---Third POV---
"Hisssss..."
A massive three-headed python suddenly pounced down from a thick tree branch in midair, its sharp fangs aimed straight at Ryouma, who was absorbed in examining movement traces on the ground.
Swish!
An arrow of condensed sand shot up from the ground with great speed, piercing clean through the snake's body.
The immense force pinned it firmly to the large tree behind him.
"Nice work, Shukaku." He stood up and smiled slightly, praising without hesitation.
Shukaku curled its mouth proudly and cast a disdainful glance at the Nine-Tails who was following behind Ryouma.
I really don't know what that stupid tanuki is so proud of, the Nine-Tails grumbled inwardly.
Ryouma turned his gaze back to the ground, which was covered in intertwining crawling tracks.
"To create this many fake trails while fleeing... he is truly a genius when it comes to running away."
Normally, with deliberately planted tracks like these, it was hard to quickly determine which one was real.
Especially with so many of them, even someone like Shisui, Konoha's best tracker, could only pick a few most likely directions to pursue.
That often meant missing the best chance to give chase.
But for Ryouma, he had a more reckless approach available.
"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
With a series of puffs of smoke, dozens of Ryoumas appeared instantly throughout the dense forest.
Without any need for communication, the clones split up in perfect coordination, dashing along the various trails to search.
Ryouma's original body followed leisurely behind. No matter which clone found Hiruko's location, he could immediately teleport over using the Flying Thunder God Technique.
---
At that moment, Hiruko did not feel the slightest relaxation from having shaken off his pursuers. He remained extremely alert and decisively chose to abandon the base he had spent years building.
"Can't stay in this country any longer. I have to find a way to leave immediately," he muttered in a low voice.
However, just as he was deliberating which small nation to go plague next, his vision was suddenly swallowed in darkness.
"What's going on?!" He panicked.
He clearly had layers upon layers of synthetic beasts forming a security net outside, how did someone still manage to sneak up on him silently?
Shhk! Shhk!
In the darkness, two sounds of flesh being pierced by sharp weapons rang out suddenly. Intense pain shot up from his legs, as if something had impaled his thighs.
"Aaaahhh!"
He let out a cry of agony, desperately trying to struggle and escape. But his legs felt nailed firmly to the ground, unable to move an inch.
Seconds later, his arms were also bound tightly by something like ropes, rendering him completely immobile.
Snap!
With a crisp snap of fingers, the technique was dispelled, and Hiruko's vision returned.
He lay sprawled on the ground in a pathetic state, struggling to raise his head, only to see a spirited white-haired youth before him, with a rather fat tanuki perched on his shoulder.
His eyes went wide as he exclaimed in disbelief.
No wonder the beasts around the area didn't react. No wonder he was taken down in a single encounter. So it was the Leaf's Gale who came, that explained everything.
Still, he really wanted to ask, what heavenly law had he broken for them to dispatch a ninja of this level just to catch him?
"Hiruko, isn't it? You really made me go through quite a lot of trouble to find you."
With that, Ryouma prepared to use the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport Hiruko back to Konoha.
However, as a scientist of the shinobi world and a master of staying alive, Hiruko wasn't about to let himself be captured so easily. It was as if he had triggered some hidden backup plan. The wounds pierced by the sand stakes suddenly burst open with countless tiny tentacles wriggling wildly as if they had a will of their own.
At the same time, his previously pale skin instantly turned a bright red.
Ryouma reacted instantly, forming a hand seal with one hand.
A dark purple flaming arrow appeared out of thin air and shot forth with a fierce momentum, instantly igniting Hiruko's entire body as he attempted a secondary transformation.
"Ahhhh!" Hiruko howled in agony within the flames.
"Why?! Why is it that geniuses like you can obtain everything so easily!"
As he shouted, all the Chimera synthetic beasts nearby seemed to respond to his call. They surged into the not-so-spacious tree hollow from every direction, completely disregarding the blazing flames on his body as they surrounded him tightly.
Sensing the Flying Thunder God kunai he had left outside the tree hollow, Ryouma disappeared in an instant and reappeared beneath a massive tree outside.
Crack!
A loud explosion of cracking wood sounded from within the tree hollow.
He looked up to see a gigantic stitched-up monster bursting out of the hollow.
Its body was pieced together from countless twisted limbs and bizarre organs, its surface covered with rough scales and eerie glowing tattoos. Several distorted horns protruded from its head, and its eyes gleamed with crazed red light.
"****!"
The Chimera beast, now Hiruko's transformed form, let out an unintelligible roar and charged madly at Ryouma on its thick, deformed limbs, each step causing the ground to tremble.
Seriously… was this really necessary? Wouldn't it be easier to just come back to Konoha quietly with me? Ryouma sighed inwardly as the monster drew closer.
Life was precious, after all. No matter what, sitting in a prison cell was better than dying. Who knew, maybe with good behavior he could even get a reduced sentence.
The stitched beast let out a low growl and swung its massive claws toward him, creating a fierce gust of wind.
"Not bad, even in that form, you remember that using ninjutsu on me is useless. Are all scientists this meticulous?"
He quipped casually, but didn't take a single step back. Instead, he moved forward proactively, flipping lightly as he stepped onto Hiruko's incoming gigantic claw.
Chakra gathered explosively in under a tenth of a second, he stomped down.
Boom!
The force of that kick cracked the earth, crushing Hiruko's front claw deep into the ground.
Immediately after, Ryouma's hands formed seals rapidly, and then he slammed them onto the ground.
Several massive rock spears shot up violently from the ground, their razor-sharp tips skewering Hiruko into the air, leaving him completely immobilized.
"Hissssss!"
A cacophony of writhing tentacles sounded out.
For Hiruko, who had already transplanted demonic cells into himself, this kind of physical damage was of no concern at all.
This synthetic body didn't even rely on organs or bones to function, his insides were entirely composed of tiny blood vessels and tentacles.
"Stop wasting your effort! I can't be crushed or killed! Hahaha!!"
"Can't be killed?"
Ryouma's lips curved slightly.
Swing.
The sound of Lostvayne being unsheathed was crisp. A stream of dark purple chakra flowed smoothly along the blade, extending it.
Ryouma's figure shot forward like lightning, swinging the blade in rapid succession. With every slash, several crescent-shaped arcs of flames were unleashed.
Pshhk! Pshhk!
The sound of blood spraying echoed repeatedly. Arms, legs, chest, neck, one clean incision after another appeared across Hiruko's body.
They were clearly just superficial flesh wounds, nothing vital, and yet he felt an unprecedented terror, as if something truly important was being rapidly torn away from him.
It was a realm he had never touched before: the soul.
He tried to resist, but the line between his body and spirit had already been severed.
He couldn't understand how his supposedly immortal body, which he was so proud of, could be so helpless in front of this man.
"So this… is what they call a prodigy?" He thought back to the days when he went on missions with Orochimaru and the others. "Maybe I should have accepted reality from the start. A mediocre man will always remain mediocre."
Ryouma sheathed his blade and stood silently, watching Hiruko enter his death throes. His eyes showed no emotion.
"It's over," he said softly.
Hiruko's body gradually dissolved into flames. His soul was utterly destroyed.
Ryouma turned and walked away, leaving behind only a silent battlefield.
He walked slowly to the shore and dipped his right hand into the chilly water.
A second later, a surge of brilliant blue lightning spread instantly through the water. In an instant, the lake surface roared like a giant beast awakened, churning violently with splashing waves.
Before long, fish of considerable size began floating up, eyes rolling, drifting at the surface, clearly knocked unconscious by the electric surge.
Startled by the sudden ruckus, the waterfowl at the shore flapped their wings frantically and flew into the sky, crying out in panic.
Good thing this was the shinobi world, otherwise he would've been slapped with "illegal fishing" and "environmental destruction."
"Are we having a barbecue?!" came Shukaku's voice, full of excitement.
Its eyes sparkled as it stared at the floating fish, clearly already imagining the taste of grilled fish. Ever since leaving the Kiri battlefield two years ago, it hadn't eaten anything wild like this.
"Oh? You're hungry?" Ryouma asked, a bit puzzled.
"I'm not exactly hungry," Shukaku scratched its head awkwardly, "it's just..."
"Just craving a snack, right?" Ryouma smiled, instantly understanding Shukaku's intent. "Alright then. Since we'll be staying here for a while anyway, we might as well grill some for lunch."
"Yay! I'll go gather some firewood!" Shukaku leaped excitedly off Ryouma's shoulder and hopped toward the forest, ready to pick up dry branches for a fire.
"Wait," Ryouma called out, reminding him, "Bring Kurama with you."
"Huh?!" Kurama scowled, displeased. "Why should I do such menial work?"
Ryouma raised a brow. "Then the two of us will eat grilled fish, and you can just sit there and watch?"
"As if I'd care about that," Kurama closed his eyes in contempt, wearing an expression that said it refused to cooperate. As the tailed beast with the most tails, it'd rather die on the spot than do such manual labor.
Ryouma smirked wickedly, strolled over, and easily lifted the fox by the scruff of his neck, then casually tossed him in Shukaku's direction.
"Don't forget, your chakra is still in my hands. If you want it back, behave yourself."
Hearing Ryouma's teasing voice behind it, Kurama fumed inwardly. Still, it twisted its body midair with feline grace and landed lightly on all fours.
"But if it's to regain my chakra... fine," it muttered to itself, begrudgingly beginning to walk after Shukaku.
"Hey, don't think I actually want to work with you," Shukaku muttered with a sideways glare, clearly looking to provoke.
Kurama just picked up a dry branch nearby with a sweep of his tail and walked off. He had zero interest in wasting words on this stupid tanuki.
Shukaku's eyes narrowed. That mangy fox... Was it trying to compete on who gathered more branches?
---
By the lakeshore.
Ryouma watched them leave, his Observation Haki expanding like an invisible net, capturing every living creature within range.
After all, this was still an island inhabited by monsters and demons. While Shukaku could still draw chakra from him at any time, Kurama truly had nothing left. So he felt it necessary to stay alert security-wise.
Fortunately, within the range of his perception, nothing particularly dangerous seemed to be nearby.
He shifted his attention back to the lake. He formed hand seals rapidly as a large amount of chakra flowed into the ground.
The lake surface trembled slightly. Fine sand grains rose up from the lakebed, swiftly forming a massive mesh filter that neatly gathered all the fish from the water and swept them onto the shore.
Not long after, he sorted them into two piles.
He pulled a storage scroll from his ninja pouch and spread it on the ground. Forming another hand seal, he sealed away the larger pile of fish into the scroll.
The remaining smaller pile had smooth scales and evenly proportioned bodies, clearly good meat, perfect for grilling.
With a flip of his palm, a sharp kunai appeared. He sat by the shore.
While deftly cleaning and preparing the fish with the kunai, he quietly diverted part of his attention toward the two tailed beasts farther off in the forest.