Slaying the Special Jonin (Part 2)

"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"

Shin had barely solidified his form when the hand seals were already complete. A massive dragon of fire roared as it lunged toward Hyuga Kokuten.

"A B-rank ninjutsu! This brat..."

Hyuga Kokuten dodged in a panic, cold sweat dripping from his forehead. The power of a B-rank ninjutsu was enough to threaten an average jonin, let alone a special jonin like himself. If he were hit, he would likely be burned to a crisp on the spot.

"Sharingan, activate!"

Since the fight had begun, he would go all out from the start. This had always been Uchiha Shin's philosophy; hiding one's strength was only a tactic for when the gap between opponents was vast enough. Otherwise, it was simply courting death.

"Three tomoe, impossible...?!"

Hyuga Kokuten caught sight of the three tomoe in Uchiha Shin's eyes and his mind reeled. How could this be? The child before him was at most five years old, yet he had already awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan. What kind of monster was he?

"If you have time to be surprised, you'd be better off worrying about yourself," Shin said coolly. Before Hyuga Kokuten could even process what was happening, a wave of scorching heat surged from behind him.

How can he manipulate the fire dragon to turn around? The thought flashed through Hyuga Kokuten's mind. He was a ninja who had seen the battlefield, and his reactions were swift. He activated his Byakugan, and in an instant, his 360-degree field of vision took in everything. He saw the Fire Dragon Flame Bullet he had just dodged turning back to lunge at him again.

"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm Lion Roar Fist!" Hyuga Kokuten hurriedly gathered chakra into his hands and unleashed a punch. A lion's head formed from concentrated chakra roared as it met the fire dragon, colliding with a deafening boom.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!" Shuriken spun through the air, instantly coated in chakra flames, and struck at Hyuga Kokuten from multiple directions.

That wasn't all. Shin's hands never stopped moving, and in an instant, he unleashed three more fire techniques: "Fire Style: Fire Dragon Technique!" "Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!" "Fire Style: Flower Claw Fire Technique!"

The powerful flames raged without pause, and massive explosions echoed one after another until Hyuga Kokuten's figure was no longer visible.

A true ninja was one who utilized their own strengths to exploit the weaknesses of others. Those who knew their opponent's strengths and still insisted on a head-on collision usually died during their very first mission.

Shin knew exactly where the strengths of the Hyuga Clan lay. Their Byakugan provided all-encompassing insight, allowing them to see an opponent's chakra flow, while their Shintle Fist and Eight Trigrams Palms were techniques centered on taijutsu. Aside from someone whose brain was filled with water, Shin couldn't think of any reason why a ninja would choose to engage a Hyuga in close-quarters combat.

Well, except for that guy Uchiha Madara! Shin glanced into the distance at Madara, who was happily hacking away at a Hyuga jonin with a long blade, and added the thought silently.

The Uchiha Clan's fire techniques were famous throughout the Warring States period for their immense power; even a C-rank ninjutsu could pose a threat to a jonin. That was why Hyuga Kokuten had been forced to dodge constantly. He hadn't felt this stifled in a long time, and the fact that his opponent was a five-year-old child only stoked his fury.

Shin retreated while continuously unleashing fire techniques, maintaining a distance of at least fifty meters. Even when his opponent occasionally countered with the long-range strikes of the Shintle Fist, Shin dodged them with ease.

Before I transmigrated, I was a Frost Mage in WoW. Kiting someone is practically child's play.

His Sharingan observed every move his opponent made, and his powerful fire techniques never ceased. Along with their fire techniques, the Uchiha were also famous for their massive chakra reserves. Aside from the Senju, no other clan in the ninja world could consistently surpass the Uchiha in raw chakra volume.

"Damn it!"

After dodging another blast of flame, Hyuga Kokuten couldn't help but curse. Facing this kind of shameless fighting style, he was being driven to the brink of madness. Gritting his teeth, he decided that even if he had to take a hit, he would kill this wretched brat.

"Body Flicker Technique!"

Hyuga Kokuten's figure vanished instantly, reappearing twenty meters closer. He vanished again, closing the distance to less than ten meters, and after one final flicker, he appeared right in front of Shin.

The so-called Body Flicker Technique was a general term for high-speed movement ninjutsu. It wasn't difficult to learn, and most major clans kept scrolls on it, but the technique placed a massive burden on the body. Unless one was a jonin specializing in taijutsu, it was hard to withstand the damage caused by such high-speed movement, so most ninjas didn't use it often.

The fact that Hyuga Kokuten had resorted to the Body Flicker Technique meant he had been pushed into a corner by Uchiha Shin. He was willing to risk injury just to force Shin into close-quarters combat.

"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Mountain-Breaking Slash!" The moment he appeared, Hyuga Kokuten unleashed his strongest attack—one of the three A-rank ninjutsu he had mastered.

All his chakra surged frantically into the blade as he swung it down in a split second. Hyuga Kokuten was full of confidence in this strike; even if a jonin stood before him, he could cleave them in two.

Uchiha Shin's expression was grave. He couldn't dodge this strike, but he hadn't intended to. The three tomoe in his eyes spun wildly as he locked gazes with his opponent, and his body suddenly shifted.

Caw, caw, caw...

Hyuga Kokuten's full-power strike only severed a few crow feathers. The sensation of putting everything into a blow only to hit cotton was enough to make one want to vomit blood.

The flock of crows gathered once more, reforming into the shape of Uchiha Shin. "That guy Madara said he could only hold your leader off for ten minutes, and seven have already passed. If I don't finish you off now, I'll probably have to go collect his corpse. So, as much as I hate to lose such a good target, I have to take you out."

Hyuga Kokuten was disgusted to the point of nausea by Shin's fighting style. His face twisted involuntarily as he sneered, "Are you saying that if you wanted to, you could kill me at any time?"

Shin shook his head. The man was likely already traumatized, though if he were in his shoes, he'd probably feel the same. He had experienced the feeling of being kited plenty of times himself.

"Haven't you noticed how quiet it is here? We're in the middle of a battle, yet there's no other sound!"

Prompted by Shin, Hyuga Kokuten finally noticed that the surroundings were eerily silent. He looked around and his heart shook violently. Where was the Uchiha Clan hall? He was clearly standing on a mountain of blades, with dense, sharp points extending right to his feet, and he didn't dare move a muscle.

"Shinjutsu? When?" Hyuga Kokuten understood in an instant. As he asked, he secretly gathered chakra to disrupt his own internal flow, hoping to break the genjutsu.

Shin said, "Don't waste your energy. You should have realized it yourself—the moment you used the Body Flicker Technique to charge at me and we locked eyes, you were already under the genjutsu. I created this technique by combining two C-rank genjutsu, the Temple of Nirvana Technique and the Demonic Illusion: Fox Spirit Technique. I suppose it counts as a B-rank now. This is my first time using it; let's call it the Fox Decapitation Technique. What do you think?"