Since his first surprise attack hadn't succeeded, Uchiha Feiyu had zero interest in continuing to tangle with Rōshi.
Rōshi had no intention of letting him go so easily.
With a furious roar, the chakra around Rōshi boiled over. A fully-formed Tailed Beast Cloak wrapped his body, and his expression turned ice-cold.
"I wasn't planning to expose this power…
But a brat your age, who's already crossed that boundary into Kage-level…
You're far too dangerous.
I can't allow you to keep growing."
"Lava Release – Scorching River!"（熔遁——灼流大河）
Now that he'd thrown off his disguise as a mere elite jōnin and revealed himself as a true Jinchūriki, Rōshi's aura skyrocketed several times over.
A terrifying torrent of molten lava erupted from his body, forming a roaring magma river, surging toward Feiyu like a tidal wave.
Facing such a screen-filling, map-wide attack, even Feiyu's speed had limits.
Fortunately, his Earth Release had improved a lot recently.
His hands flashed through seals and the ground surged upwards, forming a massive earth wall in front of him:
"Earth Release – Earth Flow Rampart!"（土遁——土流城壁）
The wall bought him a heartbeat—then was instantly melted through by the magma torrent.
But that brief delay was all he needed.
By the time the lava devoured the rampart, Feiyu was already well outside the kill zone.
Facing a Jinchūriki who was steadily drawing deeper on his Tailed Beast's power, Feiyu knew he wouldn't Gain anything by staying.
He turned on his heel and bolted.
"Brat, don't even think about running!"
Seeing Feiyu run faster than a startled rabbit, Rōshi instinctively gave chase—
Only to grind to a halt after a few steps.
The speed difference was… a bit too large.
"Damn little runt… you shameless brat, don't you have even a shred of pride!?"
Feiyu answered while sprinting, voice already growing faint with distance:
"Please. You're a thirty-something Jinchūriki chasing a kid who graduated the Academy less than a year ago.
And I'm the one without pride?"
By the time he finished talking, he was already gone from Rōshi's field of view.
Leaving the Four-Tails' Jinchūriki standing there, quietly seething in impotent rage.
"Are these rock-moles part dog or something?
How are they still chasing this fast?"
Feiyu had just wiped out another Iwa squad and couldn't help grumbling.
But since that squad had managed to fire off a signal flare, he didn't dare linger and immediately resumed his escape.
After running this long and fighting on top of that, his stamina had burned through quite a bit.
He was also now deep inside Iwa-occupied territory, with no idea what might be waiting ahead.
Right now he didn't even dare use Lightning Release to stimulate his nerves.
Lightning chakra stimulation could massively boost his speed, but it would also drain his stamina at a terrifying pace.
In a short burst for combat or to break out of an encirclement, that was fine.
Using it as a marathon buff for long-distance travel?
Feiyu's current body couldn't handle that.
Of course, he knew perfectly well why Iwa was chasing him so relentlessly.
First, his monstrous talent had scared them.
A teenager already brushing against Kage-level—any big village would want to nip that in the bud.
Second, and perhaps even more critical—
He'd found out that Iwa's Jinchūriki was present on this front.
If that intel got out, then whether it was Konoha or Suna, their top priority would immediately become the same:
Kick Iwa off the board first.
"Iwagakure has a special sensory ninjutsu that picks up ground vibrations to track the enemy's movements within seven or eight kilometers,"
came Sakumo's cool voice from within.
"But there are very few shinobi who can perform at that level."
Feiyu's eyes lit up.
"So what you're saying is…
they're tracking me through movement on the ground, right?"
"Exactly.
Usually, if an ally keeps using Earth Release to disturb the terrain, that alone can throw off their sensing."
"I don't have an ally to spam jutsu for me… but I'm thinking…"
Feiyu summoned one of the Iwa souls he'd collected.
The faint, muddled spiritual light floated at his fingertips, dull and zombie-like under his control.
He smiled.
"If my own weight just gets lighter…
Wouldn't that kill their ability to sense me through vibrations?"
"His vibrations changed.
I can't track his movements anymore!"
Two kilometers behind, a bespectacled Iwa-nin frowned and turned to report to Rōshi.
The scar on Rōshi's face was still raw and bloody, and along with his wild red hair and beard, he looked brutally savage.
But his mind stayed clear. Instead of raging, he asked in a low voice:
"Did the brat use a Summoning Technique to leave?
Or did he simply disrupt your sensory ninjutsu?"
"It should be disruption. If it were Summoning, his vibration signature would've vanished all at once.
But what I sensed was his body weight shifting from heavy to light—
Exactly like Light-Weight Rock Technique."
You had to admit, elite shinobi from a Great Village were no joke.
In pure observation and analysis, they far surpassed normal ninja—and the man named Yamaue (山上) had nailed it in one go.
"Light-Weight Rock? That's one of our village's secret techniques.
How could that brat…"
"Did you misread the sensory data, Yamaue?"
"It could be some other jutsu," another ninja interjected quickly.
"There are Wind Release techniques that reduce ground contact and simulate lightness too. It doesn't have to be our jutsu."
The group started murmuring.
Yamaue said nothing, but the look on his face screamed: You amateurs.
He had absolute confidence in his sensory skills.
He was almost certain Feiyu was using Light-Weight Rock or at least some Earth-style gravity manipulation technique.
Wind blowing someone up and a person actually weighing less were completely different vibration signatures.
They weren't even close.
But the others were nervous for a reason.
Gravitational Earth Release was counted among Iwa's top-secret techniques, second in classification only to the Tsuchikage's Dust Release.
In theory, it was absolutely impossible for another village's ninja to learn it.
"Enough. No need to chatter."
Rōshi's cold voice cut through the noise.
"Whether that kid is using our Light-Weight Rock or not…
We'll know once we kill him and rifle through his head."
At his words, the discussion died instantly.
These ninja were all handpicked elites sent by Kitsuchi to support Rōshi.
Having entered a two-kilometer pursuit range, they all sprang into action at his order, each using their specialty to speed up the hunt.
Meanwhile, after Feiyu lightened himself with Light-Weight Rock Technique, the interception squads had a much harder time pinning him down.
Sure enough, the number of enemy teams crossing his path dropped sharply.
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