Chapter 298: Hyuga Kagami’s Mockery

Chapter 298: Chapter 298: Hyuga Kagami’s Mockery

Glancing at the Konoha chūnin lying amid the shattered bricks, already devoid of life, Shinno clenched his fist. Feeling the power coursing through his body, he grinned.

"Now this is a perfect body!"

Shinno felt as though his body contained an inexhaustible well of strength. Even a casual punch could unleash terrifying power far beyond anything he could have imagined before.

"So this is what it feels like to be a jinchūriki!"

Shinno couldn’t help but marvel.

Just then, another Konoha shinobi who had been helping evacuate the villagers spotted Shinno and shouted,

"Who are you?"

Bang...

Shinno’s figure blurred.

In an instant, his fist slammed into the Konoha shinobi’s abdomen.

The Konoha shinobi’s eyes nearly bulged from their sockets as the devastating blow struck his stomach. Blood spilled from his mouth as he crumpled weakly to the ground. His lips moved, but not even the faintest sound came out.

Shinno smiled and paid him no further attention.

That single punch had already shattered the Konoha shinobi’s heart and lungs. Unless he received immediate medical treatment, he had no more than four or five minutes left to live.

After sensing Shion’s location once more, Shinno slowly made his way toward her.

Before long, Shinno arrived outside the courtyard of Hyuga Kagami’s home.

After briefly surveying the small courtyard, Shinno raised his foot and kicked the front gate clean off its hinges.

Boom...

The tremendous crash from the courtyard immediately alerted Rei, Shion, and Ashiho. The three rushed out of the house at the sound and saw Shinno standing at the entrance to the courtyard.

Looking at the shattered gate, Rei immediately activated her Byakugan and asked warily,

"Who are you? What do you want?"

Although Shion had never met Shinno before, perhaps because of the Priestess’s innate connection to Mōryō, she instinctively felt a powerful sense of rejection and disgust toward him.

Ashiho, meanwhile, gripped his longbow and stood protectively in front of the trembling Shion.

With a single glance, Shinno immediately noticed his target—Shion.

Just as Shion could sense him, Shinno could also sense Shion through the Priestess’s power within her. Thus, despite the two having never met before, they recognized each other at a glance.

Shinno then shifted his gaze toward Rei, who had activated her Byakugan and assumed a Gentle Fist stance.

Perhaps because he felt victory was already within his grasp, Shinno was in an excellent mood. He teased,

"A Hyuga, huh? You remind me of an old acquaintance of mine. His name is Hyuga Kagami. You should know him, right?"

"You’re here to cause trouble for Kagami?!"

Rei froze for a moment before immediately warning him,

"This is Konoha! It’s not a place where you can just do whatever you want!"

Shinno chuckled and shook his head.

"Cause trouble for him? No, no, no. I have no interest in wasting my time on a nobody like him."

With that, Shinno began walking toward Shion.

The thought that he would soon devour the Priestess’s power and become an existence surpassing even the Tailed Beasts filled Shinno with indescribable excitement!

Ashiho immediately drew his bow and nocked an arrow.

"Stop!"

Shinno completely ignored Ashiho’s warning. A bow and arrow posed absolutely no threat to him. With a smile still on his face, he continued walking toward Shion, one step at a time.

Whoosh...

Ashiho hesitated no longer and immediately loosed an arrow!

Shinno merely flicked a finger, effortlessly knocking the incoming arrow aside. Without breaking stride, he said,

"Stop struggling pointlessly. Accept your destined fate!"

By now, Rei had also realized that Shinno’s target was Kagami’s guest, Shion. She immediately said to Shion and Ashiho,

"Run! I’ll hold him off!"

"You? You think you can stop me?"

Shinno’s figure blurred as he instantly appeared in front of Rei, drawing back his fist to strike!

Whoosh...

Suddenly, accompanied by a sharp whistle through the air, a longsword gleaming with cold light came hurtling toward him!

Shinno twisted aside, avoiding the flying sword, then turned his gaze toward the figure standing atop the courtyard wall.

The figure who had suddenly appeared was naturally Hyuga Kagami, who had hurried here using his Fire Release clone.

He stared coldly at Shinno, the killing intent radiating from his body so intense it was almost tangible!

Rei had come within a hair’s breadth of being struck by Shinno, and Kagami’s heart had practically leapt into his throat.

"It’s you!?"

Shinno recognized the person before him as none other than Uchiha En, the girl Orochimaru had been so obsessed with. Displeased, he asked,

"Why are you interfering with me?"

Kagami didn’t answer. He lightly leapt down from the wall and said to the still-shaken Rei, Shion, and Ashiho,

"Leave this to me. Get out of here!"

Rei looked Kagami’s Fire Release clone up and down.

She couldn’t quite explain why, but she somehow felt that the fifteen- or sixteen-year-old girl before her looked strangely familiar. Yet after carefully searching her memories, she was certain she had never seen this girl before.

Remaining on guard, she asked,

"Who are you?"

Kagami was helpless.

He had no idea how he was supposed to explain himself, so he could only put on a cold expression and say,

"Go hide in the Hyuga Clan grounds. What’s happening here isn’t something you can get involved in!"

Rei didn’t hesitate for long. She quickly led Shion and Ashiho toward the back entrance.

The Body Flicker Technique Shinno had just used had easily escaped even the perception of her Byakugan, so she understood that with her strength, there was no way she could stop him.

If she didn’t flee now, she might not get another chance.

Watching Rei and the others disappear into the distance, Kagami finally relaxed slightly.

"If I’d arrived even one step later, things would’ve been disastrous!"

Shinno didn’t blindly chase after Shion. Instead, he stared at Kagami and said,

"Uchiha En, if you don’t want to die, then obediently step aside!"

Without saying a word, Kagami walked over and pulled his longsword from the wall where it had embedded itself.

Seeing Kagami completely ignore him, Shinno’s expression twisted with rage.

"You dare look down on me?! Damn Uchiha! Today, I’ll show you what true power really is!"

With that, Shinno suddenly let out a thunderous roar.

In an instant, an enormous mass of black chakra, visible to the naked eye, erupted from his body!

Under the influence of this black chakra, his already muscular body swelled another size, the muscles across his frame bulging even further as though they were overflowing with power!

"Hahaha!"

After laughing wildly for a moment, Shinno declared,

"Do you see it now? This is true power! Feel ashamed of yourselves, you fools who only know how to rely on your bloodlines!"

Kagami’s gaze sharpened.

At this moment, the chakra erupting from Shinno was unbelievably violent. Standing before him almost felt like facing a Tailed Beast!

"I can’t fight him here. If I do, my house is finished!"

Considering that he was already practically penniless, if his house got demolished, Kagami genuinely wouldn’t have the money to rebuild it.

And so, the corner of his mouth curled upward.

With a smile, Kagami began taunting Shinno.

"I heard from Shinichi that out of everyone in the Akatsuki, you’re the most useless one. Looks like he wasn’t wrong!"

Shinno’s expression froze.

Just as he was about to respond—

Whoosh...

Amid the sharp rush of wind, Kagami instantly used the Body Flicker Technique to appear directly in front of Shinno, thrusting his sword straight into Shinno’s chest!

Shinno froze for a moment before finally reacting.

"You...?"

Kagami continued his mockery.

"Just as I thought. You really are useless!"