Clash

Yi Zhongwu saw that the brat ahead not only refused to flee, but actually dared to come at him. Furious, he laughed instead:

"Brat, I'm going to eat you alive."

He gripped his kunai tightly in both hands, killing intent nearly tangible around him as he charged furiously at Hyuga Qingchuan.

The two of them were like sworn enemies heading into their final showdown, advancing toward each other with killing intent blazing.

However.

Halfway there, Hyuga Qingchuan suddenly stopped. His body slid strangely to the side and back, slipping behind the trunk of a thick tree.

The next moment!

Yi Zhongwu felt something wrap around his body.

Snap!

A crisp sound of wire breaking rang beside his ears.

Then, like falling dominoes, more wires snapped one after another.

His pupils contracted as he inwardly cursed.

In the corner of his eye, seven or eight Explosive Tags on the surrounding tree trunks flared with blinding light at once!

Terror seized him. Almost instantly, he formed hand seals and activated the Body Flicker Technique.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A chain of deafening explosions erupted!

Flames and shockwaves instantly swallowed the area where he stood, scattering dust and smoke everywhere.

Whoosh!

A battered figure staggered out of the smoke with difficulty—it was Yi Zhongwu!

Though he had reacted quickly, the explosions had been packed too densely, and he was still hit!

His right shoulder and entire arm were gone, the severed area blackened and mangled as blood gushed out like a spring!

The agonizing pain nearly made him faint, and his face turned as pale as paper.

All he could do was press his left hand desperately over the wound, panting heavily as beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.

"That vicious little brat."

He ground his teeth as he cursed, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the smoke ahead without daring to relax in the slightest.

Those elusive arrows of light had left too deep a psychological shadow on him!

Sure enough!

Whoosh!

A blue-white arrow of light shot out from the smoke, aimed straight at his vital point.

"Damn it..."

Yi Zhongwu was shocked and furious. Hanging in midair, he had nowhere to dodge and could only desperately swing the kunai in his left hand to block!

Clang!

A sharp ring sounded! The arrow of light was knocked away, striking a tree and sending wood chips flying.

He was still wondering why the force behind the arrow was far weaker than he had expected.

The next instant.

A faster, fiercer arrow of light took advantage of the stiffness in his body after the block.

It shot into his abdomen from an extremely tricky angle.

Yi Zhongwu was struck as though by a heavy blow, his entire body violently hurled from the air to the ground by the enormous impact!

Urgh!

He spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of internal organs.

The moment he landed, before he could catch his breath.

Several shuriken had already flown right before his eyes.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Relying solely on instincts honed through years of fighting, he narrowly knocked every shuriken aside with his kunai.

And in the instant after he completed the blocking motion.

A figure appeared behind him in a flash, like a ghost!

Such a fast Body Flicker Technique!

Yi Zhongwu was horrified!

These relentless attacks! And that Body Flicker Technique!

Was he really just an Academy student who had not even become a Genin?

Alarmed, he forcibly twisted his body around.

His left-hand kunai rose with difficulty to block!

Clang!

Sparks scattered!

He barely stopped the fatal strike aimed at his throat.

The next instant, he felt a tremendous force slam into his abdomen.

Bang!

The already mangled wound was made even worse when Hyuga Qingchuan kicked it.

"Agh!" Yi Zhongwu staggered back several steps before dropping to one knee in pain.

Before Yi Zhongwu could recover, Hyuga Qingchuan was already in front of him again.

With kunai in hand, he drove it viciously toward the kneeling Yi Zhongwu.

The pain on Yi Zhongwu's face instantly turned to terror. He hurriedly raised his kunai to parry.

But Hyuga Qingchuan twisted his wrist again, slipping past Yi Zhongwu's blocking kunai and thrusting straight at his throat.

This is bad!

Yi Zhongwu inwardly cursed.

But his move had already been committed. It was too late.

Instinctively, he tried to use his right hand to stop Hyuga Qingchuan's kunai.

But all that answered him was his empty shoulder.

Squelch!

The dull sound of a blade piercing flesh rang out.

Hyuga Qingchuan showed no mercy as he plunged the kunai into his opponent's body.

Blood splattered!

Yi Zhongwu threw back his head, using his only remaining left hand to clutch the kunai lodged in his throat.

His eyes bulged wide. His mouth made faint hissing sounds, but he could not say a word.

His body involuntarily stiffened, then collapsed limply onto the ground.

Hyuga Qingchuan also slumped helplessly to the ground.

The body he had inherited was still far too weak, and he was only around ten years old.

Against a ninja in the prime of his life like this, neither his strength nor stamina could keep up.

Fortunately, Holy Arrow had bled his opponent first. Otherwise, this really would have been difficult.

After the brief anesthesia of adrenaline wore off, intense pain came flooding in.

Only then did he realize that the wounds Keiko had bandaged for him had all split open under such intense combat.

Gritting through the pain, he used pressure points to seal the blood vessels around the wounds.

Hiss!

His vision went black. Waves of excruciating pain, like knives cutting through him, nearly made him pass out.

He panted rapidly and continuously, sweat pouring from his entire body.

It took a full quarter of an hour before he recovered.

Clutching his wounds and frowning deeply, he forced himself up through the pain, stripped the valuable items from Yi Zhongwu's body, and tied them onto himself.

Then he hurried toward Konoha Village.

Who knew how much time passed.

Konoha Village at the foot of the mountain finally appeared in Hyuga Qingchuan's blurred vision.

From the moment he was injured until now, he had basically relied on willpower to make it this far.

"No wonder ninja teams saw such huge improvements in survival rates and combat power after being equipped with medical ninja."

For creatures like ninja, who had high attack and low defense, aside from those absurdly overpowered freaks, anyone else who suffered serious injuries basically lost their combat ability.

Having a teammate like White Fang was fine, but if he ran into Mizuki, he would be sent straight to his death.

If he knew some medical ninjutsu, even the most basic healing technique, he would already be up and about by now.

When he got the chance, he definitely had to learn some medical ninjutsu for self-defense.

He staggered mechanically down one hill, then struggled up another.

This was already the fourth hill he had climbed.

Those bastards Hashirama and Madara, couldn't they have fought outside the country?

They had left so many valleys north of the village that every trip back from this direction was exhausting...

Lost in random thoughts, he staggered toward the village gates.

Konoha Village Gates.

Kamizuki Izumo and Hagane Kotetsu were still only Academy students, so Konoha's gate guardians were naturally someone else.

Yuhi Shinku and Umino Ikkaku were on duty today.

The two were startled when they saw Hyuga Qingchuan covered in blood.

They hurriedly rose and supported him.

Yuhi Shinku turned to Umino Ikkaku and spoke rapidly. "Ikkaku, keep watch. I'll take him to the hospital."

With that, he grabbed Hyuga Qingchuan and vanished in a Body Flicker Technique.