"Huh?! Where'd he go?"
Might Gai, with the Seventh Gate open, had his senses pushed to their absolute limit—his speed, strength, agility, durability, and hearing.
The Eight Gates was a ninjutsu that unlocked the body's self-imposed limitations. Releasing these locks didn't just increase one's chakra; it enhanced every aspect of the body, including sight, smell, and hearing.
No Body Flicker Technique could be faster than him. It was impossible for someone to escape from right under his nose.
But now... where was he?!
Might Gai was completely baffled. He threw a few more punches at the spot where Uchiha Nagi had just been, plowing the earth into a flower-like pattern, but there was no sign of him.
Then, like a bolt of lightning, he zipped around the surrounding area, but still saw nothing. Finally, he had no choice but to land helplessly beside Kakashi.
"Uh, Kakashi, did you see where he went? It seems like he escaped..." Gai said, scratching his head in frustration.
"Ah, it's not 'seems like.' He definitely escaped," Kakashi said, hopping over to where Uchiha Nagi had disappeared. He crouched down, frowning as he carefully examined the ground.
As Kakashi Hatake, the Copy Ninja who had mastered all five nature transformations and was said to have copied over a thousand jutsu, he made a quick assessment after a thorough inspection.
"Gai, there's no residual chakra in the soil. He didn't escape using an Earth Style jutsu. And I had my three-tomoe Sharingan active. No matter how fast his Body Flicker is, it's impossible for him to vanish without leaving even a single afterimage for my dynamic vision. So..."
Gai scratched his head, his time with the Eight Gates limited. "Just get to the point, Kakashi!" he said impatiently.
Kakashi sighed. "Close the Eight Gates. He's really gone."
Might Gai trusted Kakashi completely. He immediately closed the Seventh Gate, and a wave of emptiness instantly washed over his body. Of course, the side effects would kick in a little later.
"But how? I didn't see anything! It doesn't make sense, I had the Seventh Gate open..."
Kakashi looked up grimly toward the Hokage Rock. The massive mountain had the faces carved into it, and now that the battlefield had been leveled and the primeval trees were gone, they could faintly see the stone faces from here.
"If I'm not mistaken, he escaped using a space-time ninjutsu."
"Space-time ninjutsu? Isn't that the Flying Thunder God, a technique only the Second and Fourth Hokage could use?" Gai asked, confused.
"Yes. The Flying Thunder God Technique requires immense talent. Besides my teacher, no one in Konoha's history has ever been able to learn it. Even my teacher's personal guard, three of them working together, could only learn a fraction of it," Kakashi said, looking helplessly at his teacher's face on the mountain.
"If he truly hates Konoha, then the village is in trouble..."
An image of the Yellow Flash at his most powerful flashed through Kakashi's mind. In that battle, dozens of enemy ninja, from jonin to genin, had their throats slit by his teacher in an instant.
Faced with such a terrifying opponent, whose speed was so extreme he could appear and disappear without a trace, the ninja world later adopted a rule: if you encounter the Yellow Flash, you can flee immediately and abandon the mission without punishment.
He had single-handedly held back the vanguard of the Land of Lightning's army, which had been eager to make a move at the time, facing a young Fourth Raikage and the jinchuriki, Killer Bee.
The two top-tier, Kage-level combatants of the Land of Lightning were so stunned by Minato Namikaze's speed that they sullenly returned to report the situation. After much deliberation, the Land of Lightning abandoned their invasion.
But unlike a village, Uchiha Nagi was a lone wolf. If a person with such a space-time ninjutsu were to go on a rampage, attacking Konoha every few days, it would be a true nightmare.
"Let's head back for now and report the situation to Lord Hokage," Kakashi said, turning to regroup with Anko and the others and return to Konoha.
"Kakashi..."
Huh?!
Kakashi turned to see his eternal rival, Might Gai, lying on the ground like a limp octopus, his eyes welling up with tears.
Realizing the side effects of the Eight Gates had kicked in, Kakashi sighed, went over, and hoisted Gai onto his back. He then leaped over to Asuma and Anko.
"O-oh, easy, Kakashi! It hurts! Be gentle..."
Kakashi approached Asuma and Kurenai. "Is everyone alright? Let's go back and report to Lord Third together."
While they were still fighting, Anko Mitarashi had given Asuma some simple first aid. The surviving members of the Anbu squads, dead or disabled, were gathering the bodies of their own comrades.
Asuma nodded. "I'm fine. Just some superficial wounds."
The group looked at the transformed landscape, ravaged by the map-wiping jutsu, then at the dead-fish-like Might Gai limp on Kakashi's back. They were all completely shocked. This was the first time they, as former classmates, had truly seen the power of Gai, the "dead-last" from their school days. He was terrifyingly strong now.
Even more terrifying was the Uchiha who had escaped after the massacre, Uchiha Nagi. He had also been their classmate, though not in the same class.
The Ninja Academy in Konoha had elite classes and regular classes. The elite classes were filled with the children of the major ninja clans, as well as exceptionally talented kids like Kakashi and Gai.
Don't be fooled by Gai's "dead-last" reputation; his performance had been noticed by the higher-ups long ago, and he had been labeled as elite-class material. It was just like how the Third Hokage had taken the dead-last Jiraiya as his student.
The strong have a keen eye for talent. But when they were young, their lack of experience made them see their peers as if through a fog.
Uchiha Nagi, with his adult mindset, had always maintained a lukewarm performance. Besides his looks, he had never really stood out at the academy.
He was just one of the crowd, until the time of the massacre, when the Hokage announced the two rogue ninja, Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Nagi. Only then did people remember him.
"I can't believe it. That quiet Uchiha Nagi from back then... after awakening his Sharingan, he became this strong," Asuma lamented.
"Well, it is the eye that, according to legend, only Uchiha Madara possessed," Kakashi said, touching his own three-tomoe Sharingan. The gap seemed a bit large.
Kurenai was being supported by Anko. Her fuinjutsu seal was still in place, and without the use of her chakra, she couldn't leap through the trees.
When they were about halfway back, several kunai suddenly shot toward them.
Kakashi, carrying Gai, reacted instantly and leaped away. Anko, carrying Kurenai, also dodged. Only the injured Asuma's reaction was a half-second too slow...
Pfft—
Asuma's eyes widened in disbelief. A blade had pierced through his chest from behind. An enemy had struck him from behind, the sword running him through the heart.
"Asuma!" +2
"Asuma!" +2
Kakashi's face darkened. He immediately locked onto the few ordinary-looking kunai. "It's the Flying Thunder God Technique!" he said grimly. "Those kunai are marked with the formula! Everyone, be careful!"
Uchiha Nagi looked at the four of them. Two were still combat-ready, but they were carrying two who weren't. If he wanted to, he could kill all four of them right now.
However, Might Gai, enduring the intense pain, had already gotten off Kakashi's back. He was looking at him with a heavy expression, ready to open the Gate of Death and fight to the bitter end if things went south.
"I'm just here to collect a little interest. Asuma's head is mine. Tell Hiruzen Sarutobi that this bit of interest is nowhere near enough to compensate for the lives of the thousand-plus members of the Uchiha clan."
Twenty-million-ryo worth of interest...
After speaking, Uchiha Nagi smiled and looked at Anko Mitarashi and Kurenai Yuhi.
Anko Mitarashi was startled, and before she could react, she felt a massive force smack her on the rear.
Her body couldn't withstand the force, and Anko was sent flying more than ten meters. Kurenai, on the other hand, once again stared with wide, disbelieving eyes.
"Mmph, mmph..."
After a brief three seconds, Uchiha Nagi released Kurenai. He flashed a row of perfectly white teeth and grinned. "The first time I kissed you, it was sweet. The second time, it was salty. I hope you'll have a different flavor next time."
Salty, of course, because Kurenai had bitten him, drawing blood. And there were also her tears.
Swoosh—
Uchiha Nagi vanished again. Along with him, Asuma's body was gone. Asuma, with a sword through his heart, was definitely dead...
"That bastard! He dared to hit my butt!" Anko, furious, rushed over only to find her three companions looking on grimly.
At the same time, she realized: Asuma was dead. Not only was he dead, but his body had been taken by the enemy...
"Damn that Flying Thunder God Technique..."