High above the Cloud camp in the Land of the Moon, Taiichi's mocking voice rang out loud and clear. Every Cloud ninja on the ground clenched their fists, veins bulging on their foreheads.
"Shut your mouth and come down here if you've got the guts!" A shouted up at him. "One-on-one. Right now."
A stayed calm on the surface. After fighting Taiichi so many times, he'd learned to tune out the kid's vicious tongue. The mouth was as dangerous as the fists.
"Looks like Killer B really isn't here," Taiichi said, slowly descending. "But I guess you'll do for a warm-up. My hands have been itching lately."
A gave a subtle hand signal behind his back while Taiichi dropped lower. The moment they were thirty meters apart, lightning exploded around A's body. Lightning Armor activated in an instant and he shot forward like a bolt of living thunder.
Fast. That was the only thing Taiichi registered at first.
He didn't try to match raw speed. Instead, dozens of bright golden fire orbs bloomed around him and rained down in a dense barrage. It was less precision, more "fill the sky with fire and see what sticks."
A weaved between them, eyes sharp. He knew better than to let those golden flames touch him. Even so, the gap between them kept shrinking.
Ten meters. Taiichi drew his short blade, flooding it with wind chakra until the edge glowed with a razor-sharp light. Wind beat lightning in a straight clash.
They met in a blur of motion.
Blade met Lightning Armor with a deafening crack. Shockwaves ripped outward, carving craters into the ground. They clashed again and again—thirty-plus exchanges in seconds—until they finally broke apart, both breathing hard.
A's right arm was covered in thin, bleeding cuts, denser near the fist. Taiichi's short sword was a web of hairline cracks. Only the chakra coating it had kept the blade from shattering.
"Feels good," A admitted, rolling his shoulder. "Didn't expect you to trade blows with me head-on. Most people won't even try."
Taiichi tossed the ruined sword aside and cracked his knuckles. "I'm not just good with a blade."
He blurred forward again, monstrous strength behind every punch. A met him with raw power, blocking and countering with heavy kicks that whistled through the air. Taiichi bent backward under one, hands on the ground, and launched a vicious rising kick straight at A's groin.
A barely got clear in time.
That was when the trap sprang.
Four massive lightning nets came screaming in from all sides. At the same moment, a pair of hands burst from the dirt and clamped around Taiichi's ankles, locking him in place.
The five jonin who had followed A out had been waiting for exactly this opening. While Taiichi and A traded blows, they had positioned themselves perfectly.
Taiichi didn't panic.
A spinning wall of water erupted around him in a perfect circle—his own twist on the Water Formation Wall. The lightning nets slammed into it and fizzled out harmlessly, electricity sucked into the churning water.
At the same time, four golden chains exploded from his back. They punched straight through the ground and wrapped the underground jonin—Kaina—into a tight, inescapable bundle before she could even drag Taiichi down.
The sealing power hit her instantly. All four chains working together crushed her chakra flow in seconds. She went limp, completely suppressed.
Taiichi grabbed her by the collar, chakra wings flaring behind him. He shot upward through the fading water wall and into open sky, Kaina dangling from one hand like a prize.
"Hey, A!" he called down, voice full of laughter. "You really went all out for our little spar, huh? Gifting me a jonin? I almost feel bad taking her."
A's face went black as he watched Taiichi rise with Kaina in his grip. He had no idea what technique Taiichi had used to neutralize her so completely, but it looked like a sealing jutsu.
"Get down here and fight me for real, you coward!" A roared. "Let her go and we'll settle this properly!"
Taiichi just grinned wider. "Fair fight? You broke the rules first when your people jumped in. Now you're crying about me picking on a girl? Your skin's thicker than your Lightning Armor, A. Maybe you should just use your face to block ninjutsu from now on—it'd probably work better!"
A's dark skin flushed red. He knew they had cheated. It just hadn't paid off.
"Name your price," he said through gritted teeth. "What do you want for her?"
Taiichi glanced at the woman in his hand—tanned skin, athletic build, definitely one of Cloud's better-looking jonin.
"Simple," he said. "Pull every last Cloud ninja out of the Land of the Moon and I'll drop her right now."
"You—!" A looked ready to explode.
Taiichi laughed. "Guess you don't care that much after all. Thanks for the fun. We'll do this again sometime."
He vanished in a swirl of leaves before A could answer.
"Damn it! Damn that brat!" A snarled at the empty sky.
"Lord A, what do we do? Kaina's been taken," one of the remaining jonin said.
"We should gather forces and hit them back!" the hot-headed brothers, Raishin and Raiyo, shouted. "They came to our doorstep and humiliated us!"
A was tempted. Taiichi's arrogance was infuriating. If they didn't respond hard, the kid would keep showing up whenever he felt like it.
Hi, the calmer jonin, spoke up. "We can't. The village's current strategy is to focus on Iwa. Our overall strength is already lower than Leaf's, and Killer B isn't even here. Attacking now would be suicide."
The words cooled everyone down fast.
Raishin still looked desperate. "We can't just leave Kaina with them. She's only sealed, not hurt."
A turned to the others. "Did any of you see exactly how he took her down?"
They all shook their heads. The water wall had blocked their view.
"Probably some kind of sealing technique," Dodai said thoughtfully. "That's why he came looking for Killer B in the first place. He was hoping for a chance to test it."
A let out a string of curses. "The heavens really aren't fair, giving Leaf a monster like that."
In the end, he gave no reckless orders. They would wait.
---
Leaf camp.
Taiichi appeared in the command tent with Kaina still dangling from one hand. He dropped her unceremoniously on the floor.
Orochimaru walked over immediately—not to check the prisoner, but to examine the glowing golden chains still wrapped around her.
He crouched down, running his fingers along the links with open fascination. "Adamantine Sealing Chains? How do you know that technique? That's an Uzumaki bloodline secret."
Taiichi rubbed his forehead. "Orochimaru-sama… maybe we should talk about the actual prisoner first?"
Orochimaru finally looked at the woman on the floor and his eyes sharpened with recognition.
"Kaina. One of Cloud's better jonin—strong in Earth and Wind Release. Capturing a jonin alive is no small thing." He glanced back at the chains. "You used these to catch her, didn't you?"
Taiichi sighed. "Not exactly the original. I used it as a reference and developed my own version. It's similar, but the sealing power works a little differently."
He gave a quick explanation while Orochimaru listened with growing excitement, muttering about Taiichi's talent for research.
Once his curiosity was satisfied, Orochimaru looked at Kaina again.
"Hand her over to interrogation. Squeeze whatever we can out of her. If nothing useful comes out, we'll hold her for a prisoner exchange after the war. A live jonin is worth quite a bit."
High-level prisoners were always tricky. Most had ways to take their own secrets to the grave if pushed too hard. Better to use her as leverage later than risk killing her for scraps of information.
Taiichi nodded.
Orochimaru's expression turned sly. "So you went looking for Killer B and came back with one of their jonin instead. They must be losing their minds over there."
"Killer B wasn't in camp. Probably got recalled to the village. They didn't even try to chase me after I took her. I think their focus has shifted."
Orochimaru's smile widened. "Excellent news. The harder Cloud and Iwa fight each other, the less pressure on us."
He raised his voice. "Messenger!"
A communication ninja entered.
"Tell intelligence to keep a close watch on the Rock-Cloud conflict. I want every development reported to me immediately."
"Yes, Orochimaru-sama."