Fierce Battle

Shunren thought things were looking bad. According to the plan, they should have fled immediately from the start, taking advantage of the fierce battle between the Uchiha and their enemies. If they delayed even a moment, they were likely to become targets themselves.

Sure enough, Kurenai and Shizune had frozen at their first encounter with war, missing their chance to escape. The enemy Sand ninja had sent one of their number toward them!

The enemy was not moving quickly, but his hands were forming seals.

"Damn it! That's the Body Flicker Technique!" Shunren recognized the seals and, without another word, stepped in front of Kurenai and Shizune.

"Whoosh!"

The enemy appeared before them in an instant and drove the Kunai in his hand into Shunren's chest.

Only then did Kurenai and Shizune finally snap out of their daze and cry out, "Shunren!"

"Trash! One down." The enemy pulled out his Kunai and was about to go after the next one when he suddenly noticed that there was no blood on it!

"Swish!"

Shunren's figure faded into nothingness and vanished.

"Yin Release: Projection!" Faced with an enemy whose strength was at least Chunin level, Shunren had no choice but to use his trump card, Kanshou and Bakuya, from the outset!

Two figures, Shunren and "Shirou Emiya," came at the enemy from the left and right, slashing at him with their swords.

"Hmph! Genjutsu, is it?" He was a Chunin, after all, and his reactions were far beyond those of a rookie Genin. Realizing instantly that he had fallen under a Genjutsu, he formed a seal with one hand.

"Lataib!"

He paid no attention to the two figures on either side of him, letting both swords strike his body. Shunren and Shirou Emiya both faded into nothingness and vanished at the same time.

"The real one's above me!" He jerked his head up to see Shunren descending from the sky, sword raised high as he slashed fiercely at his head.

"Clang!"

Holding his Kunai in one hand, the enemy steadily parried Shunren's all-out strike.

"Oh?" He looked at the Kunai in his hand, its blade cut halfway through by the sword, and said in mild surprise, "A fine weapon. Too bad you're still too weak."

Shunren's sword had split the enemy's Kunai, but it had failed to cut through the weapon in one blow. He gritted his teeth and shouted to Kurenai and Shizune beside him, "What are you still standing there for? Run!"

"I don't think you're in any position to worry about anyone else, are you?" Before the Kunai in his hand could be severed, the enemy kicked Shunren flying. He then casually hurled the now-useless Kunai at him.

"Clang!" Kurenai rushed over, gripping her Kunai in both hands, and sliced the incoming weapon in two.

Shizune caught Shunren as he flew backward. "Shunren!"

After watching Shunren exchange blows with the enemy, Kurenai and Shizune had finally come fully to their senses.

Shunren had unleashed a fierce attack, yet he had still been sent flying in a single exchange.

The gap between their strength was simply too great!

The enemy before them, who possessed strength at least on par with a Chunin, was simply more than they could handle.

Even so, Kurenai gritted her teeth and formed hand seals without giving up.

"Puchi!" The enemy appeared before Kurenai with a Body Flicker Technique, and his Kunai sliced through her neck.

"Poof!" Kurenai's figure turned into a wooden log.

"Those seals just now—the Substitution Technique? Boring." The enemy threw another five Shuriken in succession at Kurenai.

Kurenai continued forming the seals for the Substitution Technique, but it was already too late!

"Kurenai!" In her haste, Shizune also flung five Shuriken in succession.

"Clink, clink, clink, clink!" Four of them struck the enemy's Shuriken, but one missed!

"Ugh!" Kurenai grunted as the Shuriken that had slipped through struck her thigh!

"You're quite skilled with throwing weapons," the enemy said in praise,

then pulled out two bundles of Shuriken. "Whoosh!" An exceptionally sharp sound cut through the air!

His ear twitched, and he instinctively tilted his head.

It was a sword, its black-and-white blade passing almost against his cheek.

"Slash!" Its edge cut his chin before it flew on and buried itself firmly in a rock not far away.

"What a sharp sword!" he exclaimed. "And you're quite good at Genjutsu for someone so young."

Shunren, who had been standing beside Shizune, once again faded into an illusion and vanished.

The real Shunren had silently approached to within ten paces of the enemy's side at some unknown point, and was still holding the pose he had taken when he threw the sword.

"Damn it! Still no good?" Shunren said through gritted teeth.

From the beginning, he had used his Mirage Technique to evade the enemy's fatal strike and launch a sneak attack, but unfortunately, the enemy had dispelled the Genjutsu in an instant and blocked it. After being sent flying, Shunren had taken advantage of the enemy letting his guard down to secretly use Genjutsu once more, finally closing in for another sneak attack.

If he got any closer, the enemy would notice him, so Shunren could only throw his sword from more than ten paces away.

Unfortunately, despite all his careful scheming, he had fallen short at the final hurdle.

The gap between their strength was too great! It also proved the saying: before absolute power, all schemes were meaningless.

In fact, however, the enemy before him was not all that strong. Judging by their exchange just now, his close-combat ability was ordinary at best. Otherwise, Shunren would have been killed rather than knocked down.

Was the problem that he himself was too weak?

"Swish!" The paired black-and-white swords, Kanshou and Bakuya, appeared in Shunren's hands once more.

"A strange ability. But it looks like you haven't fully mastered your technique yet." The enemy watched his twin swords, their blades flickering indistinctly as their Chakra remained extremely unstable.

Shunren knew full well that, with his current strength, he could not maintain Yin Release for long. He could only grit his teeth and press on!

"Tap!" Shunren rushed at the enemy with swift strides.

"Clang, clang!" The enemy met him with a Kunai.

With the sharp weapons in Shunren's hands, every contact continued to damage the weapon in his opponent's grasp.

But before his weapon could be completely destroyed, the enemy used his techniques to keep Shunren firmly suppressed, found an opening, and kicked him away again!

At the same time, he discarded the damaged weapon in his hand and, barehanded, drove a heavy punch toward Shunren's chest.

"Puchi!" The punch struck him square in the chest. Combined with the two kicks he had taken earlier, it broke several of Shunren's ribs, and he spat blood.

"Shunren!" Shizune threw a whole bundle of Senbon.

The enemy, who had been preparing to press his advantage, suddenly stopped because the ground at his feet was covered with Shizune's throwing weapons.

"I see. Knowing there was no way your throwing weapons could hit me, you threw them in my path instead? Very good, really very good. You pass." The enemy openly praised the three of them. "In that case, I'll give you a chance to live."