Desperate Counterattack

Itachi Uchiha suddenly jumped backward. At the same time, he began forming Hand Seals. Anyone could tell he was preparing the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique.

The burly man froze for a moment, clearly not expecting Itachi Uchiha to still have enough chakra to perform a ninjutsu.

His expression stiffened. "You're still struggling, brat? Looks like you still haven't faced the cruelty of reality..."

Before he could finish speaking,

Itachi was still a Genin, but his Hand Seals were every bit as fast. And since he had started forming them first, the burly man had no time to do the same.

The seals were complete. Itachi Uchiha's chest suddenly swelled, and a gigantic fireball burst from his mouth.

He had nearly exhausted all his chakra to perform this Great Fireball. Its power was almost twice as great as usual.

Scorching heat filled the space as the fireball surged toward the burly man.

The fireball was certainly powerful enough to kill him. But it was a little too slow.

This was a weakness shared by nearly all Fire Release techniques. They had immense power, but were not particularly fast. That was why timing was so important when using Fire Release Ninjutsu.

It was also why the Great Fireball Technique had almost never killed anyone in the anime.

The timing wasn't ideal this time, because the burly man had watched Itachi Uchiha form the seals, giving him more time to react.

By the time the fireball came rolling toward him, the burly man was ready. He quickly rolled toward a spot where the flames were slightly weaker.

But he had still underestimated the Great Fireball's power.

Even though he had been prepared and had escaped the main blast, the fireball swelled again as it passed.

"Argh!!" The flames seared the burly man's back, and he cried out in pain.

Burns were excruciating. The burly man's eyes turned red. "Damn brat! I..."

His furious roar abruptly cut off.

A ninja battle could be decided in an instant.

The burly man's face was filled with unimaginable terror.

Dazed, he slowly lowered his head and looked at his chest. The tip of a Kunai protruded from it, and blood from his heart spurted out.

"W-when did..." The words seemed to drain what little strength the burly man had left. He slowly sank to his knees.

Itachi Uchiha emerged from behind him.

It turned out that, at the very beginning, when Itachi Uchiha had rolled out from under the burly man's feet, he had already created a Shadow Clone.

Then, using the Substitution Technique and Transformation Technique, he had turned himself into the mission card on the ground.

He had been waiting for this moment. He had deliberately left an opening in the Fire Release just now, too.

Itachi Uchiha had planned it all. He was truly terrifying.

The Itachi Uchiha in battle felt like a completely different person from the usually haughty Itachi.

With a thud, Itachi Uchiha fell to the ground. His Shadow Clone vanished at once.

It seemed he had truly run out of chakra this time.

But there was still Tuno. He hadn't been dealt with.

By now, Tuno had recovered and gotten to his feet. "Kid, you really are the most talented genius I've ever seen."

"I'm sure that one day, you'll be famous throughout the entire Shinobi World."

"But your path ends here. I'll never allow someone like you to grow stronger."

Tuno was badly wounded. He limped toward Itachi Uchiha, one step at a time. His Kunai was smeared with blood; he had clearly just pulled it out of his own arm.

He looked down at Itachi on the ground.

"Die!!" he roared, thrusting the Kunai toward the back of Itachi's head. This blow would surely take Itachi's life.

At last, Itachi's expression changed. He slowly closed his eyes, as if in slow motion.

His face showed unwillingness. He still had so many wishes left unfulfilled.

His life had only just begun... I hope he didn't see my distress flare. Otherwise, I'll really have dragged him into this. That was Itachi's final thought.

Ye Yuexin had already become a friend he trusted.

"Hey, hey, his path has only just begun. Yours is the one that's ending." A calm voice rang out. Itachi Uchiha's eyes flew open.

Sparse leaves in the dense forest could not block the moonlight shining everywhere. Ye Yuexin appeared beside Itachi as if out of nowhere, crouching at his side. He blocked Tuno's descending Kunai with one hand. For a moment, it seemed even the wind stirring the leaves had stopped.

Ye Yuexin casually waved a hand, sending the badly wounded Tuno flying. He even added a kick for good measure.

"Why are you staring at my handsome face?" Ye Yuexin said with a smile, noticing Itachi Uchiha's fixed gaze.

Only Itachi Uchiha could understand that feeling—the feeling of surviving by the skin of his teeth.

And after Ye Yuexin arrived, the feeling of being rescued.

"Thank you," Itachi Uchiha said with a smile.

Those two words carried a lot.

Seeing Itachi Uchiha's expression, Ye Yuexin could tell something had changed.

Wasn't a person supposed to grow gradually? How had Itachi Uchiha suddenly seemed so much more mature?

"Come on, you don't have to thank your big brother. Rest and recover your chakra first." As he spoke, Ye Yuexin helped Itachi Uchiha to his feet.

Then he went over to Tuno and tied him up with a rope.

Tuno had still had some strength left to resist, but he'd just had to act tough and pull the Kunai from his arm, losing too much blood in the process.

Add Ye Yuexin's kick, and now he could barely move.

His plan had probably been to deal with Itachi Uchiha before stopping the bleeding. But he hadn't accounted for Ye Yuexin showing up.

Now he was almost about to get himself killed.

After quite a while, Itachi Uchiha slowly recovered. He had only regained a little chakra, but it was enough for him to move.

Fortunately, Itachi Uchiha had only suffered superficial wounds and muscle contusions. Otherwise, he couldn't possibly have regained the ability to move so soon.

Seeing Itachi Uchiha stand up, Ye Yuexin asked, "How are you?"

Itachi Uchiha took a few more steps and said slowly, "I can move now." Then he came over to Ye Yuexin.

No one could have anticipated that a simple C-rank mission would take such a dramatic turn.

But since it had happened, they had to find out what was going on.

So Ye Yuexin asked, "What happened just now? Were those two enemy ninjas?"

"I'm not sure," Itachi Uchiha replied. "They never revealed any information. And their ninjutsu was all over the place, so I couldn't identify them."

"Then how did you run into them?" Ye Yuexin continued.

"I suddenly found an injured jackal in the forest. There was a Shuriken stuck in its abdomen. Then someone appeared."

"That was Tuno. He didn't look like a Konoha ninja. He had no insignia or Forehead Protector. So, following what we learned at the Ninja Academy about handling situations like this, I hid and planned to capture him."

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