Chapter 314: Eight Gates Formation
"How disgusting." Kenichi curled his lip as he sensed the tiny insects moving through the area. He truly hated dense swarms of small bugs.
Just looking at them was enough to make his skin crawl.
He was not afraid of insects. In his previous life, he had even eaten some before, roasted spiders, roasted centipedes, and the classic roasted cicada pupae, among other common snacks.
But the parasitic insects of the Aburame clan were another matter entirely.
"Then let's put on a grand fireworks show. It'll also throw the current situation into chaos." Kenichi licked his lips, formed hand seals, and opened his mouth. A surging torrent of flames burst out, instantly incinerating the parasitic insects before him while also setting the surrounding forest ablaze.
"The scale of that Fire Release!" Shibi's pupils contracted. He narrowed his eyes and stared ahead. Even from this distance, he could clearly see the overwhelming wall of fire.
Could it be the Heavenly Demon?
As the head of Konoha's Aburame clan, Shibi naturally possessed a broad perspective. He could tell the level of the ninjutsu at a glance, and among the enemies who had attacked Konoha, the most suspicious one was undoubtedly the Heavenly Demon.
The Konoha envoy team also became vigilant the moment Kenichi attacked. Kakashi moved to Shibi's side and cautiously observed their surroundings, guarding against a possible sneak attack.
It was not that Shibi lacked strength and needed Kakashi's protection. But as the head of a Konoha clan and the leader of this delegation, Shibi still required Kakashi's attention and support. That, too, was Kakashi's duty.
Strangely, however, no one appeared from the forest. The area remained unnervingly quiet. No one spoke. Even so, Kakashi and the others did not lower their guard.
Then Kakashi's Sharingan caught a flash of light.
His pupils shrank. He immediately pulled Shibi away from their original position, and in the next instant, a pillar of lightning shot down through the place where Shibi had just been standing.
"Enemy attack!" a Konoha ninja shouted.
A team of Konoha ninja instantly charged into the forest. They could not allow the enemy to continue casting ninjutsu from a safe distance.
"Kakashi, go too. Otherwise, they may not be a match for that guy," Shibi said.
He was now almost certain the attacker was the Heavenly Demon. Intelligence on that man included this distinctive style of ninjutsu.
"Understood." Kakashi nodded and rushed into the dense forest as well.
At the same time, his heart felt strangely complicated.
He kept feeling that the attack from just now was familiar, very similar to what he had seen from his friend in the Land of Snow.
A terrifying thought surfaced in his mind.
Could the Heavenly Demon actually be his friend, Amamiya Kenichi?
The battle near Hidden Mist Village naturally drew the village's attention. Under Shibi's watchful gaze, several Hidden Mist ninja soon arrived at the scene.
The one leading them was...
"What's going on?" Mei asked coldly, crossing her arms as she looked at the Konoha ninja before her. Her eyes were full of displeasure and disgust.
Ever since Ao's death, Mei had been in a terrible mood. She had not wanted to come out at all, but she had not expected the damned Konoha ninja to start fighting near the village. Were they simply not taking Hidden Mist Village seriously?
"Mei, we were attacked. Attacked near your Hidden Mist Village," Shibi replied calmly.
Hearing that, Mei's eyes narrowed.
The man in front of her was not easy to deal with. In one sentence, he had shifted the problem onto Hidden Mist Village's security and defense, moving the conflict from Konoha and the attacker to Hidden Mist Village and the attacker.
"Hmph. I think the one who attacked must be the Heavenly Demon, right? That's a problem between Konoha and that organization," Mei sneered, unable to hide the schadenfreude in her tone. She held no favorable opinion of either Konoha or that mercenary organization.
Those mercenary ninja were like leeches in the Ninja World. Wherever there was blood, they appeared.
"Oh? Then it seems Hidden Mist Village's vigilance has really declined. A ninja from some mysterious organization was able to get this close to your village without anyone noticing," Shibi said with a faint chuckle as he looked at Mei.
His words were not overly sharp, but they were insulting enough to irritate her.
The three Anbu behind Mei glared angrily at the Konoha delegation.
Mei said nothing more.
She knew exactly what kind of person Shibi was. Arguing with him was pointless. It would be better to help handle the situation than to let Hidden Mist Village become the target of gossip later.
After Mei and the others entered the forest, along with Kakashi's group, Shibi remained where he was.
He still needed to protect the rest of Konoha's people, and at the same time he kept a vigilant eye on the sky. He knew very well where the Heavenly Demon's attacks usually came from.
Although Konoha had now uncovered the secret of the Heavenly Demon's ability to fly, that did not mean they could relax.
Soon enough, Mei and the others returned, followed by Kakashi and his team.
Shibi was slightly surprised.
There had clearly been signs of battle in the forest earlier, but it had not seemed especially intense. Had the Heavenly Demon simply retreated?
After confirming the details, Shibi learned that the Heavenly Demon had indeed withdrawn the moment Mei's group arrived. That only made his intentions even harder to read.
"Kakashi, are you alright?" Guy asked with concern as Kakashi rejoined the team.
He had wanted to go into the forest as well, but since Shibi had given no order, he had remained in place.
"I'm fine." Kakashi pulled up his mask, silently adjusted his ninja tools, and continued following the main group.
Shibi approached Kakashi midway and asked about what had happened, but Kakashi's account matched everyone else's. Left with no better answer, Shibi could only keep pondering why the Heavenly Demon had attacked them in the first place.
"Guy, how about a thrilling contest of youth?" Kakashi suddenly asked with a smile.
"Oh? Kakashi, then let's walk on our hands!" Guy instantly became energized. He flashed his trademark gleaming smile and gave a thumbs up.
"Alright." Kakashi's smile widened.
"Damn it..." Deep inside the forest, within a hollowed out tree trunk, Kakashi groggily opened his eyes. He immediately realized his situation.
He had been taken down. And he had been restrained.
Kakashi tried to gather chakra, but it was useless. Iron chains wrapped around him, constantly absorbing his chakra and keeping him at a very low level.
"What exactly happened?" Kakashi struggled, but he could not break free.
His mood darkened. He had no idea what the captor intended by taking him alive rather than killing him.
He tried to recall what had happened earlier, but only fragmented memories remained.
He seemed to remember seeing a pair of red eyes...
Now the forest around him was deathly quiet. Aside from the distant chirping of birds, there were no footsteps and no sounds of fighting. No one seemed to be nearby.
But that was exactly what made it strange.
If he did not return, Shibi should already have sent people looking for him. Yet there had been no sign of anyone.
What in the world was going on?
"No, I need to find a way out." Kakashi forced himself to calm down and began thinking of ways to escape.
Whatever the enemy wanted, it could not be anything good. Only by getting free would he be able to understand the situation.
Meanwhile, within the Konoha envoy team, Shibi watched Kakashi and Guy competing.
He frowned slightly.
It was not unusual for Guy to train. That was simply Guy's nature, just like his father. A ninja who lived for physical training and taijutsu. But Kakashi rarely trained taijutsu with Guy before, did he?
"Kakashi, remember to report all the details of this mission to Hokage-sama after we return," Shibi called Kakashi over and reminded him.
"Yes, Shibi-sama." Amamiya Kenichi nodded as he looked at Shibi.
At the same time, he knew that his interaction with Guy had probably made Shibi suspicious.
"By the way, have you completed the mission Hokage-sama assigned you?" Shibi asked casually.
"The mission will only be complete once I safely escort you back to the village, Shibi-sama," Kenichi replied without hesitation.
Shibi smiled faintly at that and waved him away.
Perhaps he really had overthought it.
After all, the mission was finished, and it was only natural for Kakashi to want to relax a little. Besides, this version of Kakashi was exactly the kind Hokage-sama wanted to see. The cold and withdrawn Kakashi was not what the Hokage wanted.
Even so, as he watched Kakashi's back, Shibi still stroked his chin.
He had secretly planted a parasitic insect on Kakashi earlier. Although he did not feel there was a major problem, caution was still necessary.
By the time they reached the boarding area for the hot air balloons, Kenichi had deliberately lost the competition. He had done it on purpose, and to make the act convincing, he had even made himself look thoroughly exhausted.
"Kakashi, your physique still isn't enough. Let's continue embracing our youth!" Guy laughed loudly and flashed another thumbs up.
"You're right, Guy. I think I also need to strengthen... my taijutsu training..." Kenichi said, breathing heavily as he twisted his wrists.
With his Sage Body, his physical condition was actually excellent. This level of exertion meant nothing to him. But if he wanted to get the Eight Gates, then putting on a convincing performance was worth it.
As for whether the act would succeed, Kenichi did not think the problem was too big.
Guy had once taught the Eight Gates to Lee, which already proved that this forbidden technique did not necessarily require Hokage approval.
And in truth, that made sense. Jiraiya had taught Naruto the Rasengan without any formal approval at all. He had just taught it. Only some especially dangerous forms of training required official permission.
More importantly, Kenichi knew Guy's personality very well.
To put it simply, Guy was not the scheming type.
Otherwise, he would never have become Konoha's so called Noble Blue Beast.
"Oh?! Kakashi, you want to learn taijutsu?!" Guy instantly lit up. He had long wanted Kakashi to study taijutsu and had even wanted to teach him the Eight Gates before, but Kakashi had never shown any interest.
He had not expected Kakashi to be willing now.
"Yes. After I return to the village, I plan to focus more on taijutsu," Kenichi said.
At the same time, the hot air balloon beneath them began to rise. Only he and Guy were aboard this one.
Subtly, Kenichi wrapped a small object at his back with chakra. He then used Wind Release to slightly increase the balloon's ascent speed. Silent chakra spread across the basket, while rapidly rotating Wind Release chakra isolated the balloon from the surrounding area.
At the same time, the shadow clone he had left behind rushed into action, obstructing the other balloons and preventing them from taking off properly.
"Then you might as well learn from me! The Eight Gates Formation is an incredibly powerful taijutsu!" Guy said with a grin, his teeth flashing brilliantly.
"Eight Gates Formation? Is that really something you can casually teach?" Kenichi asked, feigning hesitation.
At the same time, the balloon continued rising.
"Of course it is. Come here, I'll explain it to you..." Guy said naturally, beginning to explain the Eight Gates technique in detail.
Kenichi's memory was excellent. After listening to Guy's explanation once, he had already memorized the entire Eight Gates Formation.
"Kakashi! Guy! What are the two of you doing?!" A hot air balloon flew over with Shibi standing inside it.
He had just noticed that the parasitic insect he placed on Kakashi had lost contact entirely. He could no longer hear anything through it, and Kakashi's actions had also become strange. On top of that, someone had attacked the other balloons while carefully ignoring one specific balloon.
Shibi immediately understood what had happened.
"I'm learning, Shibi-sama," Kenichi said with a smile as he looked at him.
This old fox really was troublesome, but the delay had already bought him enough time. He had memorized everything.
"Thank you, Guy." Kenichi smiled, punctured the hot air balloon beneath him, then kicked off the basket and flew out directly.
The Eight Gates Formation had been obtained with ease.
.....
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