The combined Water and Lightning assault had failed to even slow Saiki down. Every electrical discharge had been effortlessly neutralized by his Auspicious Cloud.
Saiki had several ways to end this group instantly, but he was still trying to keep a lid on his most unique powers.
As the lightning faded and the explosive-rigged kunai were still in mid-air—with both Cloud and Leaf ninja staring in shock at the "unharmed" boy—Saiki prepared to end the debate.
Snap!
Saiki's form seemed to be erased by an invisible hand. He vanished from his spot just as the iron rain hit the mud.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A series of deafening explosions rocked the sector. The ground where Saiki had been standing was pulverized, turned over again and again by the concussive force.
Flames and soot billowed into the sky, and jagged shrapnel tore through the trees, blinding anyone nearby.
Those who couldn't see through the smoke assumed Saiki had been reduced to red mist. But as the roar of the explosions subsided, the Leaf ninja heard something else: the sound of screaming.
The smoke was thick, and the moonlight was dim.
But through the swirling grey clouds, the soldiers caught glimpses of a silhouette moving with predatory grace. The screams were coming from the heart of the Cloud formation.
Rewinding a few seconds: the moment the kunai were about to land, Saiki had erupted with his absolute maximum velocity, charging directly into the enemy ranks.
Even in his base state, Saiki was as fast as a Jonin. After his sessions with Tsunade and Nono'u, he had achieved a qualitative breakthrough.
With his "Auspicious Cloud" active, he had discovered through experimentation that even without burning his limited Senjutsu Chakra, simply circulating his Pre-natal Qi granted him a massive "stat buff" across the board.
He could have ended them with a Rasenshuriken or a Vortex, but he wanted to test his new physical limits in a brawl.
The Cloud ninja never even saw him coming. They were busy waiting for the smoke to clear so they could celebrate his death. Suddenly, Saiki materialized in front of the lead operative.
He was too fast for the human eye to process.
The man's pupils contracted in terror as he tried to raise his sword, but all he saw was a silver arc of light expanding in his vision. A heartbeat later, his brain stopped receiving signals from his body.
By the time Saiki swung his blade at the next target, the second man had barely managed to register the danger.
Squelch!
The man's only "reaction" was to lean back instinctively. It was enough to save his head, but his shoulder was carved open to the bone.
The Cloud unit still hadn't processed what was happening. The ongoing explosions from the tags were acting as a massive sensory distractor.
Post-breakthrough Saiki was simply operating on a different clock. In the time it took for a kunai to travel from the air to the dirt, he had manifested his cloud, absorbed a lightning strike, sprinted twenty meters, and killed two men.
The smoke finally began to clear, and several sensors among the group felt the shift.
"Look out! The brat is inside the perimeter!"
Hearing the warning over the fading rumbles, those who reacted felt their hearts leap into their throats. How is he this fast?! Those who didn't react remained frozen in a daze of confusion.
Saiki had zero intention of letting them recover. Since they had met on a field of blood, there was no need for grandstanding or "honor."
Holding his blade with both hands, Saiki lunged at a man whose mind was still scrambled by the shockwaves.
These were grown men—veterans who had survived dozens of skirmishes. Yet the disparity in raw power was so absolute they were paralyzed. Instinctively, the man raised a kunai in a desperate block.
SHRED!
It was a useless gesture. Saiki's blade was high-grade steel, and it was vibrating at a frequency so high it functioned like a high-frequency (HF) blade.
Saiki sliced through the kunai and the man behind it in a single, fluid motion.
"Don't get cocky, kid!"
Among twenty ninja, there is always at least one who doesn't lose their head. A Cloud Chunin roared and lunged at Saiki from his flank.
Saiki had killed dozens of his caliber already.
If he were willing to reveal the Flower-Flower Fruit, he could have snapped every neck in the clearing in a single heartbeat.
Instead, after cutting down three more men in quick succession, Saiki pivoted and met the Chunin head-on.
Swish!
The two silhouettes crossed.
Saiki didn't stop, continuing his momentum toward another terrified soldier. Behind him, the Chunin who had tried to intercept him fell apart, his body severed cleanly at the waist.
"AAAAAHHH!"
Another scream echoed. The explosions had finally stopped, and the remaining Cloud ninja finally saw the reality of their situation.
"Scatter! Everyone scatter! He's too fast to track in a group!"
The Cloud unit broke like a flock of startled birds. They didn't care about their formation anymore; they just wanted distance.
After a final flurry that claimed several more lives, Saiki halted his charge to catch his breath. He scanned the survivors.
His speed was so extreme that without his god-tier reflexes and "Spiritual Sense," even Saiki wouldn't have been able to control his own momentum. Only a master of the Lightning Armor or a freak of nature like Minato could operate at this tempo.
Despite being a child, he had slaughtered a quarter of their unit in the span of three breaths. The Cloud ninja were looking at him as if he were a literal demon from the underworld.
Only a monster could do what he just did.
He had ignored the Water/Lightning combo, ignored the explosive trap, and moved so fast he had effectively teleported into their midst. Even their Third Raikage wouldn't have been this efficient if he wasn't trying.
"What's the matter? I thought the Cloud were fearless brutes."
Saiki's voice was cold as he scanned the terrified faces, his tone dripping with mockery.
He hated the Leaf, but he hated the Cloud even more—especially these muscle-brained idiots who had started this war for the sake of their own egos.
Saiki loathed trouble and had been forced into this war. If he had to be here, he was going to make every person who annoyed him pay the price in blood.
As the dust settled, the Leaf ninja finally saw the clearing.
Saiki stood there, blade in hand, his body and sword wreathed in crackling blue-white electricity. He looked down at the twenty-plus Cloud ninja, and they were visibly cowed by a single boy.
The piles of corpses around Saiki spoke louder than any words.
In the time it took for a few kunai to explode, he had decimated an elite unit and broken the spirit of the survivors. The veteran Leaf ninja were thinking the same thing: "Holy shit. Where the hell did the village find this kid?"
Shinku Yuhi was the most stunned. He knew Saiki was strong, but this was a level of power that defied logic.
He's not even ten years old!
It was a depressing realization for a veteran. Shinku felt like he had wasted his entire career compared to this child.
Saiki was strong, but in his own mind, he still wasn't strong enough. If he were, he wouldn't be stuck in this trench.
Before the exams, he couldn't have pulled this off. This was the fruit of his dual cultivation. If he had tried this a week ago, he would have had to use his Flower-Flower Fruit, and his secret would have been out.
At this point, he didn't care as much if the Fruit was revealed.
But he still didn't want to deal with the political headache of Hiruzen and Danzo. He wanted to be strong enough to walk into the Hokage's office, kill them both despite their guards, and walk out. Until then, total exposure was a nuisance.
In the original story, the "White Fang" Sakumo Hatake died because he wasn't politically strong enough to survive a smear campaign.
Sakumo was a contemporary of the Sannin and arguably stronger than them. Saiki estimated that in a fight to the death, he could probably take a Sannin right now, but it would be a "pyrrhic victory" (a win at too high a cost). He had no intention of being the second White Fang.