The village ruins, ravaged by ninja combat, were a complete mess.
Within the towering barrier,
the ground was littered with shuriken, scattered threads, and chunks of dirt, dead branches, and broken bricks snapped apart by Ninja Silk.
In the center, as Uchiha Ci's faint words fell,
Moroi shuddered involuntarily, as if suffering a trauma response.
Though his earlier moves had seemed fierce and overwhelming, he now looked extremely bedraggled.
His Red Coat had been shredded by Ninja Tool Thread, revealing countless smooth-edged, steadily bleeding wounds beneath.
The stinging pain from those wounds made him quietly suck in breaths through his teeth.
Under Uchiha Ci's string of Combined Ninjutsu, if he had not happened to be carrying a Sealing Jutsu Scroll that could be used without Hand Seals,
and if it had not happened to contain the Binding Array,
he might truly have met his end at the hands of Uchiha Ci, a Genin fresh out of the academy.
Moroi narrowed his eyes, not daring to let his guard down. He formed the Kai Seal with both hands and used Sensory Ninjutsu to inspect Uchiha Ci from head to toe for a moment.
Only then did he let out a breath.
He pressed forward with his longsword and revealed a disdainful smile, saying coldly:
"Kid, at this point, you still think you can bluff me?"
"I've already checked. Your Chakra is nearly depleted, less than a tenth of your stamina remains, and you've been hit by my Lightning Kill Bind."
"With the strength you have left, you can't even use the Substitution Technique!"
The corners of Moroi's lips rose, his gaze faintly smug as though victory were already assured. He calmly pronounced:
"You have lost!"
"Other than waiting to die, you have no way out!"
Yet Uchiha Ci's gaze remained utterly calm—so calm that it was almost frightening.
Just as Moroi had said, his condition was terrible.
Forget the Substitution Technique; he could not even use an E-rank Rope Escape Technique.
But at this moment,
Uchiha Ci actually revealed a look of relief and muttered softly:
"I finally... finally... finally..."
"Kid, what are you talking about?" Moroi frowned and stared intently at Uchiha Ci.
After their exchange just now, even with victory firmly in his grasp, he did not dare lower his guard against Uchiha Ci in the slightest.
Uchiha Ci merely looked at Moroi indifferently. Then, suddenly baring his teeth in a grin, he said as calmly as if telling a story:
"Do you know?!"
"How long I've been waiting for this moment!"
"And now—"
Madness filled Uchiha Ci's eyes as his lips curled upward. He said with extreme excitement, "I have finally reached this moment!"
"What utter nonsense. Completely incomprehensible!"
Seeing Uchiha Ci still babbling nonsense even now, Moroi could not help frowning as he shouted coldly:
"No matter what final wish you have, it ends here!"
"Die!"
He decided to stop wasting words,
and planned to thrust his blade straight through Uchiha Ci's chest and end his life!
Moroi raised his longsword, gripped the hilt tightly with both hands, and took a step back, holding the hilt level at his waist.
The tip of the blade pointed directly at Uchiha Ci's heart!
All he needed to do was exert force with his arms and drive the blade forward, and the boy before him would never speak another word!
A vicious light flashed in his eyes as he shoved the blade forward!
He could practically see Uchiha Ci collapsing.
However, at that moment,
Uchiha Ci, whose limbs were bound by Lightning Kill Bind,
suddenly threw back his head and burst into wild laughter:
"Ha ha ha, hahahahaha, ahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha~!"
The laughter rose in distinct layers,
from an initially mocking chuckle, to open laughter, to the point where he nearly laughed himself breathless and tears were about to spill from his eyes.
Uchiha Ci lowered his head and glanced at Moroi, his eyes full of contempt.
"Kumogakure, you don't actually think you've won, do you?"
As Uchiha Ci's words fell,
Moroi's longsword sliced through the high-collared Black Robe over Uchiha Ci's chest.
The moment he saw what lay beneath the robe, his eyes shook violently, and the smug smile on his face froze instantly.
The hand pushing the blade forward stopped abruptly as well!
"Th-this, this..." Moroi raised his head in horror and looked at Uchiha Ci.
"What is that?!"
"What is it?" Uchiha Ci laughed wildly, his tone crazed.
"Then let me tell you what it is!"
Enduring the intense numbness and the agony of Electric Current coursing through his body, Uchiha Ci's eyes turned fierce.
With one hand, he grabbed the high-collared Uchiha Black Robe over his chest and tore it apart!
The Black Robe ripped open, exposing the sturdy body of a young man beneath the sunlight.
Yet on that body,
he wore a close-fitting garment layered with densely packed Exploding Tags!
Pitch-black Exploding Tag patterns crawled across his entire body. From head to toe, every corner was covered with Exploding Tags!
The densely packed characters for "explode" delivered an overwhelming visual impact!
That number was probably enough to raze this entire village to the ground!
Moroi suddenly felt a numb chill surge from his toes to his scalp, and his entire body began trembling uncontrollably.
Uchiha Ci, this brat, was actually wearing Exploding Tags as clothes?!
You fucking—
Maniac!
Maniac!
He was completely insane!
Wasn't he fucking afraid that one bump or collision would send him straight to the sky?
Uchiha Ci suddenly felt his entire body relax. The Dharma seal carved with the character "lightning" on the ground stopped because Moroi's daze had interrupted the supply of Chakra.
Uchiha Ci rolled his shoulders a few times and jumped down. He cast Moroi an indifferent glance and said calmly:
"The one who truly won was me!"
As soon as he spoke, Uchiha Ci grabbed one of the Exploding Tags on his chest.
With just a light tear, the entire village would follow Uchiha Ci
into the sky!
The battlefield suddenly fell into deathly silence.
Outside the barrier, three people were closely watching the battle within.
After Moroi consecutively used the Fire Seal Jutsu, Binding Array, and Lightning Kill Bind, the situation abruptly reversed.
The prey and hunter had exchanged roles, and Uchiha Ci was restrained.
He was about to have his life ended with a single slash!
"Ci!"
Great Elder Uchiha Setsuna was startled and immediately wanted to break free, using a powerful ninjutsu to shatter the barrier.
At this moment, Uchiha Ci
held an entirely different weight in Great Elder Uchiha Setsuna's heart!
He had mastered the Uchiha Style: Silk Manipulation Shuriken Jutsu at a level beyond his age, and with only slight guidance, he could learn Dragon Fire Jutsu and Phoenix Sage Fire Flower Claw Red.
Moreover,
he could draw inferences from one example and combine the three techniques into a Combined Ninjutsu that even amazed him.
In Uchiha Setsuna's eyes, Uchiha Ci had long ceased to be the useless boy who could not even awaken his Sharingan!
He was
a genius among geniuses!
As one of the Uchiha clan's highest-ranking leaders, Uchiha Setsuna naturally knew the means by which the Sharingan could be awakened.
He could easily engineer intense stimulation to make his clansmen awaken their Sharingan.
However, such actions were no different from pulling up seedlings to help them grow. Forcing open the Sharingan in someone without the talent to match it would only turn the Sharingan into a burden, a treasure others coveted and desperately wished to seize.
But Uchiha Ci was different!
His talent was enough to support that power!
In fact, during that brief moment just now, Uchiha Setsuna had already devised an absurdly melodramatic life-and-death separation plan—one sufficient to let Uchiha Ci awaken his Mangekyō Sharingan all the way and become the ultimate lunatic.
And now, the situation on the battlefield had reversed!
This genius, who had only just begun to reveal his brilliance, was about to be buried in a foreign land.
For the Uchiha, and for his Hawk Faction, it was simply an enormous loss!
Uchiha Setsuna immediately gritted his teeth slightly, a fierce light flashing in his eyes.
He decided to use Izanagi,
to trade away one of the two Kumogakure shinobi blocking him, then forcibly shatter the barrier and take Uchiha Ci away.
Such talent could not die here!
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