Under the terrified gaze of the Dangerous Hybrid, Cheng Sui raised a fist laced with bulging veins and smashed it into the man's face without hesitation.
The man was sent flying by the tremendous force, slamming sideways into the warehouse wall.
Using the recoil, Cheng Sui reached the opposite wall first; after a brief coil of his legs he shot toward the man again.
Cheng Sui's legs moved as if fitted with springs, ricocheting between the walls, yet he always arrived ahead of the Dangerous Hybrid to intercept and knock him flying again.
Under the night sky Cheng Sui flickered like a ghost; the Dangerous Hybrid, with nothing to push against in mid-air, could only roar in pain.
But under Cheng Sui's unbroken assault those roars slowly turned into wails.
Without question, this was one-sided butchery.
Suspended in the air, Cheng Sui looked down at the half-dead Dangerous Hybrid, reached out and grabbed the strips of white cloth hanging from its body.
With one hand he yanked the Hybrid toward him while raising his right; Chakra began gathering in his palm.
"Rasengan!"
A blue sphere of Chakra condensed in his palm, its glow dazzling against the night, lighting up Cheng Sui's hard face.
He pressed the Rasengan into the Hybrid's abdomen; the violent rotation tore through its scales, churning flesh and blood.
"Bang!"
The Hybrid's body crashed to the ground, raising a cloud of dust.
Cheng Sui landed with his back to the smoke, released the Eight Gates, and the green-energized strands of hair fell gently back into place.
"Hah..." He exhaled a long breath; activating the Gate of Pain had left his muscles sore.
Suddenly every hair on his body stood on end; instinct made him twist aside without thinking.
A pitch-black shape burst from the dust, streaking past him; razor claws grazed the tip of his nose—one hit and he would have died tonight.
In the moonlight the figure revealed itself: the half that had still looked human was now fully draconic, jagged bone-spikes jutting from each vertebra. The man's face had turned entirely lizard-like; corrosive, venomous drool dripped from its jaws, sizzling against the ground.
The man had lost all humanity; the dragon blood had completely assimilated him into a Death Servant.
Defying inertia, the Death Servant swerved in mid-air and charged straight at Cheng Sui again.
Cheng Sui leapt back, bit his thumb open; blood beaded on the digit.
He smeared a horizontal line across his palm with the blood and slammed it against the ground.
"Summoning Technique: Enma!"
A burst of smoke erupted, halting the Death Servant for an instant.
A huge, rough, furry hand shot out; with a sweep it scattered the smoke, revealing its owner.
A yellow-tiger-pelt–clad ape, white-furred and weather-worn, black markings around its eyes. Its muscular frame exuded pressure, the black ninja garb stretched over bulging sinew.
The Death Servant's vertical pupils locked on Enma; it arched its back, snarling.
"Cheng Sui, is that thing my opponent?" Enma asked, pointing at the Death Servant.
Cheng Sui wasn't surprised the ape knew his name; when the system had awarded him the Summoning Technique: Enma, the contract had been signed and the ape had learned it.
"That's it. Sorry for the trouble," Cheng Sui said, indicating the creature.
With a roar the Death Servant sprang, claws extended toward Cheng Sui.
Enma was already in front, seizing the Servant's fore-claw with one black-nailed hand while ignoring the barbed spines along its back and hammering its spine with the other fist.
A shrill howl tore from the Death Servant; Enma's blow had nearly shattered its vertebrae. Blood spattered, eating a hole into the concrete where it landed.
But the corrosive blood couldn't harm Enma's adamantine body—not a single hair was singed.
Cheng Sui wasn't idle; the instant Enma pinned the creature he side-flipped, forming seals.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
The Shadow Clone derived from the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique appeared beside him.
Yet his hand-seals continued.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
"Wind Release: Vacuum Great Ball!"
The two Cheng Sui launched their jutsu together; wind fanned flame, the two techniques merging as they advanced.
Blazing fire and crushing wind erupted beside the Death Servant, followed by a gigantic sphere of flame.
"Enma! Pin it!"
Understanding instantly, Enma transformed into a cage of vajra ruyi staves, trapping the Death Servant.
No matter how the creature bit or clawed, it couldn't break the bars.
In the Servant's despairing eyes the fused fireball was already upon it.
"Boom!"
A pillar of fire lit the night sky, drawing every Executive Department Specialist's gaze.
Inside the warehouse Cheng Sui recalled the vajra ruyi staff, only to find the Death Servant still breathing.
"Terrifying creature—no mind, yet vitality beyond reason. Is this the power of dragonkind?"
Eyes downcast, Cheng Sui's dark pupils held no emotion. This time he made no mistake; the staff smashed into the Death Servant's brain, snuffing out its last spark of life.
[Mission complete: Eliminate Konoha rogue ninja]
[Reward: Medical Ninjutsu – Mystical Palm Technique]
Outside the plant, Ye Sheng and Sakatoku Aki gripped each other's hands tighter at the sight of the blazing column, feeling the other's tension.
A sheet-metal wall on the factory's perimeter was kicked open, dust billowing.
The Executive Department Specialists snapped their rifles toward the breach, safeties off, throats tight with nerves.
A black lizard head poked slowly through the gap, grotesque in the night.
Aki gasped, eyes wide, hands trembling.
A Dangerous Hybrid here meant Cheng Sui had... Red dots of infrared sights converged, fingers tightening on triggers—
"Hold your fire, hold your fire!"
Cheng Sui stepped out, waving the Death Servant's severed head skewered on a steel bar, looking absurd.
Aki burst into laughter through tears; Ye Sheng chuckled in relief. "Brat, weren't you afraid we'd shoot?"
Cheng Sui grinned. "Still holding hands? You two are tight."
Their hands snapped apart as if shocked, both faces reddening in the moonlight.