"You're not a Senju, huh? Whatever... not important. You're with the Anbu, right? Then you must've heard about me. Don't tell me you're not the least bit interested in Kekkei Genkai?"
Hiroku raised his hand, face twisted with hostility.
Chimera Technique.
His life's work. Yet the Third Hokage rejected it outright. Not only that, he even sent Jiraiya and the others to hunt him down. If he hadn't gotten lucky and escaped, he'd already be a corpse.
Now facing Kanda Kyoichi...
If he could settle this with words or leverage, he'd rather not fight.
"Kekkei Genkai? Oh, you mean… this?"
Kyoichi pointed with a finger.
The next second—
Ice crystallized around Hiroku's feet, freezing him in place. Then a vine shot up from the ground, yanking Chūkichi away from his side.
Hiroku froze.
What the—?
Ice Release? Wood Release?! No way! How can you wield two Kekkei Genkai at the same time?! You must've learned Chimera Technique too! No—wait, even Chimera Technique can't grant Wood Release... Has Konoha restarted the old Hashirama cell experiments?!
His emotions surged out of control, and his expression grew increasingly manic.
He broke the ice with a surge of chakra.
Then—
He quickly formed hand seals and slammed his palm into the ground. Explosions erupted around them.
Exploding Tag Array!
The area around Kyoichi was rigged with explosive tags.
Clearly…
This was one of Hiroku's hideouts, meticulously prepared in advance.
Yet…
When the smoke and fire cleared, Kyoichi walked out without a scratch.
Hiroku lunged forward, kunai in hand—
One strike—
Kyoichi didn't even dodge. But the kunai couldn't penetrate.
Earth Spear…?
Hiroku's heart sank.
This guy had mastered Earth Spear to such a degree? That's rare even among Konoha ninja...
Years of hiding and experimenting had clearly dulled his understanding of the outside world.
What other jutsu does this guy even know?!
Hiroku immediately considered escape. He wasn't the type to fight to the bitter end. Chimera Technique was his only obsession—everything else could be discarded.
Realizing how dangerous Kyoichi was…
He started preparing to bolt. Coincidentally, someone had contacted him recently.
But first, he had to create enough chaos to buy time.
Hiroku bit his thumb, formed seals, and slammed his hand onto the ground—
A massive summoning beast emerged.
A grotesque patchwork of stitched-together limbs and parts. Hideous and devoid of any natural form or grace.
"Tear him apart," Hiroku said coldly.
Then—genjutsu.
He cast it instantly.
Kyoichi stood there, seemingly motionless, as if caught in the illusion.
The beast charged and tore Kyoichi apart with ease.
Hiroku paused.
Something's wrong.
Wait—am I the one caught in the genjutsu?!
His face changed as he quickly dispelled it.
The scene shifted.
Kyoichi stood before him, idly toying with the beast using one hand.
Yes—toying was the only appropriate word.
"That was even more disappointing than I expected. I can see why you've gone mad. If your target is Jiraiya and the others, in your current state, you don't stand a chance."
Kyoichi sighed.
This guy was a gifted researcher, no doubt—but far too unhinged. His experiments and jutsu were so twisted that even Kyoichi couldn't tolerate them.
Chimera...
A malformed technique—not even as refined as Kabuto's cellular transplant methods.
Hiroku's heart sank. He completely lost the will to fight.
This guy…
Too terrifying.
Far beyond what he could handle—stronger even than Jiraiya or Orochimaru.
Hiroku quickly formed seals again. The earth rumbled.
Earth Release: Earth Flow River!
A torrent of mud surged forward, riddled with hidden explosive tags, all directed at "Kyoichi" and Chūkichi.
At the same time…
Hiroku used a Shadow Clone, while his real body slipped underground and escaped.
But—
Kyoichi didn't chase.
Because Hiroku didn't matter anymore. He'd already been marked with a Flying Thunder God seal.
Kyoichi was after something far more important—
White Zetsu.
Sure enough...
Madara and Black Zetsu had been acting up lately—their shadows could be seen everywhere.
Upon discovering that Hiroku was the one behind this, and with the location so close to the Land of Water, Kyoichi decided to see if White Zetsu was lurking nearby.
So…
He'd been using a Wood Clone to fight all this time. His real body, cloaked in Sage Chakra and Wood Release, was hidden.
And just now...
He sensed White Zetsu underground.
White Zetsu!
No way he was letting this one escape.
Kyoichi dove through the earth, moving at astonishing speed thanks to Sage Chakra.
White Zetsu watched helplessly as an odd, stealthy chakra signature tunneled through the ground—looped behind him—then—
BOOM!
One punch.
The seabed ruptured, and a massive surge of water exploded upward into a towering tsunami.
Hiroku, still tunneling to escape, was stunned.
What the hell just happened up there?!
Who's fighting?!
What the hell...
Aside from himself, Kanda Kyoichi, and the unconscious Chūkichi—who else was even here?
He had no choice but to halt his Earth Release escape.
Up ahead was a chaotic, terrifying chakra storm—it felt like the whole island had been blown off the map. He couldn't even tell who had done it.
He retreated and peeked out—
A massive tsunami loomed.
Aftershock from… some unknown jutsu.
"What… kind of technique is this?!"
Hiroku was dumbfounded.
Then he spotted Kanda Kyoichi escaping the island up ahead—and finally let out a sigh of relief.
Kyoichi's still here.
The guy had probably forgotten all about him.
That kind of power... it just wasn't human.
This… this is what a ninja should be.
Hiroku was in awe.
But—
The next second, his expression froze.
Another Kanda Kyoichi rose from the sea, dragging some freakish creature behind him—half a body left, but clearly humanoid.
More importantly—
Why was it Kyoichi again?!
Then who was that?
A clone?
Hiroku's mind went blank. But then he remembered a clone technique from the old texts—
Wood Clone!
Only a Wood Clone could endure a fight like that without vanishing. Unless...
Unless the guy was just so strong, you couldn't even scratch him.
Hiroku really hoped it was the former.
"Why are you still here? Whatever. Saves me the trouble of chasing you. Come with me—Konoha's maximum-security prison is waiting."
Kyoichi dragged White Zetsu along.
He'd only come here to investigate missing Anbu, and instead stumbled upon a White Zetsu.
What a surprise windfall. Too bad White Zetsu had self-destructed half his body.
"I-I…"
Hiroku looked at Kyoichi, then the mangled White Zetsu, then the destroyed half of the island, then the Wood Clone still standing calmly.
And fell into stunned silence.
Should I fight?
Even if Chimera Technique were complete, he probably couldn't take a single punch.
No—
Even if Chimera Technique was perfected, could he really survive that one punch?
He had no confidence.
"I've got a question."
"I'm in a good mood today. Since you didn't run and saved me a bit of chakra, I'll give you a chance to ask."
Kyoichi casually worked on sealing White Zetsu as he spoke.
Hiroku hesitated a moment, then asked, "That thing just now… What kind of jutsu was it?"
"Oh, that? Hard to explain in detail... but essentially it was just a taijutsu-enhanced punch. Nothing fancy. The guy was slippery, so I had to go fast. No time to mess around with ninjutsu."
Seal complete.
White Zetsu's tissue would be exactly the kind of thing Orochimaru was dying to study. Kyoichi figured he could squeeze a lot of favors out of him in exchange—maybe even get a method to track the Gedo Statue.
Hiroku was completely crushed.
Just a punch...?
What kind of insane person says that with a straight face?!
"All right. You got your question. Now come with me."
The first part of the sentence came from a distance—
The second part was already whispered in his ear.
Hiroku forgot to resist.
Too fast!
This level of speed…
Far beyond anything he could deal with. The guy had clearly just been playing with him earlier using a clone.
Just like he'd played with that summoning beast.
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