First Battle

Ye Yuexin moved quickly eastward through the forest. This was exactly where he had trained his footwork.

He weaved between the branches at incredible speed, his movements constantly changing.

It was like riding on a train, with tree after tree rushing past.

Ye Yuexin was on high alert. He still had no idea how fast his opponent was.

What if the enemy changed plans and waited up ahead for Tuno and the others? Wouldn't that play right into his hands?

He had to be extremely careful. It was all too easy to hide in a dense forest like this.

After all, he wasn't invincible yet. He couldn't afford to let his guard down for even a moment.

Beyond the ridge lay a valley, strewn with rocks and almost entirely devoid of trees.

He had to cross it as quickly as possible.

But just as Ye Yuexin stepped past a boulder, several shuriken suddenly flew at him from unexpected angles.

They glinted with a chilling light as they aimed for his head, chest, and lower abdomen.

In midair, Ye Yuexin's body suddenly twisted and contorted. He narrowly slipped past the shuriken in a bizarre dodge.

Even though he'd evaded them, he was still soaked in a cold sweat. The angles of those shuriken had been fiendishly tricky.

That was how rogue ninja fought. Lacking a solid foundation in ninjutsu, they spent all their time honing their combat experience instead.

If that had been a ninja from another village, they could have used the Substitution Technique or some other ninjutsu to dodge. But if they'd been even a little slow forming Hand Seals, they would have been badly wounded or even killed.

After Ye Yuexin landed, a figure as thin as a bamboo pole emerged from the pile of rocks to his right.

"Lord Lin Mu was right to be cautious. That freak Xiaoyan really didn't carry out Lord Lin Mu's orders right away. Since you got here first, I guess you must have killed Xiaoyan."

"Good. I can't stand that freak Xiaoyan either. As thanks, I'll do my best to make your end peaceful."

The Bamboo Pole Man seemed very confident in his abilities.

And with good reason. The fact that Ye Yuexin and Itachi Uchiha were both only six years old was incredibly misleading.

They looked like hotheaded rookies who had only just entered the world. Especially Ye Yuexin, acting as he was now.

He'd come after them alone without knowing how strong his enemy was. To the Bamboo Pole Man, that was practically a death wish.

But even though he looked down on Ye Yuexin, the Bamboo Pole Man was still an experienced rogue ninja. His actions showed that he took the threat seriously.

He attacked in an instant, firing five shuriken that came at Ye Yuexin from nearly every direction.

Ye Yuexin quickly dodged with his footwork, but his right hand was already reaching for his dagger.

Little Li's Flying Dagger was never thrown lightly. Even if he risked getting hurt, he wouldn't throw it unless the timing was right.

Because once the dagger was thrown, it meant death. That was an indisputable fact. Ye Yuexin was no different.

The Bamboo Pole Man seemed skilled with shuriken. He might have been a ninja who specialized in using ninja tools.

After seeing Ye Yuexin dodge the attack, the Bamboo Pole Man brushed a hand over the scroll at his waist. Dozens of Kunai and shuriken suddenly appeared.

He swung his arm hard, sending them flying at Ye Yuexin. Every angle was carefully controlled.

The Bamboo Pole Man had clearly put a lot of effort into mastering bladed weapons. An ordinary ninja would have no choice but to use ninjutsu to defend against so many weapons.

But Ye Yuexin was an expert in this field. The weapons came at decent angles, but they lacked both force and speed.

With a shift of his steps, he bent his body nimbly and dodged every attack.

Then he charged at the Bamboo Pole Man. This was probably Ye Yuexin's first real battle.

With his Flying Dagger state forcibly activated, Ye Yuexin's mind grew strangely calm.

His movements were elusive, wind swirling around him. He closed the distance to the Bamboo Pole Man in an instant.

The Bamboo Pole Man was startled by Ye Yuexin's speed. He leaped backward to open up some distance, firing a few Kunai along the way.

To an experienced rogue ninja like the Bamboo Pole Man, Ye Yuexin's speed marked him as a close-combat fighter.

After all, Ye Yuexin hadn't used ninjutsu once so far. That fit perfectly with the Bamboo Pole Man's assessment of him.

So the Bamboo Pole Man had planned to attack from a distance.

But he seemed to have badly underestimated Ye Yuexin. The few Kunai did nothing to slow him down.

In what seemed like the blink of an eye, Ye Yuexin was right on top of the Bamboo Pole Man.

Then he suddenly accelerated again, whipping his leg down toward the Bamboo Pole Man's head.

The attack filled the Bamboo Pole Man with terror.

Ye Yuexin's performance had gone beyond anything he could understand.

He had never seen anyone accelerate in midair without anything to push off from.

It was too late to defend. They were both still in the air, with nothing to brace against.

The Bamboo Pole Man could only twist his head with all his might, trying to keep the kick from hitting him directly.

It worked, to an extent.

Ye Yuexin's foot grazed the Bamboo Pole Man's ear and struck his shoulder. Thud! The force was unimaginable, and the Bamboo Pole Man slammed hard into the ground.

This was a case of someone acting all high and mighty only to get put in his place—and it happened in a flash.

Ye Yuexin hadn't done any special strength training. His actual strength wasn't particularly great.

But hadn't someone once said that speed was power?

With the extra speed behind Ye Yuexin's kick, the Bamboo Pole Man was badly wounded.

The Bamboo Pole Man was an experienced rogue ninja, all right. After hitting the ground and spitting out a mouthful of blood, he didn't hesitate for a moment. He rolled straight back to his feet.

But how could Ye Yuexin give him the chance to start over? The moment the Bamboo Pole Man got up, Ye Yuexin used wind chakra to propel himself behind him and struck him unconscious with a knife-hand blow.

After the Bamboo Pole Man fell, Ye Yuexin panted rapidly. His chakra reserves were still a little low.

His footwork didn't use up much chakra, but using wind chakra to its limits in such a short time had still cost him a third of his reserves.

His stamina was the biggest drain, though. His legs were starting to ache and swell, as if they'd been filled with lead.

By his current strength, if measured purely by his chakra reserves, Ye Yuexin was still at the level of an elite Genin.

But battle strength was another matter. Chakra reserves mattered a lot, but a ninja's strength couldn't be judged by chakra alone.

Take the Yellow Flash, whose reputation was only just beginning to rise. After graduating from the Ninja Academy, he'd gone after the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki, Kushina Uzumaki, all by himself.

His strength, enough to fight an entire Hidden Cloud Village squad alone, was far greater than Ye Yuexin's current strength.

After resting briefly, Ye Yuexin felt more or less recovered. He tied the Bamboo Pole Man to a rock, then continued the pursuit.

[The new book is out... I recommend saving it first and letting it build up before reading. Your support means a lot... Thank you, everyone.] I'd like to give special thanks here to "Daijia Dashao" and "Yuchan Xiaming" for their continued support.

I'm off today, so there'll be another chapter tonight. Thank you!