Farewell! Dimensional Slash

Under the cover of the rain curtain, a blade that had nearly merged with nature itself failed to strike Gojo Yoru.

When he saw a bizarrely shaped rat suddenly burrow out of the rain-soaked earth, Gojo Yoru instantly sensed something was wrong.

This scene was eerily similar to the first arc of the original work's Team 7, when they spotted a snow rabbit in the forest.

Unable to see his enemy, Gojo Yoru's first thought wasn't where the enemy was hiding, but to disrupt his own chakra flow to avoid falling under a genjutsu.

As it turned out, he really had been caught in a genjutsu.

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Fortunately, Gojo Yoru reacted swiftly. Watching the incoming slash, he—already possessing Space-Time Chakra flowing within him—did not use Phasing to evade the attack. Instead, he turned into a blurry afterimage and vanished without a sound.

"Such a fast Body Flicker..."

Tokiya, whose figure emerged, looked slightly surprised at Gojo Yoru, who had retreated over ten meters away. He hadn't expected this kid, skilled in Earth Body Flicker, to have that kind of speed on the ground as well.

Because the rain was too loud, Tokiya didn't notice that Gojo Yoru's Body Flicker had actually made no sound.

"Looks like a tough one."

Staring at Tokiya—clad in a vest, forehead protector, breathing mask over his face, fierce eyes, and a Summoned Beast at his side—Gojo Yoru tore off his raincoat and retrieved a Chakra Blade sealed in his wrist-mounted Storage Scroll. His gaze was heavy with caution.

Though he had felt the breath of death many times around Orochimaru, none of it compared to the pressure he felt now.

The Survival Exercise was, after all, just an exercise.

This battle was Gojo Yoru's first life-or-death fight since arriving in this world.

His opponent seemed to be the most nauseating type in the ninja world—a genjutsu specialist. One slip-up and he'd be done for.

"Kid, hand over that scroll, and I'll leave you a whole corpse," Tokiya said coldly.

One hand gripping the Chakra Blade, the other hidden in the sleeve of his open-front coat, Gojo Yoru flashed a provocative grin. "If you've got the skill, take it from my corpse."

"As you wish."

The moment the words left his mouth, Tokiya dissolved into a puddle of water.

The next second, Gojo Yoru became two halves of Gojo Yoru, his body severed at the waist.

Even the rain curtain was torn open by the slash.

Gojo Yoru looked down at his bisected body and murmured, "Such a fast blade..."

With a splat, the two halves turned into mud and splashed to the ground, quickly washed away by the rain.

Then, three Gojo Yorus emerged from the earth not far away and charged at Tokiya.

Tokiya glanced at the three clones and sneered, "Clone Technique. Save the ninja games for your next life."

With that, he pulled out three Senbon and threw them.

If it weren't for the assassin's need for caution, he wouldn't even bother dispelling these Phantom Clones that couldn't be touched by Yin Release Chakra.

The Senbon passed through without surprise. Tokiya was about to join forces with his Summoned Beast to find Gojo Yoru's real body when something struck him, and his expression shifted drastically.

"No!"

Watching the three Gojo Yorus now charging right in front of him, Tokiya's eyes were filled with shock, but his movements were still swift. He pulled a pellet from his ninja tool pouch and flicked it to the ground.

Bang. A purple smoke enveloped Tokiya and the three Gojo Yorus.

Shing, shing, shing—

The moment the toxic smoke appeared, it was slashed apart by several blade flashes.

Not by Gojo Yoru—by Tokiya.

Tokiya's figure shot out of the smoke, landed, and instantly Body Flickered to the top of a rocky outcrop. Forming a single hand seal, he stared at the three Gojo Yorus that still hadn't dissipated, his face dark. "What kind of clone is this? It's not a Phantom Clone, not a genjutsu, and the real body isn't inside either. Is it some special Secret Technique or Kekkei Genkai?"

After speaking, Tokiya looked at his Summoned Beast, whose head had popped out beside him, and asked, "Did he run?"

When the rat shook its head, Tokiya pressed, "Can you smell anything from those three down there?"

The rat shook its head again—whether it couldn't smell anything or there was no real body to smell.

Watching Tokiya communicate with his Summoned Beast, Gojo Yoru maintained the same blank expression as his Phantom Clones, pretending to be an illusion, but his heart was pounding with lingering fear.

That was close. I almost bit the dust!

This guy really wasn't simple.

Most people, upon noticing something off about a Phantom Clone, would only be able to counterattack passively.

But Tokiya chose to throw a poison smoke bomb.

Luckily, ever since Gojo Yoru learned to create Phantom Clones that couldn't be sensed for chakra, he'd gotten into the habit of fully Phasing and merging into them.

Once he entered the Phased state, no matter how strong the perception, no one could sense Gojo Yoru's chakra. They'd just mistake him for a Phantom Clone.

Genjutsu was useless against Phantom Clones, and it was also useless against Gojo Yoru, who had merged into space itself.

When he saw Tokiya pull out the poison smoke bomb, Gojo Yoru immediately heightened his alertness and didn't reveal his real body to attack Tokiya.

If he had, he'd have inhaled the poison smoke.

That guy's Summoned Beast could burrow underground and track his position even in a downpour. It was clearly no ordinary rat.

He definitely knew that his true body hadn't left yet.

If he attacked again with the Phantom Body Flicker Technique and was discovered to have his real body hidden among them, the enemy would surely guess that he possessed the ability to merge into space—once his trump card was exposed, dealing with him would become much harder.

Using Earth Body Flicker and Phasing, he could escape easily, but at the genin level, his Space-Time Chakra surging through his entire body could only sustain itself for a few minutes at most.

The rat's olfactory range was unknown; he couldn't afford to exhaust his strongest energy this way, or if he was caught up to, death would be certain.

Here, it was just himself and that guy. Nagato was still young now, and Black Zetsu and White Zetsu, who could use the Mayfly Technique to merge with the earth, were likely either secretly protecting Nagato or monitoring Uchiha Madara.

His fight with this guy shouldn't be unlucky enough to catch their attention.

Kill him!

Gojo Yoru made his decision instantly, and his eyes shifted.

The next second, Gojo Yoru and his two Phantom Clones slowly sank into the ground under Tokiya's watchful gaze.

"Squeak, squeak..."

Before long, the rat let out a cry.

Tokiya immediately formed hand seals and used the Water Body Flicker Technique to vanish from the top of the rocky mountain.

When he reappeared, he was already on the ground shrouded by the Rain Curtain, not far ahead of Gojo Yoru, who was running with his back to him.

Tokiya didn't attack immediately. Instead, he used the Rain Curtain to cast a genjutsu, letting invisible Yin Release Chakra seep into Gojo Yoru's brain.

The next second, Gojo Yoru's steps faltered slightly, then he continued his frantic sprint, as if unaware he had fallen under a genjutsu.

Sensing that the opponent's current chakra lacked the ability to instantly break free from his genjutsu, Tokiya still didn't close in. Instead, he formed hand seals to manipulate the rainwater, forming a high-speed spinning Water Pillar that shot toward Gojo Yoru.

Water Release: Water Fang Bullet!

The Water Pillar struck Gojo Yoru, but with a crisp bang, the target turned into a puff of white smoke.

Seeing this, Tokiya's expression soured again.

Just as he was about to continue searching for Gojo Yoru's true body, a casual glance from the corner of his eye made his expression suddenly change in shock.

"See ya!"

Three Gojo Yorus had somehow already positioned themselves to his left, right, and rear, all in a drawing stance.

Grinning at Tokiya, the three Gojo Yorus turned into three black lines, crisscrossing around him.

A few seconds later, Gojo Yoru's figure appeared in front of Tokiya, sheathing his blade with his back turned.

With a click, as the last inch of the blade slid into the scabbard.

Tokiya, his expression frozen, had his body covered in dense cracks like a jigsaw puzzle, and then chunks of flesh fell away piece by piece.