"Master Kei, can you tell what ninjutsu he's using?"
Hyuga Tennin's voice was tense, watching his clan's ninjas struggle to even touch Raizen's clothes. He glanced at a fellow family ninja for guidance, unsure.
Kei Hyuga, the shadow-level powerhouse observing the fight, remained calm, almost disinterested. Even as Raizen danced around two elite Jōnin, the display only raised a faint eyebrow.
Kei Hyuga followed the chaos carefully, then pointed to the Flying Thunder God Kunai scattered at Raizen's feet.
"The Body Flicker Technique? Impossible," he murmured. "That relies on a sudden burst of movement. The body can't sustain it this frequently. This… this is something else. Instant movement without the Body Flicker… There's only one explanation. He's using a tool."
"A tool?" Tennin's voice trembled. He followed Kei Hyuga's gaze, recalling every spot Raizen had vanished to. Each teleportation coincided with a kunai on the ground. His voice caught.
"I see… he's using that strange kunai to teleport!" Tennin realized, but Kei Hyuga waved him silent, a cold glint in his eye.
"I don't care how he does it. We've fought long enough and still didn't notice? Pretending to be Hyuga Jōnin, huh?"
Tennin opened his mouth, but Kei Hyuga stopped him. The shadow-level ninja had known all along. He'd wanted to see if the clan's ninjas could deduce Raizen's secret themselves. Their failure didn't surprise him—it infuriated him.
Meanwhile, Raizen didn't pause for a second. He jumped from kunai to kunai, constantly on the move. Ueshi Tokusaka and the elite Hyuga Jōnin pursued relentlessly. Earth Style attacks ripped the land apart, chakra storms tore through the battlefield, and Raizen had no choice but to keep dodging.
"Damn it… are they on steroids or something?" Raizen groaned, panting as the continuous teleportation made his head spin. Seeing the two elite Jōnin still pressing, he couldn't help but yell in frustration.
The Jōnin didn't understand his words, but the meaning was clear—they were pushing him harder. Raizen's frustration gave them an opening.
It can't go on like this…
Raizen had only two Flying Thunder God Kunai left. He snatched a pile of clay from his ninja bag, shaping three massive clay birds. One flew at the two elite Jōnin, one toward the remaining kunai coordinates, and the third launched straight into the air.
"Watch out!"
The Hyuga ninjas noticed the chakra-laced clay instantly and activated Eight Trigrams techniques to tear it apart. But Raizen had already vanished to another Flying Thunder God marker.
The second giant bird barreled toward him. Without hesitation, Raizen leapt onto it, riding the clay construct into the sky.
"Think you can escape? Not so fast!"
Ueshi Dezheng had been waiting. With hands clasped, he summoned a colossal mud dragon, silent and deadly, lunging for the clay bird. Raizen jumped just in time, the bird colliding violently with the mud dragon.
"Drink!"
He detonated the clay construct midair, a violent explosion of smoke and dust erupting across the battlefield. Before the debris settled, the third giant bird arrived beneath him, carrying Raizen safely upward and out of the chaos below.
For a moment, the battlefield fell silent except for the drifting clouds of smoke. Raizen had escaped, leaving the elite Hyuga Jōnin to curse the wind and the ground that had just swallowed their best attacks.