Fourth: The Battle

At that instant, one of his teammates had actually thought Yuzuru was already dead.

But Yuzuru's reactions and control over his body were nothing like a Genin's. He had pulled off a counterkill with ease.

Yuzuru, however, was still shaken. What was that? Training by fighting for real?

There were eight enemy shinobi from Amegakure. Clearly, they had been lying in wait, hoping to catch someone off guard. This Konoha squad had simply been unlucky enough to stumble into their trap.

After taking down one enemy, Yuzuru didn't have time to check whether he was dead. The next enemy was already charging at him.

The second enemy was tall and gaunt, with hollow, indifferent eyes. A numbness seemed to cling to him, and a specialized respirator concealed his entire face. Only the Amegakure symbol on his Forehead Protector was clearly visible.

This man looked like the ideal ninja: devoid of emotion, knowing only how to kill, and bound by nothing but his mission.

Clang!

Yuzuru precisely deflected the enemy's short sword with the Kunai in his hand. The impact jolted through his thumb and forefinger, almost throwing him off balance. His enemy was strong. Shouldn't someone built like that have been left to the squad leader?

But Yuzuru had no time to worry about anything else. As the enemy swung again, he ducked beneath the blade, which cut through the air with a sharp whistle. Then he stepped in close, flicked his wrist to switch the Kunai from a reverse grip to a forward one, and drove its tip into the man's ribs.

Blood splattered once more.

The Amegakure ninja had a vicious streak. The pain beneath his ribs did nothing to slow his next attack. At such close range, he simply abandoned his sword and swung an elbow upward, trying to finish off Yuzuru, who was crouched low.

But in the next instant, Yuzuru's figure suddenly vanished.

After their brief exchange, Yuzuru had already realized that the Taijutsu he was displaying couldn't be explained by his status-screen stats alone...

Chakra erupted beneath his feet, and Yuzuru appeared at the enemy's side. He flung out several Shuriken, striking the back of the hand gripping the sword. The enemy dropped his short blade in pain.

Using the direction the Kunai had come from as a reference, the enemy caught sight of Yuzuru again out of the corner of his eye. But before he could counterattack, Yuzuru's figure vanished once more.

A hand snatched up the short sword as it fell. At the same time, the Amegakure ninja felt a weight settle on his shoulder.

Someone had stepped onto his shoulder. He instinctively looked up and saw a blade coming straight down. In doing so, he exposed his neck.

The long blade plunged into his chest through the side of his neck.

"Body Flicker Technique..."

The enemy's life was already ebbing away, but even so, he spread his arms and tried to deliver one last desperate counterattack, aiming to throw Yuzuru to the ground.

Left with no choice, Yuzuru kicked the hilt of the long sword. The sharp blade pierced right through the man, and at last he stopped moving. Like his companion, he fell from the tree into the muddy water below.

Yuzuru had taken down two enemies using only a few Body Flicker Techniques, and he had barely spent any chakra. This was how dirt-poor civilian-born ninja fought. Especially on a long mission deep behind enemy lines, they had to conserve chakra whenever they could.

Yuzuru's fight hadn't lasted long, but his raincoat was already almost completely stained red with blood. He had tested his own combat ability: the enemy's strength was probably around Chunin or Genin level, yet he, a battlefield novice, had dealt with them fairly easily.

Sure enough, mastering the Body Flicker Technique could get you far on the battlefield.

Still, he had to be careful. The Body Flicker Technique he used was merely a high-speed movement technique, not the Flying Thunder God or any other Space-Time Ninjutsu. An enemy with sharp enough senses could still track his movements. The Body Flicker Technique was reliable, but he couldn't rely on it too much.

"Sure enough, when people get killed, they die. But I don't want to die..." Yuzuru murmured as he looked at the two bodies.

Only after taking down the two enemies did he have time to check on his teammates.

Squad leader Torifu Akimichi had already dealt with the enemies around him. Holding a long black iron staff, he'd simply struck each of the three who charged him once and taken them out. His fighting style was plain and unadorned, yet it had made the strength of a seasoned elite Jonin clear.

Torifu Akimichi stood as though he had the battlefield entirely under control. But instead of attacking again, he watched how his teammates were faring.

On the other side, a huge orange fireball appeared with an explosive roar. The scorching flames evaporated a wide swath of rain, and white steam instantly billowed through the forest. It was the Uchiha's signature ninjutsu, the Great Fireball Technique. Hazuki Uchiha had chosen her angle and distance well; two enemies were swallowed by the flames in an instant.

The last enemy only had Kairi Omori to deal with. But she didn't attack directly, instead leading him around in circles. She seemed to be fleeing in a panic, but after a few loops, she completed a Binding Technique formation on the ground. The lone remaining enemy stood in the center like a puppet on strings. She had captured him alive.

The squad regrouped, and the four of them went to stand by the last enemy.

"Hazuki, see if you can find out whether he has any valuable information." Torifu Akimichi remembered Hazuki Uchiha saying that she was skilled in Genjutsu.

"Okay."

Hazuki Uchiha stepped in front of the enemy and fixed her Sharingan on his eyes. One eye had Three Tomoe, the other two. Yuzuru saw it clearly.

Judging by how far her eyes had developed, she was probably quite skilled.

The Genjutsu easily took control of the enemy's mind, but he had no valuable information.

"They were only assigned to ambush anyone who wandered into their trap."

Torifu Akimichi nodded. These Amegakure ninja were weak overall and couldn't have carried out a targeted mission. A squad made up entirely of Chunin and Genin could only manage an ordinary ambush.

Then Torifu Akimichi singled Yuzuru out for praise. "Yuzuru, your Body Flicker Technique is excellent. Who taught you?"

"Captain, I practiced on my own."

"Very impressive. Your Body Flicker Technique is beyond Genin level. It'll definitely come in handy in the battles ahead."

For once, Yuzuru told the truth. "Captain, I don't even know what level my Body Flicker Technique is."

"Hmm... You taught yourself through trial and error? In that case, you must have a real talent for the Body Flicker Technique."

As if that were Yuzuru's talent. It was the Fourth Hokage's talent.

For a ninja born into an ordinary family, the most important thing wasn't whether they had talent. It was whether they had access to the resources and opportunities to learn. Plenty of civilian-born ninja never found out whether they had any talent at all before they died.

"Let's leave here quickly. That was a lot of noise."

In truth, their fight hadn't made much noise, apart from the powerful Fire Release Hazuki had unleashed.

The squad's mission wasn't to engage the enemy directly. So, after quickly dealing with the prisoners and gathering a few useful supplies, they set off again.

They hadn't gone far before the heavy rain washed the blood from Yuzuru's clothes in no time.