Chương 190: The Hunt Part 2

I dragged Kaen and Sena with me, their bodies jolting from the sudden acceleration. The speed disoriented them instantly. Their lighter weight made it easy for me to pull them along, especially Sena, whose smaller frame barely resisted my grip. Kaen's face was frozen in shock, his wide eyes filled with disbelief as the forest blurred around us. Branches snapped past in streaks of green, blue and brown, and the air burned against our skin.

My focus narrowed on evading the trees, moving through gaps with precision born from desperation. As the edge of the chakra distortion field came into view, realization struck Kaen. His expression twisted, first confusion, then sorrow, and finally anger.

"Let me go! I want to help Sensei!" he shouted, his voice breaking through the roar of wind and crackling static. Sena shouted back, her tone sharp with urgency.

"Kaen, he's fighting jonin! If we stayed, we would only hold him back. He would protect us instead of himself!" Kaen's fingers curled into fists. His jaw clenched hard enough to tremble. The truth hit him like a blade. His weakness, his inability to help the man he idolized, and the bitter fact that he was being dragged to safety by someone he resented. The frustration in his chakra was palpable, burning hotter with every passing second. I focused everything on speed.

I funneled chakra into my legs and mind to sharpen reflexes and maintain control. The trees began to thin, the distortion growing weaker as the air finally felt lighter around us. That was when I saw it. A dark wave swept across the path ahead, thick and shifting like liquid shadow. Thousands of insects poured out of the forest floor, rising in a dense wall that filled the air. I had not sensed them at all. They had appeared too suddenly, hidden perfectly from my perception.

I stopped dead in my tracks, pulling both of them back with me. The abrupt stop nearly flung them forward, and they stumbled, barely catching themselves.

"Kaen!" I shouted.

"Your strongest fire jutsu! Around us, now!" He glared at me, fury still written across his face.

"Stop ordering me around!" he shouted.

"I will help Sensei, whether you cowards come or not!" Even through his defiance, I could feel his chakra struggling. The distortion field still clung faintly to the air, making external chakra control unstable. His hands moved through the seals, precise but tense, each forming slower than usual. The flames inside him strained to escape. At the final seal, he jumped high, the rage in his eyes flaring to match the chakra bursting from his lungs.

"Fire Release: Blazing Ring" He exhaled violently, and a torrent of fire exploded outward from his mouth. The flames expanded in all directions, spinning into a blazing circle that carved through the fog and forest alike. The air turned searing in seconds. The ring's heatwave swept past us, setting leaves alight and consuming the mist in an instant. The air shimmered, hot and sharp. The flames climbed into the canopy, devouring the wave completely. The insects never stood a chance.

The moment the flames touched them, the air filled with the sound of sizzling wings and burning chitin. Their formation broke apart instantly, the swarm collapsing into a storm of ash and smoke. Some tried to scatter, but the spinning ring of fire left no escape. The heat seared through the air so fiercely that even those untouched by the direct flames ignited mid-flight. The smell of scorched chakra and smoke filled the clearing, heavy and acrid.

For a moment, Kaen hovered midair, illuminated by the inferno he had unleashed. His Sharingan flickered in the light, reflecting the chaotic dance of fire. Stolen story; please report. Then Kaen landed hard, his boots skidding across the scorched earth. He looked around, breathing heavily, the firelight flickering across his face. His Sharingan spun rapidly, scanning through the rising smoke. A faint glimmer of movement flashed within his vision.

"Another wave is coming from behind us," he shouted.

"That last jutsu took too much chakra. This damn distortion field keeps draining everything much faster than normal." Sena was already moving. She reached into her pouch, pulling out a sealed scroll marked with the Yamanaka clan crest. Her expression was calm, focused, her chakra flaring in a steady rhythm. She unrolled the scroll in one smooth motion and pressed her palm against the center. The inked formula glowed faintly as her chakra flowed into it, unlocking the seal.

"Release," she whispered. The scroll flared open, and the stored Fire Release jutsu burst free. A torrent of flame erupted forward, sweeping across the ground in a wide arc. The flames twisted violently, devouring the new swarm in seconds. The air shimmered from the heat, the insects ignited with sharp pops that echoed through the clearing. I caught sight of the scroll in her hand, instantly recognizing the sealing pattern. Stored jutsu scrolls.

I had read about them before but never actually seen one used in the field. They were rare and absurdly expensive for something any trained shinobi could perform with enough chakra and for free nonetheless. Still, seeing it in action, I had to admit it was efficient. She had prepared for a dozen possibilities before even stepping into the field. Kaen kept scanning the area, his Sharingan spinning as he searched through the smoke. His breathing was sharp and steady, but tension coiled in his shoulders.

Then his eyes widened.

"Another wave from the right," he called out.

"Thinner than before." Sena reacted immediately, unrolling another scroll, but before she could activate it the swarm halted midair. A faint clicking sound echoed through the forest. It was not the insects. It came from above. A figure emerged from the canopy, crouched on a high branch. The locust mask gleamed faintly in the firelight, its glass lenses catching the glow like burning eyes. The man tilted his head slightly as he spoke.

"I have to admit, you three are much faster than I expected. I thought you would die in the jonin trap, or at least before reaching my range." Sena's eyes narrowed. Her voice cut through the crackle of burning wood.

"An Aburame clan member using bugs in a Kumogakure operation? Why would someone from our own village attack us?" He chuckled softly.

"A fair question," he said.

"But I haven't been part of Konoha for quite some time now. I am a missing-nin, and the price Kumogakure offered was too good to refuse for a single operation. They are also counting on this to sow confusion, to make the people your village sends to investigate later doubt their own. An impressive plan, if you ask me." His tone was smooth but hollow, like someone reciting a script. I could tell he was stalling, stretching the conversation to buy time. Before Sena could press further, he raised a hand casually.

"Now, I think it's only fair that you answer for the injustice you showed me," he said.

"I sensed you the moment you entered my field. My little friends tried to welcome you, but you were terribly rude. You should apologize. All they wanted was a hug. What can you say to such unfriendly behavior, especially toward a former comrade of your own village?" The man dropped to the ground in a smooth motion, his boots barely making a sound as he landed on the scorched soil. He began walking toward us slowly, each step measured and deliberate. Kaen clenched his fists.

"Cowards. You gang up on one man and now stand here talking to us like nothing happened?" The man laughed, the sound dry and grating like broken glass.

"What a naive child. Do you think shinobi fight with hono…" Before he finished, I injected every ounce of lightning chakra in my circulation into my legs. I moved so fast his words warped from the speed, twisting and stretching in my ears until they became a distorted echo. The world around me stretched, almost smeared against the background, as I pushed all my Flicker training and Stormdrive conditioning to the limit. My body blurred through space, speed tearing at the air itself. Even sound struggled to keep up.

I practically blinked into existence, my leg already in motion, ending in a flying kick aimed straight at his head. Lightning flickered across my leg in slow motion, the current dancing along my skin like living light. The man's eyes widened behind the lenses of his mask, but it was too slow, too late. My leg connected. The impact twisted his skull violently, bone cracking under the force.

The lenses of his mask exploded into fragments, shards scattering through the air as his teeth shattered and blood sprayed at the exact same moment. The speed made it look almost beautiful, a frozen instant suspended in motion. Then the world finally caught up. A shockwave ripped through the clearing, scattering ash and debris as his body was hurled sideways. He struck a nearby tree with a wet, crushing sound, the impact leaving a dark smear of blood across the bark.

His body slid down slowly, limp and broken, coming to rest at the base between life and death.