Transformation

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Naoki was, in truth, a little proud of his performance just now. But he would not let a watered-down victory cloud his head.

Looking at the facts, after Zabuza fought Guy head-on, his spirit and stamina had both been consumed significantly. Most importantly, several of his ribs were broken.

The injury was not obvious on the outside, but it had a serious effect on combat, especially taijutsu.

That was one of the main reasons Zabuza chose the tactic of forcing Naoki back, then abandoning his blade to form hand signs and use ninjutsu. With injured ribs, trading taijutsu blows would put him at a disadvantage.

In other words, Naoki had taken advantage of Zabuza's injury. He had also caught him off guard, seized the initiative, and relied on the overwhelming insight brought by the Tenseigan.

All those factors stacked together to create that swift victory.

Of course, from another perspective, it also showed that Naoki was transforming. The mediocre self he had once been was disappearing, replaced by a decisive, sharp, emerging powerhouse who knew how to seize opportunities.

Guy asked curiously, "Naoki, you didn't seem afraid of those Hidden Mist shinobi at all. Shouldn't they all be jonin?"

Naoki answered, "Probably only special jonin."

Although special jonin counted as jonin in a broad sense, they were still different from true jonin. Jonin was a very broad category, and many monsters hid inside it, including Kage-level powerhouses.

Special jonin, however, was a much clearer class. Those who were truly strong at that level often rose to jonin quickly. So shinobi who remained special jonin were usually slightly weaker than ordinary jonin, and the chance of a Kage-level powerhouse hiding among them was extremely low.

Beyond that, Naoki's attitude toward the Hidden Mist had also contained an element of performance.

In fact, from the moment he encountered the Hidden Mist assassination unit facing off against his own village's ANBU, Naoki had already begun acting.

He wanted to change his previous mediocre image, but he could not go too far or move too quickly. That made the choice of opponent especially important. Zabuza, who had reached special jonin-level strength but was not yet too experienced, was undoubtedly an excellent stepping stone.

As for the arrogance in Naoki's attitude, that had also been deliberate.

First, heirs of great kekkei genkai clans were more or less arrogant. Such an attitude actually looked normal.

Second, arrogance meant being difficult to provoke. When facing someone arrogant and cold, many people would weigh the matter carefully before making a move. That would invisibly reduce a great deal of trouble for Naoki.

However, there was another reason that truly drove Naoki to start establishing a new image so quickly.

Yesterday, he had learned from Suzu that, because the village was suffering a severe manpower shortage, the leadership had decided to select a group of special jonin from among the chunin.

Naoki was determined to seize this promotion opportunity.

Once he became a special jonin, his identity and status would change completely. After all, his current status was that of a chunin promoted in wartime batches. In terms of position, he was not equal to a chunin promoted through normal review.

So if he became a special jonin, it would be equivalent to crossing two ranks at once. He would immediately stand above all chunin, fully escape the fate of cannon fodder, and become one of the village's high-level combatants.

After becoming a special jonin, he could also submit requests to the village to learn advanced ninjutsu or even secret techniques by accumulating merit.

Back then, the Fourth Hokage had used his battlefield achievements to obtain the chance to learn the Flying Thunder God Technique, which laid the foundation for his rise to Kage level.

After several hours of tracking, Naoki and Guy finally found the group of wandering shinobi.

There were five of them in total, all dressed like Hidden Mist shinobi. The leader wore his hair in a topknot, with a cinnabar-red dot above each eyebrow. He seemed to be from the Kaguya clan, a clan with considerable fame in Kirigakure.

Naoki said quietly, "Looks like a Kaguya with the Shikotsumyaku. Be careful."

Guy nodded solemnly.

Famous kekkei genkai clans were almost never easy to deal with. Guy, who had lived through the war, understood that very well. The Hidden Mist's Kaguya clan was famous for being strong and insane, the kind of calamity everyone avoided on the battlefield.

The Kaguya shinobi on the other side laughed loudly. "Konoha sent two brats to hunt us down?"

The other wandering shinobi also burst into laughter. One of them mocked, "I heard Konoha's Hokage was killed inside his own village not long ago. Looks like Konoha really is finished."

Naoki swept his Tenseigan around the area and confirmed there was no one else nearby. Then he made up his mind.

The Kaguya clan's Shikotsumyaku, combined with their refined taijutsu, gave them both offense and defense in one. Ordinary taijutsu and blades were ineffective against them. Even the Gentle Fist might not be able to pierce the bone armor created by Shikotsumyaku. In other words, the Kaguya clan restrained taijutsu-type shinobi very well.

Unfortunately, both Naoki and Guy were taijutsu-type shinobi.

Because of that, Naoki decisively decided to use Revolving Will for a surprise attack. He would pull the Kaguya leader toward him and use Gentle Fist to seal his chakra quickly, preventing him from using Shikotsumyaku.

Once he made up his mind, Naoki deliberately showed weakness. "This is the territory of the Land of Fire. Leave immediately."

The wandering shinobi laughed even more brazenly. Someone even took out a wine flask at his waist and began drinking as if no one else were present.

Naoki walked a few steps forward and put on an act of false bravado, shouting, "If you don't leave, don't blame Konoha for being impolite!"

The Kaguya shinobi also took a few steps toward Naoki and laughed. "Brat, do you know who I am-"

Before he could finish, the Kaguya shinobi suddenly felt a huge pulling force seize his body and drag him toward Naoki.

At the same time, Naoki leaped forward like a tiger.

There had only been a little over ten meters between them. Almost instantly, the two collided.

Thud, thud, thud.

With a series of muffled palm strikes, the Kaguya shinobi did not even have time to activate his kekkei genkai before every major tenketsu in his body was sealed by Naoki's Gentle Fist. His whole body fell to the ground like a sandbag.

Sealing the tenketsu was not enough. Naoki immediately struck the helpless opponent with a full Eight Trigrams Palms sequence, every blow aimed at a vital point. In an instant, he killed the man and destroyed his brain.

These people were missing-nin and mission targets. They were different from Zabuza, so there would be no mercy.

At the same time Naoki attacked, Guy also rushed forward and blocked the other four wandering shinobi.

Aside from the Kaguya clan leader, the other four members of this group were not impressive. Before Naoki could even come over to support him, Guy had already dealt with all of them.

After sealing the Kaguya shinobi's corpse into the mission scroll, Naoki and Guy wasted no time and immediately returned to the village.

On the road, Guy asked in confusion, "Naoki, what just happened?"

Naoki smiled. "You didn't think you were the only one with a secret technique, did you? That move just now was mine."

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