Naruto Card King

The roar was deafening. Amid the dim light, countless splinters of wooden walls shot toward Haruto Saito. Hidden Yi reacted almost instinctively, striking out without hesitation. The moment he opened his eyes, his blade flashed, slashing forward with lethal precision. His cold gaze locked onto Haruto Saito, whose body was wreathed in swirling black mist.

Without thinking, Haruto Saito dissolved into black smoke and vanished from the wooden building.

"The Black Warrior!" Hidden Yi's blade cut through empty air, leaving him momentarily stunned.

The Land of Rain had always been a chaotic place filled with warriors of various backgrounds. Hidden Yi had, of course, heard the legendary tales of the Black Warriors. These enigmatic figures, known for their ability to appear and disappear like ghosts, had stood at the pinnacle of the shinobi world for over a thousand years. It wasn't until the rise of the ninja clans during the Warring States period that the Black Warrior lineage was thought to have died out.

However, the legend of the Black Warriors had never truly faded. Instead, the stories had only grown more bizarre and mysterious over time.

Strange. Too strange.

Hidden Yi had been assigned the mission of protecting Tanabe Teiji based on solid intelligence. The information he received indicated that a rogue, low-ranking ninja from the Rain Village would join forces with a few Uchiha shinobi to carry out an assassination attempt on Tanabe Teiji.

The heightened security around Tanabe Teiji was not just for this particular assassination attempt. It was also a precaution for the future.

The Leaf Village had already discovered that Tanabe Teiji was secretly funneling war funds to the Rain Village. Even if this assassination failed, Konoha would undoubtedly send more operatives.

But no matter the circumstances, no matter what unexpected factors emerged, the ones coming after Tanabe Teiji should have been Leaf ninjas. How could it possibly be a Black Warrior who had vanished nearly seventy years ago?

Had a new generation of Black Warriors emerged?

Who was he?!

The thought flashed through Hidden Yi's mind like lightning. He had lost all sense of Haruto Saito's presence—or rather, he had never truly sensed him at all. Hidden Yi suspected his enemy was a Black Warrior not just because of his appearance, but because he was utterly undetectable.

On the soft couch, Tanabe Teiji lay completely lifeless. Hidden Yi glanced back at the corpse, his expression remaining as cold as ever. Tanabe Teiji's death was insignificant to him—someone else would simply take his place.

"Damn it! I will not let you escape!" Hidden Yi stomped his foot against the floor and vanished from the room.

The next instant, he reappeared on the rooftop.

Amidst the light drizzle, Hidden Yi bellowed with all his might: "An assassin! Search every inch of this place!"

His voice thundered across the White Stone encampment like a bolt of lightning.

In that moment, the entire encampment erupted into chaos. Darkened sections of the camp were quickly illuminated by firelight as soldiers scrambled to respond. The air was filled with the sound of shouting and hurried footsteps.

Hidden Yi swiftly moved again, appearing at the center of the courtyard. Without hesitation, he sliced open his palm, forming a series of hand seals in an instant. Crouching low, he pressed his bleeding hand against the ground, unleashing a surge of energy that spread outward in intricate patterns.

"Summoning Jutsu: Hundred Swallows Strike!"

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

A massive burst of white smoke erupted around Hidden Yi. Countless small, pale-blue birds materialized and shot out in all directions. There were well over a hundred of them, each no larger than half a human palm. Despite their diminutive size, their speed was astonishing. Their tiny wings flapped at an extreme rate, propelling them like arrows loosed from a bowstring.

Rain swifts!

But these were no ordinary rain swifts. They were low-tier ninja beasts!

In the natural world, rain swifts were already the fastest-flying birds, capable of reaching speeds of over 350 kilometers per hour—nearly 100 meters per second! And that was just the non-ninja version of the species.

The rain swifts summoned by Hidden Yi were a special breed, cultivated by the Rain Village. They were smaller, more streamlined, and had flight speeds that defied reason.

Hidden Yi had just summoned every single rain swift he had a contract with.

Under normal circumstances, he would never do such a thing. But this was different. Tanabe Teiji had been assassinated, and the killer was very likely the fabled Black Warrior.

...

At the northwest corner of the mansion, Haruto Saito materialized, cloaked in black mist.

He didn't use his Black Mist Flash this time. Instead, he quickly performed a series of hand seals and vanished again. In the next moment, he reappeared outside the mansion, enveloped in a puff of white smoke. The black mist surrounding him should have caused a major disturbance in the air, but no one could sense it.

Turning swiftly, he darted into the forest, sprinting at full speed.

"Damn it! How did he notice—ugh…" Haruto Saito was perplexed at first, but the realization struck him like a fool's epiphany. He had been an absolute idiot.

The logic was painfully simple.

Even if Hidden Yi couldn't sense Haruto Saito at all, even if his presence was completely undetectable, there was one undeniable factor: Hidden Yi could still sense Tanabe Teiji!

The moment Tanabe Teiji was killed, his life force vanished. And Hidden Yi was a sensory-type ninja. If he hadn't noticed such a drastic change immediately, he might as well have cut himself down in shame—no sensory ninja was that incompetent.

But Haruto Saito had completely overlooked that fact. And there was no real way around it. Even if he had considered it beforehand, there was nothing he could have done. Unless he chose not to kill Tanabe Teiji at all, Hidden Yi would always be able to detect the change.

Hidden Yi's powerful voice reverberated throughout the entire camp.

Haruto Saito felt his heart sink. Black Mist Flash was not an all-powerful ability, and he only had one more use left. The White Stone encampment was enormous. Forget the northern sector—the southern sector alone housed over five thousand soldiers. The mansion was surrounded by structures, streets, watchtowers, and both overt and covert sentries.

Even though most of the people outside the mansion were ordinary soldiers, they still had eyes.

The once-silent southern sector was now ablaze with torchlight. Soldiers rushed out of their barracks, watchtower fires were lit, and ninjas and samurai flooded out of the mansion…

The entire encampment was in turmoil. Too many eyes were scanning, searching.

The black mist allowed Haruto Saito to blend into the night, but if the area around him was brightly illuminated, the mist itself would make him stand out even more. Yet, he couldn't simply dispel it—Hidden Yi was an exceptional sensory ninja. If the mist vanished, Hidden Yi would track him instantly.

This was becoming a huge problem.

Danger was closing in fast.

Over a hundred kilometers north of the White Stone Mine encampment, a vast village lay hidden beneath the misty veil of the rainy night. Towering steel structures loomed over the landscape, their sparse lights flickering in the darkness.

The Rain Village.

The most powerful faction in the Land of Rain, and the sixth most formidable force in the shinobi world—just behind the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

This was the place.

Deep within the Rain Village…

In a dimly lit training hall, only two candle stands at the entrance provided light. The training hall was massive, and the farther one ventured from the doorway, the darker it became.

The entire space was shrouded in an eerie, chilling atmosphere.

A thin figure sat cross-legged at the center of the hall on a meditation mat. His upper body was lean and bare, his eyes closed. Resting across his legs was a large scythe. Because of the mask covering his face, no one had seen his true features in years.

No one alive remembered his real face anymore—he never removed his mask in the presence of others.

But his name was known throughout the entire shinobi world. Every move he made was watched by the great powers of the world. A single step from him could shake the shinobi world to its core.

He was Hanzo.

The man revered as the Demigod.

Whoosh!

A black-robed figure appeared outside the hall, dropping to one knee. His tone was filled with urgency and reverence as he reported, "Commander! Just now, Hidden Yi summoned every single one of his contracted rain swifts!"

Hanzo's eyes snapped open, his deep gaze unreadable. His voice, hoarse and commanding, asked, "All of them?"