Encounter Battle

Uchiha Yuan naturally understood that as well, so the moment he heard Shibi Aburame's order, he immediately created a Shadow Clone and rushed with his real body toward the spot on the left front where the enemy had been discovered.

Uchiha Yuan approached very cautiously. Partway there, he formed hand seals again and created a Water Clone.

After Uchiha Yuan slowly groped forward for more than four hundred meters, he finally discovered traces of the enemy.

Judging from their clothing and appearance, these five people were undoubtedly Kirigakure Shinobi.

Uchiha Yuan activated his Sharingan and used the ability of the Double Tomoe in his left eye to see chakra networks, confirming the Chakra Amount of the five of them.

Among the five, two had less chakra than he did. Of the remaining three, one had roughly the same amount of chakra as him, while the other two both had more.

It was difficult to determine a ninja's strength by Chakra Amount alone. Uchiha Yuan thought for a moment, had his Shadow Clone stay there, then controlled the Water Clone to keep running forward.

A Water Clone could not be too far from the main body, so Uchiha Yuan also followed the Water Clone forward for a short distance, then controlled the Water Clone to maintain a normal ninja running state as it leaped through the treetops.

After several leaps, the Water Clone arrived at the place where the Kirigakure Shinobi were.

After observing in secret for a few seconds, he confirmed that the two whose Chakra Amount was lower than his should be about the same age as him, Genin level at most. The one whose Chakra Amount was on par with his was a bit older than him, while the other two looked middle-aged.

"Who's there?" Among the Kirigakure Shinobi below, the person whose Chakra Amount was roughly equal to Uchiha Yuan's stood up and threw a Kunai toward the place where Uchiha Yuan's Water Clone was.

A sensory ninja? Uchiha Yuan's Water Clone thought.

After that, the Water Clone pretended to be startled and turned to run.

His movements were naturally discovered by the Kirigakure Shinobi.

The leading Kirigakure Shinobi swept a glance over the panicked Water Clone and said, "Looks like a rookie who just graduated from the Ninja Academy."

"Captain, we can't be careless. It might just be a Shadow Clone scouting the way," said the sensory ninja who had discovered Uchiha Yuan.

"We'll know if it's a Shadow Clone after testing it." After saying that, the leading Kirigakure Shinobi rose and used two Body Flicker Techniques in succession, catching up with the fleeing Water Clone. Seeing this, the Water Clone was just about to turn around and resist when the leading Kirigakure Shinobi directly slit its throat with a Kunai.

"Splash—" The Water Clone turned into a puddle of water and fell from the air.

After Uchiha Yuan sensed the Water Clone dissipate, he hurriedly used two Teleportations to pull away.

After dealing with the Water Clone, the leading Kirigakure Shinobi muttered to himself, "It was actually a Water Clone? Then this guy's real body is nearby."

After saying that, the leading Kirigakure Shinobi leaped upward and, sure enough, saw Uchiha Yuan's Shadow Clone fleeing.

"Found you!" The leading Kirigakure Shinobi smiled cruelly and charged toward the Shadow Clone.

The Shadow Clone lowered its head, quietly activated its Sharingan, and turned around the instant the leading Kirigakure Shinobi was about to close in.

Genjutsu: Hell Viewing Technique!

The leading Kirigakure Shinobi's movements paused. Seeing this, the Shadow Clone directly flung out the Kunai in its hand, stabbing the leading Kirigakure Shinobi in the throat.

"Splash—" The leading Kirigakure Shinobi whose throat had been stabbed also instantly turned into a puddle of water.

The next second, a voice sounded behind Uchiha Yuan. "Little guy, you didn't think you were the only one who could use a Water Clone, did you?"

Uchiha Yuan's Shadow Clone's expression changed drastically.

"There aren't many in the Uchiha Clan who can awaken the Sharingan at this age! I couldn't tell you were actually a genius. Too bad you ran into me." After saying that, the leading Kirigakure Shinobi gave Uchiha Yuan's Shadow Clone no chance at all. He drew the Tanto from his back and cut off the Shadow Clone's head.

"Poof—" The Shadow Clone immediately turned into a cloud of smoke and dissipated.

The memory of the brief exchange with the leading Kirigakure Shinobi, along with the pain of being beheaded, was transmitted back to Uchiha Yuan's real body.

"Hiss—" The intense pain made Uchiha Yuan suck in a breath of cold air, doing his part for global warming.

Uchiha Yuan touched his neck and recalled the leading Kirigakure Shinobi's movements just now, muttering to himself, "That guy just now is most likely a Jonin. He dealt with two of my clones using only Taijutsu and Body Flicker. He won't be easy to handle!"

After saying that, Uchiha Yuan swallowed a Soldier Pill, recovered some chakra, then sped up and returned to Shibi Aburame's side, telling Shibi Aburame the information he had just probed out.

After hearing this, Shibi Aburame thought for a moment and said, "If it's only one Jonin, we should be able to deal with him. The key is that we don't know the situation with the other four."

"Didn't Yuan say that among the other four, two had less Chakra Amount than him, one was equal to him, and the other had more than him? If we just look at Chakra Amount, then only the last one with more chakra than Yuan, as well as their captain, need our caution, right?" Yamanaka Kizuki said.

"Kizuki, we can't judge a person's strength by Chakra Amount alone. Otherwise, I wouldn't have gone to so much trouble to test them just now," Uchiha Yuan said.

"Chakra Amount is very important, but it's not suitable as a standard for measuring a ninja's strength," Shibi Aburame also said.

"Then what should we do?"

"We still need to first figure out their strength." After saying that, Shibi Aburame patted the jar on his back, and a swarm of insects flew out, heading straight toward the Kirigakure Shinobi.

"We'll follow, but don't get too close. It'll be enough as long as the Byakugan can clearly see their situation," Shibi Aburame said.

"Then we need to stop at about three hundred meters. Yuan just said they have a sensory ninja over there too. If they discover us at that distance, it'll be relatively hard to get away," Hyuga Asana said.

"We probably won't be discovered. Just now, my Water Clone only got within a hundred meters of them before it was discovered, and he didn't discover my real body or my Shadow Clone, so their sensory ninja's detection range should be within a hundred meters.

"And if it really comes to a fight, I'm confident I can instantly take out those two Genin whose Chakra Amount is lower than mine. There's also a chance to take out that sensory ninja.

"As for the remaining two, even if they're both Jonin, if we join forces, it's not like we have no chance of fighting them."

After listening to Uchiha Yuan, Shibi Aburame pondered for a moment and said, "Take out the sensory ninja first. Those two Genin aren't important."

After saying that, Shibi Aburame followed the insect swarm forward. Seeing this, Uchiha Yuan and the other two hurriedly followed.

The insect swarm flew at extremely high speed to the area where the Kirigakure Shinobi were.

The leading Kirigakure Shinobi was talking with his companions about having intercepted Uchiha Yuan just now.

"A Shadow Clone plus a Water Clone? Captain, that guy is very likely here to probe our strength," the sensory ninja said.

"I know, but we didn't find his real body, so we can only... Hm? What's that!" The leading Kirigakure Shinobi was halfway through speaking when he saw the swarm of insects flying over not far away.