Extreme Counterkill

Early the next morning, Chentian temporarily set aside his writing. After breakfast, he headed to the Fourth Training Ground.

It was time for the training session he had agreed on with Might Guy.

The purpose of making money was to make himself stronger. He would not put the cart before the horse.

"Morning, Guy." As soon as Chentian arrived at the training ground, he saw Guy already working out.

Then, as if nothing had happened, he casually circled around Guy and collected all three white cards from the ground.

After finishing all that, he flopped onto the ground with a smack and began doing push-ups alongside Guy.

Guy had already grown used to Chentian's strange behavior. After casually greeting him, he silently continued training.

"System, bring up the status panel."

Easily doing one-handed push-ups, Chentian took the opportunity to check his stats.

There had been no cards these past few days, so Chentian had not bothered looking. He had not expected to be so lucky today and get three white cards at once.

[Host: Chentian]

[Strength: 25]

[Speed: 25]

[Constitution: 22]

[Mental Strength: 25]

[Chakra: 1010]

[Talent: Space Talent LV3.]

[Skills: Basic Shuriken LV2, Basic Taijutsu LV3, Chakra Extraction Technique LV1, Great Fireball Technique LV5, Leaf Great Whirlwind LV4.]

"Whew, not bad. Both my strength and constitution have increased, and even my chakra has gone up. But I have too few methods at my disposal right now."

Never mind that he only had one ninjutsu—it was even the Great Fireball Technique, a technique that could not burn anyone to death. Ridiculous!

Time flew by during training. In the blink of an eye, Chentian had completed five hundred push-ups, a five-kilometer run, and one thousand squats.

By then, the sky had already darkened. Guessing that Kushina's dinner would soon be ready, Chentian called out to Guy, "Guy, I'm heading out first!"

"Alright, I'm going home too. See you tomorrow."

As he spoke, Guy walked away upside down toward the other side. His home was on the far side of the training ground.

Watching the way Guy left, Chentian could not help sighing. "He really works hard! No wonder he became so powerful later on."

As the sky continued to darken, Chentian did not linger. He stepped into the forest and sprinted toward home.

He had traveled this path many times and knew it well.

After the first time, he had understood that he was not some protagonist. He had never imagined anyone would try to assassinate him here.

But reality had a way of slapping people in the face quickly.

Whoosh!

Not far from the exit, a shuriken gleaming with a black sheen, sharp enough to be obvious at a glance, shot toward Chentian's throat.

Squelch!

The sound of flesh being pierced rang out. In that critical moment, Chentian relied on his exceptional reflexes to dodge, avoiding the vital spot. The shuriken instead stabbed into his shoulder.

"Ha!" With a childish shout, Chentian ignored the pain and kicked the attacker in the abdomen, using the recoil to fly backward.

The moment he landed, he immediately left the spot and ran into an open area.

"A little brat from Konoha, and you actually dodged that attack. Not bad."

As though he had Chentian completely cornered, the newcomer no longer bothered concealing himself and openly appeared before him.

He had a horse-like face, a hooked nose, bean-sized eyes, and black night clothes. One look was enough to tell he was no good person.

Chentian cursed inwardly several times, but what came out was, "Who are you? Which village are you from?"

As he spoke, Chentian quietly observed his surroundings. This place was too far from central Konoha. Even if reinforcements came, they could not arrive quickly.

Minato was even less likely to come. He had no idea what was happening here.

If that were all, it would have been fine. But the wound on his shoulder was now bleeding nonstop.

By his initial estimate, if this continued, he would die from excessive blood loss in five minutes. In ten minutes, no one would even need to do anything—he would bleed to death on his own!

"Heh, do you think I'd tell you? Or are you trying to stall for time? But if we drag this out, you'll be the first one unable to hold on, won't you?"

The man in black revealed a trace of disdain, looking at Chentian as though he were an idiot.

The earlier fight had barely made any noise. The chance of Konoha noticing was less than one percent.

The little brat in front of him was probably just a Ninja Academy student, not even worth calling an enemy. Combined with his injuries, the man in black was not worried in the slightest.

...Aren't villains in novels supposed to reveal their identity at times like this and conveniently give the protagonist time to prepare? Why isn't this guy following the script?!

Chentian cursed wildly in his heart, but his heart slowly sank.

The man looked casual, but the position where he stood blocked Chentian's escape route.

"It's about time to send you on your way!" As soon as he finished speaking, the man in black charged at Chentian at incredible speed.

Though he was still no match for Kakashi or Might Guy, he had more than half their speed.

"Damn it, I'm going all out!"

Gritting his teeth, Chentian endured the pain in his shoulder and began forming hand seals.

The reason the man in black had not used ninjutsu was because he feared making too much noise and alerting Konoha.

Considering his earlier performance, Chentian guessed that he was an elite Chunin. There was no way Chentian could escape.

So the only option now was to use ninjutsu and make enough noise to attract Konoha's attention, allowing him to escape this predicament.

Though the pain in his shoulder constantly interfered with him, the only ninjutsu Chentian knew, the Great Fireball Technique, was not difficult.

Before the man in black could reach him, Chentian successfully completed the hand seals. "Fire Style—Great Fireball Technique!"

In the blink of an eye, a basketball-sized fireball burst from Chentian's mouth and shot straight toward the man in black.

But Chentian did not even look at it. His hands immediately began forming seals again.

The only reason he could not deal with the man in black was that he knew too few ninjutsu. If it came down to chakra, the man in black was no match for him at all!

It was just the Great Fireball Technique. He could cast it a hundred times!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

One Great Fireball after another flew toward the man in black, forcing him to retreat again and again.

"Good thing he isn't a Jonin. Otherwise, with one Body Flicker Technique, I wouldn't even have time to form hand seals!"

After forcing the man in black back, Chentian finally breathed a sigh of relief, but his hands did not stop moving for even a moment.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Violent explosions rang out one after another. They were not particularly loud, but they were enough to attract Konoha's attention.

At the very least, they were enough to alert Might Guy, who was not far away. Chentian relaxed slightly.

Now he only had to be careful in case his opponent went berserk in desperation!

"Damn it!" the man in black cursed with an ugly expression. He knew he could no longer remain hidden.

"Earth Style—Earth Wall!"

Rumble!

A wall of earth suddenly rose up, blocking three of Chentian's Great Fireballs.

"Earth Style—Earth Dragon Bullet!"

Behind the earth wall, the man in black's fingers moved rapidly as a yellow earth dragon charged fiercely toward Chentian.

"Die—!"

The instant the man in black revealed himself, Chentian fired the Great Fireball he had prepared long ago, sending it straight at the man's face.

Watching the Great Fireball draw closer, the man in black wanted to dodge, but the Earth Dragon Bullet he was about to unleash left him unable to evade.

Boom!

An explosion rang out as the Great Fireball smashed viciously into the man in black's head, knocking him unconscious in an instant.

But Chentian felt no joy at all, because the Earth Dragon Bullet the man in black had cast before losing consciousness was only one meter away from him!