Kekkei Genkai!

After giving the warning, Shita Genichi leaped down from the treetop and sped toward where Yamanaka En was.

Rumble!

A roar rang out as flames and smoke billowed into the sky.

Shita Genichi glanced over. He knew it was the area Uchiha Namiichi was responsible for. The trap had been triggered, which meant Uchiha Namiichi's Shadow Clone would soon be fighting the enemy.

He immediately formed hand seals and used the Soldier Mantra.

In an instant, his speed surged.

Up ahead, explosions continued to rumble.

The battle seemed fierce.

A little while later, Shita Genichi finally arrived.

Ahead, Yamanaka En and Nara Kakuto were working together. The latter had restrained a red-haired, middle-aged man with the Shadow Possession Technique.

Yamanaka En, meanwhile, used the Mind Body Switch Technique to transfer his consciousness and take control of the red-haired man.

Elsewhere, the enormous Akimichi Dozō and Yamanaka Jing were fighting another enemy together: a young man dressed in black with black hair.

The young man's nimble speed and sharp kenjutsu kept the two of them at bay.

Akimichi Dozō couldn't restrain him, making it difficult for Yamanaka Jing to use the Mind Body Switch Technique. Close combat and genjutsu were no more effective, and the fight reached a stalemate.

Once Yamanaka En had taken control of one enemy, the black-haired man immediately tried to rescue him.

But instead of charging directly toward his comrade, he attacked Yamanaka En.

He knew a little about the Yamanaka Clan's Mind Body Switch Technique.

More importantly, the best way to save his comrade was to force the enemy to defend themselves.

Seeing this, Nara Kakuto immediately sent his Shadow Secret Technique to meet the charging black-haired man, hoping to stop him.

Akimichi Dozō and Yamanaka Jing also charged in from behind the black-haired man.

Yamanaka En had already taken control of the enemy. He immediately stabbed himself in the chest.

Once the blade had gone halfway in, he pulled it out and retreated.

The enemy was badly wounded, and Yamanaka En returned to his own body.

Seeing this, the other enemy immediately threw a smoke bomb.

Boom!

Thick smoke billowed out, obscuring Nara Kakuto and the others' view.

They immediately went on guard, but then heard the dense clanging of metal from somewhere in the smoke.

Outside the cloud, Shita Genichi intercepted the retreating enemy. His short blade clashed rapidly with the other man's Ninja Blade, sending sparks flying.

The two fought at high speed in the forest.

After more than a dozen exchanges, they crossed paths in midair and landed apart.

Shita Genichi turned around. Across from him, the black-haired man stared down at the shadow restraining him and gritted his teeth. "Damn Shadow Secret Technique!"

He tried to raise his hand, but it only trembled, barely lifting at all.

His shadow was indeed linked to Nara Kakuto's.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Just as Shita Genichi was about to finish off the enemy with a single strike, the sound of something cutting through the air rang out.

A dense volley of shuriken whistled toward them.

"Watch out!"

Akimichi Dozō shouted.

The group scattered, taking cover behind trees.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Some of the shuriken had Explosive Tags attached. Flames and smoke burst skyward, and waves of heat rolled through the area.

The smoke cleared.

Shita Genichi stepped out from behind a tree and saw that two more people had appeared opposite them.

One tall, one short—a man and a woman.

"Ling, you're in a pretty sorry state!"

The woman with gray hair and two pale arms bared gave a light laugh. She seemed completely unconcerned by the death of her other comrade.

The black-haired man gave a quiet snort. "I was just unlucky."

The tall man said, "Let's take care of these guys first!"

The black-haired man stared coldly at Shita Genichi. "I'll take the kid!"

Behind Shita Genichi, Yamanaka En murmured, "I'm running low on chakra."

He was only a Shadow Clone.

Shita Genichi nodded slightly. He was only a Shadow Clone too.

The main force in this fight was still Akimichi Dozō and the others.

In that case...

Shita Genichi sheathed his blade and formed the Tiger hand seal with both hands. "Genjutsu: Bringer-of-Darkness Technique!"

In an instant, he robbed the three people opposite them of their sight.

"I've taken away their vision! Finish this quickly!"

Shita Genichi shouted, then his body burst into a cloud of smoke with a poof.

The Bringer-of-Darkness Technique had used up all the chakra in his Shadow Clone.

The three enemies immediately tried to form hand seals to dispel the genjutsu, but Yamanaka En had already flung several shuriken at them.

Clang, clang, clang!

Every shuriken was knocked away.

Nara Kakuto had already recovered and used his Shadow Secret Technique to restrain the tall man. "Dozō!"

Multi-Size Technique!

Akimichi Dozō's body swelled rapidly. He swung down the long staff in his hands with a crash, slamming the immobile tall man into the ground and reducing him to a mangled mess.

Meanwhile, Yamanaka Jing used the Mind Body Switch Technique to swap bodies with the kunoichi. Yamanaka En raised his hand and threw another shuriken.

At the last moment, Yamanaka Jing left the kunoichi's body and returned to his own. But she had no time to stop the shuriken. It struck her in the neck, and she fell with a scream.

In the blink of an eye, only the black-haired man remained of the three enemies.

He finally broke free of the genjutsu and regained his sight.

But the next moment, his body stiffened.

Yamanaka En had taken control of him with the Mind Body Switch Technique.

But barely a second later, Yamanaka En's body burst apart with a poof.

His chakra was exhausted!

The black-haired man regained control and immediately leaped into the air, narrowly avoiding Nara Kakuto's attempt to capture him with his shadow.

Clang, clang, clang!

Swinging his blade in midair, the black-haired man knocked away all of Yamanaka Jing's shuriken, then pushed off a branch.

The next moment, the branch exploded beneath him. Akimichi Dozō's long staff had struck it.

Elsewhere.

Eight figures followed the river toward the mining site.

After they had left, Shita Genichi surfaced from the river.

But one of the eight who had gone ahead—a blue-clad man with black hair—suddenly frowned. He raised one hand. "Someone's hiding behind us. We almost missed him."

He immediately called to the others, "Go on ahead. I'll take care of the guy behind us!"

With that, the blue-clad man turned and headed back.

On the river, Shita Genichi abruptly stopped and looked at the man across from him. "So you found me!"

The blue-clad man with black hair smiled. "Didn't expect you to be a kid!"

Though Shita Genichi had grown faster than his peers over the past two years and was already nearly one hundred and sixty centimeters tall, he was still a kid next to the blue-clad man.

Shita Genichi stared at the man opposite him. "You're... a Mist ninja!"

The blue-clad man smiled. "You're pretty smart."

"So I'll give it my all when I kill you."

As he spoke, he raised his hands to form a seal.

But Shita Genichi was faster. With a one-handed seal, the river water immediately spiraled upward.

"What?"

The blue-clad man was stunned, but the water across from him was already surging upstream toward him.

There was no time to form hand seals!

Rumble!

The surging current swept beneath the blue-clad man. As he landed on the water's surface, the stream behind him curled back in the opposite direction.

The blue-clad man had no choice but to leap into the air again. At the same time, he raised his hand and sent volley after volley of senbon flying, clashing with the shuriken Shita Genichi had thrown.

Shita Genichi was startled. "Ice Release!"

The senbon the blue-clad man had used were clearly made of ice.