Goodbye, Counter-Kill

Heichen scrutinized the youth before him, his gaze lingering for a moment on the boy's neck.

Observing the hideous, pulsing jugular vein on the boy's neck, Heichen raised an eyebrow, understanding dawning on him instantly.

"So that's how it is. I truly didn't expect you to have learned a forbidden technique that overdraws the body at such a young age."

For a ninja, techniques that overdraw the body are rare treasures; everyone knows that in a crisis, such a technique can completely turn the tide of battle.

Some powerful overdraw-style ninjutsu can even allow a genin to possess combat strength comparable to a jonin for a short period.

As for the loss of vitality or the various incurable injuries left behind after the battle, those are problems only those who survive are qualified to consider.

Unaccountably, a flash of intense jealousy suddenly flickered in Heichen's eyes.

That's right, he was indeed jealous at this moment.

As a veteran jonin who had carved his way out of countless mountains of corpses and seas of blood, Heichen had lost count of how many bloody battles he had endured to reach his current status.

Every technique he possessed had been exchanged for bit by bit with hard-earned battle merits at a tremendous cost.

He couldn't even remember how many grievances he had suffered, how many partners he had lost, or how many times he had stood on the brink of death during that time.

Yet, the youth before him had obtained these things so easily.

Whether it was the powerful Konoha secret technique from before or the technique the boy was using now to trade his body's limits for strength, neither was something he should possess at his age.

Narrowing his eyes slightly, a mocking smile appeared on Heichen's face.

"Heh, one of those big-clan folks, are you?"

Curling his lip in disdain, Heichen's gaze turned icy cold.

"What I love killing most is geniuses like you who come from big clans!"

With that, Heichen abandoned his previous defensive stance and launched an active charge.

Heichen's surging killing intent caused a few drops of cold sweat to break out on the youth's forehead involuntarily.

At this moment, the youth felt the dense and profound killing intent clearly; it was something only someone who had crawled out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood could possess. Although the youth was strong, at his age, it was absolutely impossible for him to possess killing intent of this caliber.

Even Chiba, watching from afar without understanding much, suddenly felt his whole body go limp for no reason. He was certain that if he weren't already unable to move, he wouldn't even have the strength to stand up right now.

"Is this the power of ninjas?"

Finally, Chiba truly understood the immeasurable gap between ordinary people and ninjas.

"It's just like a lion and a sheep. It's like the suppression of a lower rank by a higher rank in the food chain; a single look is enough to make an ordinary person lose the power to resist."

Although Chiba was equally terrified by such surging killing intent, what filled his heart more at this moment was a craving for this kind of power.

On the other side, after a brief moment of shock, the youth's eyes grew increasingly cold.

It should have been him hating the man, yet this guy had suddenly become inexplicably hostile toward him.

Although the youth didn't know the reason for this, it didn't stop him from making the most correct choice.

"Hah!"

Accompanied by the youth's roar, the already hideous blood vessels on his body became even more grotesque.

"Thump, thump."

At this moment, the sound of the youth's heartbeat was clearly audible.

The blood vessels on his body were also undulating violently in rhythm with his heartbeat.

Clearly, the youth was overdrawing his body even more fiercely.

Seeing this, Heichen's expression grew even gloomier.

"Do you think you're the only one who possesses such a technique?"

In an instant, the muscles all over Heichen's body let out a series of pops and began to swell rapidly.

From a distance, it looked as if Heichen's entire frame had grown a size larger.

"Boom!"

The two collided violently, and even the ground beneath their feet couldn't withstand the pressure for a moment, beginning to crack slightly.

"Boom!" "Boom-boom!"

Every exchange between the two was redefining Chiba's worldview.

"Is this the power of ninjas?"

Chiba stared unblinkingly at the two combatants.

Although Chiba could barely distinguish the blurred shadows of their clash despite his best efforts, it didn't stop a sense of excitement from welling up from the bottom of his heart.

What he was excited about, even Chiba himself couldn't quite explain.

"Boom!" "Boom-boom!"

A series of dull thuds echoed through the air. From the cracks appearing on the ground from time to time, Chiba could imagine the intensity of the battle, but at this moment, he couldn't even see their figures, let alone analyze the situation.

"Pfft!"

After fighting for a long time, the two finally came to a halt.

Heichen unexpectedly seemed unable to withstand the pressure first, coughing up blood as he stumbled backward and collapsed onto the ground, withered and weak.

Opposite him, the youth walked forward step by step, holding his blade with an indifferent expression.

Although the hand holding the blade was trembling incessantly, clearly pushed to its limit, no matter how one looked at it, he would be the winner.

"It seems your so-called Way of the Ninja isn't as impressive as you claimed."

As he spoke, the youth swung the blade in his hand down fiercely.

However, just as Heichen was about to be killed, the blade in the youth's hand suddenly stopped in mid-air.

"This is..."

The youth's face turned ashen instantly.

With a "clang," the blade fell from the youth's hand to the ground, and the youth himself could no longer stand, crashing headlong onto the earth.

"How is this possible?"

Spitting out a large mouthful of dark blood, the youth's face was filled with disbelief.

"When did you poison me! Could it be..."

Heichen curled the corners of his mouth almost imperceptibly: "It seems you aren't entirely stupid. Did you really think that child would be rescued by you so easily at the start?"

"It's a mixed poison..."

The youth's face was full of unwillingness, but no matter how unwilling he was, his eyes could only gradually dim.

"Heh heh!"

A hideous smile appeared on Heichen's face as he struggled to lie on his side against a large tree nearby, gasping for breath.

"It looks like I won after all. I told you before, a simple brat like you isn't suited for this battlefield."

Glancing at the wounds on his body, Heichen reached toward his ninja tool pouch, trembling as he tried to open it.

After shaking for a long time, Heichen gave up on the attempt; he had truly reached his limit. The previous battle had undoubtedly exhausted every ounce of his strength.

In particular, the aftereffects of the forbidden technique had torn most of his muscles, and it would likely be difficult to recover for some time.

Silently mobilizing his chakra, Heichen wanted to heal his injuries as quickly as possible.

Although this was the edge of the battlefield and rarely visited by anyone, one could never be certain about such things.

Moreover, even wild beasts could finish him off.

However, at this moment of his greatest weakness, a figure suddenly flashed across the corner of his eye.

Feeling quite excited that his body had finally returned to normal, Chiba had no time to rejoice before the injury on his leg caused him to stagger.

Slowly circling to stand directly in front of Heichen, Chiba just watched him silently as he continued to gasp for air.

Heichen also stared fixedly at Chiba.

Time seemed to stand still in that moment.