Naruto: Zanka No Tachi

Chapter 37: NZNT: Chapter 37

The bright night sky, the bustling streets with their dazzling lights, and the constant sound of vendors calling out—the entire night market seemed perfectly normal.

But Pakura couldn’t shake off a feeling she couldn’t explain. It was the alertness she had cultivated over many years as an exceptional ninja.

”As expected of ”Scorch Release” Pakura, you can actually sense my genjutsu.”

Suddenly, a low, ethereal voice echoed. Pakura noticed that the bustling sounds of the street had abruptly vanished. The people on the street, including her disciple Maki, who was holding her hand, suddenly froze in place, as if time had stopped in the entire world.

Pakura’s expression turned serious. She watched as a tall, shadowy figure walked towards her step by step. The figure was clearly manipulated by genjutsu. She couldn’t see his features or clothes, and she couldn’t tell his true identity. She could only vaguely tell that it was a man.

”Who are you? What’s your purpose?” Pakura asked in a deep voice.

The person was naturally Yusuke. With the help of his Sharingan, Yusuke had dragged Pakura into a genjutsu space. In this genjutsu space, no matter how much time passed, only an instant would have passed in the real world.

Yusuke’s genjutsu was similar to Itachi’s Mangekyo Sharingan genjutsu, ”Tsukuyomi,” but it wasn’t nearly as powerful.

Itachi’s Tsukuyomi could inflict mental damage on the target within the genjutsu space. In severe cases, it could cause the target to break down or even die.

Yusuke’s genjutsu space could only create illusions. It couldn’t cause any real harm to the target. But for Yusuke, it was enough.

In the brief moment he cast this technique, Yusuke also cast a genjutsu on himself that would cause others to misinterpret their perception. This would prevent others from noticing that he was using his Sharingan.

”Don’t worry. I have no intention towards Sunagakure. I just want to show you something interesting,” Yusuke said slowly, using genjutsu to simulate a voice.

Pakura snorted coldly, ”You’re hiding in the shadows. Just say what you have to say.”

In Pakura’s view, this mysterious person had the ability to cast genjutsu on her in the middle of Sunagakure’s bustling market. He must not be an ordinary person. And the fact that he needed to use this method to contact her meant that he definitely had ulterior motives.

As soon as she finished speaking, Pakura suddenly noticed that the surroundings were rapidly changing. Scenes played out like a movie.

Yusuke used genjutsu to simulate two scenes. One was Pakura accepting a confidential mission from Sunagakure’s high-ranking officials to secretly go to Kirigakure for peace talks. The other was Pakura arriving in Kirigakure’s territory and being ambushed and killed.

During the performance of the entire scene, some of the scenery and characters weren’t clear, but Pakura understood what Yusuke was trying to convey.

Her eyes narrowed slightly. Pakura thought about the various conflicts she had with the high-ranking officials recently, and her heart was filled with suspicion. She doubted the authenticity of these scenes and wondered how he had obtained this information.

Although she was already three-quarters convinced, Pakura didn’t show it on her face. Instead, she sneered, ”You’re using this genjutsu to show me these things that don’t exist to alienate me from the village?”

Yusuke laughed, ”Time will tell if it’s true or not. I believe time will prove everything!”

For Yusuke, he had already conveyed the information he wanted to Pakura. He didn’t need to waste his breath explaining the authenticity of these things to her. When Pakura received the mission assigned by the village’s high-ranking officials, she would naturally verify it herself.

As Yusuke’s words fell, the illusionary scene in front of Pakura slowly faded, and the bustling sounds of the night market returned to her ears.

”Teacher, Teacher, why aren’t you talking?” Maki, who was holding Pakura’s hand, kept calling out to her.

Pakura came back to her senses. Her expression returned to normal, and she said with a smile, ”Nothing. I just spaced out for a moment. By the way, Maki, how long did you call me before I came back to my senses?”

Maki laughed, ”I didn’t expect Teacher to space out sometimes! I just started calling you, Teacher, and you immediately came back to your senses.”

Pakura nodded. But she was surprised by how powerful the mysterious person’s genjutsu was. She had been in the illusion for almost ten minutes, but in the real world, it had only been an instant.

”Huh, Teacher, what’s this in your hand?” At this time, Maki noticed the small scroll in Pakura’s hand and asked curiously.

Pakura was startled. She realized that she had a scroll in her hand without knowing when.

I was so careless! Although I was under the effects of genjutsu, the fact that he could place the scroll in my hand without me noticing means that he could have easily killed me in that situation. With countless doubts in her heart, Pakura put the scroll in her bosom, planning to check its contents when she was alone.

Just as Pakura’s attention was on the scroll, Yusuke walked past her, brushing shoulders with her.

The corners of his lips curled up slightly. For Yusuke, this contact with Pakura had been very smooth.

Pakura was a temporary pawn he had thought of. It wouldn’t matter to him whether or not he could ultimately turn her into a collaborator.

It’s a good thing she was relaxed and not on guard in Sunagakure. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be easy to control her with genjutsu! With his back to Pakura, Yusuke slowly strolled towards the other end of the night market street.

The next day at noon, the second stage of the Chunin Exams had already lasted for about twenty-four hours.

Because the Demon Desert was very large, all the genin teams had entered from different entrances. So far, Konoha’s two teams hadn’t been able to successfully meet up.

Under the surveillance of Yusuke’s two Fire Release clones, he knew the situation of Konoha’s two genin teams.

The situation of Mizuki, Aoba, and Uzuki team was relatively stable. The three members were all top-notch genin.

The three of them were very good at taijutsu. In the early stages of ninja training, many ninjas couldn’t master ninjutsu and genjutsu proficiently. In many cases, taijutsu was the key to victory.

In less than a day, they had already obtained the scrolls their team needed. They were now hiding in a secluded place. All they had to do now was to minimize fighting and last three days.

On the other side, Itachi, Izumi, and Kurenai Yūhi’s team had encountered a little trouble. They were attacked by a Sunagakure seed team. During the battle, Izumi, because she had overused her chakra, experienced a cursed seal eruption and temporarily lost her fighting ability.

But with Itachi’s powerful overall abilities and Kurenai Yūhi’s unexpected genjutsu, the team still defeated their opponents. Unfortunately, the opponents’ scroll was the same type as the one their team was carrying, so they couldn’t rest. They had to continue searching for other teams to steal scrolls.

Seeing Izumi’s condition, Yusuke felt a pang of guilt. He had indeed been negligent. When the second stage of the exam was over, he would have to help her deal with Orochimaru’s Heaven Cursed Seal.

Izumi’s current Heaven Cursed Seal was still an incomplete version. For Orochimaru, it could be used as a vessel for resurrection.

But for Izumi, it was completely useless. Not only could she not use it to increase her chakra like Sasuke, but it would also erupt when her chakra was insufficient, causing Izumi to lose her fighting ability due to the pain.

In a teahouse in Sunagakure, Yusuke chatted casually with Hazuki while broadcasting the situation he had observed with his Fire Release clones.

Just then, one of the Fire Release clones that had been circling the Nara Desert sent a message that it had found Shukaku’s location. Yusuke was delighted. He immediately ordered all his Fire Release clones to gather near that area and conduct a carpet search.

By nightfall, Yusuke had roughly located Shukaku’s position. He left a Fire Release clone at the inn and quickly rushed to the Nara Desert.

After Yusuke arrived in the Nara Desert, near the area where Shukaku was hiding, nearly a hundred Fire Release clones circling in the sky all swooped down and flew back into his body.

Looking at the endless sea of sand in front of him, although Yusuke knew that Shukaku was hiding beneath the sand nearby, he wasn’t sure exactly where.

”It seems like I’ll have to use some tricks to force Shukaku out from under the sand,” Yusuke thought to himself.

After thinking of a method, Yusuke quickly formed hand seals. As soon as he finished the hand seals, he pressed his right hand down on the sand beneath him.

”Flame Release: Ten Directions Scorching Earth.”

Circles of black inscription seals continuously spread outwards from the spot where Yusuke pressed his right hand on the sand. In the blink of an eye, the inscription seals covered an area of nearly six hundred meters in radius.

Under the influence of Yusuke’s jutsu, the golden sand on the ground turned slightly red. A large amount of hot air rose from the sand.

Yusuke had used his jutsu to heat the sand in this six-hundred-meter radius area, causing the temperature beneath the sand to rise sharply.

Because the range of this jutsu was so large, it consumed almost 70% of the chakra in Yusuke’s body. But this wasn’t a problem for Yusuke. After all, he had a Nine-Tailed Fox Yin Release chakra battery inside his body, which wouldn’t affect his fighting ability.

”YAHAAA!!!”

Suddenly, a very loud and piercing cry rang out. Yusuke was startled. Fortunately, the Nara Desert was still a good distance from Sunagakure. Otherwise, this would have attracted Sunagakure’s army.

The yellow sand, which had turned slightly red from being heated, suddenly began to roll violently. A giant, very fat tanuki jumped out of the sand and roared again, ”You’re burning me!!!”

This tanuki was dozens of meters tall, smaller than the Nine-Tailed Fox Yusuke had seen before. It was very round, and its body was the same color as yellow sand, covered in patterns. It had a tail behind it that was even longer and thicker than its body.

Looking at the fat, giant tanuki that had popped out of the sand, Yusuke thought to himself, ”So this is Shukaku, the Sand Spirit? It sounds pretty cheerful from its cry.”

After Shukaku emerged from the sea of sand, it immediately locked its gaze on Yusuke.

”Ah!!! Did you make it so hot under the sand?” Shukaku shouted first, then pointed at Yusuke with its giant arm and asked.

But before Yusuke could answer, the hot-tempered Shukaku launched an attack.

”Wind Release: Rasengan!”

Shukaku patted its belly, opened its mouth, and a giant ball of wind-element chakra shot directly towards Yusuke’s location.

Although the Rasengan wasn’t as powerful as the Tailed Beast Ball, it was easy to condense and had a fast firing speed. For Shukaku, firing a Rasengan was just a matter of patting its belly.

Faced with this pure damage-type area-of-effect jutsu, Yusuke directly transformed into a Fire Release clone to dodge. The Rasengan, with its powerful impact, directly pierced through the intangible Fire Release clone, kicking up a cloud of dust on the sand.

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