Yūshin seemed to have no leads, but as long as he maintained patience, he believed he'd soon find a breakthrough.
And indeed this proved true. For three consecutive days, he remained holed up in the inn, observing outside conditions through his room window. Then, on the third day's afternoon, he discovered shinobi activity within the town.
This wasn't because Yūshin's intelligence-gathering abilities were particularly strong, but rather because the shinobi he observed made absolutely no effort to conceal his identity.
Seeing this situation, he didn't hesitate—immediately leaving the inn and decisively following behind the target.
Based on his intention to keep trump cards hidden, plus the fact that this tracking was meant to be discovered at the appropriate moment, he merely utilized the town's varied building heights and complex environment for surveillance, rather than immediately employing the Mayfly Technique.
That shinobi moved swiftly through the town. Judging solely from this movement pattern, one could tell this wasn't his first visit—his actions showed clear purpose.
Subsequently, this shinobi entered an inconspicuous alley, then walked into a low building at the alley's deepest point.
After roughly forty minutes, he finally left that building again... naturally, this location warranted focused attention.
At this point, Yūshin had two choices: continue tracking this shinobi, or directly investigate that building.
For safety's sake, he chose the former.
He wanted to collect sufficient information from the shinobi.
Yūshin followed behind as the shinobi next chose to leave the town directly, afterward moving northward throughout, with speed unconsciously increasing.
Yūshin roughly understood why, so he heightened vigilance while continuing to follow closely.
Shortly after leaving town, having passed through sparse woodland, the terrain ahead became wetlands shrouded in miasma.
Stagnant dead water and rotting vegetation soaked together in humid dead pools. In the thick gray-brown water pits, one could occasionally glimpse half-exposed white bones of large animals.
This clearly looked like an excellent place for burying people.
"Come out—I discovered you long ago."
After that shinobi stopped, he spoke toward Yūshin's hiding direction.
This was exactly what he wanted—to be discovered...
Yūshin chose to reveal himself directly. Meeting the other's wary yet slightly smug gaze, he approached step by step, stopping at a position over ten meters from his opponent.
After standing still, unable to tolerate the surrounding putrid odor, he instinctively raised his left hand to cover his nose and mouth.
Then a dramatic scene occurred—without a word, the opponent launched an attack, several shuriken shooting intensely toward Yūshin.
Negotiations hadn't even begun, yet seemingly had already ended.
No one could expect trust toward sneaky stalkers. In this shinobi's view, a strange shinobi's "hand movement" equaled "making a move."
Rounding off, forming seals meant attacking, and covering one's nose also meant attacking—so he had to strike first.
Ultimately, Yūshin wasn't a native; often he didn't understand locals' mentalities... the chaotic shinobi world had already driven naturally extreme shinobi into neurosis.
Though the opponent's attack was unexpected, this distance still left Yūshin ample reaction time—he easily dodged this assault.
Just planning to continue speaking, a kunai pierced through his chest from behind.
He turned back somewhat surprised, discovering another shinobi had attacked him from behind.
A righteous two-on-one—those skilled in backstabbing are eternally stabbed by others. Clearly, enemies numbered more than one.
"Heh..."
The backstabbing enemy seemed to want a maximally "cruel" smile, yet the stabbed Yūshin transformed into a puddle of clear water the next moment.
"Water Clone?"
Not far away, Yūshin actively revealed himself again.
Though these people had already attempted lethal force against him, he still didn't immediately take hostile action.
"I mean no harm—just want to ask you two something."
"No harm? Shinobi all claim no harm before delivering killing blows," that shinobi said.
Having spoken, the two shinobi exchanged glances, then charged toward Yūshin from near and far positions.
Yūshin had no choice—he decided to first subdue these two, then conduct questioning.
His hands rapidly formed seals, almost instinctively using his highest-proficiency ninjutsu:
Fire Release: Great Flame Bullet!
Previously, Yūshin's opening move was always Flame Bullet; now with abundant chakra, he'd switched to Great Flame Bullet.
Undeniably, Great Flame Bullet had somewhat intimidating impact. When a massive fireball exceeding six meters diameter brought layered heat waves smashing toward enemies, ordinary shinobi couldn't remain unmoved.
Of course, limited by fireball flight speed issues, unless released at extremely close distance, such Fire Release techniques could hardly precisely hit enemies, much less produce one-hundred-percent lethal effects.
The frontmost shinobi dodged sideways, avoiding the Great Flame Bullet.
Meaning Yūshin's technique could at most delay enemies. However...
Buzz... BOOM!
Massive explosion sounds suddenly erupted as Yūshin'sGreat Flame Bullet triggered secondary detonation.
Excellent shinobi inevitably consider environmental factors during combat, seeking advantage while avoiding harm. From this perspective, Yūshin wasn't an excellent shinobi.
Because he'd used Fire Release ninjutsu here with barely any consideration.
This area beneath their feet, rather than swampland, was more accurately a methane pool.
As the Great Flame Bullet's outer flames ignited marsh gas, an invisible pressure wave rapidly spread outward like ripples. Next, methane clouds accumulated throughout the entire swamp—stored for unknown duration—detonated instantly.
With a thunderous boom, massive energy brewing within the swamp erupted accordingly, like volcanic eruption, as the muddy water surface violently exploded.
Momentarily, even the earth seemed to tremble.
Fortunately, Yūshin was positioned at the swamp's outermost edge. Though he'd released the Fire Release, upon recognizing danger, he actually had space to retreat and evade.
His escape speed was first-rate—diving into the ground, he'd fled fifty to sixty meters in an instant. Even so, he was still left disheveled by the explosion's aftershock.
Temporary tinnitus and even mild concussion were unavoidable.
The other two shinobi weren't so fortunate—positioned within the swamp, they were essentially trapped by the explosion's range.
Yūshin emerged from underground, vigorously shaking his head, struggling twice before climbing up from the ground.
Looking ahead, he discovered the swamp's condition was utterly catastrophic.
After fierce explosion, sediments buried here for unknown years had been overturned, plus incompletely burned methane odors mixing with various scents made it even more nauseating.
Various swamp locations were burning, then Yūshin discovered a charcoal-like humanoid creature.
Undoubtedly, one unlucky shinobi had been directly killed by explosion.
This demonstrated that backstabbing Yūshin brought karmic retribution.
Only one enemy died. Yūshin instinctively looked upward, seeing a giant eagle hovering in midair with the surviving shinobi riding on its back.
A summoning beast?
This enemy's reaction was quite swift—he'd used his summoning beast to fly into midair before the explosion.
Of course, this also related to his greater distance from the blast point.
"Maniac."
Yūshin currently had ringing ears—he couldn't hear the opponent's voice, but reading lips, the person seemed to say this.
"I truly meant no harm. What just happened was purely accidental—this doesn't represent how evil I am."
Unfortunately, among the three present, due to the explosion's massive thunderous impact, whether Yūshin himself, the enemy who'd escaped to midair, or the shinobi charred to carbon...
None could hear this pale explanation.
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