A Weakling? Sending a Chunin to His Grave in One Move!

Before the man could finish speaking, the ninja blade in his hand came down with a terrifying howl of wind.

Qian Ye had no time to think. His body moved entirely on the instinct to survive.

He threw himself sharply to the side and rolled through the mud.

The blade grazed his scalp and struck the wooden wheel of the supply cart behind him.

With a crisp crack, two of the thick wooden spokes were severed.

Qian Ye scrambled to his feet, yanked a Kunai from his Ninja Tool Pouch, and gripped it tightly with both hands.

His legs trembled uncontrollably, and his teeth chattered.

"You still dare draw a weapon?"

The Sunagakure ninja pulled his blade free from the wheel and turned to look at mud-covered Qian Ye.

That gaze did not regard Qian Ye as a living opponent at all.

Qian Ye cursed wildly inside.

How the hell could I not draw a weapon?!

If I lay on the ground and played dead, would you let me go?!

"Cut the crap! If you want to fight, then fight!" Qian Ye shouted at the top of his lungs, trying to bolster his courage.

The Sunagakure ninja was amused by that. He charged forward with his sword in hand.

He was incredibly fast, reaching Qian Ye in the blink of an eye.

The ninja blade slashed upward at an angle, heading straight for Qian Ye's stomach.

Qian Ye gripped the Kunai in both hands and blocked downward with all his strength.

Clang!

The clash of metal rang so hard it hurt his eardrums.

Qian Ye felt a tremendous force travel from the Kunai into his arms.

The web between his thumb and forefinger split open at once, blood flowing out.

The Kunai nearly flew from his hand.

The blow sent him stumbling back five or six steps before his back slammed heavily into the side of another supply cart.

His opponent was far too strong!

"With strength like that, you think you deserve to be a ninja?"

The Sunagakure ninja pressed his advantage, striding forward and sweeping his blade toward Qian Ye's neck.

Qian Ye's soul nearly left his body. He hurriedly ducked and crouched down.

The blade skimmed past his scalp, cutting off several strands of black hair.

Qian Ye rolled forward, slipped beneath his opponent's armpit, and scrambled away to put some distance between them.

Their strength and speed were not even on the same level.

Qian Ye knelt on one knee, gasping for breath.

This twelve-year-old body was still too much of a burden.

If he tried to fight head-on, he would be chopped into minced meat within three exchanges.

"You're pretty quick at running." The Sunagakure ninja turned around and twirled his blade.

He clearly did not take Qian Ye seriously. He was treating this like playing with prey.

Qian Ye stared fixedly at his every movement, his mind racing.

Don't panic. Absolutely don't panic!

Old Zhao survived washing decks every day in the world of One Piece. Why should I die here?!

Chakra began surging wildly through his body.

Qian Ye forcibly suppressed the fear in his heart and concentrated chakra into his legs and hands.

As the chakra circulated, the trembling in his body miraculously began to subside.

The icy feeling of being shrouded in killing intent also weakened considerably.

"Come on, then! What, didn't you eat?"

Qian Ye straightened up and deliberately shouted at him.

The Sunagakure ninja's gaze turned cold, and the mockery vanished from his face.

"You're courting death!"

He pushed off violently, pouncing straight at Qian Ye with his ninja blade raised high before bringing it down with savage force.

This time, Qian Ye did not dodge. His hands rapidly formed seals.

Ram—Boar—Ox—Dog—Tiger!

Substitution Technique!

The ninja blade came down on Qian Ye's shoulder with a fierce howl.

There was no spray of blood.

Bang! As the white smoke dispersed, all that remained was a log split in two.

"Substitution Technique?" The Sunagakure ninja froze for a moment.

Qian Ye appeared beside a large tree three meters away.

He held two Shuriken in his hand and flung them out.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The Shuriken traced two arcs through the air, flying straight toward his opponent's face.

The Sunagakure ninja casually swung his blade, knocking the Shuriken away with two clangs.

"You're actually showing off children's tricks like these?"

He seemed somewhat annoyed. A dignified Chunin had actually been toyed with by a Genin.

If word got back to the village, where would he put his face?

The Sunagakure ninja charged again, this time even faster than before.

Qian Ye retreated while continuously throwing Shuriken and Kunai.

He was not trying to injure his opponent at all. He only wanted to slow him down.

The two began a chase around the wrecked supply carts.

Although Qian Ye was in a miserable state and nearly got cut several times, he discovered that he could actually keep up with his opponent's rhythm.

His eyes could see the trajectory of each swing.

His body could react in time as well.

This body might be weak, but it had still properly graduated from the ninja academy.

Its basic reflexes were still there.

"Will you do nothing but run?! Coward of the Hidden Leaf!"

The Sunagakure ninja cursed furiously, his blade dancing in an impenetrable blur.

Qian Ye slid beneath a horizontal slash and cursed back without missing a beat.

"Why do you care? As long as I stay alive, that's enough! Bite me!"

Pure stubborn bravado.

On the battlefield, as long as he could throw off his enemy's mindset, it was a victory.

Sure enough, the Sunagakure ninja was enraged.

He abandoned defense, gripped the blade with both hands, and channeled chakra into it. A faint blue glow spread across the sword.

"Die!"

He leaped high into the air and used the force of his descent to slash brutally down at Qian Ye.

This strike sealed off every route of escape.

There was nowhere to retreat.

Qian Ye watched the ninja blade descend from the air, his pupils suddenly shrinking.

Now!

Instead of backing away, he lowered his body and squeezed every last bit of chakra from within himself, forcing it frantically into his leg muscles.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

In an extremely short span of time, Qian Ye's feet stomped the ground ten times in rapid succession.

The powerful recoil exploded at once.

The earth sank into a shallow pit beneath him, while fragments of stone flew in every direction.

Qian Ye vanished from where he stood.

He moved so fast that only a blurred afterimage remained in the air.

The Sunagakure ninja's sure-kill strike smashed into the empty ground.

Dirt flew everywhere, and a deep crack was carved into the earth.

Where did that brat go?

The Sunagakure ninja was horrified. He had never expected a Genin to unleash such speed.

Just as his old momentum faded and before he could gather new strength—

Qian Ye appeared in his blind spot on the right.

No hand seals. No flashy ninjutsu.

Qian Ye held the mud-stained Kunai in a reverse grip with both hands. Borrowing the immense momentum of his high-speed movement, he drove it viciously toward the man's neck.

Squelch!

The sound of steel piercing skin and flesh was incredibly faint amid the noisy battlefield.

Yet to Qian Ye's ears, it was deafening.

The Kunai pierced the Sunagakure ninja's throat with perfect precision and emerged from the other side.

Warm blood erupted at once, splattering Qian Ye's entire face.

The ninja blade fell from the Sunagakure ninja's hand with a clang.

He clutched his neck with both hands, eyes wide and face full of disbelief.

A wet, gurgling hiss escaped his throat as his body fell stiffly backward.

Thud.

The corpse struck the muddy ground, twitched twice, and went completely still.

Qian Ye stood where he was, maintaining his two-handed grip on the Kunai.

Blood on his face dripped from his chin onto the ground.

The thick stench of blood rushed into his nostrils.

His stomach churned violently, his legs gave out, and he collapsed onto the ground.

He had really killed someone.

This was the first person he had killed across both his lives.

The sensation of that warm liquid spraying over his face was so real that it made him want to vomit.

Qian Ye gasped for breath, both hands braced firmly against the ground.