Art is Explosion

Since there was a possibility of Misaka Mikoto becoming his follower, it would certainly be correct for him to be a bit more "enthusiastic" toward the girl.

Uchiha Fucheng completely abandoned his previous indifferent attitude.

After all, he had finally found someone the system identified as a potential follower, and his most urgent task now was to increase that follower's level of approval.

Perhaps once the value reached one hundred percent, he would be able to utilize his rewards.

Fucheng casually sealed the heads of the Sand ninja chunin and the puppeteer into a scroll.

He asked Misaka Mikoto in a gentle tone, "How did you few chunin and genin end up operating alone on the battlefield?"

Misaka Mikoto's eyes dimmed slightly.

She pointed to the side of the road, where the corpses of two Konoha genin lay, their blood not yet dry.

She said with a touch of sorrow, "We were part of four chunin squads escorting supplies when we were ambushed by Sand ninja halfway. I was running with the supply wagons alongside several genin, but we ended up getting separated from the main force."

"Just now, in this forest, we unexpectedly ran into a Sand ninja puppeteer and that masked chunin. We were first struck by his puppet's poison needles, which killed two of our people; I and the three remaining genin are the only ones left."

While they were speaking, Uchiha Hezi, who had just retreated, returned with two civilian genin, having recovered the supply wagons that had been frightened off.

Looking at the scattered corpses of the Sand ninja nearby, Hezi appeared exceptionally agitated. "Lord Fucheng, I am the granddaughter of the Second Elder! My name is Uchiha Hezi. We would have been dead for sure if not for you, Lord Fucheng."

The girl, her small face flushed red, was staring with a pair of single-tomoe Sharingan, enthusiastically recounting the sequence of events to Fucheng.

Uchiha Hezi looked like someone who had just survived a brush with death.

That single tomoe of hers had been forcibly awakened by the sheer terror of this life-or-death experience.

Uchiha Fucheng encouraged her, "You did well, too. A twelve-year-old girl awakening the Sharingan—you'll be a chunin before long."

Hezi lowered her head slightly. "It was all thanks to my companions protecting me; otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to awaken my eyes."

Following Hezi's gaze, Fucheng saw the corpse of a genin lying supine by the roadside.

The posture and the green wound on the arm suggested he had blocked a poisoned kunai for someone else.

Hezi murmured, "This toxin, which the Sand ninja call [Chiyo Poison], is too potent. The antidotes we brought are useless against it."

Fucheng sighed inwardly, Regardless of anything else, they are just twelve-year-old children. War is far too cruel for these kids who haven't even fully grown up yet!

As a former wild mine owner from Earth who had made his fortune by "having many brothers and a heavy fist," Li Fucheng admitted he couldn't be considered a "good person."

He was simply ruthless, bold, and possessed a bottom line of morality that his brothers had praised.

But compared to these people in the ninja world, he was practically a "white lotus" with perfectly upright values.

At his age of fifteen or sixteen, in the memories he had integrated, he had personally killed at least a hundred people.

What kind of concept was that? Even the most deranged serial killers on Earth might not necessarily kill a hundred people.

No wonder there were so few Uchiha clan members on the battlefield who didn't awaken their eyes.

The mental stimulation on the battlefield was simply too immense.

Although Fucheng was not their jonin captain, as the only jonin-level combatant present, he quickly arranged follow-up tasks for the group.

"Clear the scene as quickly as possible and retreat with the supplies toward the southwest. The main force of reinforcements is currently heading here from that direction."

After arranging for them to retreat, Uchiha Fucheng intended to return to the battlefield first.

Perhaps with his increased strength, it would be safer to rendezvous with Uchiha Yashiro and the others.

But Misaka Mikoto, who had just left, encountered even greater trouble before she had gone very far!

This time, it was Uchiha Hezi who was the first to become alert. Under the meticulous observation of her Sharingan, she keenly discovered a strange anomaly beneath the sand by the roadside.

"Watch out, it's an ambush! Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

Uchiha Hezi knew that the power of her Fire Style was not great.

However, she wasn't trying to injure the enemy; she simply realized that Uchiha Fucheng hadn't gone far, and she wanted to use a high-impact Fire Style to alert him that there was a sudden enemy situation.

The enemy beneath the sand indeed leaped out from the ground under the attack of the Fire Style.

It was as if he had been moving freely through the underground just a moment ago.

"A ninja from the Land of Fire, to think you could discover me—you're quite good."

A ninja wearing a Sand ninja headband showed no tension at being discovered; instead, he swaggered out from his subterranean concealment.

The Great Fireball from before had been like a small firework set off beside him, posing no threat whatsoever.

The mysterious ninja was not only masked but also wore goggles characteristic of the Land of Rain.

He was all about strange equipment and a mixed-and-matched style.

If not for the stone-based defensive traces of Earth Style clearly hanging on his body, his appearance wouldn't look like that of a normal ninja at all.

Uchiha Hezi's Great Fireball had only managed to scorch a small patch of his Earth Style defense.

The opponent was strong!

Misaka Mikoto knew that Fucheng was not far away and would certainly return to reinforce them upon hearing the commotion.

Because of this, her state of mind was much more stable than when she had encountered the puppeteer earlier.

Watching the mysterious ninja who was hiding his identity, Mikoto simply guarded the few genin beside her with caution.

She intended to use stalling tactics to wait for reinforcements.

The opponent clearly sensed Mikoto's intentions, merely scoffing with utter indifference.

The enemy said coldly, "The battle on the Suna front ahead hasn't ended yet; what kind of expert would come to help you? Why not just quietly enjoy death and the art of explosion?"

In Mikoto's eyes, this mysterious ninja, wearing a Suna forehead protector and Land of Rain goggles, was suspicious from head to toe.

Whether it was his ability to lurk and hide in the ground or the Earth Style ninjutsu he used to defend against her Fireball Jutsu, everything reminded Mikoto of one particular village.

Iwagakure.

In particular, the ninjutsu he used to hide beneath the ground was remarkably similar to Iwagakure's signature technique, Earth Style: Subterranean Voyage.

The mysterious ninja seemed extremely confident.

He was very proud of his strength, to the point that his disguise was executed quite sloppily.

Perhaps in his view, as long as he killed everyone, it did not matter whether his disguise was successful or not.

Without waiting for Misaka Mikoto to continue her analysis, the enemy ninja appeared directly in front of her using a Body Flicker Jutsu.

The fist he swung carried the sound of fiery explosions.

I can't block this!

Mikoto was startled.

Instantly stimulating her body with lightning, Mikoto dodged to the left at high speed.

The flaming fist, which Mikoto had barely managed to evade, smashed a deep pit three to four meters in diameter into the ground where she had just been standing.

"Explosion Style: Landmine Fist"

Boom! Rumble!

The continuous roar of explosions and the resulting shockwave blew Mikoto, who had dodged the direct attack, over a dozen meters away with the force of the blast.

A gash eight or nine centimeters long was torn into Mikoto's chunin vest.

A conical piece of debris, over ten centimeters long, was embedded in her left shoulder.

Uchiha Hezi and the other two genin stood in terror behind the supply wagon, able only to throw kunai in a desperate attempt to interfere with the opponent.

The power of the Explosion Style was immense.

The mysterious man used the Explosion Style: Landmine Fist again, blowing away all seven or eight kunai aimed at him.

Because Mikoto was fast, the opponent did not continue to pursue the lightly injured girl after his second assault.

Instead, like a charging bull, he swung his fists and rushed toward Uchiha Hezi and the other two.

"Feel death!"

The Explosion Style ninja said with a savage expression and a cruel tone.

"Art is an explosion!"