Uchiha's Advantage

Sato Hideaka stared at the two men before him in surprise. Uchiha Kenichi and Inuzuka Jin were the two individuals Sarutobi Asuma had mentioned, both possessing the strength of Chunin. He had never expected them to target him directly.

"You have earned my recognition, brat. State your name!" Uchiha Kenichi stood as straight as a javelin atop a tree branch, speaking coldly.

As members of the Uchiha Clan, renowned as the most combat-proficient fighters in the world of Naruto, their physical structures were perfectly suited for battle. Coupled with the Sharingan—an eye capable of instantly seeing through, reflecting, and copying all Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Taijutsu, and spells—they had earned the reputation that one must flee if forced into a one-on-one encounter with an Uchiha.

Generally, facing the Uchiha Clan meant being viewed as a weakling, but Sato Hideaka's move to force Uchiha Kenichi back had clearly made the proud Uchiha start to take his opponent seriously.

"I am Sato Hideaka. That last move of mine, would you call that a sneak attack?" Sato Hideaka stood before the lava, shrugging as he looked up to ask.

Uchiha Kenichi's expression remained cold, his tone laced with killing intent as he replied: "If you consider it a sneak attack, then so be it! However, this is as far as you go..."

His hands moved in a blur of seals before his chest. Once completed, Uchiha Kenichi's eyes snapped open, two black tomoe spinning within his scarlet irises. He spoke softly: "Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique!"

The scene seemed to flow backward. Before his eyes appeared a scattered layout of wooden huts, with tall chimneys puffing thin trails of blue smoke. Beyond rows of ten-meter-tall trees lay a network of paths and small, partitioned fields.

The air was fresh, the sun bright, filled with the sounds of birds and insects, grass swaying in the wind!

Sato Hideaka, seemingly realizing something, turned his head to look back. It was a dilapidated mud-and-wood shack; the doorway was a square hole, and the house didn't even have a door!

This was the place where it all began...!

Turning back again, Sato Hideaka suddenly saw three ferocious-looking bandits with twisted expressions wantonly slaughtering the old, the weak, the women, and the children. They grinned hideously, their bodies stained with blood. Screams, pleas for help, and manic laughter erupted, staining the silent scene with color.

A bandit with a jagged scar at the corner of his right eye looked toward Sato Hideaka. He waved a blood-stained steel blade in his right hand, curling his lips into a playful, bloodthirsty smile at Sato Hideaka, as if a cat had spotted a mouse!

Sato Hideaka tried to use Lava Style: Hell Hound, but found he couldn't condense lava in his right arm. He tried to weave seals to release Crystal Release: Two-Thorn Spear, but after finishing the seals, he found only emptiness before him; the Ninjutsu simply would not manifest...

Yet, the scarred bandit's blood-stained steel blade was already swinging down toward his skull!

"Release--!"

A crisp female voice rang out from beside his ear. The scene shattered like a broken mirror, and Sato Hideaka returned to the forest. The towering trees, the gloomy environment, the smell of rotting branches—the scene suddenly became real again.

With it came a figure clad in gray and blue, lunging toward him. Scarlet eyes were filled with coldness, and a sharp black Kunai held in a reverse grip was already slashing toward his throat!

Seeing the Kunai inches away, Sato Hideaka fully snapped to his senses. Crystal Release chakra condensed in his palm, and a Kunai made of red crystal instantly met the opponent's black blade, colliding with a dangerous spark in the air...

"Clang, clang, clang--!"

Uchiha Kenichi's offensive was fierce. His clan's meticulous cultivation and standardized training ensured that every strike hit his opponent's weak points, and his two-tomoe Sharingan allowed him to clearly perceive every flaw.

In comparison, Sato Hideaka appeared quite disheveled. The opponent's attacks were as continuous as raindrops, and what made it worse was that under the Sharingan's superior dynamic vision, his own attacks only left openings for his opponent. Several counterattacks ended in failure...

Fortunately, while Sato Hideaka lacked superior dynamic vision, he possessed absolute control over his cells, muscles, and tissues, allowing him to react and compensate whenever a crisis emerged.

The two clashed repeatedly, their speed intense. The grass, the treetops, the tree trunks—every spot became a battlefield. The sounds of their fierce struggle echoed far into the silent, vast forest!

After all, Uchiha Kenichi was already twelve years old. Not only were his muscle tissues more fully developed, but he had been training since he was five. His Taijutsu cultivation was far superior to Sato Hideaka's, and with the support of the Sharingan, Sato Hideaka was simply no match...

The intense exchange caused Sato Hideaka to reveal an opening. The high-speed spinning two-tomoe in Uchiha Kenichi's scarlet eyes instantly captured the flaw. He pulled his right wrist back, raised it high, and brought it down rapidly, slamming his Kunai violently against the crystal blade in Sato Hideaka's hand...

Uchiha Kenichi's bent wrist suddenly straightened, and a massive force surged from the crystal Kunai in his right hand. Sato Hideaka's right hand was knocked high into the air, leaving him completely exposed!

Lifting his right leg in a sudden knee strike, Uchiha Kenichi's hard kneecap slammed into Sato Hideaka's exposed chest. Sato Hideaka let out a muffled groan and was sent flying, crashing into the mud and skidding several meters before coming to a stop.

"Cough, cough...!"

Struggling to a half-kneeling position, Sato Hideaka coughed up blood and wiped the corner of his mouth. His eyes were filled with unprecedented seriousness, for the Uchiha Kenichi before him was the most powerful enemy he had encountered since the few guys from Root.

Whether it was reaction speed, agility, power, combat experience, or the unpredictable Genjutsu, Sato Hideaka, who had only been training for a little over a month, was far from Uchiha Kenichi's level. His only advantage lay in the various powerful Ninjutsu he had developed...

But just like the Root member he had killed before, without sufficient speed, vision, reaction, and experience as support, even a powerful Bloodline Limit Ninjutsu was useless if it couldn't hit the target!

Facing the dynamic vision of the Uchiha Sharingan, it was difficult for any normal person to win a one-on-one brawl against them. But "difficult" did not mean "impossible." The Eight-Tails Jinchuriki Killer B had once used his Seven-Swords Style to nearly kill Second Pillar, who possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan!

Even the Fourth Raikage, A, could use the Lightning Release Chakra Mode to achieve full-body activation, utilizing high-speed Lightning Flicker to completely overwhelm the visual perception of the Mangekyo Sharingan. In other words, increasing his speed could allow Sato Hideaka to gain the upper hand...

However, under his research, the Lightning Release Chakra Mode could only be maintained for three minutes without damage. Exceeding three minutes but staying under five would result in muscle strain; exceeding five minutes would begin to damage his somatic cells and nervous system.

Moreover, it would be followed by a period of exhaustion, making it impossible to use his full strength in the short term. Unless absolutely necessary, he did not want to use this "kill a thousand enemies, lose eight hundred of your own" technique!

But, right now...

Sato Hideaka wiped the blood from his mouth, his gaze stern as he looked at Uchiha Kenichi. A powerful aura surged from his body. He had decided to use the Lightning Release Chakra Mode. With speed combined with the ultimate destructive power of Lava Style, he had an eighty percent chance of defeating his opponent!

Just as he prepared to mobilize the lightning-attribute chakra within his body, Hyuga Xiangning, who was standing in the distance with her Byakugan activated, spoke with a tone full of anxiety:

"Hideaka, three people are approaching from the eleven o'clock direction, one kilometer away. Judging by the amount of chakra in their bodies, these people seem to have the level of Chunin... They are likely the Chunin who have come down from the battlefield, just as the proctor mentioned!"