Solo Kill of a Jonin

In the Fujiwara Mine, within the Uchiha garrison quarters, a flash of light manifested, revealing a figure clad in Uchiha robes.

Uchiha Shin let out a long, ragged breath and reached up to touch his chest, where a fresh wound was slowly dripping blood. It was not a deep cut, barely qualifying as a minor injury, but it stung with a fiery intensity at the slightest touch.

He hissed through his teeth and muttered to himself, "I spend all day hunting geese, only to have my eyes pecked out by one today. Since when did the Hyuga clan produce a girl like that? I don't recall hearing about her in the original story."

He pondered for a moment without success, then added, "It's definitely the system's fault. If this damn system hadn't suddenly issued a mission to lure out the mastermind, I never would have been stupid enough to jump out there. To hell with all these ambushes!"

"Wait... the system...?"

A sudden jolt of alarm struck Shin. He remembered the system had issued a second mission: to escape the enemy's encirclement. Logically, he should have completed the mission the moment he used the Flying Thunder God to escape here, so why was there no mission completion reward?

At the same time, he keenly sensed that the entire house was far too quiet—unnervingly so. If he had suddenly appeared here, Uchiha Tadashi and the others shouldn't have been so silent, and they wouldn't have been out at this hour unless...

As this thought crossed his mind, the Sharingan in Shin's eyes began to spin once more.

A cold glint flashed, and Shin's body was severed in two at the waist.

"Target, Uchiha Shin, successfully eliminated!" A faint voice came from behind him. Even without turning around, Shin could imagine the expression on the face of the person who had delivered that line with such cool, deadpan indifference.

"Damn you, Hyuga Tamamo, setting up a chain-trap ambush. One day, I'm going to string you up and beat you!" The Sharingan in his eyes spun frantically, and his body, already severed, suddenly transformed into a murder of crows that spiraled into the air.

"What is going on?"

Hyuga Kazama, who had been guarding the spot, stared in astonishment at the transformation before him, encountering such a bizarre situation for the first time in his life.

"A genjutsu of the Sharingan? But I've been extremely careful; I never once made eye contact with his eyes from start to finish!"

The crows let out a series of caws, flying out through the window one by one and reconverging into Shin's body on a distant tree branch.

"Heh, Itachi's Crow Clone is truly a peerless life-saving technique. Even though it's only a C-rank ninjutsu, its utility is far beyond that of an A-rank."

He finished his hand seals in a blur, his Sharingan standing out starkly in the night.

"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"

A fire dragon, condensed to the point of tangibility, erupted toward the building below. He had long since placed Flying Thunder God markers all around; this was now his home turf. By destroying the house that provided cover, his opponent would be like an insect caught in a spider's web, destined to be slowly entangled to death.

Amidst a thunderous explosion, the house below was blown to pieces. A dark shadow leaped high into the air, landing on the grass below. With his Byakugan fixed intently on his opponent in the tree, he finally understood why two elite jonin from his clan had failed to take him down. These never-before-seen ninjutsu were simply too bizarre.

"Yo, you're pretty quick on your feet!"

Shin said in a mocking tone, then shifted his voice. "To be honest, that girl from your clan is quite sharp. This chain-trap ambush was a bit beyond my expectations. But it doesn't matter—the plan was good, but she overlooked one thing!"

"What did she overlook?" Hyuga Kazama gripped his blade, ready for action, his Byakugan scanning Shin's surroundings to find the perfect opening.

"She shouldn't have sent only one jonin to ambush me here. If you were an elite jonin, I wouldn't be wasting my breath. Let me teach you the true power of the Flying Thunder God. Damn it, the gap between me and an elite jonin is too wide; it's so frustrating to fight like this."

Before he finished speaking, three kunai flew at him from three different directions.

Hyuga Kazama swung his blade to block two, and with the vision of his Byakugan, he easily dodged the third with a sidestep. He sneered, "Big talk... hm?"

A flash of light, and Uchiha Shin appeared right beside him in an instant, grabbing a kunai backhanded and thrusting it directly at him. He swung his blade to counter, but the opponent vanished again.

"Behind me?" His Byakugan caught the movement, and Hyuga Kazama hurriedly shifted his stance to defend, but the opponent vanished once more, reappearing to his left.

"It's that bizarre space-time ninjutsu—is it these kunai?" Even though it was only one person, he was being attacked from three directions simultaneously. Hyuga Kazama gritted his teeth against the disorientation and dodged again.

Looking at the three kunai floating around him, he gritted his teeth and swung his long blade in a wide circle, hoping to knock them away with a series of clangs.

"How is this possible?" To his shock, the three kunai remained circling him, unswayed. Uchiha Shin's attacks continued unabated, adding several minor wounds to his body.

"Is this... chakra thread?"

Hyuga Kazama finally caught the reflection of the moonlight and noticed that each of the three kunai was connected to a nearly invisible chakra thread that was wrapped around his own body. No wonder he couldn't shake them off.

"So you noticed!" A cold smirk hung on Shin's lips. After discovering the three realms of the Flying Thunder God, he realized he couldn't leave markers on others yet, so he had come up with this method. Since he couldn't leave a marker, he would just let the kunai stay attached to the target.

A flash of light never ceased around Hyuga Kazama, and the attacks continued like a torrential storm. All Hyuga Kazama could do was block incessantly; he couldn't even touch the hem of his opponent's robe, let alone find the time to cut the chakra threads. He realized for the first time that a ninjutsu could be so powerful that a special jonin could suppress a full jonin for the entire fight. If word of this got out, every ninja in the Warring States period would laugh—what kind of pipe dream was this!

"Rotation!" Hyuga Kazama could no longer endure it. He gathered chakra in his palms and spun instantly. If this assault continued, he wouldn't be able to hold out much longer.

A chakra shield erupted, and the chakra threads connecting the three kunai were severed instantly. The reason he hadn't used Rotation from the start was that there was a momentary recovery period after the technique ended, and given his opponent's performance, he didn't think he would pass up such a perfect opportunity.

A flash of light, and Shin teleported to a kunai nearby. His Sharingan spun slightly, calculating the duration of the Rotation. He had already fought two elite jonin and was full of pent-up rage; he would take it out on this guy.

"No, this ninjutsu is too strange; I can't hurt him at all. The moment the Rotation ends, I'll use the Body Flicker Technique to escape!" Hyuga Kazama had already decided to retreat. He wasn't the type to die for nothing just because he was a jonin; it wasn't shameful to lose, but it was stupid to keep fighting when he knew he couldn't win. People like that had died out back when they were genin.

"Now, Body Flicker Technique!"

The moment the Rotation ended, he saw his opponent throw a kunai at him. Shin didn't dodge or weave, instead using the time to forcibly recover his breath. Uchiha Shin suddenly appeared, grabbed the kunai backhanded, and thrust it straight at his heart!

Squelch...

The kunai sank three inches into flesh, and Hyuga Kazama activated his Body Flicker, turning into a dark shadow and bolting into the distance.

"Too slow!"

Shin's Sharingan spun slightly, and with a cold laugh, his figure vanished, intercepting his path.

Hyuga Kazama tried to flicker in another direction, but was intercepted again. After a few attempts, he gritted his teeth and threw two smoke bombs. A massive cloud of white mist rose, and under the cover of the thick fog, he activated his Body Flicker to flee into the distance.

"Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"

A massive sheet of fire engulfed the path of his escape; nothing was better for sealing off a route than this large-scale A-rank ninjutsu.

"Goodbye, Hyuga Yujin. I'll remember the kindness of you traveling a thousand miles just to deliver your head. Rasengan!"

A massive, tearing force of high-speed rotation spread through his back, and he felt his internal organs being shredded to pieces. There were no kunai there—how did he catch up to me?

Shin cast a light glance downward, where a Kunai was firmly lodged under his arm, trailing a thin thread of chakra.

"When... did you..." A mouthful of blood, mixed with bits of internal organs, sprayed forth; these were the last words he could manage.

Shin chuckled, understanding his confusion, and spoke quickly: "The moment your Rotation ended. I actually threw two Kunai at that time!"

The Double Shuriken Technique, so that was it. To think I would lose in the end to such a D-rank basic ninjutsu... This was his final thought before his eyes closed forever.

Ding! Successfully fought through the encirclement of the Hyuga Clan, reward: 3000 points!

Ding! Killed a Jonin of the Hyuga Clan, reward: 5000 points!