"Fall back!"
Nara Kensuke's brows drew tight. He hadn't expected their presence to be exposed after all.
In theory, no one could break the Yamanaka Clan's secret technique, and outsiders should never have noticed anything amiss.
Unless someone had deduced their intentions from the overall arrangement.
"How is that possible..." Nara Kensuke couldn't quite believe it.
He smashed through the enclosing wall and retreated into the courtyard. Before he could look up, kunai rained down on the group from every direction.
"Childish tricks." The Nara Clan jonin formed hand seals, and the shadow beneath him instantly stretched outward. Tendril-like shadow threads formed a sealed net around them.
Shadow Manipulation Technique: Black Net!
"Nara Kensuke." Standing on the rooftop, Kyosuke exposed the man's identity outright. "A jonin of the Nara Clan. He was the one in charge of pursuing us before."
"Mm." Madara Uchiha nodded silently, his senses already locked firmly onto the enemy.
As the Clan Heir, he had a duty to protect his clansmen.
No matter what, he couldn't let the enemy succeed today. Come to think of it, he owed Kyosuke his thanks.
If Kyosuke hadn't rushed to find him, they might already... Madara didn't even dare imagine what that would have looked like.
"It's you?!" Nara Kensuke raised his head. The surprise in his eyes gradually gave way to venomous hatred. He had clearly recognized Kyosuke.
Neither side had any intention of talking. Both understood the other's objective. From the very beginning, this had been a fight to the death.
The Uchiha's defenses were weaker than ever, with almost none of their elite fighters left.
Most of the ninja who had arrived were genin who had been idle at home, along with a handful of chunin recuperating from injuries.
Fortunately, the enemy hadn't been able to bring too many fighters. As long as they dealt with the few jonin leading the attack, they could put an end to this crisis.
"Let's go." Madara Uchiha leaped from the rooftop and went straight for the Akimichi Clan jonin who looked the strongest.
Fire Release: Majestic Destroyer Flame!
He opened with a powerful Fire Release technique, holding nothing back.
At that, the other Uchiha clansmen followed their Clan Heir into battle.
"You're all going to die today!" Nara Kensuke remained still, abruptly changing his hand seal. Countless shadow threads surged toward the enemies around him.
From Kyosuke's vantage point, it looked as though a sinister flower of shadows had bloomed beneath the man's feet.
Shadow Stitching Technique: Black Higanbana!
That single attack instantly killed seven Uchiha genin.
"I can't let him keep this up." Kyosuke's gaze darkened, and his Sharingan awakened with a scarlet gleam.
Locking onto the enemy's movements, he swiftly completed his hand seals. His body became a streak of light that shot straight toward Nara Kensuke, who was kneeling on one knee.
So fast! Nara Kensuke's eyes suddenly widened.
He hadn't expected a brat of six or seven to unleash such a terrifying Body Flicker Technique.
Caught off guard, he had no time to change his technique. His shadows weren't fast enough to keep up with that burst of speed.
At the critical moment, a figure suddenly appeared in front of Nara Kensuke.
Using his own flesh and blood, the man blocked what should have been a killing blow.
[System notification: Killed an Uchiha Clan chunin. Gained 360 points.]
"Damn it!" Looking at the despair on the Uchiha clansman's face, Kyosuke didn't need to think to know that the man was a puppet caught in the Mind Body Switch Secret Technique.
What frustrated him even more was that he might no longer have a way to kill the enemy.
Now that Nara Kensuke was prepared, he would never give Kyosuke another chance at a surprise attack. An alert jonin could easily brush off the vast majority of ambush tactics.
Ninja combat placed considerable emphasis on counterattacking-responding to each move and seeking openings in the enemy's defenses. Most ninja followed that philosophy in battle.
Besides, Kyosuke's body wouldn't allow him to use the Body Flicker Technique a second time.
With a choking gasp, the Yamanaka Clan jonin in the distance suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.
The Mind Body Switch Technique was powerful. In one-on-one combat especially, its lethality was downright frightening.
Of course, its drawbacks were considerable too. Any injury to the target would also harm the user's own body.
The situation had been so urgent that the Yamanaka jonin had jumped into the blade's path without thinking.
He had stopped the blade, but as his consciousness returned, the damage was faithfully transferred to his own body.
Forget continuing the fight. Unless someone treated him immediately, the jonin would be dead before long.
"At least it wasn't wasted." Enduring the tearing pain, Kyosuke kept dodging the enemy's attacks.
"Protect Kyosuke!"
"We can't let him die here!"
During the Warring States Period, the Uchiha were relatively united, with a strong sense of pride in their clan.
They weren't like the Uchiha of the Konoha era, whose ranks were rife with scheming and infighting.
Seeing signs that Kyosuke was losing ground, many of them ignored the gap in strength and forced their way forward to block Nara Kensuke's Shadow Stitching Technique.
"Keep him occupied." Kyosuke gritted his teeth, turned, and charged toward the figure lying in the distance.
The Uchiha chunin just now had given him a full 360 points.
With a Yamanaka Clan jonin as his target instead, the reward would surely be much greater.
Desperately in need of more points, how could Kyosuke let such a juicy prize slip away right before his eyes?
"Die, you bastard!" He hurled several shuriken, then charged in right behind them.
"You little bastard! You're asking for death." Drenched in blood, the Yamanaka jonin barely managed to twist aside, protecting the vital spots where a hit would kill him outright.
As for the rest of his body, he wasn't going to survive anyway. A few more wounds hardly mattered.
All he wanted was to take this gifted brat with him before he died.
Ninja Art: Mind Body Switch Technique!
Forming the last hand seal of his life, the man curled his lips into a mocking smile, his vision already blurring.
"Come to hell with me."
Just as his consciousness left his body and tried to slip into his opponent, there was a poof. The "Kyosuke" before him turned into a cloud of white smoke and vanished.
A clone?!
The jonin was aghast. He hadn't expected to be thoroughly outplayed by a brat in the final moments of his life.
Under normal circumstances, an ordinary Clone Technique would have struggled to fool an experienced jonin.
But his injuries were too severe. Never mind telling a clone from the real thing-he could barely make out his opponent's figure.
"Heh. I suppose this is what I get for toying with people's minds."
When the Mind Body Switch Technique failed, the user's consciousness would remain outside his body for a long time. That interval was enough for the boy to kill him countless times over.
Swish! The blade swept past, sending blood spraying.
[System notification: Killed a Yamanaka Clan jonin. Gained 3,200 points.]
"Perfect." Kyosuke's lips curved upward. He was very pleased with today's haul.
With that unlucky jonin included, his points were back above 5,000.
In one fell swoop, he had recouped the cost of redeeming the Shisui-style Body Flicker Technique.
"Your companion is already dead. Are you still going to keep fighting?" Kyosuke tried to put pressure on the enemy.
"What a joke. We never expected to leave here alive." Nara Kensuke wasn't buying it at all.
Just as he was about to turn and deal with Kyosuke, a thunderous boom erupted behind him.
Madara Uchiha's battle was over.
Before you continue