Chapter 97: Chapter 97
One day later.
In a forest along the border between the Lands of Lightning and Fire, a Kumogakure squad was moving at high speed.
There were only three people in the squad, but each of them carried a powerful presence.
One glance was enough to tell they were battle-hardened elites.
The man leading them was especially striking.
He had short, pale-blond hair, a firm face, and muscles that looked as if they had been carved by blades and axes, giving off an overwhelming sense of strength.
This man was the son of the Sandaime Raikage.
A.
Beside him was another man with a build almost identical to his.
He wore a white headwrap and a white cloak, with two thin, narrow swords inserted at his legs.
This was A’s sworn brother, the other half of the A-B Combo, the Super Killer B of Kumogakure, and the self-proclaimed number-one rap artist in the shinobi world.
Killer B.
The two of them had originally been carrying out missions on another battlefield, but after hearing Kiriya’s provocation, they immediately turned toward this area.
Their purpose was simple.
They were going to teach that sissy boy from Konoha what a real man was!
They were also going to show him what real speed looked like.
A pretty-faced brat who only knew how to flicker around actually thought he was somebody?
A himself specialized in speed, and with his strongest partner by his side, he had started out confident, even proud.
But that good mood vanished completely when they arrived at the foot of the mountain where Kiriya was located.
Seeing the corpses scattered all over the ground, the expressions of the Kumo squad members turned extremely ugly.
"What happened? Didn’t I tell everyone else to avoid this place?"
A spoke while suppressing his anger.
"Well... mainly because that bastard’s words were too hard to listen to. Everyone couldn’t stand it, so they wanted to teach him a lesson. They didn’t expect..."
The young Kumo-nin beside him swallowed and spoke with some difficulty.
There were plenty of hot-tempered people among the Kumo-nin.
When they heard that Kiriya had come alone and still dared to run his mouth like that, of course they could not accept it.
They thought it was ten against one, and that the advantage was theirs, so they all rushed in together to test Kiriya’s strength.
And then...
They tested it and passed away!
"Idiots!"
A was furious.
"They were shinobi, yet they couldn’t even control their own emotions. How stupid can they be?"
The young Kumo-nin beside him broke into a cold sweat.
In his heart, he could not help thinking, ’Aren’t you the most hot-headed one here? The moment you heard Kiriya call you girly, you smashed several tables in a row.’
Of course, he did not say that out loud.
Mainly because he was afraid of getting punched.
Although A had a fiery temper, he was not stupid. He could naturally see what his companion was thinking and snorted coldly.
"If you don’t have the skill, don’t try to act tough. They weren’t strong enough, yet they still insisted on showing off. If that isn’t stupid, then what is?"
"..."
The young Kumo-nin looked at A’s sandbag-sized fists and silently swallowed back the words on the tip of his tongue.
’Fine.’
’Your fists are bigger, so you’re right.’
"That said, he really doesn’t put us Kumo-nin in his eyes if he dares to act this boldly while coming here alone."
A looked toward the mountain, flames burning in his eyes.
"Then let me see what kind of strength he has."
"You’d better not disappoint me."
"Yo, yo, just one dumb fool, thinking he’s cool, running in blind, only one end he’ll find—cut down and left behind."
Killer B immediately dropped a freestyle beside him.
"Hahaha! Exactly. Running into us brothers is that guy’s greatest misfortune."
A threw his head back and laughed boldly, then charged forward first.
The three of them moved extremely quick, and before long, they reached the mountaintop and saw Kiriya standing on a tree.
"You’re here?"
At this moment, Kiriya stood with one foot lightly touching the treetop, hands clasped behind his back, his face tilted forty-five degrees toward the sky.
A light breeze passed by, making his figure sway slightly atop the treetop.
The hem of his clothes fluttered with the wind, and the whole picture looked so effortless and stylish that it was almost irritating.
"Damn it, he actually made that look good!"
The young Kumo-nin gritted his teeth, wishing he could rush over and punch Kiriya right away.
"Hmph. Stop acting mysterious!"
Unlike his companion’s mix of envy and irritation, A only felt that this kind of pose was far too showy, which made him despise it even more!
A real man should be like him, covered in hard muscle, strong enough to wrestle with a tailed beast!
Not standing around in some pose meant to fool little girls.
"So this is Konoha’s new genius? Looks like every generation really is worse than the last."
A mocked him without mercy.
Then, from the corner of his eye, he saw Killer B holding a pencil and writing furiously in a small notebook.
"B, what are you doing?"
"I’m recording inspiration. My entrance pose for the next performance is now complete, and the crowd will have their hearts opened by my style."
Killer B looked immensely pleased with himself.
"..."
Black lines practically covered A’s forehead.
He suddenly felt that this brother of his was seriously unreliable.
And that taste of his... he called that stylish?
He used to only praise his big bro!
Because A was in a very bad mood, his tone became extremely blunt.
"You’re Kiriya?"
"That’s right."
"I heard you’re fast. As it happens, I’m also quite confident in my speed."
A grinned.
"Then let’s see who the fastest man in the shinobi world really is."
"..."
Kiriya was left speechless.
Even his back-facing-all-living-beings—cough, back-facing-everyone posture stiffened slightly.
As a man, being praised as "fast" was really not a pleasant experience.
"Hmph. For a shinobi, speed alone isn’t enough. You also need to be hard, strong, and able to last."
As he spoke, Kiriya raised a fist that looked extremely small in A’s eyes.
"Haha... Hahahahaha!"
A could not help clutching his stomach and laughing.
Killer B and the young Kumo-nin beside him also struggled to hold back their laughter.
It was not strange that they reacted like this. Kiriya’s words had hit their funny bone perfectly.
At this point, everyone in the shinobi world knew that when it came to muscles, if Kumogakure claimed second place, no one dared to claim first.
And now this bean sprout, this pretty boy who looked as if a gust of wind could knock him over, actually dared to compare fists with them?
Who gave him that courage?
"You don’t believe me? Then come and try."
The corner of Kiriya’s mouth curved slightly.
"You plan to receive my attack with your back turned?"
A felt like he was being looked down on.
"That’s right."
Kiriya’s voice was calm and certain.
"Hmph. Since you’re looking for death, don’t blame me for it!"
A snorted coldly and immediately went all out.
Boom!
A fierce, surging burst of chakra exploded from his body.
In an instant, he was completely covered by dense Lightning Release chakra visible to the naked eye.
This was Kumogakure’s Raikage lineage secret technique.
Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
By covering the entire body in powerful Lightning Release chakra, the user activated the body to greatly enhance reaction speed, movement speed, defense, and strength.
When paired with Lightning Body Flicker, it granted a speed close to invincible.
A had relied on this technique to dominate Kumogakure’s younger generation without equal.
With this body, he had even arm-wrestled Gyūki, the Eight-Tails, and his raw power was absurd.
Boom!
A stomped hard against the ground and activated Lightning Body Flicker.
His entire body turned into a blue streak of light, and in only a quarter of a second, he had already arrived in front of Kiriya.
His fist shot straight toward Kiriya’s temple.
In another 0.01 second, he would make this brat’s head burst like a watermelon!
Boom!
The entire tree looked as if it had been struck by lightning. It only had time to let out one miserable creak before exploding into splinters.
"He dodged?"
Killer B was stunned.
He had seen it clearly.
At the instant before his big brother’s fist landed, Kiriya’s body suddenly vanished, moving so fast that the naked eye could not catch it.
"No, that was probably... space-time ninjutsu."
A’s expression grew solemn as he looked to the left.
Killer B also looked that way.
A’s face carried the anger of someone who had been toyed with.
"Hehe. So this is what you call comparing fists?"
Kiriya still had his back turned to them and laughed softly.
"Sorry. That spot just wasn’t good for putting strength into my legs. Now there’s no problem!"
"Arrogant!"
A’s rage meter filled instantly.
He charged forward again like a bolt of lightning, this time with far greater power than before.
He was going to smash this bastard apart.
However... Boom!
Someone was indeed sent flying.
But that person was not Kiriya.
It was A.
Killer B / young Kumo-nin: "..."
"What the hell just happened?"
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