him.

This dojutsu could see through objects, sense power and danger, and in some ways surpassed the Byakugan. It could even create chakra illusions that the Byakugan couldn't distinguish.

The fact that three of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen had escaped from Guy's father, Dai, when he opened the Eight Gates Formation was likely due to Ranmaru's assistance.

But could they escape the Flying Thunder God?

As the shadow clone was caught and destroyed, an unnoticeable mark was silently imprinted on Raiga's Thunder Swords.

…

While Hyuga Fuji's shadow clone engaged the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, warning and distress flares were fired into the sky by Ebisu from a relatively safe distance.

The flares exploded on the outskirts of Konoha!

In the Hokage's office, Minato Namikaze, who had been discussing matters with the advisors, and Hyuga Fuji, who had just emerged from the underground training room, both paused. Their gazes turned toward the signal, and in the next instant, their figures vanished.

"Is it Kirigakure?"

In the meeting room, Koharu Utatane frowned as she noticed Minato's abrupt departure.

"Most likely. But didn't Minato set up barriers around the outskirts of the village and station Hyuga clansmen on guard? How did the Seven Ninja Swordsmen bypass them?"

Homura Mitokado responded.

Kirigakure's plans for an assault were no secret. Even without information from spies, it wasn't hard to deduce their intentions.

After all, Kirigakure's only enemy now was Konoha, and the absence of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen from the front lines had always been suspicious.

As the two advisors pondered the situation, Danzo rose silently and walked toward the door.

"Danzo, what are you doing? It's just the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. Minato won't take long to deal with them."

"You can continue discussing with the Fourth Hokage. The matter of Tsunade teaching a medical class has nothing to do with me."

Homura frowned and sighed. "Hiruzen told us to keep an eye on you. Don't make things difficult for us."

"Heh, he's no longer the Hokage," Danzo replied with a cryptic smile, then walked out the door.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was no longer Hokage, and with Minato lacking sufficient authority, no one in Konoha could restrain Danzo now.

As the door shut behind him, Koharu and Homura exchanged worried glances.

…

"Is the Red Eyes' range of perception greater than the Byakugan's?"

Moving swiftly through Konoha's streets, Hyuga Fuji reviewed the memories returned by his shadow clone upon its destruction.

He was well aware of Minato's arrangement of Hyuga ninja around Konoha's perimeter. The fact that the Seven Ninja Swordsmen had slipped past unnoticed could only be attributed to Ranmaru's Red Eyes.

"More than a kilometer, but less than five?"

Hyuga Fuji's eyes gleamed.

After his Byakugan's evolution, its two-kilometer range had more than doubled.

This explained why Guy's position had still been somewhat distant from that of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen at the time.

"Dojutsu bloodlines outside of the Three Great Dojutsu hold significant research value. I'll need to capture Ranmaru before the Fourth Hokage kills him off in passing."

With that thought, Hyuga Fuji focused on the Flying Thunder God mark left by his shadow clone.

In the blink of an eye, his figure blurred and vanished.

(End of Chapter)