The hooded figure ignored Seimei and Reina's chatter and the cutting, insulting remarks they were casually throwing at him. Instead, his focus was more on the side of his hood, which was cut and lightly singed by Reina's fire chakra-infused ninja sword.
Next, the hooded figure retrieved a pair of metallic gloves with beast-like claws at the fingertips and swiftly equipped them.
Then, he removed his hood.
His pale, expressionless face and rough brown hair swaying in the wind were on full display. His eyes stared at Seimei and Reina maliciously.
He swept his dancing hair back with his right palm and said, "Now, this is getting irritating. It seems I would have to exert more effort than I thought I'd need to."
Seeing this, Seimei and Reina also became more serious, not daring to look away from the man.
Seimei's ninjato crackled with purple lightning arcs, but he didn't move immediately. He looked at the man and asked, "I will ask again. Who are you? Why are you looking for trouble with us?"
The man kept clenching and unclenching his fists to make sure the metallic gloves with beast claws fit him well and replied, "Me? You can call me Echo."
He looked at Seimei with a hint of malice and greed, "As for your second question…"
Echo smiled and continued, "You will understand once you come with me. I don't want to force you. It's best if you come with me. Resisting won't work, since you can't defeat me anyway."
Reina scoffed, "We can't defeat you, you say? How would we know if we don't try?"
The smile vanished from Echo's face as he stared at Reina like she was some insect, a lower lifeform who wasn't worth talking to.
Echo questioned, "You? Defeat me? With what? Your outdated ninja arts? Your generic Ninjutsu? Your meager physical strength? Or are you relying on those inferior Sharingan of yours?"
Killing intent overflowed from his very being as he stated, "If you cherish your life, you'd best stay out of it."
He suddenly paused and said, "But…I don't think you would listen to my well-intentioned advice. So, I can only kill you…"
Echo looked at the severely injured and cripped Aburame clan ninja with naked disgust.
"...And I will kill that disgusting bug user…"
Then he looked back at Seimei and continued, "...And I will take you with me, whether you like it or not."
"I will say it one more time."
Echo reached out his hand toward Seimei.
"Boy, come with me. Forsake these incompetent fools and join me. I will show you what true ninja art is."
"With the help of my organization, your growth potential will be unlimited. You can reach levels you can't possibly dream of achieving by staying with this ignorant bunch."
"We have the resources, knowledge, and technology that will allow you to crush your narrow-mindedness and step into a broader world."
"All you have to do is come with me."
Echo stared at Seimei. Seimei stared back at him.
The air seemed to freeze for a moment before Seimei burst out in a fit of laughter.
"Hahahahahaha!"
Seeing this, Echo retracted his hand and looked at Seimei's laughing figure gloomily.
He kept laughing for a few seconds before composing himself.
He looked at Echo, who fed him grand promises and said, "Alright, your offer is indeed tempting. But you don't expect me to believe your fairy tales and hitch your ride like some naive child, do you?"
Seimei's expression became grim as he said with a cold voice, "I remember the first words you had uttered upon seeing me. 'This feeling…' was it?"
"I thought a little about that."
"You are a grown man, and I am not a girl. It's definitely not love at first sight. The very thought is ridiculous and disgusting. So, the only way something about me that can make you feel anything is my chakra, isn't it, Mr. Echo?"
"I know guys like you very well. You are just after my body, aren't you? To be precise, my cells, chakra, and genetic materials."
As Echo heard Seimei talk, a flash of surprise appeared in his eyes. But his face remained gloomy.
He narrowed his eyes and looked at Seimei seriously, as if trying to understand how this boy had guessed his thoughts.
Seeing his reaction, Seimei understood that Echo was surprised that he had recognized his scheme.
Seimei thought darkly, I understand. I understand people like you, you bastard. How could I not? After all, I am one such person. And my father, too. In a sense, we are just like you, with a slightly higher moral bottom line.
Reina listened to all that and furrowed her brows.
She mumbled gloomily, "Oh! In that case, there's nothing left to discuss, is there?"
She glanced at Seimei and then fixed her gaze on Echo. "It seems we can only settle this the hard way."
"Heh!" Seimei snorted. The lightning arcs around him further intensified.
Echo also stared at them without saying a word.
After a few seconds of intense standoff, he sighed, "People never learn."
Even before his words faded, he had already acted and formed a couple of single-handed hand seals in the blink of an eye.
Swift Release: Kinetic Wind Blades
A large amount of Swift Release chakra gathered at the tip of his right hand's glove's metallic claws, which further amplified the quality of the chakra by 15%.
Next, he swiped his hand toward Seimei and Reina in a slashing motion so fast that his hand blurred.
Swish! Swish!
The Swift Release chakra transferred a large amount of kinetic energy to the air as his sweeping motion pushed it, turning it into five invisible, claw-like crescent wind blades that shot toward Seimei and Reina.
Seeing this, Seimei and Reina activated Lightning Release: Thunder Body Flicker and Fire Release: Exploding Body Flicker techniques, respectively, evading the incoming invisible wind blades.
Crackle! Boom!
Reina's figure suddenly appeared ten meters away, to the right side of Echo.
With a series of quick single-handed hand seals, she already molded the fire chakra to release the Jutsu by the time her figure appeared.
Fire Release: Azure Flame Arrows
No less than thirty scorching, half-meter-long arrows made of extremely hot blue flames condensed above Reina before raining down on Echo.
"Futile," sneered Echo as he activated Swift Release: Shadowless Flight and evaded every single flaming arrow with ease.
While the effect of the Shadowless Flight Jutsu was still active, Echo tried to launch a superfast, direct, lethal attack on Reina.
But before he could act, Seimei's figure appeared behind him, with countless arcs of thunderbolts dancing on the blade of his ninjato.
Crackle! Crackle!
Seimei wasted no time and slashed his blade at Echo's neck.
Echo quickly turned around and met Seimei's blade with a backhand claw sweep using his left hand's metallic claws, empowered by potent Swift Release chakra.
The kinetic energy backlash on Seimei's blade-wielding hand was so powerful that it almost made him lose his grasp on his ninjato's hilt.
Although Echo wanted to take advantage of this opening, he had to use Shadowless Flight Jutsu again to move away to protect himself from suddenly erupting earth spears near his feet.
The moment he landed on the ground, the earth beneath his feet cracked open, releasing a terrifying amount of heat.
Since he just landed, moving away quickly would be difficult.
But Echo didn't even think about fleeing from the burning heat. He just sensed the chakra and looked at the black-haired Uchiha girl a few meters away, her hands pressed to the ground.
She gave him a smile that didn't reach her eyes and activated her Jutsu.
Fire Release: Pillar of Hell
Instantly, a large pillar of flame erupted from the ground, completely engulfing the figure of Echo, and rose up to ten meters in the sky.
The flaming pillar kept blazing for five seconds.
The moment the fire ceased to exist, both Seimei and Reina could see Echo standing completely unharmed, surrounded by a spherical chakra field made of potent Swift Release chakra, vibrating solely to tear apart any chakra-based technique.
Everything within a radius of five meters around Echo might have turned into a disaster zone, but Echo himself was completely fine due to his unique Ninjutsu.
Next, Echo canceled the Jutsu and stared at Reina and then at Seimei with clear gloom in his eyes.
"Making me use the Rending Shell Technique. To think that brats of your age would catch me off guard…"
"What a disgrace!"
Seimei and Reina watched Echo warily as he declared, "Since it has come to this, let me show you the terror of Swift Release."
----------------------------------------------------------
A/N: If you like my story and want to read ahead, you can check out my P@treon page and get access to the Advanced chapters!
patreon.com/Seigan
You can also help me by sharing the story around. Thank you for reading!