Self-Created, Frame-Skipping Illusion Body Flicker

After sending off Kureya Inuzuka, Kawadera Uchiha turned and approached the squad leader, Kazu Hyuga.

"Squad leader! Please give me a mission!"

Kazu Hyuga was extremely surprised.

For as many years as he could remember, he had never seen such a maverick Uchiha.

This Uchiha had actually let his teammates leave the battlefield to notify the squad leader in the safe zone, while he himself stayed behind?

Relying on their control over the Police Force, the Uchiha Clan would refuse mobilization even when the village issued a call to arms, citing that the Police Force could not spare the manpower.

It was said that during the most critical moment of the Land of Grass battlefield, a batch of Uchiha ninja had been conscripted, but the village had to pay the price of six Jonin slots and fourteen Special Jonin slots.

Other ninja clans held deep grievances; they were fighting and dying on the front lines, yet they couldn't even secure two or three Jonin slots.

The Uchiha Clan was powerful and acted without fear, and Kazu Hyuga understood the compromises made by the village's top brass.

A lone wolf like Kawadera Uchiha, who did not hold a position in the Police Force, was quite rare within the Uchiha.

Kazu Hyuga said, "You will serve as a messenger ninja! I collect and analyze intelligence, and my assistant will quickly write it into scrolls; you are responsible for delivering them to the command staff. The command staff will also have you deliver order scrolls to the various squad leaders on the front lines."

Kawadera Uchiha was stunned. Wasn't this the branch of service that the Führer served in during the First World War—the communication messenger?

This branch was far too dangerous; some said the mortality rate was 98%, others said 60%.

Dozens of seconds later, Kazu Hyuga's assistant handed over a scroll.

"Deliver this to the command tent!"

Kawadera Uchiha felt this mission was too dangerous.

In the depths of his consciousness, Kawadera Uchiha said, "Lord Second Hokage! Pay me more! Otherwise, I'm not going!"

Tobirama Senju, however, replied, "I trust the combat regulations I formulated for Konoha. Refusing a mission at this time is equivalent to being a rogue ninja. If you refuse, Kazu Hyuga will kill you in half a second. When Kazu Hyuga was young, he followed me for three months. Believe me, his pressure-point strikes are swift and fierce; you will die very comfortably, without even the chance to feel pain. Do not attempt to abandon the mission halfway. If you delay Kazu Hyuga's intelligence work, he will treat you as a rogue ninja, hunt you to the ends of the earth himself, and then commit ritual suicide to answer to Konoha."

Kawadera Uchiha felt bitter in his heart and cursed under his breath:

"Just tell me, are these damn combat regulations you specified anti-human, inhumane, and completely insane?"

The conversation with Tobirama Senju was merely a few thoughts flashing through his mind and did not delay him. Kawadera Uchiha took the scroll, first leaped onto a high watchtower to locate the command tent, then gathered chakra in his feet and departed using the Body Flicker Technique.

The path from the watchtower to the command tent was safe.

Upon entering the command tent, Kawadera Uchiha thought he would encounter a ninja from the Nara Clan.

However, the chief of staff sitting in the rear command was actually a ninja from the Aburame Clan.

In the original work, the Aburame Clan also possessed high combat intelligence; they hid behind their sunglasses and collars, always observing, always thinking.

Kawadera Uchiha then remembered that having the Nara Clan serve as Konoha's strategists was a convention of the later stages of Konoha.

At this time, the Aburame Clan was more trusted by the Senju Clan, and following the inertia of the Second Hokage's era, the Aburame Clan held high positions.

After handing the intelligence squad's scroll to a staff officer, the officer immediately began changing the layout on the sand table.

"Lord Ku Aburame! White Fang on the left flank and Ken Senju on the right flank have already begun a pincer offensive! But! Lord Ken Senju's speed is too fast, he's overextended—I don't know if it's a trap or if Lord Ken Senju is just charging too quickly!"

Kawadera Uchiha watched the sand table from afar; a pincer movement—they were preparing to annihilate the Cloud Ninja.

Ku Aburame stared at the sand table, thought for a moment, and said:

"Lord Ken Senju is moving too fast; he will invite a focused counterattack from the Cloud Ninja. He must be warned!"

He scanned the tent and saw the messenger ninja, Kawadera Uchiha.

He knew Kawadera Uchiha was a member of Seigetsu Senju's squad.

Since he was a subordinate of Seigetsu Senju, Ku Aburame believed he could temporarily ignore the Uchiha label on him.

This Uchiha was not quite like the other Uchiha.

The staff officer had already written the scroll and handed it to Ku Aburame.

Ku Aburame threw the scroll to Kawadera Uchiha and said:

"Messenger ninja! Deliver this intelligence to Lord Ken Senju or his subordinates! Remind the Lord to slow down!"

After taking the scroll, Kawadera Uchiha memorized the troop deployments of both sides on the sand table and turned to leave decisively.

Just as he rushed out of the camp, a dense whistling sound suddenly appeared overhead.

Dozens of kunai flew toward him from the air.

Judging by the speed and arc of those kunai, they were not aimed at him; they were stray arrows from the battlefield.

It was unclear which ninja skilled in ninja tools had missed their mark during a round of attacks.

Kunai nailed into the wooden walls of the camp, emitting a rhythmic thudding sound.

With the camp serving as the apex of a parabola, the Konoha ninja on both flanks were closing in, forming a pincer movement.

Avoiding the clash between Konoha and the Cloud Ninja, Kawadera Uchiha darted rapidly behind the front lines.

Kawadera Uchiha had just been about to tell Tobirama Senju that he wanted an A-rank mission reward, yet the fighting was still fifty meters to his left, and he had traveled several hundred meters without encountering any danger.

If it was only at this level, it seemed difficult to bring up the request.

You Cloud Ninja really shouldn't be this weak; pull yourselves together.

Just then, the Konoha defensive line ahead suddenly collapsed!

Two Konoha squads were breached, and the Cloud Ninja surged out through the gap in the front line.

Kawadera Uchiha, who had been behind the Konoha ninja, suddenly found several Cloud Ninja directly in front of him.

One of the Cloud Ninja noticed Kawadera Uchiha and drew a kunai from his ninja tool pouch.

Kawadera Uchiha instantly activated his Sharingan, the two tomoe spinning slowly within his pupils.

Genjutsu: Mind Guidance!

He immediately planted a psychological suggestion in the Cloud Ninja, causing him to fall into a realistic illusion.

He had been pondering how to utilize his advantage in genjutsu for some time, and this was his first time putting his self-created technique into practice.

Upon seeing Kawadera Uchiha, the Cloud Ninja prepared to step over the corpse of a Konoha ninja and threw the kunai at Kawadera Uchiha.

A long blade was embedded in the corpse's abdomen, and the Cloud Ninja felt certain that the blade would trip the Konoha ninja.

However! The kunai passed through Kawadera Uchiha's figure without any obstruction, as if passing through thin air!

What is going on?

What kind of technique is that? Is it a Clone Technique? Or a Shadow Clone?

That can't be right; both the Clone Technique and Shadow Clone leave behind white smoke when struck.

In the blink of an eye, Kawadera Uchiha suddenly vanished, having already crossed over the corpse of the Konoha ninja, and appeared abruptly several meters away.

The Cloud Ninja suddenly realized he had fallen for a genjutsu!

The effect of the genjutsu was to make him believe in the image from one second ago.

One second ago, before the Konoha ninja had stepped over the corpse, he had already been caught in the illusion.

For that entire second, he had been seeing the Konoha ninja as if he hadn't crossed the corpse yet, while in reality, the ninja had long since appeared elsewhere.

What he was seeing was actually the image from one second prior.

The Cloud Ninja hurriedly tried to track the Konoha ninja again, but he witnessed a bizarre sight.

The Konoha ninja was not moving continuously, but rather shifting position every second, as if he were lagging.

In one frame, the Konoha ninja was thirty meters away; in the next, he was only twenty-some meters away.

Why was this Uchiha ninja from Konoha stuttering and teleporting frame by frame?