Chapter 5: The Servant Takes Action
"Who?! Who's there?!"
The sudden voice by his ear made Chizuki's already taut nerves snap even tighter. His pupils shrank. He swallowed hard as a bead of cold sweat slid down his delicate face. His clenched hands trembled with such force that his untrimmed nails dug deep into his palms, bringing sharp pain.
Who is it? A Mist ninja? Impossible. With my chakra sensing, even if I wasn't fully on guard, a chūnin shouldn't be able to get close to me so easily. And right now I've already pushed my chakra perception to its limit—even a jōnin shouldn't be able to slip past it unnoticed.
This thick fog, similar to the Hidden Mist Jutsu, is obscuring my vision and interfering with chakra detection. But even so, I can still monitor a radius of five meters around me. To bypass my senses like this, the other party's strength…
And that voice—it was a girl. There's no way she's one of the Mist.
Master… was she calling me that? Which means my summoning wasn't a mistake. It succeeded.
And she…
…is my Servant.
At that thought, the heart that had nearly leapt into his throat finally eased a little. The roller-coaster turn of events left Chizuki breathing unevenly. His trembling left hand reached into his ninja pouch and pulled out a kunai, and only after extending his chakra perception once more did he regain a sliver of security.
Tilting his head slightly, he looked behind him. As expected, there was nothing there at all, as though the voice he had just heard had never existed. Yet the faint sensation of breath brushing his ear proved otherwise. The corner of Chizuki's mouth lifted slightly, though his body was already drenched in cold sweat.
"Yeah. I'll leave the rest to you."
With a light smile, Chizuki prepared himself for a counterattack. He knew that right now, all he needed to do was protect himself. As for those Mist ninja, trusting his Servant would be enough.
As if she had heard his murmur, a fast-moving shadow in the dense mist suddenly came to a halt. After pausing briefly, she turned her head and looked toward Chizuki's position.
The girl looked no older than fourteen or fifteen. She had short, neat snow-white hair, and on her still somewhat youthful face there was a scar on her cheek and another at the corner of her eye. Though traces of stitching remained, they did not make her appear frightening. Combined with her emerald-green eyes, they instead gave her a strangely fragile air.
She wore a fitted black outfit on her upper body, while her lower half was covered by long black stockings and red shoes that gave off a faintly eerie impression. The contrast between her innocent appearance and that unsettling, almost otherworldly aura created a peculiar kind of beauty.
She glanced in Chizuki's direction, and a graceful smile bloomed across her lovely face.
But very soon, the joy on her small face faded into calm indifference. Quietly turning back around, the half-lidded eyes of the white-haired girl instantly erupted with boundless killing intent.
The Mist captain immediately sensed it. A veteran of countless life-and-death battles, he didn't dare relax for a single moment.
So fast. A Body Flicker Technique? And this mist is extremely strange. Hiding presence would already be troublesome enough, but after staying inside it for only a short while, I can already feel a sense of suffocation. This is definitely not the Hidden Mist Jutsu used by our Mist Village.
Feeling that oncoming killing intent and the bizarre environment around him, his weathered face grew grim.
"What the he—"
"Who's there?!"
"Don't—ahhh!"
Just as the captain was still caught in his own thoughts, several screams rang out from the fog, instantly snapping him back to reality.
Damn it. I can't just sit here and wait to die. I have to get rid of this strange mist first.
His eyes, the only part of his face exposed above the black mask, turned ice-cold as his hands quickly formed several seals.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
The Mist captain drew in a deep breath, then expelled it in one violent burst. A fierce gale exploded from his mouth. Once the powerful Wind Release jutsu was unleashed, massive currents of air twisted together in the sky, causing the towering trees all around to rustle violently. Cracks like sword slashes appeared across the trunks as the raging wind tore through the dense mist.
"Whoooosh—!"
The ferocious gale swept outward, quickly clearing a section within the fog. Though faint white mist still lingered, visibility had improved considerably compared to before.
Even so, the cleared area was not large. Only then did the others realize just how vast the strange fog truly was. Looking out at the endless sea of white in the distance, it felt as though the mist had no boundary at all.
Yet the scene around them was even more shocking.
Mist ninja corpses lay scattered carelessly across the ground. Each body bore only a single wound—a cut straight through the heart. Every one of those wounds was clean and precise, almost like a perfectly crafted work of art.
"H-how is that possible?!"
The gray-haired Mist ninja called Tongwu shuddered violently, his eyes widening in disbelief.
And in that very instant of shock, a soft voice sounded right by his ear.
"In battle, you need to keep your focus."
The instincts forged through countless battles made him react immediately. He turned and slashed out with his blade.
"Got you!"
As if he could already see the sharp short sword in his hand piercing through the body of his attacker, a savage, delighted grin spread across Tongwu's face.
But his strike was doomed to miss.
That sure-kill stab sliced only empty air. Before Tongwu could react, the captain's shout reached his ears.
"Watch out, Tongwu! She's behind you!"
Behind me? How could that be? How could she be that fast? I clearly—
Puchi!
Tongwu only felt a sharp pain in his chest. Looking down, he saw the tip of a blade protruding from his breast, blood gushing out in a spray.
After that, his mind began to grow hazy, and his vision blurred. It felt as though everything were drifting farther and farther away from him. He struggled to breathe, trying desperately to grasp something—but in the end, everything vanished into darkness.
And those questions would remain unanswered forever.
"Tongwu!"
The Mist captain's eyes widened as he shouted.
Too fast. Everything had happened in the blink of an eye. Tongwu was a chūnin who had come out of the Hidden Mist and survived dozens of battles large and small—yet he had died without even the ability to resist.
This kind of power… this kind of Body Flicker…
Other than Hatake Sakumo, known as the White Fang of Konoha, the only one he could think of was the Yellow Flash, Namikaze Minato, who was currently on the battlefield in the Land of Earth.
But Minato was far away in the Land of Earth. He could not possibly appear here. As for Hatake Sakumo, as the captain of the Anbu, he should currently be on the battlefield in the Land of Lightning. He also wasn't a young girl.
Since she was white-haired as well… could she be another prodigy of the Hatake clan?
Pulling out the surgical knife, the white-haired girl revealed a sweet smile. She turned back toward Chizuki and gave him a playful wink, utterly ignoring the Mist captain at her side—as though he were not a terrifying jōnin of the Land of Water, but merely a helpless infant.
Seeing that smiling little face turned toward him, Chizuki's pupils contracted sharply. He felt like he had been swallowed whole by delight. His throat went dry as he stammered,
"Y-you… you're… Jack the Ripper!"
Imagining it was one thing. Seeing it with his own eyes was another.
Although he had already been certain that his Servant was the one who saved him, now that the Servant had truly appeared before him, the heavy stone in Chizuki's heart finally dropped.
What remained was nothing but surprise—and joy.
"Mhm~"
At Chizuki's words, the girl's smile deepened. Two adorable dimples appeared on her pink cheeks as she blinked at him and answered lightly.
Chizuki stared blankly at the girl who moved like a phantom. After a long moment, he swallowed, and it felt as though all the strength had returned to his body. Then he smiled.
"Jack, we can't let him escape. This is the Land of Water. If he gets away, it'll be even harder for us to get out."
"Okay, Master. Leave it to me."
Hearing that, Jack inclined her head slightly and slowly turned around, her icy gaze falling upon the Mist captain not far away.