In Naruto With Pocket Hunting

However, she didn't feel any movement from the person who appeared to be observing the situation from a distance.

"Hehe." Laughing, one of the ninjas licked his kunai, his eyes forming crescent moons: "Girl, give up. You can't escape. This time, no one's coming to rescue you."

The other ninjas around her positioned themselves with their respective weapons, preparing to capture her.

Obviously, they wanted her alive.

"Who allowed you to enter my clan?"

"Who's there?!"

When a somewhat young but incredibly cold voice echoed, the ninjas wearing Cloud headbands became alert, trying to locate the voice's origin.

"Whoosh!"

"Me? I'm your worst nightmare." When a young man, standing 180 cm tall with light brown hair, appeared holding a kunai in his right hand dripping with blood, the eight ninjas were struck with terror—because the ninth ninja had already lost his head—literally.

It all happened too quickly. As soon as he appeared, Nawaki had already severed the head of the ninja wearing a headscarf. The head separated from the body, spinning in the air as blood spurted from the headless neck like a burst pipe, splattering everywhere. The body fell to the ground with a thud, followed by the head, which rolled a few times, its eyes still wide open, staring at the sky in confusion over how it had died.

"Nawaki!!" Kushina exclaimed enthusiastically, as if she had just seen her ray of sunshine, her hope.

"Gulp!"

Taking steps back, sweat began to drip down the ninjas' faces.

The Red Lightning of Konoha was no joke. His nickname alone was enough to strike fear into his enemies.

Seeing him in action made them understand why he was so feared. They hadn't even sensed his presence or seen him when he cut off one of their comrades' heads. It was all too fast.

"Calm down!" one of them said, his mouth covered by a gray cloth mask that hid his face up to the nose. "He must be a shadow clone, after all…"

He didn't finish his sentence, but the others recomposed themselves as if they had understood something.

"Yes, he must be a shadow clone," another agreed.

"Hehehe, you startled us, but…" One of them, despite sweating heavily, now had a cruel smile on his face as he spoke, confident in the knowledge that it was a clone. "A mere shadow clone only needs to be hit once to—"

"Whoosh!"

His words stopped abruptly. But perhaps, in his mind, he kept speaking, as his confident expression with a cruel smile remained even when his head met the same fate as the first.

"Damn, how fast can he be?"

They hadn't even noticed him standing before their eyes and disappearing again, only to reappear a few meters away while the head of the ninja who had been speaking was severed by the dagger he held.

"Do you know why my enemies also call me the Red Lightning of Konoha?" Nawaki asked, tossing the dagger into the air and catching it again. His voice carried a playful tone, but his cold eyes didn't match the sound. He didn't give them time to answer before continuing, "It's because, even in a rain of blood, if I don't want to, not a single drop can touch me. A bit ironic, isn't it?" He chuckled, adding, "But, do you understand what that means?"

The veiled threat hung in the air.

The meaning behind his words was simple: "Yes, I am a shadow clone, but can you even touch me?"

The sound of gulping was heard once again. This time, their smug smiles were replaced by fear.

Meanwhile, Kushina could barely contain the emotions she felt in that moment. She simply couldn't understand how Nawaki could be so cool…

"Whoosh!"

When Nawaki's dagger was thrown in their direction, what appeared to be the leader—a tall, robust man at least 200 cm tall, holding a short sword—shouted, "Move back! Don't get near that dagger!"

"Idiot~"

"What?"

The ninja who had shouted turned his head, looking behind him at Nawaki, who was stabbing him in the back.

"How did I appear behind you instead of where I threw my dagger?" Nawaki didn't bother explaining to a dead man, muttering softly, "It's actually pretty simple. Just think back to what I said the first time I saw you."

Before his mind faded, the ninja recalled Nawaki's words: 'Who allowed you to enter my clan?'

The hearts of the remaining ninjas pounded harder.

Although they were trained to fight and die, it was hard not to feel fear in a one-sided battle.

At this point, they knew that unless they managed to land a hit on him, the scythe of death would hover over their necks, waiting to strike.

The instant Nawaki disappeared again, another body fell.

"Fast!"

It was all they could say.

This was on a level beyond what the eyes could see.

However, suddenly, one of them seemed to have thought of something sinister and launched several kunai, including one with an explosive tag, in Kushina's direction.

"Watch out!" Seeing this, Nawaki shouted, disappearing and reappearing directly in front of the kunai. He caught the one with the explosive tag first, which vanished in his hand, and used his body as a shield.

"Bang! Bang! Bang...!"

"Boom!"

The sound of the kunai hitting him was followed by the kunai with the explosive tag, which detonated just beneath the feet of the ninja who had thrown them.

"Ahhhh!"

The ninja's scream of pain echoed as Nawaki's clone vanished.

"We got him!" one of the ninjas exclaimed, but his expression suddenly changed.

The others didn't understand why his expression had shifted, though they felt that Konoha's ninjas must be heading their way after hearing the explosion.

Little did they know that, not far away, Nawaki reappeared.

"H-How...?"

The ninja who noticed him couldn't even voice his doubts before his throat was slit.

"This is my clan, understand?" Nawaki, who had teleported to stand before Kushina, said, "Even if one of my clones is hit, I can simply create another from my main body and send it to one of my marks. Simple, right?"

"Demon!" Taking steps back, nearly falling onto the ground, one of the ninjas, wearing sunglasses and sporting an afro, seemed utterly terrified.

"Give up." Seeing one of them turn and start to flee, Nawaki disappeared, reappearing in front of him with a smile on his face. "You can't run, and no one's coming to save you."

Before dying, why did this ninja feel like those words sounded oddly familiar?

...

With only one left, Nawaki captured him, intending to extract information.

However, he watched as the ninja bit into some kind of poison concealed in his mouth, causing the chakra in his body to go haywire and triggering a strange reaction.

"He's going to explode!" Kushina shouted.

Nawaki saw it too and, throwing a kunai with all his strength, grabbed the ninja by the shoulder and teleported with him.

"Boom!"

High in the sky, an explosion echoed, alerting everyone in Konoha.

And then, red droplets began to fall from the sky.

"What in the world is going on?"

Several surprised exclamations were heard.

Many people, unable to understand the source of the explosion, feared they were under attack.

One of Nawaki's shadow clones that had appeared looked sharply in a particular direction but stopped when he saw Kushina running toward him and jumping into his arms.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" she cried, sniffing. "I was so, so worried, dattebane!"

While comforting her, Nawaki noticed that whoever had been watching them left.

'Hmph,' Nawaki scoffed internally, thinking, 'No matter what they're planning, as long as I'm here, nothing will go the way they wan.'