No One Can Control Me

Uchiha Mo paused slightly, then nodded.

"Fine! As long as you let me go, I'll tell you the Kazekage's true situation. This intelligence is absolutely worth it!"

As he spoke, he quietly gathered chakra at the fingertips of his right hand behind his back.

Wind Blade differed from conventional ninjutsu. It was a hand-signless technique, but like most hand-signless techniques, Wind Blade required charging—gathering chakra to replace the hand-sign process. It could not be cast instantly, but Baki could prepare the charging process in advance to achieve an instant-cast effect.

The reason he did not simply form a Wind Blade first and wait for the right moment to launch a sneak attack was because Baki feared the Sharingan would spot a flaw. Although the Two-Tomoe Sharingan could not see changes in chakra within the human body, shifts in the caster's presence, the flow of the wind, and the swaying of grass were all real. An Uchiha skilled in using the Sharingan could easily spot the opening from those details.

Baki stared tensely into Uchiha Mo's eyes, his expression incomparably sincere. No one would have imagined the murderous intent hidden behind his back.

The tomoe in Uchiha Mo's eyes slowly turned, and a cold sneer suddenly appeared on his indifferent face.

"Heh... a clown's dance. How utterly ridiculous. You wouldn't naïvely think that childish toy could kill me, would you? Besides... who told you I intended to obey Hidden Leaf's orders? No one can control me. What does what Hidden Leaf wants have to do with me? All I want is your life!"

As his words fell, Uchiha Mo abruptly swung the Blazing Longsword in his hand at Baki.

"Uchiha Style: Flame-Leaping Sword!"

As the longsword swept through the air, a ferocious ribbon of flame shot explosively from its blade!

Seeing that Uchiha Mo was actually serious rather than merely trying to raise the price, even Baki, who had crawled out of the Second Shinobi World War alive, shuddered. Desperately, he condensed a massive Wind Blade and hurled it out.

"You really are a madman! What benefit is there to you if I die? If Hidden Sand learns of this, it might start a war!"

"Boom!"

The Fuma Shuriken-sized Wind Blade collided with the ribbon of flame, erupting into a massive burst of sparks in midair. Yet in only an instant, Blazing Fire not only devoured the wind blade, but became even more violent amid the gale!

"Boom—!"

The blazing slash struck Baki's body, leaving a wound that pierced through his chest and instantly setting him ablaze...

Someone had once calculated that the maximum pain the human body could endure was 45 DOL, while being struck hard in the testicles rated 50 DOL. The pain of being burned alive by raging flames rated 77 DOL.

As Baki's screams gradually died away, Uchiha Mo's gaze fell upon a certain point in the air.

Blue Baby Fusion Rate: 10.52% + 9.13% (Ability unlocked upon both reaching 10%: Invisibility)

As expected of an elite jonin proficient in Wind Release—one life alone had increased Mo's Wind Release proficiency by nearly nine percent. Of course, that was also because his unlock rate was too low. If Uchiha Mo's unlock rate had been above twenty percent, the increase likely would not have been so dramatic. Besides Wind Release, the unlock rate corresponding to Yang Release had also risen slightly, though not by much.

Uchiha Mo withdrew his gaze and looked expressionlessly toward the woods nearby.

"Had enough of watching? Come out."

As his words fell, rustling sounds arose from the forest. Before long, a white-haired figure wearing a black mask sprang out from within.

Despite the mask, the disbelief on his face was as plain as the hole in Jesus's palm. "You actually killed Baki!"

Kakashi had originally fled, but Mo's words kept echoing in his mind along the way. Kakashi was one of the most outstanding geniuses in Hidden Leaf's history since its founding. Everyone believed that, and so did he. But...

"Only the weak fall into the dilemma of difficult choices. Whatever choice the strong make is the right one. Since you value the mission so much, then take that Sand Ninja and flee like a stray dog. I'll kill Baki!"

The contempt of a peer he had always regarded as a formidable rival, along with the clash of their ideals, churned violently in his mind like a raging storm!

Comrades or the mission? The choice that had been enough to crush the White Fang seemed, to Uchiha Mo, to be nothing more than a question—a test of whether one was strong enough.

"No! Father is the great White Fang of Hidden Leaf, a hero of the Second Shinobi World War! He is a powerful man respected even by the Three Sannin! How could he possibly be weak?! But..."

Kakashi suddenly recalled the sight of Uchiha Mo saving him from the Wind Blade, then resolutely facing Baki. His steps came to a halt.

"Hey! Kakashi, have you heard of Uchiha Mo? He's the greatest genius of our Uchiha Clan! Of course, he's still a little worse than yours truly. Hehe~ If he enrolled, you definitely wouldn't be able to take first place. Too bad I heard he firmly refused the clan's request for him to enroll, which is why you can act so smug."

"Kakashi! Have you heard? Mo awakened his eyes! He awakened the Sharingan at five years old, and the clan head said it was a new record within the Uchiha Clan! Even the Third Lord came to the clan personally to invite him into the ninja academy! That was the Hokage, yet Mo didn't give him any face at all! He's even more full of himself than you..."

"Kakashi, Mo has made a name for himself outside as the 'Blood Ninja.' I heard the number of missions he's completed is already close to that of some jonin! So cool. What title do you think I should get someday? How about Hero of the Goggle Sharingan? Hey! Don't leave..."

"..."

"Uchiha Mo... are you my teammate for this mission?"

"The White Fang's son? Whatever. Just don't hold me back."

Kakashi set the Sand Ninja on the ground and rapidly began forming hand signs.

"Earth Release: Earth-Style Prison!"

As his words fell, Kakashi pressed both hands to the ground. With the influx of chakra, the earth before him churned like a swamp, swiftly burying the Sand Ninja vertically underground until only his head remained exposed. He then quickly left several Hidden Leaf code marks around the area and turned toward where he had come from.

"I'm going back—not for my comrade. I'm going to see whether Mo's ending gives him the right to say such things. I'm going to make him understand the cost of choosing wrong. I'm going to prove Father isn't weak!"

The tomoe in Uchiha Mo's eyes slowly spun and faded away, returning them to a pair of clear black eyes. He glanced at where Baki had just been lying without replying. All that remained there was a pile of human-shaped ashes, without even a trace of bone or flesh left behind.

When he had sent Baki flying, he had already sensed Kakashi returning. Otherwise, if Mo had used Fire Boy's ability, the fight would have been much easier. With the advantage of elemental restraint, he could have killed Baki without such elaborate tactics.

And the ability that needed to remain hidden for the time being was precisely the core ability of Fire Boy's first stage, Blazing Fire—fire control!

With this ability, Mo did not need hand signs or the ninjutsu system at all to directly convert chakra into blazing flames and wield them as easily as his own limbs.

But such a thing was far too beyond common sense and needed a process to clear its name. Fortunately, the ready-made scapegoat was standing right before Uchiha Mo.