Even though the rogue ninja twisted out of the way of the most lethal angles, several shuriken still punched into his body. He let out a sharp scream and collapsed.
Hyuga Keiko reacted immediately. She drove the shuriken in her hand straight into his throat, finishing him off before she finally let out the breath she'd been holding.
Then she looked up at Bei Yuan Feng standing on the high wall in the distance. The shock hit her all at once. When had his strength jumped this much?
A shuriken could absolutely kill someone, especially against ninja, who were notorious for high offense and low defense. But against chunin, or even elite chunin, shuriken weren't usually a real threat. Their reaction speed was too high. Pinning them down with a projectile was incredibly difficult.
But Bei Yuan Feng's barrage just now had been flawless. It felt like he had pierced straight through the enemy's future movements, predicting every possible reaction and shutting down all escape paths before striking him down.
Even without her finishing blow, Bei Yuan Feng could've ended things on his own. One more shuriken was all it would've taken.
Sure enough, she noticed he still had a shuriken gripped between his fingers. If she hadn't stepped in, that blade would already be in the enemy's throat.
Killing an elite chunin with only a handful of shuriken… that kind of mastery was on par with the Uchiha clan back in their prime.
But how could Bei Yuan Feng predict every move the enemy might make?
Even she couldn't do that with the Byakugan's help.
Keiko knew exactly how strong this rogue ninja was. He was far above their level. Without the Byakugan's dynamic vision assisting her, she would've been cut down long ago.
Having a dōjutsu Kekkei Genkai didn't make her invincible. Her eyes could barely keep up, but her body wasn't fast enough. She had been struggling to survive purely by reading the enemy's attacks ahead of time.
Bei Yuan Feng had quietly closed his Sharingan, so Keiko had no idea how he pulled it off. But a moment later, something else grabbed her attention: the staggering amount of Chakra inside him.
Originally, she had the highest Chakra reserves among the three. The Hyuga bloodline gave her a natural advantage. Bei Yuan Feng and Xiangtian Yuanlong were about the same, with Bei Yuan Feng being only slightly ahead.
But now? The Chakra inside Bei Yuan Feng was enormous. Several times hers, easily more than ten times what she'd sensed from him before.
He already rivaled some branch family jonin in her clan.
And it had only been a few days.
What unsettled her even more was the fact that his Chakra was still increasing. Not slowly, but at a speed she could literally see.
She quickly looked away. She didn't know what had happened to Bei Yuan Feng in such a short time, nor how his abilities had skyrocketed so absurdly. But she also knew that everyone had their secrets, especially ninja.
And the things she shouldn't know, she didn't want to know.
She activated her Byakugan again and scanned the entire mountain stronghold. Once she confirmed there were no bandits left, she closed her Byakugan and ran over to Xiangtian Yuanlong. She treated his wound, wrapping it up and using the not-yet-mastered Mystical Palm Technique to stop the bleeding.
Bei Yuan Feng kept an eye on her reactions the entire time. He figured she'd noticed something. She probably hadn't seen the Sharingan awaken, but the massive Chakra reserves were impossible for her to miss.
What surprised him was the sudden spike in his Chakra. After awakening the Sharingan, his already-growing reserves shot up another thirty percent in a short burst. At this rate, he would reach One Kakashi soon, the amount of Chakra equal to an elite jonin.
So this was the Sharingan's boost?
No wonder the Uchiha clan became so feared. People used to say that if you saw an Uchiha one-on-one, you should run.
Clans with Kekkei Genkai really were leagues beyond ordinary ninja. Once their bloodline awakened, their growth entered a completely different league.
He'd really been living such a pitiful life before.
Take Hyuga Keiko for example. She was considered average among the Hyuga's branch family, and her ninja talent was roughly on par with the old Bei Yuan Feng and Xiangtian Yuanlong. But her Chakra reserves were more than double theirs. That was the advantage of a powerful bloodline.
With the Hyuga clan's secret techniques added on, even though Bei Yuan Feng was the only chunin among them, he might not have beaten her in a real fight.
"Are you okay?" Bei Yuan Feng landed beside Xiangtian Yuanlong using a Body Flicker.
"I'm fine. Much better now." Yuanlong looked pale, but Keiko's rough Mystical Palm Technique had at least stopped the bleeding. He just needed proper rest afterward.
Their squad was already far better equipped than most. Not every team had someone who could use medical ninjutsu like the Mystical Palm Technique.
It was incredibly useful, but the entry requirements were high. Most ninja couldn't learn it.
Normally, someone in his condition would just slap on some ointment and hope for the best.
"That bastard was so dirty. Pretending to sleep and then ambushing me. He doesn't have a shred of honor," Xiangtian Yuanlong grumbled.
"I've told you so many times to be careful. This is what being a ninja is." Keiko flicked his forehead. "If you keep charging in like that, there'll come a day when I won't have time to save you."
Bei Yuan Feng nodded. Among the three, Xiangtian Yuanlong was the most impulsive. He'd paid for it more than once. Their previous battles had always been handled by their team leader, Akai Akimoto, so they never had to fight opponents this strong on their own.
This rogue ninja wasn't far from Akimoto's level.
"Rest for a bit. I'm going to set some traps. We'll wait and see if any bandits return," Bei Yuan Feng said.
He planned to hide and ambush any potential stragglers.
That was the ninja way. Underhanded? What did underhanded even mean?
The three of them waited another day. Yuanlong's injury had mostly stabilized. Once they confirmed there were no survivors left in the stronghold, they headed back to the Leaf to report the mission.
Because this mission had involved an elite chunin-level rogue ninja, the rank was raised from C-rank to B-rank. The Leaf would send Anbu later to verify whether the rogue ninja really was a wanderer or if he'd been planted by another village as a spy.