Fierce Battle

The arrogant, overconfident brute from the Hidden Cloud Village was caught off guard and suffered a minor injury at the hands of Yin Jie, a brat he had not taken seriously.

At the same time, Yin Jie frowned beneath his mask. His Shadow Clone had likewise been engulfed by the violent close-range explosion.

The excruciating flood of memories made his mind feel uncomfortable for a moment. After all, he was not Naruto. He did not possess an enormous, terrifying amount of chakra, nor did he have the Nine-Tails or the powerful constitution that might have come from a Sage Body.

The Sharingan and his own formidable spiritual power could only lessen the mental feedback and shock caused by a Shadow Clone dispersing. But in the end, he was still a child, and the effects remained.

Even so, Yin Jie's hands did not stop moving.

At the same instant the Hidden Cloud ninja was blasted away, Yin Jie flung several shuriken with his left hand while rapidly forming hand seals one-handed with his right.

Rat—Rabbit—Tiger. Yin Jie swiftly completed the three simplified seals with one hand.

"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Flower Claw Red!!!"

Several fireballs the size of washbasins burst from Yin Jie's mouth. They caught up with the shuriken in midair despite being launched later, wrapping around them and creating a dual attack that combined intense heat with cutting power.

This was also Yin Jie taking a shortcut. Though Phoenix Sage Flower Claw Red was a B-rank Fire Release, its foundation, the Phoenix Sage Fire Technique, was only C-rank.

Thus, Yin Jie could simplify the hand seals and form them with one hand.

"Water Release: Water Collision Wave!!!"

The Hidden Cloud ninja climbed to his feet and spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. Temporarily dispersing the Lightning Release Chakra Mode around his body, he dropped to one knee and used the Water Release ninjutsu he could activate the fastest.

A miniature waterfall suddenly roared toward Yin Jie, intercepting all of the Phoenix Sage Flower Claw Red attacks in midair not far ahead of him.

In an instant, clouds of white steam rose one after another from the intense heat.

Yet rather than feeling frustrated that his attack had been blocked, Yin Jie discovered an important clue.

This Hidden Cloud jonin's so-called Lightning Release Chakra Mode truly had significant flaws.

He did not know whether it was because the other man had not mastered it properly or because he was cultivating a weakened version, but its defensive power was nowhere near as formidable as that of the Third Raikage and Fourth Raikage he knew of.

Even the Third Raikage's reanimated body, with its "strongest shield," could withstand Naruto's Wind Release: Rasenshuriken.

Yet this Hidden Cloud jonin had been pierced through his defenses and lightly injured by merely a wave of close-range explosive tag blasts.

Yin Jie narrowed his eyes slightly, and the tomoe in his crimson pupils spun even faster.

Though he had found the Hidden Cloud jonin's weakness, Yin Jie still found the situation extremely troublesome.

After all, the force of several explosive tags stacked together and detonated at point-blank range had only made blood trickle from the man's mouth. It was still far from enough to kill him.

In other words, Yin Jie lacked a decisive finishing move—something that could kill the man outright the instant he broke through his defenses.

Then he could only take a risk!

A sharp gleam flashed through the scarlet.

"Brat! You have successfully enraged me!"

As the steam dissipated, the Hidden Cloud jonin growled in fury.

Then, in the very next second, blue lightning once again wrapped around his body. With an explosive burst of speed, he charged at Yin Jie again.

As one of the few ninjas in the Hidden Cloud Village who had begun to master the Lightning Release Chakra Mode, he preferred, like his boss the Third Raikage, to engage his enemies in close-quarters combat.

His initial mastery of the Lightning Release Chakra Mode was also precisely why he had been promoted from chunin to jonin.

"Earth Release: Earth-Style Stone Spears!!!"

Sharp stone spikes burst from the ground as Yin Jie pressed both hands to the earth, racing one another to spear straight toward the Hidden Cloud jonin rushing at him at high speed.

Hmph! A brat is still a brat! He's an Uchiha, yet he actually dares use Earth Release against Lightning Release?

The Hidden Cloud jonin's chakra surged even further. Without the slightest intention of dodging, he crushed every stone spike erupting beneath his feet into fragments.

However, his speed slowed slightly in the process.

And that was exactly the result Yin Jie wanted.

Of course he knew that Earth Release was countered by Lightning Release, and that the B-rank Earth-Style Stone Spears could not pose any meaningful threat to a Hidden Cloud jonin using Lightning Release Chakra Mode.

Yet he had done it anyway.

Because all he wanted was to slow the Hidden Cloud jonin down, creating a suitable opening for the lethal strike to come.

If the Hidden Cloud jonin maintained his high-speed charge, then once they entered close combat, Yin Jie's Sharingan might be able to see clearly, but his body would not be able to keep up.

"Die!!!"

Seeing Yin Jie standing motionlessly in place as if he had been frightened senseless, now less than five meters away, the Hidden Cloud jonin bellowed excitedly with a savage grin.

He could practically see himself breaking Yin Jie's limbs and dragging him back to the Hidden Cloud Village like a dead dog.

He could even seemingly see the Third Raikage, whom he admired most, lavishly praising him for successfully capturing an Uchiha alive, then promoting him, raising his pay, and setting him on the path to the pinnacle of life.

However, in that very instant—

Just as the Hidden Cloud jonin came within less than five meters of Yin Jie—

Yin Jie suddenly moved.

He pulled a sealing scroll from his ninja tool pouch and swiftly opened it.

At the center of the unfurled scroll was a large character: "Thunder."

This was the gift Tsunade had brought with Orochimaru when they visited his home late one night after Yin Jie passed his graduation exam and became a genin. She had told him he would definitely like it.

Sealed within it was the experimental Sword of the Thunder God, forged in his youth by the innately evil Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, and once used as his personal weapon!

However, since Tobirama Senju was more skilled in Water Release, he gradually sealed away the Sword of the Thunder God within the Senju Clan, where it was eventually collected by Tsunade.