Now, at the harbor, a group of Mist Anbu lay hidden aboard the docked ships.
"All squads, stay alert. The target vessel is about to dock!"
"According to intelligence, the rogue ninja Zabuza is on that ship!"
"This time, we absolutely cannot let him escape again!"
The Mist Anbu commander glared at the approaching cargo ship and barked orders to his men.
They had been ordered by The Fourth Mizukage to capture the Demon Man Zabuza for many years already.
Letting their target slip away repeatedly was extremely shameful!
And now, their enemy actually dared to openly sail straight toward the Land of Water, practically walking into their trap.
If they failed to apprehend this rogue today...
The Anbu members might as well give up ninjutsu and return home to till the fields...
With that thought, the Mist shinobi remained silent and ready, sharpening their blades.
Very soon, the cargo ship was less than one hundred meters from shore.
Just at that moment.
From the distant deck of the ship, a figure suddenly appeared.
"What's going on? What happened?"
"Why is only a brat showing himself?"
"Is that kid even a ninja?"
"Zabuza actually sent such a young ninja here to die?!!!"
The Mist Anbu were slightly taken aback.
They had crossed paths with Zabuza many times before.
Normally speaking, that guy wasn't someone so despicable!
"Captain, wait... I feel something's off about that kid."
"Off? How?"
Everyone looked back again.
Then suddenly, they realized.
On the cargo ship, the youthful figure suddenly disappeared.
The next instant.
That figure had instantly covered dozens of meters, appearing atop the sea surface near the shoreline.
And he took one step after another toward the shore.
With each step, violent chakra surged outward, rippling through the water. Waves spiraled out in perfect circles, like drops of spring rain on a calm pond.
Foggy mist swirled as water droplets cut through the air, plunging the world into a gray dream—reality twisted into illusion.
"This isn't right at all!"
"Never mind whether it's right or not—kill him anyway!"
"We absolutely won't let Zabuza escape today!"
The Anbu commander roared loudly.
Quickly directing his squad, he launched an assault.
Clearly, all the Mist ninja had come to realization.
The young figure approaching them through the mist was definitely no ordinary opponent.
Therefore—
In the next second, more than twenty ninja raised their heads.
Attacks rained down.
Countless kunai, shuriken, water release techniques, and others...
Hundreds of attacks came crashing down onto Shimoku like a storm.
Unfortunately, none of these attacks struck the boy—they all passed right through Shimoku's figure like air, hitting the distant sea instead, splashing up even more waves.
Seeing this, the Mist ninja were nearly driven mad with disbelief, eyes almost popping out of their sockets!
You could see disbelief etched all over everyone's faces.
What the hell is this monster?
How did he dodge so many attacks?
"Was that Shifting Body Technique?"
"Or afterimages left by high-speed movement?"
"No way! Unless it's The Fourth Raikage himself, who else could possibly reach such speeds with Shifting Body Technique?!"
"And to evade over a hundred attacks unscathed? Even the Fourth Raikage probably couldn't do that!"
"What exactly is going on here?!!"
Clearly, what had just happened completely exceeded these ninja's understanding.
But in the very next moment,
a cold, eerie voice suddenly exploded in the Anbu Commander's ear,
making his scalp tingle with fear.
"It's not movement afterimage... it's time afterimage, you know!"
"Swish——"
A streak of cold light flashed through.
Faster than lightning, louder than thunder!
Blood exploded from the body, ending the Anbu Commander's life in an instant!
Ever since acquiring Hashirama's cells—which greatly reduced the physical strain caused by using the Sharingan—Shimoku had made significant progress in developing and utilizing his Sharingan abilities.
Just focusing on his left eye, its previous maximum level of three—Setsuna—had now advanced to level four.
[Mangekyo Sharingan – Left Eye – Setsuna!]
[Level-Four Sixteen-Fold Speed Boost!]
A sixteen-fold increase in speed!
Shimoku's instantaneous velocity now approached near-sonic levels.
Such speed rivaled cars speeding at 1200 kilometers per hour!
No techniques needed—just ramming into someone would easily crush them into pulp!
Without Hashirama's cells to strengthen his body and a massive outpouring of chakra to protect him,
moving at such speeds alone might have flattened him into paste due to air resistance...
Now, seeing a new figure suddenly appear beside him,
while their squad leader lay dead,
the surrounding Mist Anbu ninja were utterly horrified.
Yet many quickly regained composure, roaring loudly as they charged toward Shimoku again.
"Kill him!"
"Attack!"
The next second,
'Shinigami' moved again.
Instantly vanishing from sight, leaving behind two deep impact craters on the ship deck from the counter-force.
At the same time,
three nearby Mist ninjas hadn't even seen what happened before they were flung backward violently, crashing heavily into the cabin wall, internal organs shattered, dying instantly.
Surging forward! Charging! Annihilating!
Invincible!
Every enemy standing before Shimoku was instantly dismantled, erased, eliminated!
One after another, the Mist ninja rushing headlong got slaughtered like moths to a flame.
That razor-sharp chakra blade slicing across necks
was as effortless as cutting soft butter, leaving a bloodline mark,
which then suddenly burst open.
Spraying blood uncontrollably as it voraciously devoured lives.
And that ghostly figure, moving faster than the eye could track, was as elusive as a phantom between strikes.
Anyone even grazed by that presence was dead before they hit the ground!
No chance of survival whatsoever!
This was true efficiency!
This was the art of speed!
...
Aboard a massive freighter far away.
Riyō, Yueji, Gin, Zabuza, and their group stood frozen in stunned silence.
"Brother Riyō? What's going on? Can you see anything?" Gin stammered nervously.
All he could see before his eyes were successive explosions erupting from the distant port.
One by one, Kiri ninja were flung backward like helpless chicks, dying instantly.
Ships shattered like poorly constructed houses being ruthlessly torn apart—fragile as weeping children.
Yet the attacker himself—the Young Master—was nowhere to be seen.
Riyō slightly opened his mouth, activating his Two Tomoe Sharingan, desperately trying to trace the Young Master's movements.
Unfortunately, he could only catch brief, hazy glimpses of Shimoku's rapid movements across the battlefield.
"It's Taijutsu! Pure speed!"
"The Young Master has moved beyond what our eyes can follow."
Explained Yueji, her voice calm yet filled with awe, her Three Tomoe Sharingan active in her eyes—a rare sight from the usually quiet woman.
Even she could barely keep up with Shimoku's movements.
Reacting in time to counter would have been completely impossible.
She wouldn't even finish forming a thought before the Young Master's blade sliced through her throat.
So this was the Young Master's real power?
How absolutely mesmerizing—this mastery of physical combat!
...
At the same time, it wasn't just Riyō and the others who were shaken.
Even Zabuza, once their enemy, found himself gripped by shock.
He couldn't believe that the boy possessed such speed and strength. How many times faster was this than his own "Mist Body Flicker"?
Now he understood why the brat had remained so composed all along.
Had he truly wanted to kill him...
Back at their first encounter...
Zabuza might've already died with a single slash?
And here he'd been proud of his "Silent Killing Technique".
Compared to this kind of speed, what exactly was he boasting about?
Could this really be the confidence behind standing up against the entire Hidden Mist Village?
Zabuza gave a bitter inward chuckle.
He gritted his teeth and forced his trembling right hand to steady itself.
Just watching from afar filled him with dread all over again.
It was enough to leave anyone speechless.
...
After a short while, having slowly recovered from the overwhelming shock.
Yueji was the first to leap off the ship, diving straight into the battlefield.
"Stop staring. Let's get in there too!"
"If we let the Young Master kill them all alone, what are we even here for?"
Riyō sneered coldly, kunai in hand, leaping off the deck next and sprinting toward shore.
"Right, right! Wait for me!"
Gin shouted loudly, chasing after him in a hurry.
Seeing this, Zabuza and his companion quickly moved into action as well.
<><><><><><><><>
Thank you for reading! Your support will keep me updating!
~ Every 50 Powerstones = **4 Bonus Chapters** this weekend!
<><><><><><><><>
~ 100+ Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon!
~ More *Free* Chapters and Books Available on Patreon!
patreon.com/Tansnovel
<><><><><><><><>