"Hm? I can't even sense his presence anymore…"
A trace of surprise appeared on Shinji's face.
Although he wasn't exactly a master of ninjutsu, thanks to mories from his previous life, he was able to recognize many techniques at a glance.
The way this guy suddenly vanished—turning invisible and erasing even his aura—was extrely similar to Moonlight Hayate's Transparent Escape Technique.
(Note: Transparent Escape Technique and Transparency Release is the sa thing— though the later sounds cooler.)
"No wonder there was nothing suspicious on the way to the Land of Waves. Who would've thought Takihata had soone like this under him?"
Shinji was a little surprised, but he didn't take it too seriously.
The true strength of Transparency Release lay in silent infiltration and close-quarters approach. It was the first choice for gathering intelligence, tracking, and assassination.
But in direct combat, a Transparency Release user would inevitably be heavily restricted.
Like right now—using Transparency Release right in front of Shinji was clearly ant either for a sneak attack or to seize the chance to escape. With full preparation on his side, unless Shinji's IQ had sohow been assimilated by Hidan, there was no way he'd let the other party succeed.
Just like in the original story—Moonlight Hayate failed his ambush and was instantly killed by Baki. Sa idea.
So Shinji wasn't in a hurry at all. He simply set the Executioner's Blade down, then charged straight into the crowd and began mowing them down!
"I surrender! Don't kill —ah!"
"Akagi Shinji, don't you want to be the cult leader? We can support you, don't—"
"I know many secrets of the Jashin Cult, including the leader's private treasury. I'll take you there—it'll all be yours!"
"Traitor! You won't die well!"
"Kill, kill! I'll be waiting for you at Jashin-sama's side—hahahaha!"
...
Those who knew about the hidden passage and escaped together with the sinister man were mostly mid-to-high-level mbers of the Jashin Cult, or at least people with so strength.
They knew many of the cult's secrets—this didn't surprise Shinji at all.
But it didn't affect the speed or rhythm of his blade in the slightest.
Because he didn't care!
All the temptations they offered combined weren't worth even a fraction of the system's mission rewards.
Because he had no use for any of it!
In this world, only things that enhanced one's own strength mattered.
And unfortunately, he was a crippled ninja who could only cultivate cursed techniques.
So from the very beginning, their pleas were aid in the wrong direction. They didn't understand what Shinji actually wanted.
Before long, every single one of them was dead.
From start to finish, the sinister man never showed himself.
Shinji already knew—the man had escaped. That earlier display was rely a feint to mislead him.
This outco was well within his expectations.
He took out four blood packs from his body and crushed them all.
"Blood Manipulation: Blood Mist Labyrinth!"
As massive amounts of cursed energy poured in, all the blood floating around Shinji instantly began to vaporize, rapidly dispersing outward.
A portion of Shinji's ntal power attached itself to the blood mist, spreading together with it.
Ten ters… twenty ters… fifty ters… one hundred ters!
At one hundred and fifty ters, a transparent human-shaped outline was stained blood-red.
"Got you."
Shinji imdiately turned toward his rear-right side. Within his perception, the other party was still moving cautiously.
After all, Transparency Release didn't truly erase one's existence. While moving, flaws would still appear—footprints, sounds, disturbances, and so on.
That was why a good infiltrator, even while fleeing, would stay extrely careful, inevitably slowing their movent.
Boom!
Shinji reduced the density of the blood mist while stomping the ground hard, launching himself straight at the sensed target.
Such a massive commotion naturally alerted the sinister man. Only then did he realize that his body seed to be coated in a layer of red dye.
He imdiately tried to turn transparent again using Transparency Release—but as long as he remained within the blood mist, he would continue to be stained.
More importantly, the mist contained Shinji's cursed energy, allowing him to track it with pinpoint accuracy.
This kind of perception was sothing Transparency Release simply couldn't conceal.
"I've been found!"
The sinister man's heart jolted. He imdiately tried to rush out of the mist and hide again.
But in the blink of an eye, the distance between them shrank to less than a hundred ters.
"This distance… is enough."
The Seven Killing Lamps on the Executioner's Blade erupted with a strange, special energy, instantly enveloping both Shinji and the blade.
One mont, Akagi Shinji was still dozens of ters away.
The next mont, he appeared behind the sinister man in a bizarre flash.
Piercing Shadow Strike!
With a single upward drag of the blade, the strike surged from bottom to top, its sharpness threatening to split the man cleanly in half!
The sinister man was horrified. How could he be this fast?!
He knew the Executioner's Blade had been seized from Demon of the Mist, Zabuza Momochi, during the Land of Waves mission—but he had no idea that afterward, the blade had been transford into a cursed tool by Shinji, nor that it possessed an ability like Piercing Shadow Strike.
After all, that all happened after the Land of Waves mission. There was no way he could've been tailing Shinji and Hidan every single day.
Seeing that he was about to be cut in two, madness flashed through the sinister man's eyes.
"Transparency Release: Hollow Concealnt!!"
Creak… creak…
An unpleasant grinding sound suddenly rang out.
Shinji's all-or-nothing strike was actually blocked by sothing, as if the blade had plunged into thick mud, dragging forward only with extre difficulty.
Using this opening, the sinister man imdiately escaped the Executioner's Blade's attack range.
Shinji frowned slightly. The destructive power of Piercing Shadow Strike was doubled!
And yet—it couldn't cut through the air wall in front of him?
No… it wasn't an air wall.
It was a perfectly ford air dummy, identical in shape and size to the sinister man.
And due to so internal and external pressure imbalance, once the blade sank in, it beca extrely hard to push further.
Just as Shinji was about to pull back—
He suddenly stumbled.
Because the "air dummy" blocking his blade vanished instantly, causing him to overexert himself and nearly wrench his waist.
Then ca a scream.
Shinji never took his eyes off his opponent. At that mont, he saw a hideous, blood-soaked gash suddenly tear open across the sinister man's back.
Trembling in pain, the man turned invisible once again and disappeared.
Hiding behind a tree, the sinister man was drenched in sweat—whether from pain or fear, even he didn't know.
Transparency Release: Hollow Concealnt was the ninjutsu he relied on to survive.
It left behind a substitute similar to a concealed clone, one with extrely strong defense and nearly impossible to destroy, while the real body used the opportunity to flee at full speed.
But this technique had a fatal flaw—
Half of the damage taken by the substitute would be transferred to the user's real body.
That was the true reason he had been injured just now.
Still, compared to those drawbacks, the fact that he was alive at all was already a miracle.
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