Chapter 428: Pretty Lucky

Chapter 428: Chapter 428: Pretty Lucky

"Man, today really wore me out."

While patrolling the streets at night, a Konoha shinobi smoked a cigarette as he complained to his companion beside him.

His companion chimed in, "Yeah. But luckily, no one caused any trouble."

Naturally, maintaining such a high level of security throughout Konoha came at a cost. The most obvious consequence was that the workload of every shinobi on duty had increased considerably.

The smoking shinobi tossed his cigarette butt onto the ground and stepped on it, extinguishing the glowing ember.

"It’s already this late. I doubt anything else is going to happen tonight."

Suddenly, a black shadow shot out from a dark corner and struck him squarely in the throat with a punch.

"Urgh..."

Caught completely off guard, the Konoha shinobi couldn’t even cry out for help before his entire body went limp. He crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

The other Konoha shinobi was shocked. "You—"

He had barely gotten the word out when a burst of intense pain erupted from his abdomen.

The next instant, the tremendous force of the blow sent his entire body flying backward. He slammed heavily into the corner of a wall and immediately lost consciousness.

"Why are they so weak?"

Slowly lowering his right leg after the sweeping kick, a trace of confusion flashed across Kimimaro’s otherwise indifferent face.

Kimimaro was still young, and his thoughts were exceptionally simple. Because of this, nearly everything he knew about the outside world came entirely from what Orochimaru, Kabuto, and the others told him.

Aside from hunting down a few bandits and rogue shinobi under Orochimaru’s orders, he had very little contact with the outside world.

As a result, Kimimaro had yet to form any understanding of the shinobi world for himself.

Moreover, after Orochimaru implanted him with the Curse Mark, Kimimaro’s strength had been increasing by the day. His mastery over his Shikotsumyaku Kekkei Genkai had also grown progressively deeper.

His strength seemed to change every single day, rising at an astonishing rate. He was practically a different person from one day to the next.

Because of that, even Kimimaro himself had temporarily lost track of exactly where his strength stood within the shinobi world.

Enemies who, in his impression, should have possessed a certain degree of strength had suddenly all become incapable of withstanding even a single blow.

That was exactly how Kimimaro felt right now.

Glancing at the two unconscious Konoha shinobi lying on the ground, Kimimaro thought to himself,

"Lord Orochimaru would never deceive me. It seems I really have become stronger!"

What Kimimaro didn’t know was that he had already reached a relatively high level within the shinobi world.

In his normal state, his strength was close to that of a jōnin. Once he unleashed the power of his Curse Mark, his strength approached the level of an elite jōnin.

No matter which shinobi village he was placed in, he would already be considered part of its elite ranks.

This was also the main reason Kabuto had dared to provoke him into going after Hyuga Kagami—and why Orochimaru had tacitly allowed it.

Although Konoha had significantly strengthened its security, most of that manpower was concentrated around critical areas such as the Hokage Building, Konoha Hospital, the Root base, and other important locations.

While plenty of patrol teams had also been assigned to the ordinary residential districts, those teams consisted primarily of chūnin and genin.

Naturally, they were no match for Kimimaro.

After dragging the two unconscious Konoha shinobi into the shadows of a street corner, Kimimaro briefly checked his bearings.

Then, with a flicker of his figure, he vanished from the spot like a ghost once more.

After crossing several more blocks, Kimimaro lightly landed atop the roof of a residence.

Standing on the rooftop, he coldly surveyed a small courtyard across the street.

According to the information Kabuto had given him, the house before him was—

Hyuga Kagami’s home.

"I’ll make you pay!"

After silently making that vow, Kimimaro’s figure blurred.

He floated across the street and slipped soundlessly into the courtyard.

Once inside, he stood quietly and listened for a while.

After confirming that whoever was inside the house had not noticed him in the slightest, he lightly pushed off with his toes, leaped upward, and slipped into the house through a second-floor window.

There were no lights inside.

But the moonlight streaming through the windows was bright enough to illuminate everything clearly.

"You...!?"

Kimimaro was startled.

Hyuga Kagami was sitting right there in the room, calmly staring at him.

There wasn’t the slightest ripple in his expression, as though he had expected Kimimaro to come all along.

Hyuga Kagami smiled faintly.

"Looks like my luck is pretty good!"

The provocation he had deliberately directed at Orochimaru on the street earlier had been precisely to lure Kimimaro into coming after him.

The matter with Obito had placed tremendous pressure on Kagami. He needed to accelerate his Kekkei Mōra Project.

But if he approached Orochimaru directly and requested samples of Kimimaro’s cells and tissue, not only would it be troublesome and time-consuming, there was also a chance that Orochimaru, being a researcher himself, might see through Kagami’s true objective.

Thus, in a sudden flash of inspiration, Kagami had come up with the idea of baiting Kimimaro into coming to him voluntarily.

However, Konoha was currently under martial law.

Even Kagami wasn’t certain whether Kimimaro would actually have the nerve to come knocking on his door.

So all he could do was wait at home...

And gamble on his luck.

"So you were prepared for me all along!"

Kimimaro quickly suppressed the surprise on his face. Casually pulling a kunai from the storage pouch at his waist, he said coldly,

"Fine by me. I wanted to fight you fairly anyway!"

"Silly kid. A fair fight is something that only exists in stories..."

As he spoke, Hyuga Kagami slowly extended his right hand toward Kimimaro.

In an instant—

Kimimaro felt an unprecedentedly powerful attractive force seize his entire body!

His immature ten-year-old body had absolutely no way of resisting such tremendous force.

He instantly lost his balance and was violently ripped off his feet, his entire body hurtling straight toward Hyuga Kagami!

"What kind of technique is this!?"

Kimimaro could no longer maintain the cold indifference on his face.

Thud...

A moment later, Kimimaro’s body was pulled directly into Hyuga Kagami’s right hand, producing a dull thud as Kagami’s palm struck his chest!

Alarmed, Kimimaro immediately tried to use the Body Flicker Technique to put some distance between himself and Kagami.

But he suddenly discovered—

The chakra inside his body was no longer under his control!

Only then did Kimimaro notice from the corner of his eye that countless ink-black sealing formulas were spreading out from beneath Kagami’s right hand, which was pressed against his chest.

Like chains, the black sealing formulas spread outward in every direction with his chest as their center.

Within the span of a single breath, they had covered his entire body.

Kimimaro froze for a moment before exclaiming in shock,

"You can use sealing techniques without hand seals!?"

"If it’s only something at this level, I can still perform it without hand seals."

Hyuga Kagami withdrew his right hand, then stood up and walked toward a cabinet by the wall.

Restrained by the Four Symbols Seal, Kimimaro immediately gritted his teeth and prepared to activate his Curse Mark, intending to forcibly break free from the seal’s control over his body.

Without even turning his head, Kagami rummaged through the cabinet as he said,

"Are you sure you want to do that? If you make too much of a commotion, Orochimaru is going to be in quite a bit of trouble."

Hearing Orochimaru’s name, a trace of hesitation flashed across Kimimaro’s face.

At that moment, Kagami walked back carrying a large tray filled with tools for collecting blood samples and cellular tissue.

Smiling, he said,

"Don’t worry. I’m not going to do anything to you!"

Staring at the smile on Hyuga Kagami’s face, Kimimaro suddenly felt an ominous chill rise from the depths of his heart...