The Overall Situation Was Decided

Unfortunately, Hozuki Yuzo's little moves were completely exposed before the Sharingan.

Uchiha Gen slightly adjusted his posture. Their eyes met, and he unleashed a genjutsu as the Wind Flame Sword stabbed straight forward.

Hozuki Yuzo was highly experienced in battle. Without hesitation, he activated the Water Transformation Technique, turning his eyes into liquid to evade the genjutsu attack, followed immediately by his entire body.

Hiss, hiss...

The Wind Flame Sword stabbed into where his chest had been. Water vapor continuously evaporated, billowing into clouds of white steam. Hozuki Yuzo quickly pulled away from the blade, re-formed his body, and rapidly made hand seals.

The genjutsu didn't work?

Uchiha Gen's heart stirred, but his attack rhythm did not slow. The Kusanagi Blade swiftly extended and stabbed toward Hozuki Yuzo's heart once more.

Hozuki Yuzo's eyes nearly split with rage, but he still had no choice but to stop making hand seals and dodge. Otherwise, he would surely die.

Having prevented him from forming seals, the Kusanagi Blade rapidly retracted. Uchiha Gen seized the chance to rush forward, his golden flame sword hacking and slashing in rapid succession. Sharp and scorching, every strike targeted a vital point.

As long as he did not let the enemy form seals and use Water Release Ninjutsu, and with no water source nearby, it would only take a few moves to evaporate all the water in the enemy's body.

Hozuki Yuzo dodged Uchiha Gen's attacks in a miserable state, feeling both aggrieved and regretful.

If he had known he would be forced into a situation where he did not even have time to form seals, he should have used Water Release Ninjutsu immediately.

Even a C-rank Water Release Ninjutsu would not have left him in such a sorry state. Why had he used shuriken? They had truly gotten him killed.

Unfortunately, it was already too late for regret. Ninja battles were like this—choosing the wrong strategy was often fatal.

Uchiha Gen's swordsmanship was fierce, and the Wind Flame Sword was sharp and blazing hot, making it feel as though one were standing beside a furnace. Before long, sweat poured down one's body, and stamina was rapidly depleted.

He also had to constantly guard against meeting the Sharingan's gaze to avoid falling under genjutsu. As the saying went, prolonged defense would inevitably fail. Hozuki Yuzo, who was dodging desperately, soon revealed a fatal opening.

Genjutsu Sharingan!

This time, Hozuki Yuzo failed to liquefy himself in time to evade the genjutsu. His body immediately stiffened, and the sharp, scorching Wind Flame Sword instantly severed his right arm.

A tiny amount of blood splattered out, while most of it evaporated in the high heat. The wound on the severed arm was scorched black by the flames, and the smell of roasted flesh spread through the air.

"Aah..."

A miserable scream rang out. The intense pain woke Hozuki Yuzo from the genjutsu, and the blazing Wind Flame Sword in his pupils rapidly grew larger, filling him with fear.

The Soul-Soul Fruit ability activated, and Uchiha Gen took the opportunity to extract Hozuki Yuzo's soul and lifespan.

Then, the Wind Flame Sword, which had paused slightly, pierced through his hard skull. His fragile brain was split open and burned into char in the next instant.

Bang. Hozuki Yuzo's corpse collapsed to the ground, and Uchiha Gen let out a slight breath of relief.

If the enemy had not made a strategic mistake, and if he had been given the chance to use Water Release Ninjutsu, then without Lightning Release, dealing with him would not have been easy.

This place bordered the sea, where water vapor was abundant. Given the enemy's mastery of Water Release, he could have fully used advanced Water Release Ninjutsu.

With his ability to merge into water, it would have been difficult for Uchiha Gen to keep him here.

Part of the reason for this was that Uchiha Gen had not worn the Uchiha Clan crest or revealed his Sharingan from the start.

If Hozuki Yuzo had realized Uchiha Gen's origins, he definitely would not have used shuriken as a probing attack, since that would have been pointless. More likely, he would have tested him with ninjutsu.

Therefore, Uchiha Gen's decision not to wear the Uchiha Clan crest on the battlefield had great significance. Because of it, more than one or two ninja had made strategic mistakes.

After killing Hozuki Yuzo, Uchiha Gen followed the direction of the salty sea breeze on a whim.

Less than half a minute later, the azure sea appeared before him. Waves rolled with a constant roar, sunlight glimmered across the surface, and several seagulls flew in the distance.

Running to the beach, Uchiha Gen crouched down and cautiously reached out to touch the seawater...

It felt slightly cool to the touch, but no weakness arose, nor did he feel any other discomfort.

Uchiha Gen immediately smiled. He did not possess the Devil Fruit user's weakness of fearing seawater.

Had traveling through time and space eliminated the side effect?

Or was it because he had changed worlds, and the sea in this world did not reject Devil Fruit users?

That made sense. How could the sword of a fallen dynasty execute an official of the current one?

Or was there some other reason?

Forget it. No matter the reason, it was a good thing for him!

Uchiha Gen rose to his feet and began pursuing the fleeing Hidden Mist Ninja along the coastline.

More than ten minutes later, Uchiha Gen stopped in a patch of grass. There were some trampled marks in the grass, difficult to spot without good eyesight.

As a clan of ocular techniques, the Uchiha Clan's ninja generally had excellent eyesight—unless they had overused the Mangekyō Sharingan's abilities.

Following the traces, Uchiha Gen arrived at the edge of a cliff. Leaning over to look, he saw surging seawater and crashing waves below, with strange rocks scattered everywhere. The terrain was winding and uneven, making it easy to hide several people.

After thinking for a moment, Uchiha Gen drew back his head, took out a Soldier Pill and swallowed it, then sat cross-legged and silently recovered his depleted stamina and Chakra.

A few minutes later, with his condition restored, Uchiha Gen pulled out three kunai tied with Exploding Tags from his ninja tool pouch and hurled them toward three possible hiding places.

Bang, bang, bang! Explosions rang out in succession. Flames and thick smoke surged as broken stones flew everywhere.

The next moment, three Mist ninja sprang out. One emerged from the explosion site, while the other two came from different possible hiding spots.

The three of them stepped across the jagged rocks and fled along the foot of the cliff. Terrain that was an insurmountable chasm for ordinary people was nothing to ninja.

Heh, there really were little rats hiding here...

Uchiha Gen chased after them along the cliff edge. Once he reached a somewhat gentler section of the cliff, he immediately rushed down.

Although the Hidden Mist Ninja were proficient swimmers, they did not dare cross the sea without a boat.

Most ninja did not have the stamina, Chakra reserves, or Chakra control to support it.

Seeing Uchiha Gen pursuing them relentlessly and charging down at them with such ferocity, the three grew furious. They immediately stopped fleeing and each formed hand seals to use ninjutsu.

Water Release: Raging Waves!

Water Release: Water Bullet Shot!

Water Release: Water Whip!

Rapidly flowing water, high-speed water bullets, and a condensed, extending water whip all struck at once, smashing Uchiha Gen into countless splattering clumps of mud.

Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!

The real Uchiha Gen leaped into the air. His chest swelled slightly as he spat out a golden-orange sphere of flame. It was enormous, like a falling meteor, and carried extraordinary force!

The three Mist chunin's expressions changed drastically, and they hurriedly leaped aside. Yet after the fireball struck the ground, it rapidly spread in all directions, causing the seawater to steam and hiss.

"Aahhh..."

The three could not dodge faster than the flames spread. They were swallowed by the blazing fire, and heart-wrenching screams rang out.

Once the flames died down, Uchiha Gen jumped to the bottom of the cliff and discovered that two Mist ninja were already dead, but one "lucky one" was still alive.

After a bit of work, Uchiha Gen extracted his soul and lifespan, then turned and jumped back up the cliff to continue hunting Mist ninja and harvesting souls and lifespans.

Konoha's pursuit of Mist continued for several hours, reaching all the way into the Land of Whirlpools before it stopped after night had completely fallen.

Many Mist ninja who were not fast enough, strong enough, desperate enough to survive, or smart enough died in this pursuit.

After this battle, Mist had truly suffered a crippling blow.

At the temporary camp, many Konoha Ninja discussed things excitedly, all believing that the war would soon be over.

These past two or three chapters did not feel very well written, but this author still shamelessly wanted to ask for continued reading, bookmarks, and votes. Hehe.