"Naruto: Ice God"Chapter 118: Clash with the Masked Man
In the shadowy depths of the forest, several thick branches jutted from the earth, two of them completely piercing through two ANBU-clad ninja. Blood dripped steadily from their wounds.
The rhythmic "drip, drip" of falling blood echoed with eerie clarity through the silent woods.
Not far away, Uchiha Wada lay face-down on the ground, two ninja blades protruding from his back—clearly beyond salvation.
Beside Wada's corpse, Uchiha Setsuna, who had witnessed Yowan's rampage, expertly concealed his malicious satisfaction behind his mask. Watching his former comrade die so wretchedly due to his own machinations stirred not the slightest ripple of emotion within him.
Crouching down, he extracted Wada's eyes and placed them in a prepared container. After dismissing the accompanying White Zetsu, Setsuna leaned against a branch created by Yowan's Wood Release, quietly awaiting his quarry's arrival.
"Come out, brat. I can already sense you."
After waiting an indeterminate time, Setsuna suddenly turned his head, fixing his gaze on a nearby location.
"Not coming out? Or are you waiting for—"
Before Setsuna could finish speaking, sensing the chill behind him, he swiftly bent low, evading a senbon attack, then immediately drew his blade in a reverse grip, cleaving the ice mirror behind him in two.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Feng Bai's voice rang through the forest, followed by a dense barrage of shuriken.
"Is that all?"
Activating his Sharingan, Setsuna observed the shuriken whistling toward him, quickly discerning their weaknesses.
He launched several shuriken of his own; amid the metallic clashing, he forcibly altered their trajectories, causing all the projectiles to collide mid-air—not a single one reached Setsuna's vicinity.
"Stop struggling. I possess complete intelligence on you, including your mastery of that evil Flying Thunder God Jutsu created by Tobirama."
Tilting his head to dodge the Flying Thunder God kunai's attack, Setsuna remained stationary, swinging his blade backward to block Feng Bai, who had teleported behind him using the technique.
Forcibly repelled, Feng Bai dared not hesitate. Allowing the Flying Thunder God kunai to fall to the ground, he darted behind a tree, silently cursing his troublesome opponent.
The situation was exactly as he'd suspected—a conspiracy.
The two corpses impaled on the tree branches were clearly Yamanaka Zen and Shimura Ikku.
But whose body was that on the ground?
And who was this masked man?
Judging by those agile movements, the masked man definitely wasn't Uchiha Madara.
Was he Madara's proxy?
If so, that meant Obito was no longer in danger—so what was the true purpose behind luring him here?
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"
Before Feng Bai could unravel these connections, torrential flames erupting from Setsuna's mouth forced him to realize this wasn't the time for analysis.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
Seeing the fire technique's extensive range, Feng Bai had no choice but to counter with Water Release.
However, to prevent the resulting steam from obscuring his vision, Feng Bai infused ice-attribute chakra into the technique.
The leading waves froze into ice, and the thick ice wall successfully blocked the fire technique's assault.
"A rational choice."
A voice suddenly emerging from the left alerted Feng Bai that his opponent had begun moving. Seeing the red glow flickering in the mask's eyehole, Feng Bai confirmed his enemy was indeed an Uchiha.
I must not make eye contact with him!
Ducking to avoid a shuriken attack, Feng Bai slipped into the ice waves he'd created behind him.
"Fire Release: Dragon Flame Song Technique!"
Seeing Feng Bai disappear into the ice crystals, Setsuna immediately began forming hand seals without hesitation, spewing four dragon-headed flames from his mouth to brutally assault the ice layer.
"Got him."
Sensing the ice layer about to be breached, Feng Bai emerged from within. Noticing Setsuna hadn't paid attention to the Flying Thunder God kunai that had fallen earlier, he directly teleported to that position and thrust out his senbon.
"The one who's got you is me, brat."
What entered Feng Bai's vision wasn't Setsuna's exposed back, but a pair of Sharingan bearing three tomoe.
Just a moment's eye contact left Feng Bai's gaze vacant, the senbon slipping from his hand to clatter on the ground.
"Hmph, so this is the White Reaper? In the end, you're just an ordinary brat from the Shimura clan. Today's ninja are far weaker than in my era—how could such a child wreak such havoc?"
Watching Feng Bai stand motionless, Setsuna revealed a cold sneer, mocking the current ninja world's diminished strength while reminiscing about his own battlefield glory days.
Back then, hadn't he also been merely a "brat" in the eyes of the strong?
Especially Tobirama—as an elite member of the Military Police Force, he'd been defeated by that man in a single move. Fortunately, Tobirama had perished at the hands of the Gold and Silver Brothers; otherwise, even with the aged Uchiha Madara as backing, Setsuna wouldn't dare appear so brazenly in the ninja world.
"Next, I'll stuff the Three-Tails into this brat's body, then let him escape back to Konoha and have those Mist ninja trigger the Three-Tails' rampage. Heh heh heh, Shimura Danzō, I'll make you personally kill your own son! Hahahahahaha!"
Erupting in maniacal laughter, Uchiha Setsuna manipulated Feng Bai to follow behind him, leading toward the Mist ninja's secret stronghold.
As for Wada and those two Root corpses?
Let them rot and stink in this forest.
The forest returned to silence.
Yamanaka Zen and Shimura Ikku had long since bled dry; the earlier dripping sounds were no more.
"You two idiots, I was still waiting for you to teach Kabuto, but you've gone ahead to meet the Sage of Six Paths first."
Two cold flashes sliced through the branches piercing the corpses, freeing them from their restraints.
Using his blade tip to lift the masks from their faces, familiar features appeared before him. Feng Bai sighed.
"Thank goodness I was clever—used nearly two-thirds of my chakra to create a shadow clone sturdy enough not to break easily. Otherwise, I really would have fallen for that bastard's trap."
While praising his own wisdom, Feng Bai's tone carried a note of sorrow.
His true body had remained hidden in the distance; all the searching and combat with Setsuna had been accomplished through the shadow clone.
Only after the forest had fallen silent did he dare approach this location.
This also meant he hadn't witnessed the shadow clone's battle with Setsuna, leaving him currently without any intelligence on his opponent.
Of course, if he chose to dispel the Shadow Clone Jutsu now, he could immediately learn about the previous battle—but then he wouldn't be able to determine why his opponent hadn't immediately "killed" him.
Better to wait for the shadow clone to dissipate naturally.
"I don't have time to bury you properly—still need to follow that guy and see what he's really after. But I promise you both: no matter how many years it takes, I'll cut off that bastard's head to honor your memory!"
Without another glance at the corpses, Feng Bai composed his emotions and set off in pursuit in the direction Setsuna had departed.
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