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"However, in the end, I still hope you'll think it over one more time. That guy called Uchiha Kagaya... he may not necessarily stand on our side. At the very least, as things stand now, I consider him an enemy." Jiraiya looked seriously at Naruto as he spoke.
Naruto fixed his gaze steadily on Jiraiya.
"He will, Pervy Sage. He'll become an ally sooner or later! Definitely!"
Jiraiya looked at the firm and resolute determination shining in Naruto's eyes and sighed again, but said nothing more.
*****
The Hidden Cloud Village.
The Fourth Raikage, wearing his blue-and-white hat, looked at the three people before him and slowly spoke.
"The reason I've called you here is that I'm hoping you can assist in hunting down two individuals. You don't necessarily have to kill them; the primary objective is observation."
The three people standing before the Raikage consisted of two women and one man, uniformly dressed in gray and white with slight accents of red—the standard color scheme of the Hidden Cloud. The woman on the far right had golden hair, fair skin, and an exceptionally voluptuous figure. Her blue eyes revealed an extreme, ice-cold composure. Her name was Samui.
The woman in the middle had red hair and wore a piece of white cloth connected to her forehead protector, covering her head. Her crimson hair draped behind her, reaching just past her shoulders. She had copper-colored skin and carried a slightly long sword on her back. Her name was Karui.
The man on the far left had white hair and wore a normal Hidden Cloud forehead protector. He too had copper-colored skin and similarly carried a sword on his back. His most distinctive feature was that he always seemed to have a lollipop in his mouth.
The golden-haired woman, Samui, spoke.
"Lord Raikage, what exactly do we need to observe? Their strength? Their character? Or perhaps something else?"
The Raikage answered.
"The two people you are to hunt this time—one is called Karin, the other Haku. According to the intelligence I have, these two seem to be associates of that Uchiha Kagaya who caused such an uproar previously. I'm sending you in hopes that you can take this opportunity to observe Uchiha Kagaya. Since someone is hunting the people close to him, Uchiha Kagaya will certainly make a move. Regarding this person, Uchiha Kagaya, observe everything about him. Try to gather as much information on him as possible."
Samui was somewhat puzzled by this.
"Lord Raikage, forgive my impertinence, but you seem to be paying particular attention to this Uchiha Kagaya?"
The Raikage shook his head. "No. I wouldn't call it particular attention. It's just that, from the data I've collected, what that Uchiha Kagaya specializes in seems to be the Body Flicker Technique. And the only person who has ever surpassed me in terms of speed was also someone from the Leaf Village. So, I simply wanted to use this opportunity to gauge his strength. If that Uchiha Kagaya is present, you don't need to make a move. Just observe. After all, that Uchiha Kagaya is someone who attacked the Leaf Village and inflicted heavy damage upon it. You would probably have great difficulty defeating him. However, if that Uchiha Kagaya isn't around, then you can also consider seizing an opportunity to eliminate those two. Reducing the enemy's combat strength by even a little is worthwhile. He's a rogue ninja anyway. Who knows when he might provoke our Hidden Cloud Village."
After hearing this, Samui immediately lowered her head and responded.
"Yes, I understand, Lord Raikage!"
The Raikage added one final instruction. "For this mission, Omoi, Karui—the two of you must absolutely follow Samui's orders."
"Yes!"
"Yes!"
Very quickly, the three of them withdrew. The Raikage, meanwhile, gazed at the doorway in silence.
Karui's temperament was far too volatile, ready to come to blows at the slightest disagreement. Omoi's temperament was far too cautious, often overthinking and hesitating. Only Samui had always possessed a personality of extreme calmness—steady and unflappable.
Thus, even though Samui's combat ability was the lowest among the three, she was the one appointed as the team captain. Samui was also one of the subordinates the Raikage trusted most deeply. That innate composure of hers was truly worthy of admiration.
*****
One month later.
"Ice Release: A Thousand Needles of Death!"
Countless senbon formed from Ice Release stabbed toward the enemies, piercing the targets and inflicting severe, critical injuries.
Immediately after, Haku collapsed into a crouch on the ground, gasping raggedly for breath. The continuous pursuit over the past half year had pushed both Haku's body and spirit nearly to their breaking point.
In stark contrast to Haku, the shinobi up ahead, though all severely injured, were each bursting into wild laughter.
"Bwahahaha! Not dead! We're not dead! The rumors are true!"
"We've really hit the jackpot! A mission with such an incredibly generous reward, and the targets we're hunting actually can't kill anyone? Is there anything better than this?"
"Bwahahaha! As soon as we recover, we'll chase them again. If we just keep wearing them down without end, sooner or later, we'll exhaust these two little girls to death!"
Several shinobi laughed maniacally without restraint.
Haku had one fatal flaw, and that was Haku's inability to kill. From the perspective of these pursuing shinobi, a mission with an extraordinarily lucrative reward—and one where death was absolutely guaranteed not to occur—wasn't that a mission better than the best they could ever dream of?
Back when rumors first circulated that the targets of this mission couldn't kill, these shinobi had completely disbelieved it. After all, in this era of shinobi, anything could be understandable, but killing—for a shinobi—was something nearly as natural as eating and sleeping. There were actually shinobi who couldn't kill? Were they trying to fool three-year-olds?
Yet when they finally succumbed to temptation and accepted the mission, they discovered that the targets truly, genuinely couldn't kill!
This was practically an indescribable delight! Was there anything better than this? Nothing at all!
Thus, even though they were all currently gravely wounded and unable to move, smiles of reckless, unrestrained glee still remained plastered across their faces.
"Haku... let's go..."
From behind a large boulder behind Haku, Karin slowly poked her head out and spoke in an extremely feeble voice.
Up to this point, Karin had lost count of how many fatal blows she had taken for Haku. Relying on the powerful recovery abilities of the Uzumaki clan, although Karin was severely injured, her life had never been in immediate danger. However, if this continued any longer, no matter how tenacious Karin's life force was, she would inevitably be drained to death.
Haku nodded without speaking. At this stage, he had to conserve every ounce of strength, even the minuscule energy required to speak.
Turning around, Haku went behind the large boulder and supported Karin—whose face was deathly pale and whose clothes were drenched in blood—and left this place.
At the same time, within a certain forest, a figure appeared amidst a flash of light.
His entire body wracked with intense pain—the same sensation as always. Kagaya furrowed his brow. Given his current physical condition, he'd need at least two or three days to recover. Until he was fully recovered, Kagaya had no desire to make contact with the outside world.
Chiba Kumoki was the leader of a minor underground organization. His strength was roughly at the peak of Jonin, just one step away from entering the Kage level. He was the kind of powerful individual who, even if Kakashi came at him without using his Sharingan, could only fight him to a draw.
He was far, far stronger than those wandering shinobi.
In truth, with Chiba Kumoki's strength, his organization could very well have become a formidable underground organization, rather than just a minor one. After all, to people like Kagaya, Kage-level strength was merely the starting point. Anyone below the Kage level, Kagaya couldn't even be bothered to acknowledge. But to the vast majority of people in the world, Jonin was already considered top-tier strength. And Kage-level? That wasn't a starting point—it was an unattainable, unreachable endpoint.
No one knew exactly how many people existed in the entire shinobi world, but Kage-level experts numbered, at the very most, just over a dozen. A bit more, perhaps a few dozen—truly, no more than that. So Chiba Kumoki's strength was genuinely among the strongest in the underground organizations. Aside from exceptions like the Akatsuki, Chiba Kumoki could probably be considered a boss-level figure within the underground world.
However, his organization had only just been founded not long ago, with a mere three members. Thus, it could only be counted as a minor organization. He believed that once their numbers grew in the future, Chiba Kumoki's organization would sooner or later become a top-tier organization within the underground world!
And right now, Kumoki and his two companions were preparing the "start-up funds" for their organization! They had accepted a hunting mission with an exceedingly generous reward. As long as they obtained that reward, Kumoki's organization would surely be able to grow and expand rapidly.
In any era, something like money wielded immense power.
Furthermore, he had also previously "forcibly" verified a fact from another team of gravely wounded shinobi—the mission targets could not kill!
This only put Kumoki even more at ease.
"Hirofumi, Naotaka! Stay close to me! We're speeding up!"
Behind Kumoki were two other shinobi, both black-haired and clad in black—Araki Hirofumi and Hanyu Naotaka. These two had only barely reached the level of Jonin. After all, outside of the Five Great Nations, it was rare to find any decent shinobi elsewhere. Reaching Jonin-level strength, as long as one didn't provoke the people of the Five Great Nations, was generally enough to swagger around without fear.
Someone like Kumoki, who was just one step away from Kage-level strength, was already considered a genius shinobi outside the Five Great Nations.
"Yeah!"
"Yeah!"
With two shouts of acknowledgment, Chiba Kumoki instantly accelerated, and the two behind him immediately exerted themselves to keep up.
Two days later.
"Ice Release: A Thousand Needles of Death!"
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
An earthen wall rose, blocking Haku's Thousand Needles of Death.
Kumoki spoke with admiration.
"What terrifying penetrating power... It nearly pierced straight through my Earth-Style Wall. If you were at full strength, I imagine I wouldn't be your match. What a pity..."
Kumoki stuck his head out and looked at Haku, whose face was completely pale up ahead.
"What a pity... you've been worn down far too severely. As you are now, you're no longer my opponent."
Saying this, Kumoki glanced at Hirofumi and Naotaka beside him, signaling them to move. He himself remained ready to form hand seals at any moment, guarding against a desperate, last-ditch counterattack from the person before him.
Hirofumi and Naotaka didn't waste a moment either. They immediately drew kunai from the ninja tool pouches at their waists and cautiously approached Haku.
Kumoki sneered.
"Little girl... do you know who it is that has driven you to this desperate end? It's no one else—it's yourself! Although the reward for hunting you is generous, to most people, their own lives are still more important. Yet you... you won't kill. This isn't kindness on your part; this is you completely eliminating any misgivings from the minds of those hunting you. Wealth is precious, but generally speaking, one's life is more precious still. And if there's no threat to one's life... then what becomes paramount? Naturally, profit! Wealth! Little girl, if I were you, I would have killed every single person who came to hunt me right from the very start. That way, I would certainly have intimidated countless would-be pursuers, and the number of people hunting me would have drastically decreased. What a pity... saying anything now is useless. Consider everything I've just said as a final piece of advice from your big brother here before you die. Hirofumi, Naotaka! Move!"
"Yeah!"
"Yeah!"
Blades flashed. Several kunai were hurled at Haku. At the same time, the two men charged toward Haku, following closely behind their thrown kunai.
Haku wanted to defend, but his chakra was already completely insufficient.
I can only run.
Although he hadn't yet fallen into a truly hopeless dead end, Haku knew clearly that right now, he could do nothing but flee. He couldn't fight.
"Cough..."
A trickle of blood seeped from the corner of his lips. Haku turned around, preparing to flee with Karin, who was not far away.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall! I know this move too, you know."
"Rasengan!"
An earthen wall rose before Haku, blocking the incoming attacks.
Immediately after, a flash of blue light blazed forth. The man named Hanyu Naotaka was sent flying in an instant.
The ones who had appeared were, naturally, Jiraiya and Naruto. They had searched for over a month and had finally located where Haku and Karin were.
Seeing Jiraiya and Naruto suddenly appear, Haku instinctively assumed a defensive stance.
"You're from the Leaf Village? That kid from back then... and Jiraiya of the Legendary Sannin..."
At this thought, Haku's complexion grew even paler. He hadn't imagined that a figure of Jiraiya's caliber would also join the hunt for them.
Seeing Haku's guarded posture, Jiraiya could more or less guess what Haku was thinking.
"Calm down. I remember you. You're one of the girls who follows Uchiha Kagaya, right? We're here to help you this time. No need to be so tense."
Haku froze for a moment. "Here to help us? Why?"
Jiraiya rolled his eyes and raised a finger, pointing ahead at Naruto.
"Well... for that, you'll have to ask my disciple."
And Naruto, at that moment, clenched his fist and looked at the person who had been sent flying ahead. He shouted loudly.
"Alright! One down!"
Then, Naruto retreated several steps, back behind Jiraiya's Earth-Style Wall, and looked at Haku.
"Big sister, you're Kagaya's companion, right?"
Haku nodded.
"Calling me a companion... that's not wrong."
Toward Naruto, Haku was relatively at ease. Because in Haku's view, Kagaya seemed to hold some exceptional, special trust toward Naruto. This also led to Haku harboring a certain degree of trust toward Naruto as well.
Naruto smiled brightly. "Then that settles it! Big sister, you just rest here. Those two enemies up ahead—leave them to me and Pervy Sage! Right, Pervy Sage?"
The corner of Jiraiya's mouth twitched.
"I'm already here. Could I possibly not contribute?"
Haku blinked. These two... seemed to genuinely be here to help him.
"Um... I'm deeply grateful that you've come to help me."
"Hahaha, you're so polite, big sister! No need to thank me! Since you're Kagaya's companion, you're my companion too!"
"Mm... your name is Naruto, right?"
"Yeah! That's right! Big sister remembers me?"
"I do. But... I have to correct you on one point. I'm an older brother, not an older sister."
"Huh? Ha?"
Even Jiraiya, at this moment, looked at Haku with astonishment.
"What?!"
Then, in the very next second, Naruto and Jiraiya exclaimed in perfect unison.
"You're a guy?!"
Haku smiled and nodded.
"Mm."
That smile—pure and innocent, mingled with a hint of lovable charm, paired with his snow-white skin—was just like an elf amidst the winter snow.