At that moment, Fucheng's eyes were wide open, his observation skills enhanced by the full power of his Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
This made it easier for Uchiha Fucheng to notice environmental details that were usually hard to spot.
"Mikoto, adjust course. Head 30 degrees west-northwest and run as fast as you can."
Fucheng called to the others. "I'll summon my Ninja Hawk shortly! As soon as it appears, take off and get into the air immediately. Don't stay on the ground."
Watching the dense thicket not far away, a hint of excitement showed in Uchiha Fucheng's eyes.
Fucheng led Mikoto and the others swiftly around a hollow in the thicket, then crossed a slope strewn with rocks.
Though they were moving quickly, the three Sand Ninja with the highest speed still caught up with them.
They were now less than a hundred meters away!
Watching the Sand Ninja's positions, Fucheng decisively brushed a kunai lightly against his finger.
Boar—Dog—Rooster—Monkey!
"Summoning Technique! Giant Ninja Hawk Garuda!"
With a bang, a cloud of smoke erupted.
The giant Ninja Hawk Garuda spread its wings and landed in front of Fucheng and the others.
Fucheng shouted, "Garuda, take the three of them up high. You don't need to join the fight."
Before his voice had even faded, Uchiha Fucheng spun around and leaped like a bolt of lightning.
"Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"
As a torrent of flames blocked the way, the giant Ninja Hawk Garuda carried Misaka Mikoto, Uchiha Hezi, and Hatake Jiangyi on its back and beat its huge wings, soaring into the sky.
The three Sand Ninja held back by the Fire Release were all jonin from the Land of Wind.
With their wealth of experience, they immediately understood Uchiha Fucheng's intentions.
"Watch out! It could be a trap!"
The three calmed themselves and didn't rush to attack.
"Something doesn't feel right."
The speaker was a young Sand Ninja with a horizontal scar across his face.
A white strip of cloth hung from his forehead, partly covering his left eye.
The other two Sand Ninja also eyed Uchiha Fucheng warily.
"Sharingan? So you're a brat from the Uchiha Clan. Why didn't you run just now?"
Uchiha Fucheng smiled and looked at the three lazily, but his voice turned cold. "If I weren't worried about those five puppet masters behind you getting away, I wouldn't even have needed to summon the giant hawk."
Fucheng's words made the three even more suspicious.
They even felt as if the bushes flickering around them were about to spring to life.
"Wait! Those aren't bushes!"
The thicket closest to the three instantly turned from green to inky black.
The black bushes transformed into a streak of light and flashed past the three at tremendous speed.
"Sharingan Genjutsu: Binding!" ×2
Two identical genjutsu were cast!
A figure who looked just like Fucheng and Uchiha Fucheng flanked the three Sand Ninja, one in front and one behind.
Two pairs of Three-Tomoe Sharingan spun rapidly, their tomoe fixed intently on the three.
The Sand Ninja panicked instantly!
Only the scar-faced Sand Ninja managed to remain calm, staring hard at the ground.
He cautiously watched Fucheng's feet, not daring to look at either pair of Sharingan.
The other two Sand Ninja jonin weren't so lucky; their faces filled with terror.
"Run!"
One fled left, the other backward. Like startled lambs, they turned and ran in blind panic.
Body Flicker Technique.
A horizontal slash from a sword!
The Sand Ninja fleeing left charged straight ahead in a daze, as if he didn't see the sword in front of him.
A Konoha Ninja appeared with the Body Flicker Technique and slashed him from his left shoulder down to his right ribs.
His entrails and blood spilled across the ground.
The Sand Ninja who fled backward met an even worse fate!
A blue-glowing kunai, wielded by the Sharingan ninja who looked like Fucheng, plunged through his face and into his brain.
From Uchiha Fucheng's Sharingan-enhanced perspective, the scene played out in near tenfold slow motion, making the Sand Ninja's death all the more gruesome.
Brutal!
Utterly brutal!
The kunai's tip burst into his eyeball.
Its metal handle savagely punched through the eye socket.
Even the rough hand gripping the kunai smashed all the way into the Sand Ninja's left eye socket!
His eye socket shattered.
His entire face was smashed to pieces.
The Sand Ninja acted as if he couldn't see his opponent, doing nothing but scream wildly.
He was completely immersed in the illusory scene controlled by the genjutsu.
Crack.
Clatter!
Those two sounds came from Uchiha Seimei's sword as it cut the two chunks of the corpse down.
Splurt.
Crunch!
Those sounds came from the wretched Sand Ninja whose brain had been pierced before Uchiha Fugaku flung him away.
One rose, one fell.
In less than two seconds, only the scar-faced Sand Ninja remained of the three elite Sand Ninja, standing with his head bowed in place.
The scar-faced Sand Ninja felt his legs trembling.
He hadn't dared look at his opponent the entire time.
Under the threat of the Sharingan, he only dared look at the ground.
He moved his feet quickly, tracking the enemy's six feet with his peripheral vision.
The three Uchiha Ninja casually surrounded him, making no move to attack.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves!"
Unwilling to sit back and wait for death, the Sand Ninja used his best Wind Release to attack in every direction.
He didn't know whether he had fallen under a genjutsu.
All he could do was use the most chakra-intensive jutsu with the widest range to keep the three opponents at bay.
As soon as he unleashed the Wind Release, the three Uchiha Ninja spread out in perfect unison, as if they'd planned it beforehand.
They nimbly dodged the Wind Release. The wind blades and broad waves of air were all for nothing.
The large-scale Vacuum Serial Waves, a B+ difficulty technique, were effortlessly evaded by the three Uchiha, whose keen eyes let them stroll between the attacks.
Uchiha Fucheng's attention had long since left the Sand Ninja.
He stared at the newly arrived Uchiha with the Three-Tomoe Sharingan before him, surprised.
"Uchiha Fugaku was lying in wait here?!"
Though Uchiha Fugaku was two years older than Fucheng, they were about the same height.
Fugaku simply had deeper tear troughs and nasolabial folds.
In that regard, he looked very much like Itachi.
As far as their looks went, the two were remarkably alike for brothers.
At that moment, Fugaku was unhurriedly wiping his right hand with a handkerchief.
"Seimei, go help Huoying. Hold off the five Sand Ninja behind us for now. Just keep them tied down, and be careful. They have puppet masters, so don't get poisoned."
Even after Uchiha Seimei left, the scar-faced Sand Ninja facing the two didn't dare make a move.
"Wicked Eye Fugaku! I actually ran into Wicked Eye Fugaku!" The scar-faced jonin was filled with fear.
He kept his eyes fixed on the two pairs of feet in his field of vision, not daring to attack first.
Fugaku's killing intent on the battlefield was clearly intense. But when he looked at Fucheng, his eyes were full of concern.
"Fucheng, Yashiro said you were injured?"
"Perfect!" Hearing Fugaku speak, the scar-faced Sand Ninja rejoiced.
Seeing the two Uchiha jonin take their attention off him, the Sand Ninja slowly backed away, then turned and ran.
A pair of Three-Tomoe Sharingan appeared before the Sand Ninja as he turned his head!
Fugaku's eyes made the Sand Ninja feel as if he'd fallen into an ice cellar.
"Did I let you run?"
The Sand Ninja was horrified. Wicked Eye Fugaku, who had just spoken behind him, had appeared in front of him! "That was a clone. I fell for it!"
The Sand Ninja felt his body slip out of his control. His entire field of vision was swallowed by the scarlet Sharingan...
The scar-faced Sand Ninja's final sensation was a kunai violently twisting beneath his ribs from behind.
"Damn it, the other pair of feet was a clone too..."
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