Genin's Provocation (Part 2)

He clutched his stomach, his eyes filled with shock and disbelief as he looked at Lan.

"You... how could you possibly..."

He could not understand it. How could a ninja academy student have such terrifying strength and speed? At the very least, it was more than twice his own!

Lan did not give him any more time to think.

His figure vanished from where he stood again.

Not good! Alarm bells blared in Sato's mind. Instinctively, he gathered chakra over the surface of his body, while his pair of Sharingan spun wildly, trying to capture Lan's movements.

"Above!"

He snapped his head up and saw Lan dropping from the air, his right foot carrying a fierce gust of force as it kicked toward his head!

"Don't even think about it!" Sato roared, crossing his arms over his head.

Bang!

With a dull thud, Sato was sent flying again. This time, he spat a mouthful of blood in midair and crashed heavily to the ground, unable to get up for a long while.

The surroundings fell deathly still.

All the Uchiha clansmen stared at Lan in the field, dumbfounded.

Sato, who could be called absolutely outstanding even among all the genin of Hidden Leaf Village, was actually so helpless before Lan?

Tekka's face turned deathly pale with fright, his legs trembling. "How is that possible? How is that possible!"

Lan slowly landed on the ground, clapped his hands, glanced sideways at Tekka, then turned back and looked coldly at Sato struggling on the ground.

"With that little skill, you dare call yourself a ninja?" His tone was full of disdain. "You're a disgrace to us Uchiha."

Sato lay on the ground, listening to Lan's mockery, trembling all over with rage.

He felt as if his dignity had been trampled into the dirt and ground underfoot.

"It's not over yet!" He suddenly stood up, the Sharingan in his eyes turning even more bloodred. "You think this is the end?!"

His hands rapidly formed seals, chakra surging through his body at an unprecedented speed.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"

Dozens of small fireballs spewed from his mouth, shooting toward Lan like a meteor shower, sealing off all his escape routes!

At the same time, Sato dragged his injured body forward again, the kunai in his hand flashing with cold light.

He was going to engage Lan in close combat! He refused to believe that, with the extremely high dynamic vision of his Sharingan, he would still lose!

Lan looked at the oncoming fireballs and Sato, and his gaze finally turned a little serious.

"Oh? Finally showing some real skill?"

He did not choose to dodge. Instead, he took a deep breath and fused the "ki" inside him with his chakra, gathering it over both fists.

He was going to take this attack head-on!

The blazing phoenix sage fire fell like a dense rain of sparks, and the air filled with a scorched smell.

Sato's figure hid behind the fireballs, his Sharingan locked tightly onto Lan, trying to catch even the tiniest movement.

He believed that under such an attack, Lan would either be hit by the fireballs or expose an opening while dodging, and he would seize that opening to deliver a fatal blow!

However, Lan's choice was beyond everyone's expectations.

He did not dodge, nor did he form seals to defend.

He simply thrust out both fists, which had gathered "ki," with a fierce punch forward!

No flashy ninjutsu name, no complex hand seals, only pure strength and speed!

Boom!

An invisible wave of force erupted with Lan at its center.

Those phoenix sage fires shooting toward him, the instant they touched the wave of force, actually seemed to slam into an invisible wall. They burst apart one after another, turning into sparks that filled the sky, yet not a single one could get close to Lan's body!

"What?!" Sato's pupils shrank, and the expression on his face froze.

What kind of ninjutsu was this?!

He had never seen such a bizarre method of defense!

In the instant he was shocked, Lan's figure had already broken through the barrier of sparks and appeared in front of him.

Too fast!

Sato's Sharingan only caught a blurred afterimage.

Instinctively, he stabbed his kunai toward Lan.

But Lan moved even faster!

His left hand was like an iron clamp, grabbing Sato's wrist that held the kunai in one motion.

Crack!

The sound of bones shifting out of place rang out clearly.

"Ahhh—!" Sato let out a shrill scream, and the kunai fell to the ground with a clang.

Lan showed not the slightest mercy. His right fist, condensed with "ki," blasted ruthlessly toward Sato's abdomen!

Bang!

The power of this punch was even more terrifying than the kick just now!

Sato's body was like it had been struck by a high-speed carriage. Once again, he arched backward and flew out, drawing a long arc through the air before crashing heavily to the ground more than ten meters away, kicking up a cloud of dust.

This time, he did not get up again.

He curled up on the ground, his body twitching nonstop, a large mouthful of blood spurting from his mouth. It was obvious he had completely lost the ability to fight.

The entire field was deathly silent.

All the watching Uchiha clansmen, Tekka included, stood frozen in place with fright, not daring to even breathe loudly.

They looked at the young man in the field, whose whole body radiated an icy aura, their eyes filled with fear and awe.

With one punch and one kick, he had beaten an official genin into severe injury—and an Uchiha who had awakened the Sharingan at that!

Was this really something a ninja academy student could do?

Especially that method he had used just now to scatter the phoenix sage fire with his bare hands. It left everyone feeling utterly incredulous.

What power was that, exactly?

Lan slowly withdrew his fist and shook out his slightly numb hand.

That punch just now was the result of his improved control over "ki," using it fused with chakra.

"Hmph, couldn't take a single hit." He snorted coldly in disdain, his gaze sweeping over all the Uchiha clansmen present.

Those country bumpkins who had just been slandering and mocking him all instinctively lowered their heads the moment they met his icy gaze, not daring to look him in the eye.

Lan's gaze finally landed on Tekka, who was trembling in terror.

Tekka shuddered all over under his stare and dropped to his knees with a thud.

"Lord Lan... Lord Lan! You're simply the number one genius of us Uchiha! We're willing to acknowledge you as our big brother, and from now on, we'll follow your lead in everything!" He bowed a full 120 degrees while shouting with snot and tears streaming down his face, completely different from his arrogant self just now.

The surrounding country bumpkins all hurriedly followed suit, bowing and shouting as well.

In Lan's memories from his previous life, he was all too familiar with this kind of "if you can't beat him, make him your big brother" move from people like Tekka.

This was the standard move of hot-blooded side characters in Japanese manga. The later plot would be: as long as they seized a chance to turn things around, they would try to crush this big brother to death, as if they wanted to repay the humiliation they had felt as underlings a hundredfold, a thousandfold.

Of course Lan did not buy it. In a world where an individual's force could stand above all organizations, why would he need underlings?!

"Kneel! Apologize!" Lan said coldly.

Seeing that Lan did not buy it, Tekka panicked completely. He hurriedly knelt on the ground and kept kowtowing. "I shouldn't have bullied your classmates! I shouldn't have slandered you everywhere, and I definitely shouldn't have asked Brother Sato to deal with you! It was all my fault! Please be magnanimous, Lord Lan, and spare me this once!"

As soon as he finished, several Uchiha youths around him also knelt on the ground, hugging Tekka and bursting into tears. As they cried, they shouted:

"If you want to hit someone, hit me! This has nothing to do with Brother Tekka! Please, Lord Lan, let Brother Tekka go!"

"Damn it, they're making it look like I'm going to kill them or something. So who exactly is the villain here, me or them?" Lan looked at them for several seconds, only feeling that the sight hurt his eyes, then shouted heavily:

"Get the hell out!"

This time, Tekka and the others acted as if they had been granted amnesty. They scrambled and crawled, running toward the outside of the training field without looking back, not even caring about Sato, who was still vomiting blood on the ground.

Watching their sorry figures flee, the iciness in Lan's eyes gradually faded.

He walked to Sato's side and looked down from above at this genin who did not know the immensity of heaven and earth.

Sato was still conscious. He looked at Lan, his eyes filled with fear and unwillingness.

"You... what exactly... are you, you monster..."

"Stop spitting blood. I didn't even use my full strength. Go to the hospital yourself." Lan did not answer his question directly, turning and leaving the training field.

His back, under the light of the morning sun, seemed especially aloof and powerful.