A Sudden First Taste of the Battlefield (3)

The Lightning Glow that had originally only wrapped around his right hand instantly spread across his entire body. Its dazzling brilliance could be seen clearly even from Konoha's camp hundreds of meters away!

The piercing chirping of birds carried far into the distance.

Chidori Current!

If there had been a fifth enemy, this brightly lit target would have been easily taken down, right? Unfortunately, there was no if. There were only four enemies.

Hagoromo thrust his left hand straight upward and caught the enemy's long blade barehanded. The stabbing pain made him furrow his brows tightly.

But by then, the powerful current had already traveled along the blade and paralyzed the Jonin's body!

A five-meter-long streak of white light suddenly extended from Hagoromo's arm, which was embedded in the tree. Then, he swiftly raised his arm!

The tree and the enemy corpse that had been hanging from his right hand were cut in two. With a sweep of his arm, the white light slashed at the enemy Jonin, paralyzed in midair!

Chidori Sharp Spear!

This was a variation of Chidori. In exchange for reduced attack power, its range had been extended to five meters!

However, that reduction was only relative to a full-powered Chidori. If Chidori Sharp Spear struck someone's body, the power of this technique would still undoubtedly split flesh and blood in two!

Hagoromo had originally intended to kill this Jonin, but unfortunately, a Jonin was still a Jonin. Even while paralyzed, he could forcefully twist his body in midair!

Hagoromo's fatal strike only severed half of his arm!

And once the arm was cut off, Hagoromo could no longer continue channeling the powerful current into him. Though the numbness still made him uncomfortable, his mobility had returned. Realizing that he could no longer fight after losing an arm, he quickly retreated after landing!

In his eyes, Hagoromo was completely unscathed, so he believed he could not fight him head-on. In truth, however, Hagoromo had already used up a large portion of his chakra.

High-level ninjutsu was immensely powerful, but likewise, its chakra consumption was no small matter.

So Hagoromo no longer had the strength to pursue him.

He dispersed the Lightning Glow around his body and tossed aside the long blade clenched in his left palm, not bothering with the enemy's half-arm still hanging from its hilt.

At that moment, Kushina came rushing over in a blaze of urgency, followed by a team of Anbu ninja.

"How is it, Hagoromo? Where are the enemies?" Seeing Hagoromo still standing in the forest, Kushina first sighed in relief, then immediately began questioning him.

The smell of blood in the air had grown even stronger.

After all, three corpses had just been made here, along with one one-armed ninja.

But Hagoromo did not speak.

Normally, this would have been the point to describe the protagonist's psychological discomfort at killing someone for the first time. But Hagoromo felt no discomfort at all.

Ever since coming to this world, Hagoromo had been educated in how to kill, how to kill more precisely, and how to kill more efficiently.

Ninja were killing machines, and all he had done now was put twelve years of learning into practice.

"You're hurt?" When Hagoromo did not respond, Kushina immediately began examining his injuries. Fortunately, his arm had only been cut.

"Phew..." Only then did Hagoromo let out a breath and react.

He had not remained silent because he was unsettled by killing. It was because he had been overloaded.

That was right, he had been overloaded. During that burst of extreme maneuvering just now, the maximum load had to have been around +9g. It had left him extremely uncomfortable, and he needed a brief moment to recover.

The injury on his palm was rather serious. That strike had cut all the way to the bone. Without Lightning Release, he would have been crippled.

Yet the pain was muted because Hagoromo had maintained Lightning Release's numbing effect over his palm the entire time... But that had its drawbacks. It did not hurt as much, but the stimulation from the Lightning Release kept the wound bleeding.

"I killed three. The last one escaped. I really still can't deal with a Jonin." Hagoromo removed the mask from his face and revealed a wry smile. Though the battle had lasted less than two minutes, it had consumed a great deal of his chakra. If that Jonin had not chosen to leave and had continued fighting, Ninja Hagoromo might very well have been finished.

But his words left the four Anbu ninja following Kushina speechless. As Kushina's guards, they naturally knew Hagoromo was merely a kid who had just graduated from the Ninja Academy. A Genin was actually ashamed that he had failed to kill a Jonin? How were veteran Anbu like them supposed to live with that?

Was it really a case of the new generation replacing the old?

"This is the hand that's injured." Kushina kept inspecting Hagoromo's blood-covered right hand. In fact, that was all enemy blood. His right hand was uninjured.

His left hand was injured instead. He had taken an enemy blade head-on, and it was still bleeding constantly.

The wound was deep enough to expose bone.

Kushina roughly yanked over Hagoromo's hand. When she saw that he did not react at all, she immediately understood.

"Disperse the Lightning Release, or it can't be treated."

Hagoromo gave a wry smile, then obediently dispersed the Lightning Release from his hand.

Intense pain began assaulting his nerves.

Kushina hurriedly took him back to the camp. At present, the one thing the camp did not lack was Medical Ninja.

After receiving treatment from a Medical Ninja, Hagoromo's pain quickly eased.

Medical Ninjutsu really was a miraculous technique.

While Hagoromo was receiving treatment, the Anbu ninja had already finished inspecting the battlefield. One of them leaned close to Kushina's ear and quietly said, "They were Sand Ninja. Three were killed, and one fled after having his arm severed..."

His tone was full of astonishment. No one would have imagined that a Genin who had just graduated and was experiencing actual combat for the first time could achieve this.

Based on the Sand Ninja squad's composition, the three killed were indeed, as Hagoromo had previously judged, one Chunin and two Genin. That result alone was already extraordinary, and he had even severed a Jonin's arm.

It could be said that he had faced four opponents alone without falling behind.

Kushina nodded to show that she understood. As she helped bandage Hagoromo's wound, she said, "Well done, Hagoromo. As expected of my disciple. But next time something like this happens, don't rush in alone. You only won this time by sheer luck..."

Hagoromo smiled wryly. He had not expected Kushina to have such a fondness for lecturing.

Since he had dared to charge out alone, he naturally had confidence in his ability to protect himself. But he could not explain the reason for the time being, so he could only endure Kushina's nagging.

"I just wanted to test my abilities." That was the only lame excuse he could offer.

Kushina glared fiercely at Hagoromo, then forcefully smacked his injured palm.

Eh, it did not hurt much!

"All right, how does it feel?"

Hagoromo tried clenching his fist. The bandages around his hand made movement somewhat inconvenient, but the stabbing pain he had expected did not come. In just ten minutes, the treatment had already produced obvious results.

"It hardly hurts anymore. As expected of my teacher," Hagoromo praised, leaving the nearby Medical Ninja speechless. It was as though Kushina deserved the credit for healing him.

"Who asked about that? I'm asking how your first real battle felt," Kushina said.