A bead of cold sweat slid down Hyuga Kokuten's forehead. He realized that while Uchiha Shin had been speaking, he had somehow appeared right in front of him.
"Die!"
Hyuga Kokuten roared and swung his long sword at where Shin stood. With a clang, it severed a patch of sword tips on the ground, but didn't touch Shin at all.
"Useless. You know this is a genjutsu, so you can't hurt me. Goodbye, sayonara!" Shin appeared behind him again. This time, he rose higher and higher. When he reached a certain height, all the sword tips on the mountain shot up at once, growing taller than a person and forming a dense thicket.
Three long swords pierced Hyuga Kokuten at once.
At the same time, in the real world, Uchiha Shin's kunai sliced across Kokuten's motionless neck.
"Ding! You killed a Special Jonin of the Hyuga Clan. Reward: 2,000 points."
"Mission activated: Support Uchiha Madara and kill the Jonin leading the Hyuga Clan team. Mission reward: 5,000 points. Failure will result in execution!"
"System, go to hell!"
He had just taken out Hyuga Kokuten when the system's voice rang in his ear. The smile on Shin's face froze. He never expected the system to assign a mission at a time like this, especially one with such an absurd objective.
Originally, according to his agreement with Madara, after Shin took out the enemy's Special Jonin, they would join forces to drive off the enemy Jonin, then turn back and deal with the remaining Chunin.
Note that they had agreed to drive the enemy off, not kill him. In other words, when Madara and Shin first made their plan, they never expected to be able to kill the enemy Jonin.
As members of the Uchiha Clan, they had, of course, seen how powerful Jonin were. To put it this way, although Special Jonin had the word "Jonin" in their title, the gap between them and full-fledged Jonin was far greater than anyone could imagine. Shin estimated that he could kill a Special Jonin in a head-on fight, but against a proper Jonin, he could probably only hold out for ten minutes before fleeing. Even with Uchiha Madara helping, they might be able to suppress the enemy a little, but killing him would be next to impossible.
Madara had talked a big game before the battle, saying he'd take the enemy down and use him as a stepping stone. But it was all bluster, just to psych himself up. You'd have to be a fool to believe him.
Now the system's mission explicitly said "kill." That made it a whole lot harder. A Jonin driven into a corner was terrifying; one wrong move, and Shin could end up dead.
Worst of all was the penalty for failing. Failure meant execution. The system was forcing him straight into a dead end.
Taking a deep breath, Shin forced himself to calm down. This was exactly when he needed to keep his head. He scanned the battlefield.
Uchiha Hayate was still locked in a fight with the enemy's Special Jonin. It didn't look like either of them would win anytime soon. The three Uchiha Chunin on Shin's side were each fighting one of the enemy Chunin, while Uchiha Izuna, holding a Tachi, was facing another Chunin alone. His age put him at a disadvantage, but he was gritting his teeth and holding on. He was managing to withstand the enemy's attacks, and wasn't in immediate danger.
The eighty-seven children of their generation, on the other hand, nearly made Shin furious when he glanced at them. The six Chunin were running rampant among them, killing someone within two or three moves.
"Even eighty students from the Ninja Academy could wear down these six Chunin. What a bunch of useless losers," Shin gritted his teeth to himself.
By their strength, the eighty-odd Genin could probably wipe out all six Chunin at the cost of ten lives, provided those Genin were normal people.
These kids were clearly inexperienced, unblooded youngsters. At first, they'd charged in full of enthusiasm, hoping to surround and kill the six Chunin. But after the enemy drew their swords and killed three of them in an instant, they were terrified. And when their comrades' blood splashed across them, they suddenly understood: this wasn't some ordinary mission or game. This was a real fight to the death. People could die.
Some of the children broke down and tried to run. The entire battlefield descended into chaos, and they couldn't fight at anything close to their true strength. Naturally, the battle turned into a one-sided slaughter.
Shin turned away. He'd known this would happen. After this, those who survived would put aside their childish ideas, undergo a transformation, and grow into real ninja—provided they survived.
Shin looked over at Uchiha Madara. Several trails of blood ran from the corner of Madara's mouth, his clothes were in tatters, and he was breathing hard as he struggled to fend off the enemy's attacks. By all appearances, he was nearing his limit.
But Shin keenly noticed the One-Tomoe in Madara's eyes slowly turning as he watched his opponent's every move. His expression was fierce, and he showed no sign of backing down. For a moment, Shin could already glimpse the man who would one day dominate the Ninja World.
"Hurry up and help me!"
Madara roared. Blood surged up his throat, and he suddenly spat out a large mouthful. He'd just managed to glance over at Shin and realized that he'd already dealt with the Special Jonin.
A faint smile touched Shin's lips. "You can still shout for help with that much energy. Doesn't look like you're at your limit yet!"
With that, he pulled out a handful of Kunai and rushed in another direction—not toward Uchiha Madara, but toward the battlefield where Uchiha Hayate was fighting another Special Jonin.
"Madara, things have changed! Hold on for five more minutes. I'll be right there!" Shin shouted. He reached the other Special Jonin and flung a Kunai, then completed his Hand Seals in an instant. "Fire Style: Fire Flame Slash!" He unleashed another B-rank jutsu he'd mastered without hesitation. Determined to end the fight quickly, Shin joined the battle.
"Fuck you! In five minutes, you'll be here to collect my corpse!" Madara nearly spat out another mouthful of blood and cursed outright.
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