Chương 192: The Hunt Part 4

Kaen POV The Owl was furious, his body radiating killing intent. I had felt darker and heavier bloodlust before during training with my father, so this didn't shake me much. Besides, after spending so long honing my Sharingan, I was sure I could handle him. He looked around, scanning the clearing.

"The fog is thinning, and your girlfriend is too busy to thicken it again. Let me teach you a lesson, brat." He wove through a series of hand seals and pressed his palm to the ground.

"Earth Release: Stone Wall." I threw a few kunai his way, but he reacted instantly, efficient and precise. A wall of stone erupted from the ground, blocking my kunai mid-flight and cutting off my view of him completely.

"Earth Release: Stone Bullet." My Sharingan caught the subtle change in chakra. The surface of the wall pulsed as Owl pressed his hand against one section, condensing both chakra and stone before releasing it in a violent burst. A chunk of rock blasted toward me with incredible speed. I dodged, feeling the shockwave as it passed just beside my head, my hair fluttering from the impact. Before I could catch my breath, multiple stone bullets followed, relentless and rapid.

My Sharingan worked overtime, tracking every movement, every shift in his chakra. I slipped between the attacks, my reflexes sharpening with each dodge, my speed increasing as I adapted to his rhythm. A sudden danger flared beside me. I ducked instinctively, a massive kick cutting through the air where my head had been. I rolled aside just as another bullet whistled past, grazing my sleeve. With a burst of chakra, I jumped back, widening the distance and finally spotting Owl again.

Owl stood in front of me as the stone bullets kept coming from another direction. My eyes narrowed as the realization sank in. There were two of them now, one hidden and one in plain sight. One of them was a clone. They were forcing me into a corner, the constant barrage cutting off every escape route while Owl moved in to finish the job. My Sharingan burned, pushing to its limit as I deflected and evaded. Still, one bullet struck my shoulder.

I twisted with the impact, minimizing the damage and using the momentum to spin away, narrowly avoiding a powerful punch from Owl that shattered the ground where I had just been. Time seemed to slow. More stone bullets screamed toward me from the side, while Owl drew his blade and swung it downward in a clean arc aimed for my neck. Every heartbeat felt stretched, every sound warped. The edge of the blade reflected my own eyes, one tomoe spinning desperately inside.

The fear of losing, of dying here without even reaching Sensei, burned hotter than anything I had ever felt. Frustration, fear, and the pressure of living up to my clan's expectations all collided inside me, mixing with the guilt of failing to protect the people I care about. I could almost hear my father's voice again, telling me that weakness was shame, that survival meant nothing without victory. Something inside me changed, and my eyes reflected it. The world sharpened.

The haze of battle peeled away, and everything became painfully clear. Each bullet's rotation, the shifting of Owl's grip, even the faint vibration in the air from his chakra, I saw it all. A surge of power shot through my eyes as the single tomoe split, twisting into two distinct commas that spun together in perfect sync. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. My body moved before my mind caught up.

I twisted sideways, the blade slicing through a strand of my hair instead of my throat. My hand shot forward, chakra flooding into my kunai as I deflected a stone bullet mid-flight, shattering it into dust. Owl's eyes widened behind his mask, but I didn't give him time to react. My vision tracked his every twitch, every breath, every muscle shift. He tried to strike again, but I was already there, countering with precision I didn't know I possessed.

For the first time in this fight, I wasn't just keeping up with him. I was ahead. I moved in front of him, using his body as a shield against the stone bullets. When he tried to retreat, my eyes caught the faint shift in his muscles, the tiny signs of movement before it even began. I mirrored him instantly, keeping him positioned between me and the wall. A smirk formed on my face as Owl grunted and lunged forward, his blade cutting through the air.

I spun to the side, the blade missing me by a hair, then used the turn's momentum to leap and send a high kick toward his ribs. My leg struck a hardened stone layer coating his body, cracking it slightly. He grunted in pain.

"You piece of trash," he snarled, charging at me again. I smiled. He was too eager and left a gap in his guard. I quickly looped ninja wire around his arm and kicked his ankle just as he pressed down to change direction and gain momentum. Pulling the wire tight, I threw my weight back, dragging him with me. The momentum carried us both into the path of a stone bullet meant to block my escape. I leaned back, dodging one as it passed just in front of my eyes, and the next struck his head with a sharp crack.

His body shattered into rubble and dust.

"So, you were the clone. That explains why you attacked so eagerly and recklessly." My eyes turned toward the real Owl, still behind the stone wall launching more bullets. Now I could see everything before it even happened. The specific parts of the wall that pulsed with his chakra, hardening and condensing before each shot. Seeing the process so clearly, and knowing exactly where each attack would come from, allowed me to dodge and close the distance easily.

Owl increased his attack speed, trying to overload my Sharingan. His voice carried through the noise.

"That useless Locust died too early. We could have finished this faster with his bugs." I ignored him and leapt over the wall, hurling a kunai fitted with an explosive tag toward where he stood.

"Earth Release: Earth Dome" A thick dome of stone rose, sealing him inside. The explosion hit hard, shaking the ground and cracking the dome but not breaking it. One side of the dome softened as chakra shifted through it. Expecting him to escape from there, I threw another kunai with an explosive tag and detonated it. The section collapsed into debris, but he wasn't there. I crouched, feeling subtle vibrations beneath the ground. The earth shifted slightly, then burst open.

A spear of stone shot upward at incredible speed, the air twisting around it. Through my Sharingan, the world slowed. I tracked its exact path, tilting my head just enough to let it pass. Another spear followed, aimed for my chest, and I twisted away, feeling the air graze my skin. A third came next, forcing me to duck low as it tore through the space above me. By then, Owl was already out of the ground. He had used those earlier jutsu to hide his emergence. Now he stood motionless, watching me carefully.

His head tilted slightly as his cold voice cut through the dust-filled air.

"You seem awfully proud of those eyes," he said.

"Let me change that." He clapped his hands together, channeling chakra deep into the terrain. The ground trembled faintly before a rush of earthen energy erupted outward.

"Earth Release: Great Dust Storm." The soil around us exploded into motion, the air thickening as dust and dirt spiraled upward. Within seconds, the battlefield was swallowed by a swirling brown haze. Visibility dropped to nothing, and even my Sharingan struggled to see clearly through the dense cloud of earth. Tiny grains stung my skin and eyes as the storm roared to life, the ground beneath shifting with every pulse of Owl's chakra. His presence vanished completely within the storm.

I tightened my grip on my kunai and lowered my stance, forcing my breathing to steady. My eyes searched through the storm, tracking the faintest distortions of movement, waiting for the moment he would strike.