The night was as dark as ink, the cold wind howling.
Relying on the Enhancements provided by their Chakra Armor and the Yukigakure's Ninja's unique snowfield stealth techniques, Nadare and his team easily avoided the crude warning traps and sporadic sentry posts outside the outpost.
They were like four shadows skimming the ground, quickly approaching the Earth Release-reinforced low wall, about three meters high.
Nadare gave a signal. The four exerted force simultaneously. Chakra flowed slightly through the leg armor, and their bodies leaped up lightly, preparing to silently scale the earthen wall.
However, just as Nadare's toes were about to touch the snow on the wall's top, a cold gaze instantly locked onto him!
On the wall top, a figure stood quietly, as if it had been there all along.
It was a boy who looked only about ten years old. His white hair floated slightly in the cold wind, and he wore a dark gray Star Ninja's standard combat uniform.
Most heart-stopping were his eyes… the pupils were a pure white!
In the dim night, these eyes seemed to emit a faint glow, coldly looking down at them like a god gazing upon ants.
"Byakugan?!" Nadare's heart jolted in shock. His movements subconsciously halted for an instant.
He never expected the Star Ninja's sentry to be such a young child, let alone that the other possessed the legendary Dojutsu, the Byakugan!
This was one of the two Great Dojutsu of the Ninja World!
Even he, a Yukigakure's Ninja, had heard of the Byakugan and the Sharingan!
But the intelligence on the Land of Stars held by the Yukigakure's Ninja hadn't mentioned this at all!
After the shock, a fury at being looked down upon and the ruthlessness of a professional killer quickly replaced the surprise.
'A ten-year-old child, so what if he had the Byakugan?'
'How much combat experience could he have?'
"Brat, you're in the way." Nadare's voice came through his faceplate, thick with disdain.
He couldn't even be bothered to act personally. He tilted his head towards a tall Chunin beside him, "Setsugan, deal with him. Make it quick. Don't alert the inside."
The Chunin named Setsugan sneered ferociously. Looking at the slender figure on the wall, his eyes were full of cruelty.
He didn't take Kimimaro seriously at all.
"Brat, in your next life, don't stare so wide-eyed!" he growled lowly.
Chakra erupted at his feet. Ice crystals condensed on the surface of his armor. His entire body shot towards the wall top like a cannonball. The sharp kunai in his hand, carrying a bone-chilling cold, stabbed straight at Kimimaro's throat!
The speed was extremely fast, clearly an enhancement from the Chakra Armor.
Facing this fatal strike, the expression on the wall-top Kimimaro didn't change in the slightest.
Those pure white eyes clearly captured every muscle twitch of his opponent, every strand of Chakra's flow path, even the subtle trajectory of the kunai piercing the air.
Just as the kunai was about to touch his skin-
Squelch!
A sickening, teeth-grating sound of bone piercing flesh and muscle suddenly rang out!
Setsugan's forward momentum halted abruptly. The smile on his face instantly froze, replaced by extreme pain and unbelievable terror!
He slowly looked down. A section of ghostly white, sharp bone spike, as if growing from hell itself, had burst forth from the palm Kimimaro raised, precisely piercing his heart!
Warm blood gushed out along the cold bone spike, dripping onto the snow on the wall top, blooming into blinding crimson plum blossoms.
"Gugh-"
A strange sound came from Setsugan's throat. The light in his eyes rapidly dimmed.
Kimimaro's arm gave a slight shake. The bone spike piercing Setsugan's heart instantly retracted, leaving only a tiny hole in his palm.
Setsugan's corpse fell from the wall top like a broken sack, landing with a 'thud' on the snow below, splattering blood-stained snow foam.
The entire process was fast as lightning, silent, yet carried a kind of chillingly cruel beauty.
"!!!"
The pupils of Nadare and the other two Yukigakure's Ninja constricted violently. A chill shot up from the soles of their feet to the crowns of their heads!
It was an instinctive shudder in the face of unknown terror!
A ten-year-old child, killing a Chunin in such a bizarre, bloody way with a raise of his hand?!
"Shikotsumyaku?! A remnant of the Kaguya Clan?!" Nadare, after all, was a Jonin with considerable knowledge. He instantly recognized this terrifying Kekkei Genkai. Alarm bells rang loudly in his mind, and all traces of contempt vanished!
"Attack together! Use Ice Release to trap him! Quickly!"
The remaining two Yukigakure's Chunin were also stimulated to red-eyed fury, both shocked and enraged by the terrifying scene.
They simultaneously formed hand seals. The Chakra armor on their bodies instantly lit up with an ice-blue glow, emitting intense cold air.
"Ice Release: Ice Crystal Strike!" One Yukigakure's Ninja roared, slamming his palms onto the ground.
The snow on the ground instantly froze and bulged, forming several thick ice pillars with sharp tops. They shot towards Kimimaro on the wall from all sides like a prison cage, attempting to trap and kill him within!
"Ice Release: Blizzard Technique!" The other Yukigakure's Chunin took a deep breath.
Enhanced by the Chakra Armor, he exhaled a large cloud of piercing cold wind mixed with sharp ice crystals. It howled towards Kimimaro, not only obscuring vision but the dense ice crystals were like countless flying daggers, enough to cut a person to a bloody pulp!
The cold air instantly spreads, the temperature on the wall top plummeted. Ice crystals danced, and vision blurred.
Nadare also moved simultaneously. He didn't form any hand seals but madly poured Chakra into the armor on his legs.
His entire body moved at high speed along the wall surface like a ghost. In his hand, he instantly condensed a long sword made of solid ice.
The blade flashed with a deadly cold light. Taking advantage of the cover from the ice crystal storm, he stabbed silently from the side towards Kimimaro's ribs!
The angle was cunning, exceptionally vicious!
Facing this all-around Ice Release strangulation from above, below, left, and right, Kimimaro's pure white eyes remained calm without a single ripple.
"Shikotsumyaku: Dance of Revolving Heaven!"
A low, clear shout rang out.
Kimimaro's body instantly began to spin at high speed like a top, using his left foot as the axis!
"Dance of the Camellia!"
Squelch! Squelch! Squelch!*
Several sharp arm bones shot out like venomous snakes striking, instantly bursting from the elbows and shoulders of Kimimaro's arms!
The Yukigakure's Armor had no time to react at all. His protective Chakra Armor was pierced as easily as paper!
Several bone spikes precisely pierced his throat, heart, and abdomen!
He couldn't even scream before being pinned to the ice block behind him by the immense impact force. Blood flowed down the bone spikes and ice surface. He died instantly!
"Bastard!" The other Yukigakure's Chunin, who had released the blizzard, was furious, his eyes wide with rage. His comrade's gruesome death ignited his savagery.
He frantically activated his chakra armor, forming hand signs: "Ice Release: Swallow Snowstorm!"
Countless ice swallows shot out rapidly, like senbon or shuriken, raining down on Kimimaro like a storm!
Kimimaro's face remained expressionless. His pure white eyes locked onto the target.
He didn't even bother to defend, his body leaning forward slightly.
"Dance of the Willow!"
His body seemed to instantly lose weight, becoming incredibly flexible, like a willow branch swaying in the wind.
Under the Byakugan's 360 degree insight, the seemingly dense swarm of ice swallows had clear gaps between them.
His figure weaved and swayed bizarrely through the senbon rain, so fast it left afterimages. Not a single ice swallow could touch his body!
It was like the dance of death on the edge of a blade!
In an instant, he passed through the ice swallow rain and was right in front of the last Yukigakure's Chunin.
The fingers of his right hand came together. Five sharp finger bones, like short swords, instantly sprang out from his knuckles.
"Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets!"
Squelch! Squelch! Squelch! Squelch! Squelch!
Five streaks of white light flashed and vanished!
Five bloody holes were instantly pierced through the Yukigakure's Chunin's chest and abdomen!
He looked down in disbelief at his spurting wounds, swayed, and fell backward.
In the blink of an eye, three Yukigakure's Chunin were annihilated!
Nadare was shocked and filled with fear!
'This wasn't a fight… it was a one-sided slaughter!'
'This boy with the Byakugan and Shikotsumyaku was simply a monster crawled out from hell!'
Fear finally overcame his will to fight. Without hesitation, he turned and fled, frantically activating his Chakra Armor!
"Trying to leave?" Kimimaro's cold voice was like the pronouncement of death.
He raised his hand, palm aimed at Nadare's retreating back.
Several bone spikes instantly protruded from his arm, like a cocked crossbow.
"Dance of the Camellia: Willow Drilling Bullets!" Several sharp bone spikes infused with powerful force tore through the air with piercing shrieks, shooting straight at Nadare's back!
When Nadare sensed the deadly killing intent from behind, his soul nearly left his body.
He desperately twisted his body trying to dodge, simultaneously turning and placing his ice blade in front of his chest to block!
Clang!
Squelch!
One bone spike was barely knocked away by the ice blade, but the other two seemed to have eyes. One pierced his shoulder, the other grazed his thigh, taking a spray of blood with it!
The intense pain made him stagger, his speed drastically reduced.
"Ice Release Secret Technique: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals!" A clear, cold voice suddenly rang out.
Nadare looked up in horror. Countless huge, mirror-smooth ice crystals had somehow instantly condensed in the air around him!
They hung suspended, completely blocking his escape route!
In each ice mirror, the reflection of a delicate and handsome boy appeared.
It was Haku, who had sensed the fluctuations from combat and rushed over quickly!
"This is the true Ice Release Kekkei Genkai?!" Nadare felt a huge sense of absurdity and despair welling up inside him as he looked at this Ice Release spectacle far beyond what his chakra armor could produce.
Haku stood before an ice mirror, his eyes clear but carrying a hint of slight anger, "After using such a crude imitation, you dare call it Ice Release? Those who defile the purity of Ice Release do not deserve to live in this world."
His hands formed a seal in front of his chest.
"Secret Technique: A Thousand Murderous Ice Petals!"
As Haku's cold voice fell, all the ice mirrors instantly blazed with light!
Countless senbon condensed from extreme cold ice, flashing with deadly cold light, were violently shot out from every ice mirror as if pulled by an invisible force!
They weren't chaotic but, under Haku's precise control, were like a torrential downpour, like a living swarm of bees. From all directions, above and below, left and right, every possible angle, they completely covered the space where Nadare was!
The density, speed, and cunning angles far surpassed Nadare's earlier [Swallow Snowstorm] by thousands of times!
"Ahhh!!!" Nadare let out a desperate, unwilling roar. He wildly swung his ice blade, activating his Chakra Armor to release cold air forming a shield.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
The sounds of the ice sword blocking and the shield shattering were instantly drowned by the countless dull thuds of Senbon piercing flesh.
Nadare's body shook violently like a rag doll in a storm.
His Chakra Armor emitted groans of being overwhelmed under the dense piercing. Ice crystals shattered and flew, but it couldn't possibly block the ubiquitous ice senbon!
After just a few seconds...
The ice mirrors dissipated. The cold wind swept through.
Nadare stood rigidly in place, his entire body covered in dense, gleaming ice senbon, stuck like a pincushion.
Blood dripped down the senbon, pooling into a small, glaring crimson puddle on the snow.
His wide eyes were frozen with extreme fear and disbelief, completely devoid of light.
His proud Chakra Armor was now covered in holes and cracks.
Thud.
Nadare's corpse fell forward stiffly, hitting the cold snow, silent forever.
Kimimaro slowly retracted his bone spikes. His pure white eyes swept over the four corpses on the ground as if looking at piles of trash.
Haku landed lightly beside him.
Looking at Nadare's body, he sighed softly: "His ice was too filthy."
Then, he turned to Kimimaro, his eyes filled with concern: "Kimimaro, are you alright?"
Kimimaro shook his head, his voice still flat and emotionless: "No issue. Just small fry."
By then, Hotarubi, Gotta, Yukimi, and the other Star Ninjas from the outpost, alerted by the intense Chakra Fluctuations and combat sounds, had quickly arrived at the eastern wall.
Looking at the four corpses in ice-blue armor on the snow outside the wall, especially Nadare's terrifying appearance riddled with senbon, Gotta sucked in a cold breath. "Hiss— This is... the Land of Snow's Roga Nadare?! You two handled this?"
Hotarubi's gaze fell on Kimimaro and Haku, filled with shock and admiration.
Although he knew the two were strong, seeing the countless senbon and bone spikes remaining in the four Yukigakure's Ninja's bodies still made his heart race.
Nadare was, after all, a Jonin of the Land of Snow, leading an elite team on a night raid.
And now, he was easily killed by two youths.
"They tried to sneak attack…" Kimimaro stated the fact simply.
Haku nodded, looking at Hotarubi, "Hotarubi-san, what next?"
Hotaru took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil in his heart. His eyes swept towards the brightly lit Land of Darkness's military camp in the distance. He snorted lightly.
"Keep Roga Nadare's body. Gather intelligence from the other three corpses, then throw them back to the doorstep of the Land of Darkness's military camp."