Oura felt that he'd been terribly unlucky lately.
Being a ninja was a profession where your background mattered a great deal. The great clans naturally stood at the top, followed by ordinary ninja families—families where both parents were ninjas. At the bottom were people like him, born into ordinary families.
It wasn't hard to understand why. The great clans had the strongest foundations and plenty of resources. Their younger generations were born with better opportunities for instruction and a wealth of ninjutsu to study.
Ordinary ninja families couldn't compare with those great clans, but at least their members were ninjas. They had a few tricks up their sleeves, and naturally passed them on to their children.
As for people like him, aside from learning a little at the Ninja Academy run by the village, they could only figure things out for themselves.
Fortunately, he'd done pretty well. He was the only ninja in his family, but, following the principle of quality over quantity, he'd mastered Iwagakure's most basic Hardening Technique. At least among his peers, he was considered a capable fighter.
He'd survived the Shinobi World War and earned the opportunity to be promoted to elite Chunin thanks to that Hardening Technique.
But this time was different. The village had received intelligence that Konoha intended to boost morale by sending jonin to take part in the battle. And not just any jonin, either—it was Orochimaru, one of the famed Sannin!
Even the village's jonin would swallow nervously if they ran into someone that fearsome. No one in the Shinobi World didn't know of the Sannin. Even the Yellow Flash, who was so famous these days, was a student of one of them.
The Sannin were Konoha's most famous group of jonin. Only one of them had come this time, but Orochimaru was said to be the most formidable of the three—and extremely cold-blooded. Anyone who fell into his hands was in for a terrible time.
From the moment he'd heard the news, Oura had started looking for a way out... Whatever the cost, he planned to stay as far away from those monsters as possible...
When titans clashed, ordinary people suffered. He'd be better off keeping his distance...
But fate had a cruel sense of humor. The very person you didn't want to meet was the one you ended up running into. That was exactly what happened to Oura.
He couldn't understand it. He'd deliberately charged toward an area full of Genin, so how had he run into Orochimaru?
Oura didn't know what Orochimaru looked like, but the moment he saw that man, he knew it had to be him!
Look at that getup. And those terrifying orange-yellow snake eyes! He was exactly like the rumors described—not exaggerated in the slightest!
Unfortunately, the people around him seemed to have no eyes in their heads. Seeing Orochimaru dressed in a kimono, they actually thought he was an ordinary ninja. They were so excited that they charged straight at him.
Where are your eyes!? Can't you tell that's Orochimaru!?
Oura stared in stunned disbelief. The moment he saw Orochimaru's gaze turn toward him, he spun around and ran without a second thought!
It was the right choice. He hadn't even taken three steps before a string of screams rang out behind him...
There was no need to guess. Those idiots were as good as dead... Picking a fight with a monster like that—they deserved what they got!
Oura had no idea how long he'd been running. He only knew that a pair of vicious eyes seemed to be fixed on his back the whole time. Whenever he considered stopping, the feeling grew especially intense!
So he didn't dare stop. He didn't even bother trying to work out which direction he was running in...
Only after he could no longer feel the pressure of that gaze did he stop. By then, he realized he'd strayed far from his original position and ended up in the very center of the battlefield. He looked around, but there wasn't another Rock Ninja in sight.
Even though the sensation had faded, he was still on edge. After all, the one he'd run into was Orochimaru...
He no longer had the energy to wonder how Orochimaru, who should have been fighting one of their jonin, had ended up crossing paths with a mere Chunin like him. All he wanted was to survive.
He used Earth Hiding Technique to sink into the soil, then began moving slowly and cautiously underground.
After an unknown amount of time, he spotted someone.
It was a very young Konoha Ninja, wearing the vest only Chunin were allowed to wear. He was fighting three Rock Ninja Genin. He was strong; the three of them tried to use their basic Hardening Technique, but he broke through it with ease in the blink of an eye.
But he was still only one person, and the three Rock Ninja had managed to leave wounds on him...
Not long afterward, he encountered another group, and the same thing happened: fighting, killing, moving on. More and more wounds appeared on his body.
Oura, who had been following him the whole time, found it hard to make sense of. Earlier, he hadn't seen a single Rock Ninja. Yet this guy seemed to have some kind of connection to the ninjas on Oura's side. He'd run into a few of them every time he went a short distance...
Still, Oura remembered to carefully observe the Konoha Ninja's fighting style. The other man didn't seem to use ninja tools. Oura had never seen him use anything besides Kunai, and even then, he used them like short swords.
He didn't use much in the way of elemental techniques, either. He only used Water Release to harass the Rock Ninja he was fighting. Whenever he killed someone, he relied on close combat with his Kunai.
"So he's a Special Chunin..."
After watching for a full half hour, Oura finally settled on that description for the Konoha Ninja.
In terms of rank, Special Chunin still belonged to the Genin class, just as a Special Jonin couldn't truly be considered a Jonin.
People like that usually had special secret techniques or other methods that let them be rated above their rank in terms of combat strength. The Konoha Ninja's secret technique was probably the method that let him break through the Hardening Technique so easily. Apart from that, Oura hadn't seen anything else remarkable.
But whether Special Chunin or Special Jonin, they couldn't beat a real Chunin or Jonin. If they had that kind of ability, after all, they wouldn't have the word "special" added to their rank.
That made Oura excited. Enemies like this were usually the best targets for stealing ninjutsu from. He was a bona fide Chunin!
But he still held back. He had to wait until his opponent was truly exhausted.
He waited another half hour. Just as he'd expected, the Konoha Ninja became a blood-soaked mess after wave upon wave of Rock Ninja attacks...
Oura's patience had finally run out, too. He made his move at last, only to suffer an even greater tragedy!
"Dead..."
Oura had just deactivated his Hardening Technique, and his whole body was wracked with pain. Those ice crystals, impossible to guard against, had been terrifying! If it had gone on any longer, he really wouldn't have been able to hold out!
Now he understood. His opponent hadn't run out of strength at all. The bastard had noticed him ages ago and had only been waiting for him to take the bait...
The thought sent a chill through him. This kid was only in his teens, wasn't he? How could he have that much patience? To lure Oura in and kill him with one blow, he'd been willing to take all those wounds!? Was this guy insane? Wasn't he afraid he'd bleed to death first!?
"Ice Release? So this is your secret technique... a kekkei genkai!?"
Oura wasn't ignorant. The moment he heard his opponent name the technique, he knew the other man possessed a kekkei genkai. He'd also witnessed firsthand how powerful it was.
A hundred meters across... Even an ordinary Chunin couldn't manage that, could they?
"At least you understand now. All that blood I shed over the past hour wasn't wasted."
Through the thin mist of ice crystals, Qi looked at the Rock Ninja before him and smiled.
In truth, his opponent had been frightened by him. Creating ice over a hundred-meter area was certainly impressive, though it was also nothing special when all he was doing was making ice.
The Water Release scroll described a Yuki Clan sealing technique, and it was nothing like this. Freezing an area ten meters across was more than ten times harder than creating ice over a hundred meters. You also had to reach the level of "crystallization"; otherwise, you wouldn't even be capable of attempting it.
"You Rock Ninja are always hiding underground to launch sneak attacks, so I put blood bags on myself beforehand to fool you. Looks like they came in handy... Of course, the blood bags were only part of it. I really was bleeding, too."
Qi shook himself. A series of crisp cracking sounds rang out, and more than ten blood bags fell to the ground. Every one of them was completely torn up, but they still hadn't run out of blood.
"You..."
Oura nearly died of anger. What kind of person was this...? He'd never met anyone so shameless!
"If you hadn't coveted my secret technique and had gone for the kill from the start, you might actually have taken me down. What a shame..."
Maybe it was Oura's imagination, but the gaze in the young man's eyes suddenly reminded him of Orochimaru. It wasn't nearly as intense, but it was just as vicious!
The fear Orochimaru had stirred up in him earlier began to creep back into his mind...
Damn it! Why should I be afraid of a little demon like him!? I'm going to be an elite Chunin someday!
Oura's eyes reddened. A wave of shame welled up in him, and he glared at Qi. Somehow, that seemed to bring back a little of his courage.
"Even so, you still can't break through my Hardening Technique, kid. You're the one who's going to die!"
"You'll have to see for yourself. What good is shouting going to do?"
At some point, the thin mist around Qi had completely disappeared. He walked toward Oura one step at a time.
"To thank you, I'll give you one free hit. Come on, punch me—but just once."
Those words actually calmed Oura down.
"Kid, you're pretty arrogant. But since you're offering, I won't hold back."
Oura had seen plenty of enemies get killed after their bloodlines suddenly advanced a level and they got too excited. He thought Qi was that kind of fool, too.
An arrogant enemy was always easier to handle. He firmly believed that.
"No need to hold back. Hurry up and hit me so I can get back to work."
Qi walked forward a few more steps with a faint smile. But the moment his last step landed, Oura suddenly charged at him.
"Die!"
At the critical moment, Oura's Hardening Technique reached a new level. The color of his hands was no longer simply inky black; a metallic sheen appeared across them!
With a piercing whistling sound, those fists, now as powerful as metal weapons, smashed toward Qi's chest...
"Thud!"
The fists gleaming with a metallic luster pierced through flesh without the slightest resistance, emerging from the other side with a mass of blood and torn flesh...
But...
"How... how is this... possible..."
With every word Oura spoke, he spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with bits of flesh. His eyes were filled with terror and incomprehension as he stared at his hands. Everything below his wrists had vanished in front of Qi's chest!
And in Oura's own chest, a pair of fists gleaming with a metallic luster had punched in through his back and emerged through his front... They were his own hands!
"You really did hit me..."
Qi looked at him as if he were some rare animal, shaking his head in disbelief.
"You're way too obedient. I told you to hit me, and you actually did?"
"Is this... a mirror?"
Oura finally saw clearly. What stood before him wasn't Qi at all, but an almost perfectly transparent, thin mirror!
The parts of his hands below the wrists hadn't disappeared. They'd gone right through that thin mirror!
He turned his head with difficulty. Sure enough, there was another thin mirror behind him, and his fists, which had vanished into the mirror in front, were sticking out of this one!
Had he just punched through his own chest with his own fists!?
"You must be pretty unhappy about dying to your own fists, right?"
Qi clicked his tongue a few times.
"Your Hardening Technique is impressive. It's almost as hard as a ninja tool, isn't it?"
"You..."
Oura could feel his body growing heavier and heavier. Compared to that, the intense pain in his chest didn't seem like much anymore.
So in the end, he was going to die here... What an amazing enemy. He was nothing like Oura. At this rate, he'd probably become a Jonin one day...
Oura suddenly felt a deep envy, and a wave of despair...
People like him, just ordinary people, were nothing more than stepping-stones for the strong, weren't they...
"Could you... really not tell me... your name..."
Mustering the last of his strength, he managed to ask the question through broken breaths.
"My name is Qi, Kagetsu Qi. My technique is the Yuki Clan's Ice Release. You haven't died for nothing. Sooner or later, I'll make sure everyone knows that name."
Qi saw the emotions shift in Oura's eyes. Even from his gaze alone, Qi could understand how the Rock Ninja felt. If Qi hadn't been lucky, he might have had the same future.
"Thank you..."
Gratitude appeared on Oura's face. Then his head drooped, and he breathed his last.
"He's dead..."
After confirming that Oura was really dead, Qi shook his head and raised a hand.
The two ice mirrors floating in front of and behind Oura vanished. But Oura's hands didn't return to normal when the mirrors disappeared.
Just as before, the lower halves of his hands were still lodged in his chest. The four cut ends were merely covered with a layer of ice crystals to keep the blood from spurting out.
In a way, Qi had given him an intact corpse...
"Clap, clap..."
Suddenly, applause rang out, accompanied by a deep, hoarse voice...
"Your performance was excellent. You've truly impressed me."
Qi turned around and saw Orochimaru standing some distance behind him. He didn't know how long Orochimaru had been there, and that strange smile was still on his face.
When it came to underground Earth Release movement, Orochimaru was probably more than a hundred times better than Oura. With Qi's current abilities, sensing Oura was no surprise—he was a sensor-type ninja, after all. But sensing Orochimaru would have been a pipe dream.
So Qi wasn't surprised at all. He had no intention of wasting the feeling of surprise on Orochimaru.
"Master, what brings you here?"
Although he called them both "Master," Qi didn't feel the same way about Orochimaru as he did about Ogata. His relationship with Orochimaru was simply that of master and student, whereas Ogata was practically like a father to him...
"Because the battle is over. Iwagakure doesn't seem to intend to fight Konoha to the bitter end this time. They've already retreated. We won this battle."
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes.
"Ice Release... Truly astonishing. To think you possess an ability like this... I'm looking forward to seeing how you grow."
When he was done speaking, he turned and walked in another direction.
"It seems I was right to find a Chunin for you to fight. Fighting Genin no longer does you any good... All right, let's head back to camp. You still have a long road ahead of you."