Rescue and an Analysis of Their Strengths

"What exactly happened? Rin, don't panic. Take your time and tell me." Ye Yuexin said in shock after hearing the news.

That didn't make sense. Kakashi was no ordinary person.

He was someone who'd eventually become Hokage, even if only to fill the position.

How could he have been injured like this over a mere outpost?

Something serious must have happened to them, just like it had to his group.

"Our attack on the outpost went smoothly, but while we were withdrawing, we ran into a Jonin who was out on patrol. That's how things ended up like this."

"Kakashi only managed to take that Jonin down by trading injuries with him. But afterward, our tracks were discovered, and we're still trying to escape."

"I was planning to go to the main base and find someone to send help, but I didn't expect to run into you here. What are you doing here? What should we do now? Should I still go look for reinforcements?"

Perhaps because she'd run into Ye Yuexin and the others, Rin Nohara had completely lost her bearings.

It seemed Kakashi and the others really were in a critical situation.

The dog at her feet was probably Kakashi's summoned beast. Ye Yuexin remembered that Kakashi seemed to love dogs. He even had six at home.

"Rin, take Might Guy and Ebisu to our main base for reinforcements right away. I'll go help Kakashi and the others."

"No."

"No!"

As soon as Ye Yuexin finished speaking, Ebisu and Might Guy both replied at once.

They all knew exactly what shape the others were in.

Even if they went, it wouldn't make much difference to the battle. So Ebisu and Might Guy had both instinctively assumed Ye Yuexin's plan was a suicide mission.

"I should go. I'm in the best shape right now, and I'm not injured. I can already use a few basic ninjutsu."

Ebisu looked at Ye Yuexin as he spoke.

"Don't be ridiculous. You may be irreplaceable on the team, but your strengths aren't suited to combat. The few Earth Release techniques you know won't be enough to deal with a Jonin."

"Yuexin, let me go instead." As soon as Ye Yuexin finished speaking, Might Guy stepped forward.

Then he continued, "You're different from us. People with ordinary talent like us probably won't achieve much in our entire lives."

"But you're different. You're Konoha's Strongest Genin, the greatest genius of our generation. If something goes wrong, I hope it happens to us, not you. Do you understand? Do it for Konoha."

If anyone else had said those words, Ye Yuexin might have been moved.

But they'd come from Might Guy as a child—the man who'd nearly changed the story and brought it to an early conclusion. Ye Yuexin had always thought he was showing off without even realizing it.

"Guy, stop arguing. In your current condition, you can barely even walk over there. Besides, why does the way you're talking sound so strange? You're making it seem like I won't come back if I go."

"Can't you say something encouraging for once? Don't worry, I'll be fine. You know how fast I am. I'm only going to meet up with Kakashi and the others."

Ye Yuexin had made this decision with confidence in himself—or perhaps in Kakashi and the others.

They all had important roles to play later. They certainly weren't going to die here. With the power of plot armor, maybe he'd just show up, do nothing, and walk back with Kakashi and the others.

Besides, their base wasn't far away. Even if something did happen, Ye Yuexin figured that unless his opponent knew Swift Release, he could escape back to base safely, even if the enemy was another Elite Jonin.

After mastering his footwork, Ye Yuexin had become pretty confident in himself.

Not giving Might Guy and the others a chance to speak, Ye Yuexin continued, "Rin, don't you know Medical Ninjutsu? The base isn't far from here anyway, so you can head back on foot. You can treat Guy along the way."

"I'll go ahead. Just report everything accurately when you get to the main base." With that, Ye Yuexin put his footwork on display and vanished in an instant.

On the way, Ye Yuexin didn't move very fast. He went just fast enough to recover a little chakra as he traveled.

Despite what he'd just said, he knew full well how dangerous this trip was.

Whether a fight broke out or not, it was best to prepare in advance.

As for Ye Yuexin's fully mastered footwork, it really was an incredible technique.

But it had plenty of limitations, too.

Still, it was much better than the Hydrification Technique.

Suigetsu's Hydrification Technique from the original story had two main weaknesses. First, it was vulnerable to Lightning Release, because electricity could travel through water.

Second, it was countered by Earth Release, which had many techniques that could turn water into mud, not to mention special Kekkei Genkai. Ice Release, for example, could completely shut down the Hydrification Technique.

But Ye Yuexin's Wind Transformation didn't have nearly as many drawbacks.

Water had a physical form, but wind didn't.

So not only could he withstand certain physical attacks like Suigetsu, he could even shrug off many ninjutsu.

But one kind of ninjutsu could completely counter Ye Yuexin's Wind Transformation: Fire Release.

If a Fire Release attack came at him, even if Ye Yuexin transformed into wind in time, the flames would burn the surrounding air.

He could be burned in an instant, or even vaporized into steam and killed outright.

It also had one major drawback: speed.

Of course, that was only by Ye Yuexin's standards.

Even after mastering his footwork, he could never match the Fourth Raikage of the Hidden Cloud Village in the original story.

Wind simply couldn't be faster than lightning.

But Ye Yuexin wasn't worried about comparing himself to him. Speed wasn't wind's strong point. Its advantages lay in its treacherous nature and its formlessness.

Of course, that was only because Ye Yuexin was comparing himself to someone extraordinary.

Normally, his footwork was much faster than the Body Flicker Technique. Even some special Body Flicker techniques couldn't match him.

In the original story, wasn't Minato Namikaze's Body Flicker Technique supposed to be impressive? But when he raced the young Fourth Raikage, didn't he use the Flying Thunder God instead?

Ye Yuexin felt that his strength was in an awkward place. He'd originally focused on throwing knives, but now it seemed that speed had become his main strength.

That didn't mean his throwing knives weren't impressive. His speed was good enough, but it still wasn't fast enough.

He didn't mean the knives weren't moving fast enough along their flight paths.

The knives he threw could already skim along the very edge of the space between obstacles. Their speed was definitely sufficient.

But to Ye Yuexin, it still wasn't fast enough.

He still couldn't outpace an Elite Jonin's thoughts.

After all, even fairly skilled ninja in this world were excellent at sensing danger.

Whenever Ye Yuexin was about to throw a knife, their experience made them instinctively dodge. Their minds also directed their bodies to block without conscious thought.

After all, Ye Yuexin didn't throw his knives from very close range, so they had a split second to react.

Even an ordinary person could move a limb—say, throw a punch or tilt their head—many times faster than they could move their whole body.

That was why his fight with Taiyuan Zeng never gave him the feeling that his throws couldn't miss.

So his next goals were to improve his knives' speed and penetrating power.

He needed to make them fast enough that even a Kage Level fighter's thoughts couldn't keep up.

Of course, that was a goal for later. For now, his priority was making them too fast for an Elite Jonin to react to.

He also needed to improve their penetrating power. Ye Yuexin currently filled his knives with chakra whose wind nature he'd compressed through Chakra Nature Transformation.

But they were still limited by the nature of that transformation.

After all, any Elite Jonin could usually master at least one nature transformation.

That meant they could easily defend against Ye Yuexin's knives as long as they used chakra with the same degree of compression and nature transformation.

Besides, an Elite Jonin had far more chakra than Ye Yuexin did at the moment. They could simply overwhelm him by concentrating more chakra into their nature transformation.

But there was some good news, too. After that battle, Ye Yuexin had found that his chakra reserves had increased considerably.

It seemed he'd already advanced to Chunin.

He'd have to wait until he'd fully recovered to get a proper feel for it.

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