"Before we move…"
Mamoru slipped a pair of sunglasses from his pocket and settled them on his nose. At the same time, his hands flashed through seals.
With a puff of smoke, a Shadow Clone appeared beside him.
The real Mamoru said to the clone, "Next, it's up to you."
The clone replied in the exact same tone, "Don't worry, I've got it."
Without another word, Mamoru's original form flickered away, the soft thud of feet the only sound before he vanished into the foliage, a few leaves drifting down in his wake.
"Mamoru-kun?" Hinata eyed the Mamoru beside her, uncertainty in her pale eyes, unable to tell which was which.
"Proceed as planned." He remaining Mamoru ordered briskly. "Operation start."
"Yes." Hinata steadied herself, hands flashing through seals.
Byakugan!
Veins bulged at her temples, reaching toward the corners of her eyes as her vision shifted dramatically. Obstacles turned almost transparent and distant Chakra flows became crystal clear.
Moments later, she locked onto a familiar signature. She pointed toward one o'clock. "Kurenai-sensei is this way."
"Let's go." Mamoru said curtly, leaping onto a thick branch with barely a sound.
"Mm." Hinata followed at once, every movement equally silent.
Shino simply adjusted his sunglasses and, like a ghost, slipped after them.
The trio bounded through the interlacing branches, their silhouettes flickering between leaves, only faint swishes and the occasional tremor of wood betraying their passage.
After a fast stretch.
"Wait!"
Hinata at the front snapped a warning and crouched on a thick limb, gaze fixed warily ahead.
Mamoru and Shino halted beside her in perfect unison.
Mamoru followed her stare and murmured, "Target… right ahead?"
Behind his lenses, a pale blue hue glimmered. Instantly every secret of the area unfolded to him. Grain of bark, insects beneath soil, faint energy currents and especially that figure hiding its Chakra, appeared within his 'field of vision.'
"Clever, hiding inside the trunk…" Mamoru murmured, pushing his sunglasses.
"You can see too, Mamoru-kun?" Hinata asked, surprise crossing her face.
"I can." He replied calmly.
In truth, whenever he wished, everything in Konoha, including the Forest of Death, lay open to his Six Eyes. That sight pierced all surfaces, reading the essence of energy, any concealment was useless before it.
Mamoru's lips curved. "Then, let's plan how to catch her."
Kurenai hid in the shadows of a large tree's hollow, holding her breath and focusing her mind, sensing every movement in the outside world. The silence of the forest seemed infinitely magnified, and every sway of a leaf was clearly discernible in her perception.
Suddenly, three unfamiliar Chakra fluctuations burst into her range of perception.
'They're here.' She thought to herself, her breathing becoming even lighter.
However, in the next instant, a sudden change occurred.
"Above!"
A warning bell rang in Kurenai's heart, and her crimson eyes snapped open. Almost at the moment she noticed, a figure descended from the sky like a meteor.
It was Mamoru.
Without any fancy tricks, he delivered a simple and brutal kick, carrying terrifying wind pressure as it slammed into the thick tree trunk.
Crack!
The ear-piercing sound of wood snapping exploded. The massive tree, which would have taken three people to encircle, was actually kicked in half by him.
Wood chips sprayed out like a rainstorm.
Kurenai shot out from the tree hollow at the last possible second, landing lightly on the ground nearby.
The massive canopy wailed, toppling to one side with immense force and crashing into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust and shredded leaves.
She looked back at the instantly unrecognizable tree, her chest heaving slightly, her heart still racing with fear.
Hinata and Shino stood frozen on the spot, dumbfounded. Hinata's mouth was slightly agape, and Shino didn't even bother to straighten his tilted sunglasses immediately.
They knew Mamoru was good at Taijutsu, but... was being "good at Taijutsu" supposed to be this exaggerated?
The power of this single kick completely overturned their understanding and made them realize in an instant—Mamoru had been hiding his true strength at the Ninja Academy.
"What are you two dazing out for?" Mamoru landed steadily, his voice breaking the brief stagnation. "Catch her!"
Kurenai quickly regained her composure, her hands flying as she instantly wove signs, shouting, "It won't be that easy to catch me!"
Her figure drifted backward as a Genjutsu was silently activated.
In an instant, Hinata and Shino felt the scene before them twist. The ground beneath their feet seemed to come alive as countless tough vines burst from the soil, coiling around their legs and bodies like venomous snakes, tightening until they were unable to move.
"Don't be fooled, it's a Genjutsu!" Mamoru's calm voice rang in their ears like an alarm.
Hinata and Shino snapped awake and tried to struggle, but the sensory restraint caused by the Genjutsu was extremely realistic, making it difficult to break free for a moment.
Kurenai's gaze toward Mamoru was filled with astonishment and scrutiny. "To think you could see through my Genjutsu at a glance, and your strength is also terrifyingly high. It seems the Ninja Academy's evaluation of you has a massive error."
Mamoru cracked his neck, his tone carrying a hint of playfulness as he said, "Error... you're overthinking it. I'm just average. But a Genjutsu of this level won't trap me."
"Big talk. Then try this."
Kurenai wove hand signs again, and her entire body began to blur, as if she were merging into the surrounding environment.
At the same time, the soil beneath Mamoru's feet suddenly became soft, binding his feet like quicksand. The surrounding branches grew wildly, like countless tough ropes coiling around his upper body, tightly locking him in the blink of an eye.
"How about now?" Kurenai's voice echoed in the forest, carrying a hint of confidence. "You can't break free, can you?"
However, before her voice had even faded, all the anomalies, the quicksand and the binding branches, flickered violently like a mirage before completely dissipating.
Mamoru was still standing perfectly fine in his original spot, having never moved from the beginning. And Kurenai also remained in her original place, her hands still maintaining the hand sign position.
Her crimson eyes were filled with unbelievable shock. "How... my Genjutsu... has no effect on you?"
"I told you, it's useless!"
Mamoru gave a low shout and suddenly exerted force with his legs, kicking a small pit into the ground as his body lunged toward Kurenai.
Having witnessed his inhuman strength, Kurenai didn't dare to take the hit head-on. She wasn't a ninja who specialized in Taijutsu. She immediately retreated rapidly, narrowly avoiding that fierce punch.
Boom!
The wind from the punch tore through the air, letting out a dull howl. Mamoru's punch missed, but it sent wood chips flying from a thick tree behind her. The trunk made an ear-piercing cracking sound, shaking violently as if it could collapse at any moment.
Kurenai retreated lightly to three meters away. Catching a glimpse of the tree's miserable state, her heart couldn't help but shudder. She once again felt lucky she had chosen to dodge. If that punch had landed on her, the consequences would have been unthinkable.
Yet she wasn't allowed a moment's rest as Mamoru closed in again. His offensive was continuous like a tide, every punch and kick carrying an incomparably overbearing momentum that sent dust flying and grass swirling.