Malphegor
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YTS: Ch. 90
🕑 Added 2025-04-01 23:18:42 +0000 UTCBack at Osoi's home, Kei muttered under his breath as he forcefully pulled off his damaged and misshapen ninja sandals. "Dodai, you really have the patience of a saint!"
Seeing that there was no suitable place to dispose of them, he temporarily sealed them into a storage scroll. He then rummaged through the shoe cabinet for an old pair of ninja sandals to replace them. Clapping his hands together, he performed the Destroying Smell Smoke Prison to completely remove any lingering scent from his body.
Only then did he use the Underground Projection Fish Technique to burrow deep underground.
Not long after, Dodai's Opening Earth Rising Excavation began churning up the surrounding soil on a massive scale.
Initially, Kei had planned to use the Flying Thunder God Technique to escape directly. However, he hadn't expected that the main underground water pipeline would be destroyed by the excavation.
Fortunately, he used a combination of Hydrification Technique and Wave Riding Jutsu to slip far away through the water pipes—washing away all the dust and grime that had clung to him in the process.
Only after that did he use the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport back home.
After tidying up, he stood by the window, watching as the warning lights across Kumo rapidly lit up. The sharp blare of alarms filled the air.
Feigning a look of grave urgency, he burst into Musai's room.
"The alarms are blaring! Get up already!"
Two sharp smacks later, he grabbed the boy by his collar and dashed downstairs.
"Dad! Dad! What's happening?! What's going on?!" Musai jolted awake from a genjutsu, still drowsy from sleep, utterly confused about the situation.
The piercing alarm resounded through the entire village, and in the distance, there were faint sounds of jutsu clashing. As a young ninja who had just become a genin and had never experienced real bloodshed, panic instantly overtook him.
"Do you remember yesterday's assassination attempt?"
Kei responded in a deep voice, joining up with the other awakened ninja as they all rushed toward the emergency distress signal rising into the sky.
According to his prior plan, the moment the battle at Dodai's residence concluded was also when his shadow clones would begin executing the assassination mission.
Considering Dodai's importance to Kumo and the Third Raikage, the moment a battle broke out between them, the Raikage would undoubtedly rush to Dodai's house.
This gave the remaining shadow clones the perfect opportunity to launch surprise attacks on their predetermined assassination targets. Even if they caused a bit of commotion, the Third Raikage would likely be too occupied to respond.
And everything unfolded exactly as he had planned. Despite the noise and disturbance, all eight shadow clones had flawlessly accomplished their tasks. But what puzzled him was, the distress signal did not seem to originate from the location of any of his assassination targets.
Hmm… Wasn't Killer B supposed to live in this area?
And those sounds of battle… Could it be that another ninja village's assassination attempt happened to coincide with his?
Who was the unlucky bastard that ran straight into a disaster?
"Genin, fall back! Chunin, lock down the surrounding blocks! Jonin, tighten the encirclement! Capture him alive!"
"Genin, stay out of this! Get back, get back!"
"Damn it! We finally caught one who didn't manage to escape! Let's see which ninja village this bastard belongs to!"
"Surround the area! Move, move, move!"
In the chaotic shouts and commands, Kei shoved Musai aside and whispered, "Stay far away. Anyone daring enough to carry out an assassination isn't someone simple."
"Understood, Dad!" Musai nodded repeatedly, hurriedly retreating to where the other genin had gathered.
Kei turned back, frowning. Something about this whole situation felt off, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what.
A massive, octopus-like tail thrashed wildly in the night, while deafening thunder echoed through the skies. It took over ten minutes before the lightning at the heart of the encirclement gradually faded.
From beginning to end, the so-called 'assassin' had never managed to break through the defenses of Kumo's elite ninja.
"All jonin and ANBU, check each other's ninja sandals! Anyone with damaged or modified footwear or anyone who isn't wearing any, must stay behind. The rest, continue checking the chunin and genin."
A command rang out from the center of the encirclement.
Kei raised an eyebrow, looking thoughtfully at the ninja who had issued the order. Are they trying to identify people by their shoes? Too late for that—I already changed mine!
Besides, the ninja sandals he had worn earlier didn't have any hidden mechanisms.
During his clash with Dodai, [Zero-Frame Start] granted him an ultra-fast reaction speed. When he saw that Dodai was preparing to tank his kick head-on, he acted on impulse and activated Medical Water Release: Water Scorpion, extending a small, scythe-like water blade from the tip of his shoe.
The technique functioned similarly to a chakra scalpel, but thanks to [Water Release Mastery], Kei could wield it far more smoothly and efficiently. No hand signs were needed, and the activation speed was even faster than the Rasengan.
As the orders were issued, the present ninjas quickly got to work.
Several ninja were detained, while the rest moved on to check the remaining chunin and genin. Among those pulled aside was Musai, who had been yanked out of bed so suddenly that he hadn't even put on his shoes.
"Why aren't you wearing shoes?"
The Kumo jonin in charge of inspections narrowed his eyes, staring intently at Musai.
"I-I was asleep! My dad heard the alarm, stormed into my room, smacked me twice, and dragged me out—I didn't even get the chance to put them on…" Musai pitifully pointed at the red handprints on his face.
To be honest, those slaps hurt like hell! But having been beaten up by his father since childhood, his skin was thick enough that the marks would fade by tomorrow. Anyone else probably would've ended up with a swollen, pig-like face.
"… Go stand over there."
The Kumo jonin twitched his lips slightly, unsure how to comment on this father-son relationship.
"He's my son! That's my son! L-Let me stay with him!" Seeing this, Kei quickly chimed in, eagerly offering to stay by Musai's side.
Together, they joined the group of 'suspects.'
With the night's events leaving him slightly puzzled, this was the perfect excuse to stick around and observe the situation firsthand.
Before long, two medical ninja arrived, carrying a stretcher from the direction of attempt assassination. Lying on it was Dodai, his face deathly pale, eyes shut, hands forming a seal as he used a technique to sense and control the surrounding rubber.
Earlier, when Kei's foot struck his opponent's sandal, Dodai's Lava Release had still been active. Since ninja sandals were typically made of leather and rubber, a considerable amount of Dodai's Lava Release chakra had naturally been imprinted onto the rubber portion.
Such chakra traces were incredibly difficult to erase. As long as the target wasn't too far away, he could use this residual chakra to track and lock onto the assassin.
However, after searching for a while, he could only shake his head helplessly at the nearby ANBU captain.
"Anyone not wearing shoes, step forward. Jonin, join the search team. The rest are dismissed."
The ANBU captain gave a small nod before issuing new orders.
Kei, sticking close to Musai, followed along with Dodai's group.
One round of screening after another, and soon, more than a dozen barefooted ninjas were led toward the battlefield's center. Within a hundred meters of the battle zone, numerous buildings had collapsed. Wails and groans of pain filled the air.
Medical ninjas rushed about, treating the wounded as fast as possible. At the very heart of the battlefield, inside a fifty-meter-wide crater, a group of medical ninja was tending to a burly ninja—his head wrapped in a white bandana, sunglasses covering his face.
The Third Raikage, his son, and several high-ranking Kumo officials stood around the injured man, their expressions grim.
Killer B?
The Eight-Tails jinchūriki?
The target of the assassination was Killer B?!
Which lunatic had the guts to go after him?!
