Chapter 296: Hiruko and Shinno’s Change

The attacker who dared to attempt Sandaime Hokage's assassination and escaped from the Hokage Building was extremely swift, after just a few ups and downs he has already left the Hokage Building far behind, leaving the central area of the village.

The trailing Anbu members did not give up their pursue because of this. The Anbu Shinobi would never show mercy on someone who would dare to assassinate the Hokage, as such they spared no effort to increase their speed and closely followed the attacker.

"Humph! Idiots." – The attacker snorted coldly after looking at the trail behind him, and deep killing intent appeared in his heart.

Deciding so, the attacker turned around the corner and stopped at the center of the intersection.

Currently, the streets were very noisy, and the villagers were leading their families to take refuge. No one knew what the exact reason was for announcing an emergency so suddenly, so the people were a bit panicked and there was restlessness around.

The attacker quietly stood waiting for the Anbu shinobi to arrive, he did not care about the presence of evacuating villagers.

Whoosh… Whoosh… Whoosh… Whoosh… Whoosh… Whoosh… Whoosh… Whoosh… Whoosh…

At this time, the Anbu members that followed him suddenly started to appear, their figures scattered around on the road, on the sidewalls, on top of the roofs of different houses, effectively forming a siege circle surrounding the attacker in the center.

The collective appearance of so many Anbu immediately alerted the evacuating villagers, and they understood that something was wrong here.

Many of the villagers are family members of shinobi and have also been shinobi themselves at some part of their lives, as such they understood that fighting is very likely to break out here, and at once fled without hindering Anbu shinobi.

Now only the attacker and the Anbu members were left in the immediate vicinity.

The attacker swept his gaze over the sieging circle, and he chuckled, "Hahaha… Only twelve of you have caught up?"

The Anbu shinobi looked at each other after hearing the attacker's contemptuous words.

Twelve Anbu means four Anbu teams and considering that they are dealing with only one enemy here means that this number is already quite high.

While the Anbu shinobi were looking at each other, the attacker also looked at them. According to Zetsu, intelligence on his own identity and abilities must not be revealed in this operation, therefore, the attacker was acting covertly.

But now that he is surrounded by a few teams of Anbu shinobi, there is only one thing he can do to make sure that no intelligence of his identity and abilities are revealed, "Once all of them are killed, no one would find any intelligence!"

And without further ado, he raised his arms and started printing the hand seals.

The surrounding Anbu would obviously not sit back and wait for death. When the attacker started printing hand seals, they also started their offensive to eliminate the attacker.

"Earth Release: Earth Bind!"

"Fire Release: Flame Bullet!"

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

Instantly, the Anbu used a combination technique, the earth Style Jutsu bound Hiruko, while the Fire Style and Wind Style combined together resulting in much-enhanced compound ninjutsu that was shaped like a large fire dragon and it came towards the attacker as if it would eat him alive and burn him into dust.

However, the attacker did not even try to dodge or counter these subsequent offensive attacks, all he did was just simply stretch out his hand.

Whiiiiishh…

With a sizzling sound, the combined ninjutsu that had an extraordinarily great momentum simply disappeared. It was mysteriously sucked inside the palm of the attacker.

At the same time, the Earth Style Jutsu that has risen a few moments ago on the ground also collapsed.

"This…!?"

"He was able to absorb our ninjutsu!"

"Is It possible that he is using Dark Release?"

"But he is an Uchiha, and Uchihas do not have Dark Release!"

"Then maybe he has Mangekyou Sharingan, as they grant a user some tricky abilities…"

"It is possible, but I would say that's not the case here, look at his eyes, they are still at a simple three tomoe state."

The attacker chuckled at the confused state of the Anbu shinobi, and without waiting for them to recover from their shock, he suddenly disappeared from his position at an unreal fast speed.

Whoosh…

And the next thing you know, he was standing behind one of the Anbu shinobi.

"Just how…?" – …

This Anbu only felt was something coming out of his chest and looking down he noticed a black arm sticking out from his chest and carried his still-beating heart in its grip.

Cough… Spurt… Plop…

Fell on the ground and died.

Everyone was shocked, but that did not stop them from launching the next set of offensive, as the two nearest Anbu members nearest to kill the attacker.

One of the Anbu brandished a special sword, while the other one had a Kunai in each hand.

Seeing two Anbu members rushing toward him, he shook his head lightly, he did not bother to dodge. And at the moment when the sword's blade and the Kunai were supposed to kill him in a pincer attack, the attacker just raised his hand to block both the weapons.

Both Anbu members frowned upon such a reaction.

Because this was not an instinctive response from the attacker, it was a controlled action, and they felt that blacking blades with hand was unreasonable unless and until someone is completely confident in his ability to do so.

And their doubts soon became a reality as the moment both blades touched the attacker, a loud sound of metal clacking echoed.

Immediately afterward, cracks started to appear on the Sword and the Kunai.

Before, either of them could react to such an incomprehensible change, both of their chests were also pierced by the attacker and their beating hearts were gouged out and crushed by him.

Losing their hearts, both of them coughed out blood and fell on the ground, as blood kept flowing out of their hollowed chests.

By now, the other Anbu shinobi were already covered in cold sweats.

"His body is…!?"

"No doubt about it, that one is Steel Release! Close Combat is useless against him!"

"Ninjutsu also seems to be ineffective against him!"

"Taking advantage of speed also doesn't seem to be an option!"

"He also has Sharingan, it is unlikely that Genjutsu would work against him!"

The captain of one of the team stated, "Do not panic, use Fuinjutsu to trap him, and limit his movements!"

With just a few words of the Captain of one of the team, all the Anbu ninja regained their confidence and redeployed their tactics.

However, the attacker did not give them enough time to execute their tactics, as he flashed from one position to another.

Every time his figure disappears, one of the Anbu members would lose his or her life, and within just a few short moments six more Anbu members fell to the ground in the pool of their own blood with their crushed heart lying next to them.

"We are no match for him, retreat, at least the intelligence on his abilities must be passed back!" – With on three members of the twelve remaining, one of the Anbu members issued the order for retreat, and immediately following the order, the three Anbu separated and started running away in three different directions. The purpose was obviously to increase the possibility of survival of at least one of them.

"Hahaha… you want to run away? Do you think you can?" – with a loud laugh, the attacker stretched out his palm, in the direction of the Shinobi who issued the order, "Dark Release: Judgement!" – and immediately light blue flame sprouted out of the attacker's hand burning the shinobi into dust.

The very next moment, his figure flash disappeared and appeared next to the second Shinobi, "Tell me, do you think that you can?" – and immediately he again stretched out his hand, "Dark Release: Inhaling Maw!" – Followed by his action, the running Anbu Shinobi's Chakra was absorbed into the diamond symbol.

"My Chakra…? You rea…lly have… dark Rele…ase Kek…kei Ge…nk…ai d..o..nt..y...o...…o!" – was all he spoke before falling to the ground like a dried up raisin, and soon lost his breath.

But the attacker did not hear this Anbu shinobi's dying words, as he has already flash disappeared and rushed towards the last one.

While chasing after the Anbu Shinobi, he again stretched out his hand. But this time, neither were there any blue flame nor was any chakra absorbed. But long white bandages extended out of his hands and rushed towards the Anbu at a speed faster than that of sound!

The bandages soon closed the distance between the two, and entangled the Anbu's hands, legs, and neck, making him not be able to go any further.

With the Anbu Shinobi captured, the attacker grinned, he also controlled the bandages and dragged the Anbu shinobi backward.

Now, the Anbu shinobi was already lying on the ground, and while keeping his one foot on top of the head of the Anbu Shinobi, the attacker said, "You are weak, and so you know what is the sin of a weak!?"

Although the Anbu shinobi was very much alive, he did not care about the words of the attacker, nor did he respond to the attacker.

The attacker chuckled, and then put force in his leg to crush that head like some watermelon.

Kacha…

The entire scene was like a gore painting, and the attacker appreciated his art by nodding to himself.

After having painted Konoha, he did not stay in this place anymore and disappeared.

Sometime later, he appeared within the forest region outside the village.

With the attacker's, a green bud sprouted out of the ground and soon revealed its figure. This person was none other than Zetsu.

Looking at the attacker, Zetsu asked, "Hiruko, did you complete your part of the mission successfully?"

The attacker who attacked Sandaime Hokage, Mitokado Homura, as well as killed many of the Anbu ninjas was none other than Hiruko, who has gained five distinct and powerful Kekkei Genkai, and has already mastered their combined use at a primary level.

Not looking at Zetsu, "Yes, as asked, a Shinobi with Sharingan, with his body structure similar to Uchiha Shisui and speed as fast as 'Uchiha Shisui of the Body Flicker' attempted to assassinate Sandaime Hokage, although failed, he did manage to injure one of the elder advisors." - Hiruko said as he removed the mask and tore off the black disguise that he wore.

Zetsu nodded and curiously watched Hiruko.

At this time, Hiruko's muscles and skeletal structure squirmed and transformed back into his own skeletal structure.

Zetsu said with an impressed look, "This technique of yours that alters body structure is better than simple Transformation Techniques."

Hiruko smiled in glee.

Chimera Technique grants him various passive abilities other than the five Kekkei Genkai he absorbed and being able to alter his body structure is one of those abilities.

After changing back to his original body structure, Hiruko looked around his surroundings and asked curiously, "Where is Shinno? Shouldn't he be here waiting for me?"

…

In the Village.

Plop…

With a muffled sound, a Hyuga chunin was knocked and hit the wall severely.

Shinno dusted off his hands and went further.

Currently, he was no longer the old Shinno, after having used the Body Revival Technique in combination with the Dark Chakra from Moryo to increase his strength, Shinno underwent a great physical change. His hair and beard have grown wild and much longer, as well as blackening under his eyes. His eyebrows became thicker, and his muscles greatly expanded. All this made him look much younger and more physically fit. Even the creases under his eyes and the dark bags around them also seem to have disappeared.

Overall, it wouldn't be wrong to say that he is now terrifyingly strong!

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