RedX43
patreon
[Konoha2] Chapter 36: Hajime VS Sky Shinobi Leader!
🕑 Added 2025-05-14 04:02:43 +0000 UTCSeeing that it was Kogetsu Daisei, the three guards didn’t pay much attention.
Kogetsu Daisei stepped in front of the Sky Shinobi Leader, Fukū. “Lord Fukū!”
“Kogetsu, what’s the situation?” Fukū asked grimly.
Just as Kogetsu Daisei was about to speak, yet another sphere of light rapidly expanded.
This was the third one.
Fukū and the three guards were all drawn to it.
At this moment, Kogetsu was no more than two meters away from Fukū.
Without the slightest hesitation, chakra erupted beneath Kogetsu Daisei’s feet as he lunged forward.
“Watch out!”
The guard on the right clearly saw Kogetsu Daisei’s movements. Shocked, he shouted and leapt forward to intercept.
But obviously, Kogetsu Daisei was faster—and closer to Fukū.
However, just as the kunai in Kogetsu Daisei’s hand was about to pierce Fukū’s heart, Fukū twisted his body at the last second, narrowly dodging the strike and countering with a sweeping kick.
“So your real target was me after all!” Fukū growled coldly.
Kogetsu Daisei flipped backward to retreat, and as he stabilized himself, his appearance shifted back into his Root uniform. Staring at Fukū, who was now surrounded by the three guards, he said, “So it seems... you’re quite confident.”
As he spoke, Hajime clapped his hands together and formed the "Snake" hand seal.
Seeing this, one of the guards immediately drew his sword and charged, while another quickly began weaving hand signs.
Suddenly, the charging guard leapt into the air. Behind him, the other guard finished his hand signs and spewed flames toward Hajime Hoshita.
Hajime leapt to dodge the fire attack. The moment he landed, the sword-wielding guard dropped from above, blade slashing downward with perfect timing.
The crucial point—Hajime’s hands were still forming the seal.
At that exact moment, Fukū and the remaining alert guard glanced down at the rooftop beneath their feet.
From beneath the tiles, green vines burst forth.
“This is…” Fukū’s pupils contracted sharply.
Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence!
The vines sprouted and rapidly grew into towering trees, spreading across the rooftop like wildfire.
The airborne Sky Shinobi was instantly entangled by the surging vines. His blade, gleaming with deadly intent, stopped just an inch from Hajime Hoshita’s forehead.
And he wasn’t the only one.
The other two guards leapt around, trying to dodge or slash through the surging vines.
But there were too many. And they were growing too fast.
Within moments, they were engulfed in a growing forest—surrounded from all sides by creeping vines and towering trees.
Vines surged toward them from every direction.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The last two guards were also entangled, suspended in midair.
When Fukū finally came to a stop, the forest had fully taken shape—and the growth came to a halt.
Hajime slowly unclasped his hands.
Fukū stared at him, his expression stunned and grave. “According to our intel, Konoha’s Wood Release Project was a failure. So all of that... was just misinformation for the outside world.”
The Hashirama Cell experiments in Konoha, aimed at recreating Wood Style users, had been too large in scale—too many dead shinobi. Naturally, it couldn’t be completely hidden.
Konoha sent spies to other villages, and the other villages naturally had spies within Konoha as well.
As the leader of a shinobi village, Fukū was certainly not ignorant of Wood Release.
The more it unfolded, the more shocking it became.
“Konoha is acting so recklessly—are they not afraid of sparking a war?”
Fukū shouted coldly.
Hajime replied with a frosty tone, “Wood Release isn’t exclusive to Konoha.”
“And frankly, you don’t need to act so innocent, either.”
“As for war—what’s that got to do with me?”
“I’m just a man trying to cash in your head for some money.”
A threat?
If he feared threats, he wouldn’t have made such a bold move today.
Drawing his sword with his right hand, Hajime raised his left hand vertically in a one-handed seal.
In the next instant, the vines surged toward Fukū.
Chakra exploded beneath Hajime’s feet as he launched forward, blade in hand.
Faced with the incoming vines, Fukū dodged rapidly, weaving hand seals in the process. While in midair, he spewed a torrent of flames from his mouth, igniting the forest.
However, his Fire Style only managed to burn a portion of the trees temporarily. In the midst of his jutsu, Hajime seized the moment, and more vines coiled in from all sides.
Fukū quickly drew his sword and slashed the vines apart, then dodged again as wind blades came howling toward him.
But he was still a step too slow. Though he avoided a fatal hit, two fresh wounds opened—one on his arm, the other along his waist.
Hajime closed in for the kill.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Their blades clashed at high speed. Hajime attacked relentlessly with one hand on his sword while simultaneously manipulating vines to assail Fukū, forcing him to retreat, steadily losing ground.
But as the flames spread, the three guards previously restrained by the vines managed to break free.
Just as they landed, three vines shot out and impaled their bodies. From within, the vines branched out, tearing through flesh and bone.
Blood splattered. Their agonized screams were enough to send chills down the spine.
However, as the firestorm expanded into a sea of flames, Hajime's control over the vines began to weaken—fewer and fewer remained.
And Fukū, the leader of the Sky Shinobi Village, surpassed Hajime in both kenjutsu and taijutsu, not to mention superior combat experience.
Seeing his advantage slowly slipping away, Hajime suddenly split into three bodies.
Dance of the Crescent Moon!
Two shadow clones flanked Fukū from both sides.
The real Hajime rapidly formed a Rasengan in his left hand.
Fukū, unfazed, instantly detonated a smoke bomb at his feet. Thick smoke engulfed him, also swallowing the incoming clones.
Suddenly, the smoke parted—an enormous stone dragon roared forth, charging straight at Hajime.
Hajime leapt into the air to dodge the charge and landed atop the dragon’s back, sprinting across it.
Then, sharp stone spikes abruptly jutted up from the dragon’s surface.
Hajime jumped again, spinning his body with his blade wrapped around him. Wind blades erupted from the sword’s edge, circling him in a whirling storm like razors cutting everything in their path.
Rumble!
Like a drill, Hajime's spinning form sliced the massive stone dragon in two—it shattered and collapsed.
By then, Fukū had already finished preparing his next jutsu.
Violent winds spiraled around him, rapidly forming a growing hurricane. Trees were shredded, and the once-spreading flames were extinguished in an instant.
Just as Hajime was about to be swallowed by the storm, the Rasengan in his left hand suddenly expanded, emitting a high-pitched, piercing whine.
Wind Style: Rasenshuriken!
Hajime pressed the jutsu downward, cleaving through the rotating hurricane and diving into its eye—straight toward Fukū below.
“What?!”
Seeing the massive spinning vortex coming for him, Fukū immediately realizedso that was the cause of the earlier massive explosion…
A technique of this magnitude—if it hit—would be fatal.
But he couldn’t escape in time.
Fukū gritted his teeth, drew his blade, and gripped it with both hands. He infused it with Wind Chakra, then slashed at the incoming attack.
The ninja blade collided with the Rasenshuriken—briefly stopping it—before shattering to pieces.
With all his strength, Hajime drove the Rasenshuriken down.
The jutsu hit Fukū dead-on.
With a deafening blast, the Rasenshuriken tore through the roof with Fukū in tow, sending him crashing downward.
Enduring the searing pain in his left hand, Hajime quickly retreated.
The moment he leapt off the rooftop, the entire office building collapsed in a flash of blinding light.
(End of Chapter)
