Chapter 100 (Patreon)

“Answer me. Is Naruto Uzumaki still in the village?”

Smoke drifted through the ruined street as the Preta Path held a Konoha shinobi aloft by the throat with one hand. Black chakra receivers covered his face and body, while a faint blue glow flowed across his palm as he steadily drained the man’s chakra.

“Give it up.”

A calm voice sounded from above.

“No one in this village would betray their comrades.”

The Preta Path raised his head.

Nerona Mihawk stood atop a nearby house, dressed in a kimono, the cloth around his neck fluttering in the wind.

His right hand closed around the hilt of the katana at his waist. Drawing the blade from its sheath, he swung it lightly toward the Preta Path.

Boom!

Despite the effortless motion, a Ranged Slash five or six meters tall tore through the street with a deafening roar.

Mihawk had not infused haki into the strike. He had simply cleaved through the surrounding airflow, disrupting its balance and compressing it into a violent blade of wind.

The Preta Path immediately threw aside the shinobi in his grasp and thrust both hands forward, intending to absorb the incoming attack.

Mihawk gave him a faint, contemptuous smile.

The instant the Preta Path’s hands touched the Ranged Slash, his expression changed.

Boom!

The attack blasted through him and carried his body straight into a nearby house.

The entire building was sliced cleanly in half.

A dense cloud of dust spread across the street.

“…Hm?”

Mihawk had been preparing to follow up, but he suddenly stopped and turned his head.

He had sensed a fluctuation in Hinata’s chakra.

She was fighting someone.

There were seven enemies attacking Konoha, including Konan and the Six Paths of Pain.

Konan’s presence was somewhere else, while the opponent confronting Hinata gave off no trace of a living aura.

That meant she was facing one of Pain’s bodies.

Mihawk immediately changed direction and raced toward her.

Hinata had grown considerably stronger, but she was still far from reaching Kage level. At present, she was not even strong enough to defeat Kakashi.

She might be able to hold her own against some of the Paths, but if her opponent happened to be the Deva Path, she would be in serious danger.

Through the memories returned by his shadow clone, Mihawk already knew that Hanabi had safely entered the evacuation shelter.

The shelter was located beyond the Hokage Rock. Even if the entire village were destroyed, the people inside should remain unharmed.

The only person he still needed to worry about was Hinata.

Mihawk moved across the rooftops and through the air, rapidly closing the distance.

Before long, he spotted Hinata fighting two figures below.

One was a man with long orange hair.

The other possessed a large, mechanical body.

They were the Human Path and the Asura Path.

The Human Path remained behind the Asura Path, carefully observing Hinata and waiting for an opening. The moment her movements weakened, he intended to rush in and tear out her soul.

The Asura Path raised his right arm. Several missiles emerged from it before launching toward Hinata.

“Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven!”

Hinata did not dare underestimate the attack.

She released chakra from every tenketsu in her body and spun rapidly, forming a massive hemispherical barrier around herself.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The missiles struck the rotating chakra dome one after another, erupting into a series of dazzling explosions.

When the flames finally faded, Hinata stopped spinning and stared ahead with a grave expression.

The Asura Path had already raised his other arm. Mechanical components shifted into place as a beam of concentrated chakra began gathering in his palm.

Hinata’s eyes narrowed.

This man’s abilities were a terrible match for her Gentle Fist.

Whoosh!

A dazzling dark-red light suddenly descended from the sky.

A crescent-shaped Ranged Slash swept toward the Asura Path from a distance.

The Asura Path immediately redirected his arm and fired.

Boom!

The chakra beam collided with the incoming slash in midair.

A violent explosion shook the surrounding buildings, releasing a powerful shock wave that sent dust surging through the street and whipped at Hinata’s clothes and hair.

“Mihawk-kun!”

Hinata’s expression brightened when she saw the familiar figure land on the rooftop.

“So you are Nerona Mihawk.”

The Human Path, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke.

“How fortunate.”

Mihawk did not even look at him.

His gaze swept briefly over the Asura Path before settling on Hinata.

“Now that I think about it, we haven’t fought side by side since you became stronger.”

He smiled slightly.

“Hinata, can you handle the one with the long hair? Leave the mechanical one to me.”

“Yes!”

Hinata nodded eagerly and assumed a Gentle Fist stance as she faced the Human Path.

“Don’t worry, Mihawk-kun. I won’t let him interfere with your fight.”

“Good.”

Mihawk lowered his body slightly.

“Then let’s begin.”

Bang!

He kicked off the roof with tremendous force.

His figure blurred into an afterimage as he shot toward the Asura Path below.

The Human Path made no attempt to assist his companion.

The Asura Path raised his right arm instead.

“Flaming Arrow of Amazing Ability.”

His entire forearm detached from his body and launched toward Mihawk like a rocket, flames erupting from its rear.

Mihawk’s rapidly advancing figure slowed for only an instant.

A layer of black Armament Haki spread across the katana in his hand.

Unlike before, however, a faint dark-purplish glow gathered around the blackened blade, flowing along its edge like a thin veil of flickering energy.

Mihawk swung once.

Shhk!

The sharp sound of fabric being torn reached the ears of both Paths.

The mechanical forearm, reinforced by chakra and modified far beyond ordinary flesh, was sliced cleanly in half.

“You may be corpses, which means you’re technically already dead.”

Mihawk stepped through the air and appeared directly in front of the Asura Path. His red eyes remained fixed on the mechanical body before him.

“But I understand how these bodies function.”

His voice was perfectly calm.

“And I know more than one way to put you down for good.”

Mihawk raised his katana.

“I can already see exactly where to cut.”

The blade descended.

Although he did not understand what Mihawk meant, the Asura Path reacted immediately. His remaining arm transformed into a large serrated blade and swung upward to intercept the strike.

Shhk!

Mihawk’s katana passed through the saw blade as though it were nothing more than an illusion, continuing straight through the Asura Path’s body without the slightest resistance.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then the Asura Path’s body separated into two halves.

Both pieces crashed to the ground below.

The Asura Path’s eyes widened as he stared at the lower half of his body lying several feet away.

He could not comprehend what had happened.

Mihawk’s attack had looked like an ordinary downward swing.

He had even blocked it with his weapon.

So why had both his defense and his body failed to stop the blade?

Seeing the bewilderment frozen across the Asura Path’s face, Mihawk smiled inwardly.

There was no reason for him to understand.

The dark-purplish aura surrounding Mihawk’s blade was Advanced Armament Haki—the reward Mihawk had discovered after his template progress increased following his battle with Obito.

Although Obito had survived by using Izanagi to rewrite his death, that did not change the fact that Mihawk had successfully killed him before the forbidden technique took effect.

The system had still acknowledged the kill.

It was similar to what had happened during Mihawk’s battle with Kakuzu. Destroying Kakuzu’s separate hearts and the black, masked creatures carrying them had been individually recognized by the system.

Obito escaping death afterward did not erase what Mihawk had accomplished.

[Strongest Template System]

[Hawkeye Mihawk Template]

[Template Progress: 85%]

[Reward Unlocked: Advanced Armament Haki]

This was the power Mihawk had received upon reaching eighty-five percent.

And the Asura Path had just become the first enemy to experience it.