A ninja's battle was a battle of intelligence.
Uchiha Ci attacked with taijutsu, and Kakuzu responded in kind. Aside from being enraged and wanting to give this poor little brat a thorough beating, he was also probing him.
After all, this brat had charged in without a word after setting up a barrier, looking utterly certain that he could cover the other two brats' escape.
Kakuzu did not believe the other side had no tricks up his sleeve.
Caution was his greatest trump card for surviving from the Warring States Period until now!
Ever since that man's wooden Clone had slapped him across the face, Kakuzu's eyes had become clear.
He had long since carved those two words into his bones.
At this moment,
Uchiha Ci, who had endured a storm of taijutsu attacks, steadied himself again. Like an unkillable monster, every injury on his body had healed. Other than looking somewhat tired and panting,
his condition could not have been better.
Kakuzu could not help narrowing his eyes slightly.
"Medical Ninjutsu? No, healing this powerful... something's off."
Even if someone used the Mystical Palm Technique while fighting, their combat endurance should not have been this absurd.
With that thought, Kakuzu tilted his head slightly and looked above the Cliff Face.
Besides the three brats, he remembered there being a tall middle-aged man in yellow robes here.
And that man gave him a rather subtle feeling,
making him feel as though he would be difficult to kill.
"Hm?"
Just as Kakuzu glanced aside, he suddenly froze and looked in a direction outside the barrier.
At some unknown point,
the middle-aged ninja in yellow robes had already appeared on the Cliff Face outside the barrier. His eyes held an inexplicable shock as he stared fixedly at the poor brat across from Kakuzu.
The moment he saw this, Kakuzu understood.
"That terrifying Forbidden Jutsu was taught to this poor brat by that guy!"
"Are those two master and disciple? Is he surprised by his disciple's progress?"
"Could it be that this guy intends to use me to temper his disciple?"
Kakuzu frowned, feeling that things did not seem so simple.
This poor brat had set up a barrier for a one-on-one battle between real men, pulled out such a troublesome Forbidden Jutsu, and even sent his teammates away so he could fight alone.
He looked as though saying, "If you don't beat me to death, you're disrespecting me."
It scared even this seventy-year-old veteran half to death.
All he could think was, Which one of us is shaking down the other here?
Now that he looked at it, the situation was crystal clear.
This brat really did have someone backing him!
At that thought, a subtle change gradually began taking place in Kakuzu's mindset.
#
On the battlefield,
Uchiha Ci looked at Kakuzu, his gaze narrowing slightly.
At that moment, he briefly sensed the state of his body. After using Forbidden Jutsu: Body Rebirth to restore himself, his body felt like rusted machinery, no longer as responsive as before.
This technique was powerful, but its side effects were equally outrageous.
Shennong could use this technique with almost no side effects because he had paired it with incomplete Zero Tail Chakra, essentially changing the power source.
Orochimaru could abuse this technique as much as he liked because he had Soft Body Modification and Living Corpse Reincarnation. Once a body was used up, he could simply switch to another one.
But Uchiha Ci was consuming his own actual life force.
He estimated that, given his body's current condition, he could use Forbidden Jutsu: Body Rebirth at most two more times before he needed immediate medical treatment.
Otherwise, he would die after having all his life force drained away.
So he only had two chances.
With that thought, Uchiha Ci took a deep breath, and his Sharingan drew out a streak of light.
He once again lowered his body and sprinted forward in the same stance. The slight difference was that this time, what he held in his hand
was the whirling Water Blade Mei Terumi had entrusted to him!
Water Release: Water Fang Blade!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Three Shuriken shot through the air!
"Trying to attack with the same move again?"
Kakuzu narrowed his eyes and immediately changed position. With a flick of his hand, he swung out three clustered Earth Grudge Tentacles, knocking down the Shuriken as they crushed toward Uchiha Ci.
After their earlier taijutsu clash, Kakuzu had a rough estimate of this brat's reaction speed.
Yeah, he was a bit of a freak.
If not for Kakuzu's unique body structure and his surprise use of Earth Grudge Fear Silk Threads to bind the kunai, that brat's foot-trimming combo would have landed earlier.
Now that the other side had drawn a Water Blade capable of cutting through tentacles,
the clattering of his abacus was so loud it was practically about to fly out and smash this seventy-year-old veteran in the face.
Kakuzu was no fool. Naturally, he would not stand still and let Uchiha Ci trim his feet again.
The battle immediately began escalating.
When Uchiha Ci saw Kakuzu change tactics and fire a mass of Earth Grudge Fear Silk Threads at him, delight instantly welled up in his heart.
This Water Blade really was better at scamming people than a kunai!
He had not even rushed in to trim old Kakuzu's feet yet, and the old man had already generously rewarded him with a pile of valuable ninja tools!
Uchiha Ci immediately slammed on the brakes, stopping himself against the Cliff Face.
Then, with the sword in hand, he flicked his wrist and spun out a beautiful flourish.
His Sharingan locked tightly onto the wildly incoming tentacles.
Then,
he braced the blade against his arm and lowered into a bow stance, gathering strength.
Suddenly, he swung his sword!
First came Kumo-ryū: Deceiver Slash, tricking Kakuzu's tentacles into grazing past his right shoulder. Then, in an instant, he followed with another move.
Kumo-ryū: Crescent Moon Slash!
A perfect recreation of the Kumo-ryū Kenjutsu he had seen only once in Volcano Boiling Sea!
The whirling Water Fang Blade suddenly lit up with three arcs of moonlight!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Kakuzu's three incoming tentacles were severed at once.
Uchiha Ci quickly crouched down on the spot and gathered a huge mass of tentacles hanging from the cliff wall into a bundle like he was shuffling mahjong tiles. With one big grab, he scooped them all into his Ninja Tool Pouch.
Then he immediately flashed a grin, turned, and fled like the wind, repeatedly ducking, twisting, and rolling to evade several tentacle attacks.
As he darted and weaved, he pulled out the now-empty spool of Ninja Tool Thread and rapidly wound the tangled Earth Grudge Fear Silk Threads onto it.
Only after the spool of Ninja Tool Thread had been completely filled did Uchiha Ci reveal a smile of someone who had gotten something for free.
Although Ci now seemed to possess a whole array of ninjutsu and even Forbidden Jutsu, setting aside Fire Release techniques like Great Fireball and Phoenix Sage Fire that produced plenty of smoke but no damage,
the only techniques that could truly threaten Kakuzu
were still the two techniques he had recently obtained from Great Elder Uchiha Setsuna.
Uchiha Style: Silk Thread Shurikenjutsu!
This was the core of all Uchiha Ci's current combat tactics.
It came down to one word.
Fast!
So fast that the opponent had no time to form Hand Seals, no time to cast ninjutsu, and no time to defend!
Forced to do their best merely to dodge, they would inevitably expose an opening, allowing Uchiha Ci to seize the chance and fight to the death!
Third-rate Uchiha used Shuriken for feints, second-rate Uchiha used Shuriken for sneak attacks, and first-rate Uchiha used Shuriken to seize opportunities!
And at the masterful level of Uchiha Style: Silk Thread Shurikenjutsu!
Its rating was S because
the technique itself
was a killing move!
Thanks to readers 20210420055330447, 202330423633021, 20190801021329930, 20220829000726050, Bajian, Brother Adou, 20170813222422728, and Yindaojing for the monthly tickets.
Thanks to all you godfathers, and thanks to all you fine patrons for the recommendation votes!
Please bookmark, vote, and keep reading!
Bang bang bang!
Before you continue