Unexpected

Yichen was so excited that he had no sleepiness at all. But since his shift was over, after getting Meishe's permission, he took a small carving knife and some materials from the counter, intending to go home and practice while his enthusiasm was still burning.

Meishe was not particularly surprised by Yichen's behavior. Over the years, he had mentored far too many Ninja, and many of them had shown this same fresh enthusiasm. After a while, when their interest turned into work, they would find their current behavior ridiculous themselves.

Yichen carried a pile of things as he walked home. He was already very familiar with this route, having walked it back and forth every day. Tonight, he was merely returning later than usual.

As he walked, he recalled some of the little techniques and Chakra application methods Meishe had just taught him. The Chakra described in the memories of his previous life had truly been far too simplistic. Chakra had far too many wondrous uses.

As he walked, Yichen suddenly felt a chill. He shuddered. Though it was nighttime, it was summer. Why had such a cold sensation suddenly risen up?

Yichen looked around, but he found nothing out of place. With Ninja around, the village's public safety was actually better than in Yichen's previous life. At the very least, Iwagakure had no thieves or the like.

The buildings in Iwagakure were small, circular fortresses. Aside from finding them strange at first, Yichen had long grown used to them over the past few years.

He was currently between two rows of fortresses. There were no lights inside them, and the residents should all have been asleep.

There was nothing unusual in the street, only a few wooden barrels. These barrels were used to collect rainwater.

Iwagakure was not severely lacking in water, but fetching water was not as convenient as it was in Konoha. Therefore, nearly every household placed a large wooden barrel outside its door to collect rainwater.

That was rather like the countryside in Yichen's previous life. When he had been little, there had been a large water vat outside his home.

Everything before him was exactly the same as usual, yet something felt strange.

Yichen walked forward for a while, and that strange feeling became even more apparent.

Out of curiosity, Yichen retreated to his previous position. This time, he carefully examined the area and finally noticed what was wrong.

Normally, every household had only one wooden barrel outside its door. It was not that they did not want to collect more water; the water gathered in the barrels was mainly diverted from the roof.

The size of the roof determined how much water there was, so it made no difference whether there was one barrel or two beneath it.

However, the house before Yichen had two barrels outside its door, one large and one small. Yichen looked up and, sure enough, found no drainage pipe leading into the smaller barrel.

It was not because Yichen possessed some extraordinary talent. This was something taught at the Ninja Academy.

The Ninja Academy's education was not merely theoretical; it included all sorts of practical training.

Finding unusual, illogical flaws like this was one of the Ninja Academy's regular subjects.

There were also lessons on trap-making, tracking, and countertracking.

Because his Mental Power was relatively strong and his mind was mature, Yichen had done quite well in all these subjects.

But now, Yichen could not feel happy at all. He regretted noticing it. This was the Ninja world, not the peaceful world of his previous life. The anomaly he had discovered was very likely the work of a Ninja.

What if an enemy Ninja jumped out? What was he supposed to do? A Ninja capable of infiltrating an enemy hidden village had to be at least a Chunin!

At that thought, Yichen's heartbeat seemed to skip. He turned around as naturally as he could and headed toward home, thinking, Please, don't let anything happen. As soon as I run into a patrolling ninja, I'll raise the alarm.

But what he feared came to pass. A soft bang reached Yichen's ears, freezing his footsteps in place.

He turned around with difficulty and saw that the wooden barrel had become a person. However, the other party was not dressed as a Ninja.

That only deepened Yichen's panic. A Ninja from the village would not disguise himself as a civilian. Only spies from enemy nations would pretend to be civilians. I'm done for!

The other man's expression was equally ugly. He had actually been seen through by a little brat.

He took out two Shuriken and said to Yichen in a sinister voice, "Tell me how you discovered me, and I'll give you a quick death."

The threat instead snapped Yichen back to his senses.

There was no possibility of reconciliation between them now. He could not panic. He had Chakra too; he was not completely without a chance to fight.

Yichen did not withdraw his frightened expression. While circulating his Chakra, he maintained a stiff posture and stared at the other man.

He deliberately stammered, "I-I'm a student at the Ninja Academy. We learned about this sort of thing in class. You had a flaw."

Hearing the first half of Yichen's words only strengthened the man's intent to kill. A Ninja Academy student would only become an enemy of his nation in the future. He had to die.

But after hearing the latter half, he decided to suppress his killing intent and asked, "Very good. Tell me, what flaw? If I'm satisfied, I can spare your life."

When the man began trying to coax him, Yichen relaxed slightly. His delaying tactic was working.

Yichen was carrying a large stack of paper, and his hands happened to be crossed beneath it, hidden from the man's sight.

Thus, Yichen deliberately trembled, making the papers rustle while his hands began forming hand seals.

At the same time, he said, "In the Land of Earth, the wooden barrels outside our doors are used to collect water flowing down from the roofs. The roof is only so large, so placing one barrel or two underneath makes no difference. That's why no one puts two wooden barrels outside their door."

There was not a single false word in what Yichen said. He did not want the other man to grow suspicious and attack him immediately.

Sure enough, after hearing Yichen's explanation, the man was distracted for an instant, seemingly pondering the reasoning behind it. At that moment, Yichen completed his final hand seal.

Just as Yichen expected, the moment the man finished thinking it through, he charged at Yichen and slashed his neck open with one of the Shuriken in his hand.

But something happened that the man had not expected. Blood did not spray from Yichen's neck. Instead, it turned into a pool of water, which quickly spread outward from the neck. Then the rest of Yichen's body turned into water as well.

The man was stunned. The attacked area turning into water—wasn't that an ability unique to the Hozuki Clan in the village?

Could this person also be a spy planted by the village? But why would the village send a child who had mastered a secret technique of the Hozuki Clan as a spy?

That was right. This Ninja was a spy from Kirigakure, tasked with gathering intelligence.

But then he noticed something else was wrong. This was not how the Hozuki Clan transformed into water.

Although many thoughts raced through his mind, only a brief instant had passed.

When the man cut through the Water Clone's neck, Yichen had appeared beside the large water vat outside the house. During the time the man had been questioning him, Yichen had formed the hand seals for the Substitution Technique, using the water in the vat as the substitute and performing a Water Clone.

At this point, the two had roughly exchanged positions from before, and both had their backs to each other.

After switching positions, Yichen did not hesitate in the slightest. Following a small kunai-throwing trick Taniya had taught him before, he flung the small knife he had brought from the Barrier Team practice room backward.

This small knife was not the Chakra-conducting knife from before, but it was still a tool specifically used to make scrolls. If nothing else, it was quite sharp.

And the other man was not wearing a protective vest, only civilian clothing.

Yichen believed that as long as it struck, it would definitely inflict some injury.

But the other man was a Chunin after all. Yichen did not dare assume that he had no ability to react, so he did not aim for a vital point, but for the center of the man's body.

Sure enough, though the man had made consecutive mistakes and even been distracted for a moment, when he sensed danger, he still displayed the instincts of a Chunin and hurriedly twisted aside.

Under normal circumstances, he would have had enough time to react and evade. But Yichen's series of deceptions had gained a major advantage, and the man only managed to turn slightly before the knife struck him directly.

Kirigakure Ninja were not skilled at defense. Yichen's knife plunged in from the lower left side of the man's back and nearly pierced through the front of his body.

However, as the man twisted, the Chakra flowing through his body caught the knife inside him. Only the very tip emerged from the front of his body.

The blow was not fatal, but it seriously injured him.

Yet Yichen did not turn around to launch a follow-up attack. Instead, he leaped up and flipped onto the house in front of him.

The injured Kirigakure Ninja did not counterattack immediately. Out of habit, he dodged repeatedly to one side, expertly evading any possible follow-up strikes. Unfortunately, nothing came.

After turning around and steadying himself, the Kirigakure Ninja only saw Yichen's figure leaping down from the roof on the other side.

Gritting his teeth, and with no time to tend to his wound, the Kirigakure Ninja circled around the house and chased after Yichen.

After rounding the house, the Kirigakure Ninja saw a figure sprinting desperately in the distance. He immediately threw both Shuriken in his hand.

Without any surprise, the Shuriken struck directly. The child with his back turned had no way to evade at all.

But the Kirigakure Ninja was not pleased. Instead, his face twisted as if he had eaten shit, because that Yichen turned into smoke with a bang.

"It's the Clone Technique, damn it!" the Kirigakure Ninja growled through gritted teeth. He calmed himself and began searching for Yichen's whereabouts. He had realized that he could no longer treat Yichen as a harmless child.

Before long, the Kirigakure Ninja's senses told him that there was movement on the previous street, so he immediately circled back. Sure enough, a figure in the distance was running for his life.

Yichen was running toward the Barrier Team. That direction led toward the center of the village, where patrolling ninja frequently appeared.

After running for a while, Yichen realized that the other man had recovered and was pursuing him. He immediately shouted at the top of his lungs, "Help! There's a spy!"

The pursuing Kirigakure Ninja suddenly paused. Only then did he remember that this was an enemy hidden village. For a moment, he hesitated, unsure whether to hide or continue the pursuit.

But he made his decision quickly. As an exposed and injured Chunin, surviving in the heart of an enemy nation was impossible. Since that was the case, he might as well kill a Genius before he died.

However, that delay had allowed Yichen to get farther away. By then, faint sounds of movement were already coming from both sides of the street.

As a spy, the Kirigakure Ninja did not carry many weapons. The two Shuriken from earlier had been his only weapons, and they were now gone.

The knife wound Yichen had inflicted earlier continued to affect his Combat Power. His speed and agility were far below normal.

After judging the distance between them, the Kirigakure Ninja was not sure whether he could catch Yichen before others intercepted him. So he rapidly formed hand seals and shouted, "Water Release: Water Arrow Jutsu."