Naruto: Path towards Godhood

Half an Hour Later,

Hotoshi, the Jonin of Sand Village, felt nervous for almost half an hour.

He thought of waiting a little longer, but when he didn't see the shadow of those Chunin, he decided he had waited long enough.

There could only be one reason. They met an unexpected end at the hands of Anbu or a high-level ninja following those Genin.

Or, there was an accident.

This could be anything from the powerful strength of Genin to an unexpected encounter with some other Ninjas.

No matter what, he needed to investigate. He couldn't let Konoha forces get those ingredients.

So, he decided to rush toward the site of the battlefield. Even though he was several kilometers away, it only took him half an hour to get there.

Once he got there, he was surprised by the destruction caused by a battle.

It was clear that most of it came from Fire Release and Wind Release. Since Jiro was so good at Wind Release, he believed it was him, and the other person could be a reinforcement or a Genin.

Doubting his thoughts, Hotoshi preferred it to be a reinforcement. Because that meant he could stop them from reaching the Land of Wind.

If they were Genin, it would be a trap.

Because there was no way they would let a Genius Genin who could fight three Chunin as bait.

Yes, he did consider the possibility of those Genin being bait. After seeing the situation in the forest, he discarded that consideration.

He countered a trap just when he was searching for more clues. Three Exploding Tags were placed on the exact tree he was standing at.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The explosion was massive, but nobody came out of their hiding place. It's not that they didn't want to, but rather, they knew it wouldn't be enough to kill a Jonin.

A Jonin who was cautious while searching for the clues.

"Damn it!"

Just as they expected, the Jonin appeared on the ground completely unharmed. That level of explosion didn't even touch him.

This was the Body Flicker Jutsu for a Jonin.

"Where are they hiding?" Hotoshi immediately understood the Genin Team or Anbu were at least hiding around, but he couldn't find them.

Since he couldn't find them like this, he decided to do something else. He jumped above those trees and started weaving hand signs.

[Wind Release- Great Breakthrough]

A large amount of Chakra molded at his throat came out in the form of a wind. This wind was nothing like Jiro produced.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The wind coming off from above managed to tear apart the ground while destroying nearly two meters of forest in an instant.

Just a single strand of Wind Chakra was powerful enough to slice through the tree. This was the power of Suna Jonin.

Even though Ken and others were hiding tightly, the moment this wind came, they could no longer hide.

There was no place remaining to hide. The only thing that remained were broken ground and collapsed forest.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

At the same time, that attack also triggered several different explosions. These were different kinds of Explosions Tags.

They were inserted in a way that they would explode upon coming in contact with any pressure.

"There you are."

Hotoshi immediately spotted Jenzi and Mito. Ken was still hiding perfectly under some trees, but Jenzi and Mito weren't flexible enough to dodge some trees.

So, they were stuck between trees.

'Damn it! I can't let him attack them.'

The moment Hotoshi reached the ground, Ken immediately came out of hiding.

Hotoshi didn't notice him, so he was still running toward Jenzi and Mito, but suddenly, he felt a terrifying heat coming his way.

A massive fireball that was the size of a large house was moving towards him. And its speed wasn't slow either.

After reaching the strength of Elite Chunin, Ken was able to cast Fireball in just one second, which meant he could use six seals in one second.

[Body Flicker Jutsu]

In an instant, his body began to flicker in front of the fireball, and he disappeared.

Bang!

The fireball crashed upon those destroyed trees and slowly started burning them while Hotoshi appeared nearly fifty meters away from the fire.

"You are the one who killed them. I didn't believe Konoha would be foolish enough to send a genius ninja like you as bait. But I overestimated Konoha."

Hotoshi had a look of understanding and also horror as he spoke. Then, he released some hostility and murderous intent in his eyes.

It was clear to him that no matter what happens, he must kill Ken. It wasn't hard to figure out Ken's identity, especially with his active Sharingan.

He didn't try to lure Ken into joining his village. If he was a normal genius, Hotoshi would've tried that method.

But Ken was a Uchiha. Even if he was used as bait, at most, there would be a conflict between Uchiha and Konoha.

So, it was better to kill him right here and right now.

That thought lasted for a few seconds before he quickly rushed forward with a tanto in his hand.

He had seen fireball, so he didn't want to face such Ninjutsu here, considering he wasn't sure about Ken's situation.

Although he had accepted Ken's identity as bait, he didn't dare to underestimate the Konoha village.

What if they sent an Anbu or another Jonin soon?

In that case, he would need to save his Chakra to fight those.

So, he wanted to kill Ken with his tanto, and another reason was that he didn't think a ten-year-old had the power to kill him.

He didn't know Ken was only eight years old. If he knew, his murderous intent would've been even more clear.

Ken saw this and quickly unsheathed his sword. He rushed toward Hotoshi, and their swords clashed for the first time.

It created a strong shockwave around them.

Even though Ken was physically weaker than him, the usages of Chakra allowed him to create an almost similar force to that of a Jonin.

Hotoshi's eyes widened for a moment as he couldn't press his tanto against a child. This almost freaked him out.

But, as a Jonin, he managed to recover his mind quickly and started slashing his tanto from different directions.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Ken was putting equal force, but he was slower than Jonin. Despite that, the so-called Jonin wasn't able to take advantage of that speed.

Ken's Sharingan was moving extremely fast, almost making him feel some pain in those eyes.

They were capturing every single detail of the Jonin and transmitting it to his brain. If he was even a little bit slower, he would've lost this battle instantly.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

This continued for a moment. Both were putting in a lot of effort, but it was Ken who was putting in more.

After all, he was a barely an eight-year-old Genin who had trained seriously for three months.

In a few minutes, he was no longer equal to the Jonin in terms of sword battle.

Splash! Splash!

Hotoshi managed to move his tanto quickly a few times, causing some serious wounds on his body.

At this moment, Ken suddenly used more force to push back Hotoshi for a split second as he used Tiger Seal.

[Body Flicker Jutsu]

In an instant, Ken disappeared in front of him, and a massive stream of water came crashing towards him.

[Water Style- Water Bullet Jutsu]

It was none other than Mito who launched this attack. Although this stream of water wasn't big, it was extremely fast.

Seeing this, Hotoshi was forced to channel Wind Release Chakra into his tanto and slash with all of his strength.

Splash!

He managed to cut the water stream from the middle. Some of the water still splashed on him, but most of it fell on the ground.

"You. I should kill you first."

Hotoshi didn't continue saying nonsense and rushed toward Mito. His speed is several times faster than a normal Genin.

Faced with such speed, Mito couldn't run away, but she didn't have to because several shurikens were thrown at Hotoshi from a distance.

[Release]

As soon as the command was given, the Exploding Tags attached to the shurikens began exploding on the spot.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Hotoshi quickly stopped and used Tiger Seal.

[Body Flicker Jutsu]

In an instant, his body moved like a whirlwind as he disappeared from his initial position and appeared just in front of Mito.

"You underestimate a Jonin."

With a cruel remark, Hotoshi stabbed his sword forward.

Clack!

When, instead of blood, smoke came out, Hotoshi realized he was fooled.

[Substitution Jutsu]

It was a close-range Substitution Jutsu since Mito couldn't use long-range substitution, but it was more than enough to save her life.

At this moment, Hotoshi didn't just realize the substitution of Jutsu. He realized something else as well.

Boom!

The ground beneath him exploded.