"Talk about hitting the jackpot! Hitting the jackpot!"
"Hahaha! Faster, faster, come on!"
"I never thought a prestigious clan with a century of history could be so careless!"
By the Naka River, in a forbidden area on the outskirts of Konoha.
A scar-faced man bearing the Cloud Village Mark raced beneath the moonlight.
Every so often, he glanced down at the little blue-haired girl tucked under his arm.
His face was alight with restless excitement.
"Hahaha! The Hyuga Clan's Young Lady!"
"If we can successfully analyze her Byakugan, it won't be a concern on the battlefield anymore!"
Thinking about how the girl beneath his arm could affect the fighting at the front, the Cloud Envoy grew even more excited.
He let out a strange, gleeful chuckle.
He could already picture the Byakugan clan getting trounced on the battlefield.
But amid his howling laughter, a shadow suddenly appeared in the corner of his eye!
"Who's there?!"
His expression shifted. He quickly adjusted his stance to face the shadow.
Crackle!
Lightning spread across his body in thin, flickering strands.
His heart leaped.
The Hyuga Clan's Young Lady he'd worked so hard to capture was of immense strategic value!
He couldn't let her slip away!
But when he saw that the person was only a small child, his worries instantly faded.
"Phew, you scared me!"
"Just a kid—huh? Wait! That Uchiha Clan Crest is—!"
"An Uchiha child?!"
When his gaze fell on the crest, dazzling light flashed in the scar-faced man's eyes!
It was the unexpected delight of a hunter spotting prey!
Like an angler ecstatically hooking a ten-pound fish out of nowhere.
"Hahahaha!"
"Hahahahaha!"
"What a lucky day! The kekkei genkai of Konoha's two great clans are practically falling into my lap!"
"Hahahaha! The Cloud Village really is the true king!"
He could no longer contain his excitement and threw his head back, laughing!
His wild laughter even crackled with faint sounds of electricity.
First, the Hyuga's Byakugan. And now the Uchiha's Sharingan had practically delivered itself to him!
He couldn't imagine what kind of protagonist's script could possibly come up with this.
As for resistance?
The kid looked only a little older than the girl in his arms. What could he possibly do?
From the start, he'd already considered Uchiha Jin his for the taking.
As he passed, he casually reached out with his free arm to grab him.
Whoosh!
His arm swept through the air, but—he missed.
"Hm? Body Flicker Technique?"
The scar-faced man's expression shifted slightly as he stopped.
He looked the boy over, surprised. "I never thought a kid so young would have a talent for the Body Flicker Technique!"
"The Uchiha really are favorites of the Body Flicker!"
The battlefield's famous Body Flicker shinobi came to mind!
The elusive, deceptive Body Flicker Shisui!
Though still young, he'd already made quite a name for himself on the battlefield.
Some people in the village even predicted that if he were allowed to grow, he might become the next Yellow Flash!
The Konoha White Fang!
The Yellow Flash!
Body Flicker Shisui!
Thinking of them, the scar-faced man couldn't help sighing.
"Whenever Konoha finds itself in a tight spot, some exceptionally talented shinobi always emerge!"
"Konoha really is a place to envy."
"But luckily for us, the more talented someone is in Konoha, the less likely they are to survive!"
By the end, he couldn't help laughing.
As a shinobi assigned to special missions, he usually didn't laugh.
Unless—he truly couldn't help himself!
If Konoha's so-called prodigies could survive, how would the Cloud Village dare threaten them so casually?
Let alone abduct them right from their doorstep?
"Tch, see? I told you Konoha was full of idiots. Of course someone noticed."
Uchiha Jin agreed completely with the man's assessment.
He even nodded.
A tiny kid, brimming with approval.
After laughing, the scar-faced man scanned the area.
Once he was sure nobody was following, he waved his hand. "All right. Since we ran into each other, you're in luck too. I'll take you somewhere else to live!"
Crackle!
The next second, he turned into a bolt of lightning and shot after the boy!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
He was several times faster than before!
But—he still came up empty.
Jin simply hopped back half a step, dodging the grab.
Whoosh~
A cool breeze swept by.
Moonlight fell.
The Forest of Death turned silver-gray.
Uchiha Jin rubbed the tree trunk beside him, where the Flying Thunder God formula was inscribed, and shook his head gently.
"Getting a little impatient, aren't you, old man?"
"How about we talk for ten minutes?"
Cloud Envoy: ...
He took a deep breath. When he looked at Jin again, the scorn in his eyes had vanished.
All that remained was excitement!
"Looks like you're a little prodigy too. I really am lucky!"
"Lightning Release: Lightning Snake!"
He suddenly set Hinata down and formed hand seals!
Chakra surged rapidly through his body.
Crackle!
A purple Lightning Serpent appeared out of nowhere and lunged at Uchiha Jin without warning.
The strike was swift, precise, and vicious!
"Oh? Lightning Release?"
Jin's eyes shifted. He held back the urge to activate his Golden Body of Light.
Instead, he quietly spun his Sharingan.
It was his first real fight against an enemy since he'd crossed over several years ago.
Was he nervous?
Maybe a little.
But not much.
The shinobi facing him was, at best, a Special Jonin.
And Jin had his immortal body as a safety net!
In other words, he couldn't be killed, so he could just do whatever he wanted!
Whoosh!
The next second, his figure flickered and leaped between the treetops, dodging the Lightning Serpent's attack.
At a glance, it looked like the Body Flicker Technique. But anyone skilled in space-time techniques would have noticed that the Node around him shifted slightly with each teleport.
The Flying Thunder God Technique!
With more than a million units of Chakra at his disposal, he could even use Chakra to weave a spiderweb in midair.
"So fast!"
The scar-faced man looked grim.
He couldn't keep up with Jin's movements!
A sense of unease began to rise in his heart.
He couldn't waste any more time. Reinforcements were on their way!
He took a deep breath and formed the Boar Seal. "Lightning Release: Lightning Clone!"
Crackle!
The next second, an identical figure appeared beside him.
Then both of them formed hand seals at the same time.
"Lightning Release: Lightning Snake!"
Two Lightning Serpents appeared, moving even faster than before!
They crackled like bolts of lightning.
"Bring it on!"
Jin stopped using the Flying Thunder God, his little face bright with anticipation.
The Flying Thunder God was too broken. He could try something else!
Soon, the black in his eyes began to turn crimson.
His Sharingan spun, its three tomoe whirling!
With his Dynamic Vision layered on top, he could clearly track the Lightning Serpents' movements!
Crackle, crackle!
Snap!
The Lightning Serpents' trajectories broke down into slow-motion fragments across his retinas.
Left side!
As it closed in, Jin immediately leaped to the right.
Thud!
Smack!
The Lightning Serpent missed and struck the rocks behind him.
"Three-Tomoe Sharingan? When did Konoha produce another prodigy like this?!"
When the scar-faced man saw the three tomoe in Jin's eyes, his expression darkened.
On the battlefield, someone with the Three Tomoe was at least a squad leader!
In other words, this child who looked no older than six or seven was already strong enough to rival a Special Jonin?
No!
He couldn't let him live!
He took a deep breath, determination flashing in his eyes!
The next second, Chakra surged rapidly through his body!
Crackle!
Purple lightning spread out like a spiderweb, covering the area around them.
If the boy was fast, then he'd fill the entire area with lightning!
In other words, he could afford to make mistake after mistake, but Jin only needed to slip up once to get caught!
"Eh? They caught up already?"
Jin glanced behind him and stopped holding back.
He didn't want to expose himself to Konoha F4 just yet.
Then he flung twelve shuriken behind him!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Each one shot from an unexpected angle. Just as the scar-faced man was about to dodge, he felt a gust of force suddenly strike from behind!
"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!"
The technique he'd obtained by chance during four years of "training" finally came in handy!
Before you continue