They Said I Was a Specimen

Boom!

The explosion sounded again.

This time, it was closer than before.

The flames swallowed both their figures.

The shock wave shattered the broken wall.

Shingetsu flew away like a rag doll and crashed hard into the courtyard.

His ears rang, and everything before his eyes was blood-red.

His body hurt so badly that he could barely feel it.

But he didn't pass out.

Because he knew.

His opponent wasn't dead yet.

Ninja didn't die that easily.

Especially Root ninja who were already on guard.

Sure enough.

A figure staggered out of the smoke.

Half of the Root ninja's mask had shattered.

It revealed half a face blown bloody and unrecognizable.

His right arm hung limply at his side, clearly broken.

But his left hand still gripped a tanto.

He was still alive.

And still capable of killing.

The Root ninja stared at Shingetsu, and at last, emotion crept into his voice.

It was anger.

And fear.

"Uchiha Shingetsu..."

"A monster like you can't be allowed to live."

Shingetsu lay prone on the ground, gasping for breath.

His body was already at its limit.

His chakra was depleted.

He was out of Explosive Tags.

He had only one kunai left, and it lay several meters away.

His opponent was badly wounded, but as long as he could still move, he could kill Shingetsu.

What should he do?

What should he do?

Shingetsu's mind raced.

Causality Perception activated again.

This time, he didn't see a single black line.

He saw three.

The first connected to the center of his brow.

The second connected to his throat.

The third connected to his heart.

They were all deadly attacks.

His opponent wouldn't test him again.

The next attack would be a killing blow.

The Root ninja slowly raised his tanto.

Just as he was about to charge.

A commotion suddenly rose in the distance.

"Fire!"

"Something's happened at the edge of the clan grounds!"

"Quick!"

The Uchiha had arrived.

The explosion and flames had finally alerted the patrol.

The Root ninja paused.

He couldn't reveal himself.

If Root were discovered secretly capturing people in the Uchiha Clan Grounds, it would cause serious trouble.

Especially now, when the Uchiha were already unhappy with the Konoha High Command.

If evidence were found on top of that, the situation would spiral out of control.

He glanced at Shingetsu, his eyes brimming with murderous intent.

"Tonight, you got lucky."

"But you won't escape."

"Root will remember you."

With that, he turned to retreat.

Shingetsu lay on the ground and suddenly laughed.

The sound was quiet.

Yet it made the Root ninja stop in his tracks.

"Who says..."

"You can leave?"

The Root ninja whipped around.

Shingetsu had managed to raise his head, and his blood-red One-Tomoe Sharingan was fixed on him.

At that moment, the Root ninja's heart skipped a beat.

Genjutsu?

No.

How could a One-Tomoe Sharingan cast effective genjutsu on him?

But in the next instant, he suddenly felt something tighten around his ankle.

He looked down.

A thin wire had somehow wound around his foot.

The other end was attached to the main beam in the ruins, which had been burned until it was on the verge of collapse.

The explosion hadn't been meant simply to wound him.

As the shock wave sent Shingetsu flying, he had flung out his last wire.

Its purpose wasn't to kill him.

It was to hold him there.

Shingetsu used the last of his strength to yank the wire.

Crack!

The burning main beam finally broke.

The half-collapsed roof came crashing down.

The Root ninja's expression changed. He tried to use the Body Flicker Technique to escape.

But with his right arm crippled and his ankle tangled, his movements were a beat too slow.

Crash!

The huge wooden beam slammed down on him.

The Root ninja grunted as he was pinned to the ground.

But he still wasn't dead.

His chakra surged, and he managed to brace the beam pressing down on him.

Shingetsu's gaze hardened.

He grabbed the last kunai from the ground and struggled to his feet with all his strength.

One step.

Two steps.

Three steps.

With every step, he felt as if his body might fall apart.

The Root ninja struggled to lift his head, his expression finally changing.

"What are you doing?"

Shingetsu didn't answer.

He walked up to the Root ninja and gripped the kunai with both hands.

The Root ninja roared.

"You wouldn't dare!"

Squelch!

The kunai plunged into his neck.

Blood gushed out.

The Root ninja's body convulsed violently, his eyes full of disbelief.

He had never imagined he would die at the hands of a nine-year-old Uchiha brat.

Even less that the boy, injured as he was, would still dare to finish him off.

Shingetsu looked down at him, his voice hoarse.

"Remember this in your next life."

"Don't treat the Uchiha as materials."

The Root ninja's pupils slowly lost their focus.

He stopped breathing.

At the same time, the System Prompt sounded.

[You have killed one Root Special Jōnin.]

[Obtained green trait: Tanto Mastery.]

[Obtained green trait: Chakra Control.]

[Detected consecutive alterations of certain-death causality by host.]

[Obtained blue trait: Combat Intuition.]

[Host's current life signs are critical. Fuse traits: Basic Taijutsu Enhancement, Mental Resistance, and Chakra Control?]

Shingetsu didn't hesitate.

"Fuse."

In the next instant, a cold force flowed into his body.

The pain didn't disappear.

His wounds didn't heal right away, either.

But Shingetsu could clearly feel his mind, which had been on the verge of collapse, steadying.

His chaotic chakra also began to flow again.

Especially deep within his body, a faint warmth seemed to be repairing the most basic damage.

It was slow.

But at least it kept him from passing out on the spot.

The footsteps in the distance drew closer.

The Uchiha patrol would be there soon.

Shingetsu glanced down at the two Root corpses.

He knew very well.

If the clan members saw this, things would get complicated.

A nine-year-old Uchiha orphan had killed two Root ninja in self-defense.

That was too unbelievable.

The clan would be shocked.

The Konoha High Command would grow wary.

Danzo would go to any lengths to kill him.

So he had to come up with a different story.

Shingetsu took a deep breath and forced himself over to the first Root corpse. He searched the body and took some ninja tools and an unmarked token.

Root's people were cautious.

They carried nothing that could directly prove their identities.

But it didn't matter.

He didn't need proof.

He only needed to sow suspicion.

As long as the Uchiha suspected the Konoha High Command, the rift would continue to widen.

And he could use this very crack to grow stronger.

Shin-getsu dragged his badly injured body to the edge of the fire.

Then he raised a hand and slashed his chest again, hard.

Blood welled out.

The pain made his vision go black.

But his gaze was terrifyingly calm.

If he wanted to deceive anyone, he first had to deceive the people at the scene.

The next moment.

The Uchiha patrol finally arrived.

At their head was a Uchiha youth in his twenties, his Three-Tomoe Sharingan already activated.

He looked at the burning wooden house, then saw Shin-getsu covered in blood. His expression changed abruptly.

"Shin-getsu!"

"What happened?!"

Shin-getsu swayed, as if he could no longer hold himself up.

He pointed at the bodies in the rubble, his voice weak and frightened.

"Someone... tried to capture me..."

"They said..."

"I was a specimen..."

Before he could finish, Shin-getsu closed his eyes and collapsed.

In the final second before he lost consciousness,

he heard the system notification.

[The host successfully alerted the Uchiha Clan Grounds.]

[The predetermined death branch has been completely diverted.]

[Special reward obtained: Sharingan proficiency increased.]

[Current Sharingan evolution progress: One-Tomoe, 30%.]