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In a dilapidated town on the edge of the Land of Fire, two Jōnin were locked in a desperate death match. Every civilian on the street had long since fled, cowering inside their homes, too terrified to even peek out a window. Yet, amidst this chaotic slaughter, a young child of barely five or six was casually strolling down the street as if he were taking a walk in a park. It was an incredibly conspicuous sight.
Both Chiba Tsubasa and the Blood Ninja couldn't help but glance at Xuan. Their hearts sank for a fraction of a second; the absolute worst-case scenario during a life-or-death battle was the sudden appearance of a third party.
However, the moment they sensed his chakra signature, their anxiety evaporated.
He's just a Tokubetsu Jōnin.
A mere Tokubetsu Jōnin posed little threat to them. Once they finished off their current opponent, cleaning up the kid would take no effort at all.
Besides, they were already like arrows loosed from a bow—there was no turning back. Neither had the luxury to pay Xuan any further attention. This was especially true for Tsubasa. Having activated his clan's kinjutsu, he was strictly racing against a one-hour time limit. If he failed to kill the Blood Ninja before the hour was up, the backlash would detonate alongside his previous injuries. Even if he miraculously survived, he would be completely paralyzed and helpless.
"Blood Ninja, die!" Tsubasa roared. His hands blurred through a sequence of seals, completing them in an instant. "Chiba Secret Art: Thousand Flaming Needles!"
Instantly, the long strands of his hair snapped off at the roots. Hardened by a surge of chakra, the hair became sharper than steel senbon. With a deafening roar, the airborne needles burst into flames, raining down upon the Blood Ninja in a dense, inescapable volley of fire and steel.
"You're asking for death!" The Blood Ninja gritted his teeth, matching the boy's hand seals perfectly. "Blood Secret Art: Threefold Blood Phantom!"
Sshhk! He thrust out his palm, firing a massive handprint of crimson chakra. The attack pierced the air, sending ripples of distorted pressure outward as it flew. Mid-flight, the colossal palm violently split into three identical constructs, crashing head-on into the flaming needles.
Two devastating A-rank secret jutsu collided in midair.
RUMBLE!
Massive fissures tore through the surrounding buildings. A shockwave of chakra, fierce enough to crush a tiger to death, radiated outward in every direction. The few ordinary civilians who had dared to peek through the cracks in their doors were caught in the blast. The sheer force shattered their wooden doors, sending them tumbling to the ground in agonized wails.
When the shockwave reached Xuan, it parted seamlessly around him, as if deflected by an invisible barrier of chakra. The violent winds merely fluttered his robes, failing to inflict even a scratch.
The two combatants were each forced three steps back by the explosion, but they instantly lunged forward again, locking into brutal close-quarters combat.
Drawing kunai in a reverse grip, they clashed in a flurry of sparks and steel. In the Warring States Era, Jōnin primarily relied on their Taijutsu to secure kills. The two men blurred into crossing shadows on the ruined street, their movements entirely untraceable save for the frantic, ear-piercing shrieks of metal grinding against metal.
The sounds of fists, kicks, and clashing ninja tools rang out endlessly. Silhouettes overlapped and separated amid the constant, crackling explosions of volatile chakra. They fought from the eastern end of the street to the west, then vaulted up to the tavern's roof, turning the entire town into their personal battleground.
Xuan kept his eyes locked on their blurring figures. His three-tomoe Sharingan was already active, its crimson glow easily capturing and tracking every minute detail of their high-speed movements.
"He's from the Chiba clan?" Xuan murmured. With his enhanced vision, he clearly spotted the crest of a single leaf embroidered on the chest of the boy's green robes. If he recalled correctly, that was the emblem of the Chiba.
Xuan didn't know much about them. They hadn't appeared in the original story at all. He only knew that their territory was located south of the Uchiha compound. Rumor had it they were a relatively strong clan, and about twenty years ago, they had attempted a sneak attack on the Uchiha while the latter were engaged in a bloody war with the Senju. After being soundly crushed by the Uchiha, the Chiba had retreated to recuperate and had largely kept a low profile in the shinobi world ever since.
Is he from their new generation, sent out to gain combat experience? Xuan pondered.
He had no intention of interfering just yet. The two combatants were currently at the absolute peak of their bloodlust. Jumping in blindly right now might cause them to temporarily team up and focus their attacks on him, which simply wasn't worth the hassle. He decided to just sit back and enjoy the show. It was like watching a live-action, front-row performance of Naruto, after all.
A short while later, one of the blurring shadows was suddenly violently knocked back, crashing onto the roof of a civilian home.
It was the Blood Ninja!
"Don't even think about stalling for time! Die!" Tsubasa screamed. His hands blurred into afterimages as he frantically wove hand seals. With his kinjutsu timer constantly ticking down, he naturally wanted to end this as quickly as possible. If he couldn't secure the kill soon, he would become a lamb waiting for slaughter.
"Secret Art: Chiba Explosive Flame Rupture!"
The hand seals blurred to a halt. Intense, volatile chakra rapidly gathered in front of Tsubasa. The pressure radiating from the strike was immense, nearing the destructive, localized force of an S-rank jutsu.
"Earth Style: Great Mud River!"
The Blood Ninja merely sneered. Completing his seals a fraction of a second faster, he slammed his palms onto the ground. The solid earth beneath Tsubasa's feet instantly liquified into a churning, treacherous mudslide.
Tsubasa's footing vanished. He slipped, plunging waist-deep into the muck. The sudden, violent loss of balance threw his freshly primed kinjutsu wildly off course. With a deafening roar, the explosive blast of flaming needles shot straight into the sky, erupting in a blinding flash before fizzling out harmlessly in the clouds.
"You know Earth Style?!" Tsubasa gasped, his face twisting in absolute disbelief as he thrashed in the mud.
Xuan also shot the mercenary a surprised glance. While Earth Style users weren't exactly rare in the Land of Fire, they certainly weren't common. For a veteran Jōnin like the Blood Ninja with an established, continent-wide bounty, there was no reason such a crucial tactical detail would be missing from his combat profile. The only logical explanation was that he had acquired the nature transformation very recently.
"Sometimes, brat, relying too heavily on intel will get you killed," the Blood Ninja mocked. "Blood Secret Art: Crimson Blood Swords!"
With a vicious laugh, he swept his hands forward. The thick, blood-red chakra instantly condensed in the air, forming two wicked crimson longswords that shot like arrows toward the trapped teenager.
"Damn it!" Tsubasa cursed. Realizing he couldn't physically pull his legs free in time, he ignored the excruciating strain tearing at his chakra network and forcibly executed the Body Flicker Technique. He vanished in a blur of motion just as the swords struck the mud, reappearing a short distance away on solid ground.
"I was waiting for you to do that," the Blood Ninja sneered triumphantly. "Earth Style Barrier: Earth Prison Dome of Magnificent Nothingness!"
The exact moment Tsubasa's boots touched the earth, a thick ring of stone walls violently erupted around him. The walls curled inward at the top, snapping shut to trap him inside a pitch-black dome. Muffled thuds and frantic explosions immediately echoed from within as the panicked teenager bombarded the walls. Unfortunately for him, the dome was heavily infused with the Blood Ninja's chakra. Any damage Tsubasa managed to inflict regenerated in the blink of an eye, leaving him completely sealed away.
"Too green!" the Blood Ninja scoffed. He had accurately predicted the boy would use the Body Flicker to escape the mudslide and had primed his Earth Style trap to trigger exactly where he landed. Now, all he had to do was wait for the kinjutsu's time limit to expire. Once the hour was up, the boy would be a paralyzed, helpless cripple.
With the Chiba brat securely contained, the Blood Ninja cast a sideways glance down the street at Xuan. He had half a mind to casually slaughter the observing Tokubetsu Jōnin to pass the time. However, when his eyes locked onto the three tomoe spinning lazily in the boy's scarlet eyes, and the iconic fan crest embroidered on the back of his robes, his heart skipped a beat.
An Uchiha brat…
He's just watching the fight and hasn't made a move. He's probably just passing through, the Blood Ninja rationalized silently, suppressing his killing intent. As long as he doesn't attack, there's no need to provoke him. It's best to avoid kicking the hornet's nest when it comes to those Uchiha lunatics.
It never once crossed his mind that Xuan had accepted the Black-Rank bounty to hunt him down. After all, the idea of an eight-year-old Tokubetsu Jōnin trying to assassinate an elite mercenary was downright laughable—it was tantamount to suicide.
Counting the minutes in his head, the Blood Ninja waited until exactly one hour had passed since Tsubasa activated his kinjutsu. The frantic banging from inside the dome had long since ceased. Releasing the jutsu, the earthen walls crumbled into dust.
Just as expected, Tsubasa lay paralyzed on the ground. His limbs were completely unresponsive, and his faint, ragged breathing was the only sign he was still alive.
"You're dead this time, brat," the Blood Ninja said, forming a single seal. A short sword forged of concentrated blood chakra materialized in his grip. With a cruel smirk, he drove the crimson blade straight down toward the helpless teenager's chest.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
Out of nowhere, a massive sphere of roaring flames tore across the street. It violently intercepted the descending blood sword, shattering the chakra construct into steam just inches from Tsubasa's face.
The young Uchiha child calmly stepped out of the dissipating smoke, planting himself directly in front of the paralyzed teenager.
"You're asking for death, brat!" the Blood Ninja snarled, grinding his teeth in absolute fury. I was generous enough to spare your miserable life, and you have the absolute gall to interfere?! Do you really think I'm afraid to kill you?!
"T-Thank you…" Tsubasa gasped out behind Xuan. His entire body felt like lead, and his internal chakra network was in absolute agony. Believing he was a dead man just seconds ago, being suddenly rescued by the spectating child filled him with overwhelming relief and gratitude. Forcing air into his lungs, he managed to choke out his thanks.
Sshhk!
Tsubasa's eyes bulged with unimaginable shock as a cold steel kunai smoothly pierced straight through his heart.
He couldn't comprehend what was happening. His mind completely blanked as the life drained from his body. Wasn't this kid here to save him? If not, why go through the trouble of blocking the Blood Ninja's execution? What was the difference between dying by the mercenary's hand and dying by his?
"Don't thank me," Xuan whispered smoothly, casually pulling the bloody kunai free. "I'm just here to steal the kill."
[Ding! Chiba Clan Jōnin killed. Reward: 5,000 Points!]