The gang of bandits in the Land of Frost wasn’t particurly strong by Kita’s standards. They were slightly tricky, but not enough to seriously threaten her. Still, it was no surprise Kakuzu had fallen into their trap. The Four Siblings—their coordination was impressive. Honestly, even I’ve never seen teamwork like that before.

  The bandit hideout wasn’t exactly a bloodbath. Nineteen in total, with the real threats being the four fallen siblings. Kita sat on the ground, catching her breath after the exhausting battle. Even for her, the fight—ten-plus minutes of constant exertion—was taxing.

  The mission was to eliminate the bandits. With all nineteen down, the task was complete. The next step was to collect the four bodies for the bck-market bounty exchange. The four siblings alone were worth over one hundred million ryo. That didn’t include the twenty million ryo mission bonus. Kakuzu always knew how to pick the lucrative jobs. Truly a master of profit.

  Kita thought about reaching for those bodies—enough to match Akatsuki’s three-month income—but the heat wave rolling off the fmes made it impossible. Dodging the massive fireball with her Earth Clone had been hard enough, let alone moving quickly to collect over a hundred million ryo.

  The bandit vilge became a bzing inferno. Kita hid behind a tree outside the gate, holding her breath.

  “Come out.”

  The voice cked its usual amusement or pyfulness. Hoarse, filled with killing intent. Kita lowered her eyes slightly, not revealing herself. Her fingers twitched, gripping the hilt of her sword at her waist.

  Madara… so the incident in Kirigakure really pissed him off.

  But she hadn’t expected him to decide to kill her. Was he trying to make Nagato and Konan think she’d died in an accident? Interesting… if these four siblings alone could kill me, then they’ve seriously underestimated—

  Before she could finish her thought, Kita leapt from behind the tree. Another massive fireball streaked toward her. The vilge was already a sea of fmes. This fire-style attack forced her to halt all other thoughts, focusing entirely on facing Madara.

  She infused her sword with water chakra. A thin yer of vapor spread over the bde. Confronted by the raging fire, she swung with full force—a sword to split heaven and earth. A streak of blue cut through the inferno, aimed straight at Madara’s position.

  It passed through completely, leaving him unharmed.

  The water left in its wake surged massively, cshing with the fmes. Steam hissed continuously, rising in thick waves.

  Madara extended a hand, pointing directly at Kita.

  “You’re annoying. Die!”

  Impossible…

  As she gripped her sword, both leaped. Two shuriken flew from her sleeves toward Madara. He produced a bck rod from his palm, and in a single motion, threaded it through a circur gap in the air. The shuriken, now deflected, flew viciously back toward her.

  Left hand… he used his left hand!!!

  “Boom!”

  The weapons cshed. Seeing them almost strike him, Kita swiftly retreated to create distance.

  As expected, he knows I understand his abilities.

  “Impressive battle awareness,” Madara said. The bck rod fell slowly from his right sleeve. He hadn’t needed to manipute the shuriken because he predicted she would ssh horizontally. At that instant, a gap would appear in her left abdomen. He’d strike from the sleeve—an instant kill.

  Thanks for the compliment, Kita thought.

  Madara’s intangibility sts five minutes, but during his movement, his body is real. Only attacks made during that moment could actually hit him. The situation was highly unfavorable. Though the Four Siblings weren’t a threat now, they had drained some of her chakra. A quarter was gone, and her stamina hadn’t fully recovered. A straight fight could easily shift the bance to three-seven.

  Thinking quickly, Kita leapt backward, nding on a tree trunk. Moving at high speed, she swallowed three ration pills, one after another, without pause.

  “Don’t even think about escaping!!!”

  Madara’s roar rang behind her. She didn’t dare look back. Every second counted.

  Killing him wasn’t an option—Nagato still needed him as a jinchūriki source. She had to recover chakra and stamina quickly to survive and end the fight. But this battle wouldn’t be easy: five-element ninjutsu, Yin-Yang Release, and space-time abilities from the Mangekyō Sharingan. He had more stamina and chakra than her. She had eight kunai, ten shuriken, four explosive tags, two eight-meter steel wires, seven ration pills, and her sword.

  Checking the hundred-meter radius for Madara’s presence, she created Lightning Clones, sending them left and right. Once they moved away, she swallowed another ration pill, leaving six. Two steel-wire-wrapped kunai were set as a simple trap on his path. Time was limited—this was the best she could do.

  Moments ter, the Lightning Clone exploded with an attached explosive tag. The bst confirmed Madara had indeed triggered it. The tag paralyzed him briefly, though his recovery was strong. The effect sted roughly thirty seconds—one-fourth of a typical Jonin’s capability.

  Now she had six kunai, ten shuriken, one explosive tag, one steel wire, and six ration pills.

  Kita analyzed the battlefield: Madara relied on his Sharingan to enhance fire-style taijutsu. Despite his space-time abilities, his attacks were limited to fire ninjutsu and the bck rods generated via Yin-Yang Release. For her, the ideal battlefield wasn’t a forest—she had to survive and retreat. She stopped at a cliff midway up the mountain.

  Height estimated: 133 meters. A fall into the river below… hmm, maybe a few broken bones.

  She divided her pn into three stages: A) recover stamina and chakra while moving to the cliff, B) engage Madara in combat, C) cliff-side escape.

  Twisting and sprinting toward the cliff, explosions erupted in the forest behind her. Lightning Clones carrying two kunai and six shuriken scattered, while Kita swallowed another ration pill.

  Kunai: 4, Shuriken: 4, Explosive Tags: 1, Steel Wire: 1, Ration Pills: 5. Chakra: 80%, Stamina: 60%, Distance to cliff: 3 km.

  Once the paralysis faded, Madara pursued. Kita, having survived countless deadly encounters, maximized her trap usage: five-element ninjutsu, taijutsu, and lightning-enhanced attacks. If he misjudged her ability, a close-range fight could work—but he seemed to have fully analyzed her patterns. A close-range fight now was highly disadvantageous for him. Only long-range ninjutsu remained viable. Her chakra had decreased by a tenth. The previous fire-style attack hadn’t drained much, but the bck rods from Yin-Yang Release consumed significant chakra. She couldn’t rely on that anymore.

  If he drains me to the point I can’t use Izanagi, it’s over.

  Madara, having tracked her, narrowed his eyes under his mask. He realized the clone he attacked with the Lightning Trap had fooled him, and his fireball consumed the clone, but then he felt wind by his ear—kunai and shuriken, enhanced with lightning chakra, shot toward him.

  Too fast to dodge. He could only intangible the ones in front, unable to manipute the others. The lightning-infused bdes cut his sleeve; the bck rod shot out, deflecting the remaining weapons.

  Damn! I’ve been pyed!

  Lightning Strike, Kita’s self-created ninjutsu (B-rank), differed from Lightning Trap. The explosives are detonated actively. As the Lightning Clone dissipated, chakra infused the kunai and shuriken, delivering a rapid, effective physical attack. At full capacity, Lightning Strike could unch nearly a thousand weapons.

  He predicted that after the first trap, I wouldn’t engage in close combat again… using my fireball to block my own view. Hmph, worthy of Akatsuki’s women. But…

  One, two. One, two, three, four, five, six…

  Two kunai, six shuriken—not enough equipment. Had there been thirty plus, she wouldn’t have survived unscathed.

  She decided not to attack, merely to evade. The Four Siblings had drained some resources, and now she needed to choose the battlefield. Fire-style attacks require water to counter. The only water source on this mountain was the summit.

  Time to head five kilometers up.

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