Signature Ninjutsu

"Stop wasting words on this brat! Move!" Three Root reinforcement jōnin arrived one after another.

"ANBU, fall back first. As long as we hold for thirty seconds, they're finished!" Jin told the three lightly injured ANBU jōnin.

"I'll let you taste my most powerful ninjutsu!" After speaking, Jin began forming hand seals at a rate of two per second, muttering, "Ox—Tiger—Boar—Rat—Rooster—Dog—Horse—Goat—Monkey—Rabbit—Rat—Boar—Rat—Rooster—Dog—Horse—Boar—Rat—Rooster—Dog—Horse—Ox—Tiger—Boar—Rat—Rooster—Dog—Horse—Goat—Monkey—Rabbit—Rat—Boar—Rat—Rooster—Dog—Horse—Boar—Rat—Rooster—Dog—Horse—you—have—been—fooled—ha—ha—ha!"

The ninjas were genuinely startled by Jin's long string of hand seals and immediately went on guard. Not knowing what ninjutsu he was about to unleash, they did not dare attack rashly, waiting for his move so they could evade it at once. But when they saw Jin burst into laughter, they nearly stumbled and fell.

"Ha ha ha, my ninjutsu is incredible, right? It held them down for over twenty seconds." Jin laughed without restraint, and anyone could imagine how pleased he was. A group of supposedly elite Root chūnin and jōnin, along with three Konoha ANBU jōnin, had actually been fooled by Jin's fake hand seals.

Kimimaro hurriedly gave him a thumbs-up. "I have to admit, your ninjutsu was very successful!"

White watched Jin laughing and laughed as well. Life really was this joyful. Even the Root members looked so adorable to her.

Countless hearts appeared in Hinata's eyes. "Jin is amazing! He created his own ninjutsu at only four years old! I admire him so much."

Wahaha! The results are ridiculously good! Jin thought blissfully. Then he smiled at everyone and said, "Actually, it's an incomplete technique. I thought that, under today's pressure, I might be able to complete it on the battlefield. Sigh, who would've thought it would fail again?" He even sighed along with his words.

White and Kimimaro immediately knew Jin was fooling people again. But the other ninjas did not think so. At that moment, a very young voice interrupted everyone's thoughts.

"What happened? Who are these people?"

"Itachi, they were trying to take me away." Jin looked delightedly at the newly arrived Itachi as he explained.

Itachi looked at Jin's group of four, then at the three ANBU ninjas. Without another word, he rapidly formed hand seals and joined the battle. "Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!" At the same time, he threw ten kunai, sending them flying toward the opposing ninjas. "Fire Style! Phoenix Flower Technique! Fire Style! Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"

Wow! The flames are even stronger this time! Hmm, that combination is worth learning! Jin thought smugly.

"Is that your brother, Itachi?" Kimimaro asked.

"You guessed right! Isn't he strong? Do you want to challenge him?" Jin noticed the fighting spirit in Kimimaro's eyes, then quietly discouraged him. "Then fully develop your bloodline limit first. Otherwise, you're no match for my brother. He's already raised his Sharingan to the Mangekyō level!"

"Oh? Then are you his match?" Kimimaro asked quietly in surprise.

"I won't fight him, but I should still tell you that if I fought at full strength, I could still draw with him. I'm just lacking a lot of real combat experience." Jin spoke a hard truth.

Kimimaro stared at Jin in shock and said nothing. After a while, he asked, "Then was that technique from earlier real or fake?"

Jin answered seriously, "Of course it was real! It's an S-rank ninjutsu I created! The Signature Deception Technique!"

Kimimaro was instantly speechless.

"Lord Itachi is incredible! We might be able to kill them all!" One ANBU ninja said to his companion.

Itachi's rapid barrage of attacks had already taken down the three injured Root chūnin. It was four against six, so Jin's side was still outnumbered, but Jin was not worried. Itachi had yet to truly show his strength; he had not even activated his Mangekyō Sharingan.

"What a bunch of fools who don't know their place! No matter who sent you, don't even think about escaping today! Anyone who dares harm my little brother will pay with their life!" Itachi activated his Mangekyō Sharingan.

"Kimimaro, watch carefully," Jin said softly.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! The three Root jōnin fell one after another. "I'll leave the rest to you," Itachi said weakly. Seeing Itachi about to collapse, Kimimaro hurried forward and supported him, his heart filled with shock. What kind of move was that? It killed three jōnin in an instant!

Looking at the fallen Itachi, Jin did not know what to say. He could only silently apologize in his heart, then think of the chain of changes brought about by his butterfly effect. Itachi should have awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan at thirteen, but Jin had used genjutsu to force him to awaken it early. Itachi was only nine now. He should have graduated as a chūnin at ten, but he had already graduated and been recruited into the ANBU. Jin had always felt uneasy, afraid that Akatsuki's clan massacre would come early, so he had decided that once he became a jōnin, he would return to Konoha and protect the Uchiha Clan. Recently, that sense of unease had grown stronger and stronger. Looking at the weakened Itachi, Jin felt even more sympathy for his fate. Let me change as much of this as I can!

The battle was over! Apart from one severely injured member of the Root squad who committed suicide, all the others had died. Of the nine enemies, Itachi had killed three jōnin and three chūnin. The other two chūnin had been killed by the ANBU. Seeing that things were hopeless, the six Root jōnin in the distance who had been holding back Jin and Hinata's guards immediately withdrew from the battle.

The Third Hokage puffed on his pipe as he watched everyone's retreating figures through the crystal ball. Then he called outside, "Have Itachi Uchiha come see me tomorrow morning!"

"What kind of genjutsu was that? It took down three jōnin in one strike! What a terrifying ability. Could it be... then that child Itachi has already awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan!" The Third Hokage took another puff of smoke.

"If the Uchiha Clan has found a way to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan, and they all possess such genjutsu, then Konoha is finished!" The Third Hokage took another puff.

"Notify Akatsuki. Our strength has been damaged, and the plan has changed. It must be postponed. If they still insist on carrying out that plan, then let them face all of Konoha's ninjas themselves!" Danzo said painfully after receiving news of his subordinates' deaths.

"Damn Danzo. For the sake of our new member, we can only endure this for now!" Deva Pain said bitterly.

"Why not use someone else's knife to kill? I hear Konoha's higher-ups are deeply wary of the Uchiha Clan. Could we make use of that relationship?" Konan suggested.

"We must have the genius Itachi Uchiha in our organization! Akatsuki is where geniuses gather. The organization is very interested in his fire!" Deva Pain said.

"All right. I'll make contact." Konan smiled.

After they returned, Itachi was invited to eat at Lanhui Zi's residence. After lunch, Jin used Gale Technique as an excuse to slip away. Then he found several ordinary civilians and cast genjutsu on them, making them carry out the task Jin had given them—spreading rumors that Akatsuki intended to massacre the clan.

For a time, rumors of the clan massacre spread everywhere. All sides were caught completely off guard.

Jin lay beside White and chuckled. "My Signature Ninjutsu really is amazing!"