A Battle Report That Was Badass Beyond Belief

With Konoha's major victory at the frontline camp, a bloodstained stretcher was also carried into Konoha's medical camp.

The accompanying Chunin captain, Shiranui Yano, compiled everything that had happened along the way into a mission report and sent it to the frontline commander, Baiyun Zaojian.

"Captain Uchiha Lan volunteered to scout the canyon and fell into an encirclement. Hidden Sand sealed the entrances and exits with barrier techniques and massive boulders."

"After entering the depths of Gale-Splitting Gorge... we discovered roughly fifty-plus Hidden Sand corpses... as well as the bodies of ten Jonin, including Chahachiro... Uchiha Lan was the only survivor in the entire canyon!"

"If nothing unexpected occurred, Captain Uchiha Lan single-handedly eliminated over a hundred Hidden Sand shinobi before exhausting his chakra and falling unconscious from severe injuries."

When Baiyun Zaojian read that mission report, his first reaction was that Shiranui Yano had been bought off by Uchiha Lan's petty favors.

Otherwise, no one without ten years of psychiatric history could have written such an outrageous battle report!

A Jonin—no, even an Elite Jonin—could not possibly turn the tables after being carefully ambushed by more than a hundred Hidden Sand shinobi.

Forget him; even Jiraiya and Orochimaru, the current near-Shadow Level Sannin, would definitely think of fleeing at the first sign of such a situation.

It was impossible for the two of them to be killed. As inheritors of the three great sacred lands, they could simply use Reverse Summoning Jutsu to escape.

Forget a hundred Hidden Sand shinobi—even if the Six Paths of Pain came, they could not hold those two down. (Jiraiya mainly died because he did not want to run. He actually could have escaped.)

As for Uncle Snake, there was no need to mention him. If his strength was insufficient, he made up for it with his survival skills. He had outlived countless famous shinobi.

But what right did Uchiha Lan have? If an Elite Jonin could escape from that situation, that alone would have been badass enough.

It was not until the Nara Special Jonin he had sent out returned and truthfully reported what he had seen.

Only then did Baiyun Zaojian realize that this absurd battle report might actually be true.

Uchiha Lan had truly counter-killed over a hundred shinobi who had ambushed him. That was no longer merely badass—it was badass beyond belief.

"Our... our team sent to reinforce the battle and clean up the battlefield in the depths of the canyon has returned..."

The Nara Jonin spoke in a low voice.

"The depths of the canyon... that sight... was practically a slaughterhouse. By rough estimates, not counting the dozen or so puppet master remains, the number of Hidden Sand corpses inside the canyon alone... exceeded sixty!"

"And... and most of them died horribly. Some corpses had been burned to ash by powerful Fire Release, while others had been blasted into fragments!"

Baiyun Zaojian listened in silence, every word striking his heart like a heavy hammer.

"Jonin Uchiha Lan... he..." The Nara Jonin swallowed with difficulty. "

""Based on the chakra traces remaining at the scene... it should have been him... alone. While trapped in an absolute encirclement with his team members separated, he single-handedly... killed the vast majority of the enemies."

"Especially those ten Hidden Sand Jonin and the puppet master Chahachiro... it can be confirmed that he dealt with almost all of them by himself."

One against a hundred! And it had been an elite Hidden Sand company, including ten Jonin and a powerful puppet master!

Baiyun Zaojian abruptly turned toward the canyon entrance, as though he could see through the mountain rock and glimpse the young figure being carried away.

"It's hard to imagine that a Jonin barely in his teens could achieve something like this!"

"No wonder... no wonder he earned the Third Hokage's esteem..."

Baiyun Zaojian's voice held a barely perceptible tremor. It was shock, but also reverence for the feats that young junior had accomplished.

"Three to one? Heh... he was fighting at the highest level, alone against one hundred and twenty shinobi in a deathtrap."

"If not for him... that hundred-man Hidden Sand unit would have charged out from the depths of the canyon and joined forces with Maki's remaining troops for a counterattack. Even if we won, it would definitely have been... a miserable victory among miserable victories!"

He slowly closed his eyes. In his mind appeared Uchiha Lan's usual figure—somewhat arrogant, somewhat lazy, yet incomparably dependable when it truly mattered.

That brat... had actually concealed such terrifying power, and such an unyielding Will of Fire!

"Immediately send additional elite medical ninja. Use the best medicine. Save Uchiha Lan at all costs!"

Baiyun Zaojian abruptly opened his eyes, his voice resolute and filled with unprecedented gravity and determination.

"He is Konoha's hero! The hero who saved this battle, and may even change the entire situation in the Land of Rivers. He must live!"

"Yes, Lord Zaojian!" The Nara Special Jonin solemnly accepted the order and turned to sprint away.

Baiyun Zaojian stood alone atop the rocks as the setting sun cast his shadow long behind him.

Uchiha Lan: Actually, if you had a pair of Mangekyo Sharingan, you could do it too. Lord Madara fought ten thousand men alone and won, yet he never bragged about it!

If you ever learned that the Third Raikage fought ten thousand Stone Shinobi for three days and three nights before dying, you would probably be even more shocked.

The evening wind blew past, bringing an even stronger stench of blood, along with the subdued discussions of Konoha shinobi in the distance.

They were discussing the horrifying battle deep within the canyon, news of which spread like a prairie fire among the Konoha shinobi with nothing better to do.

"One man... killed an elite hundred-man Hidden Sand unit... including ten Jonin..."

"Even Hidden Sand's elite puppet master, Chahachiro, was taken out..."

"I heard that Uchiha Lan... volunteered to scout, which was why he got ambushed..."

"No wonder his title is Konoha Spark! Truly worthy of being Konoha's burning spark!"

The news swept across the entire battlefield like a hurricane. It was also relayed back to Leaf Village and throughout the Land of Fire at the fastest speed through summoning beasts and intelligence networks.

The news returned to Leaf Village at the fastest speed.

Inside the Hokage Building, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, looked over the battle report with undisguised admiration and shock in his eyes, highly praising Uchiha Lan's accomplishments.

Originally, Danzo Shimura, the Shadow Hokage, had not wanted an Uchiha brat to gain fame and had intended to suppress the news.

However, the Third Hokage considered the village's current predicament of fighting on two fronts, with a third front against Hidden Cloud about to begin.

In order to boost morale and ease relations between the Hokage Building and the Uchiha Clan, he rejected Danzo's proposal. Instead, he vigorously publicized the matter and encouraged the younger generation of shinobi to learn from Uchiha Lan.

The entire Leaf Village erupted in excitement. Although they were those unlikeable Uchiha, they were still the pride of their village.

It also showed that Konoha was still winning more than losing in its external wars. The advantage was still on Konoha's side, all right!

The name Konoha Spark—Uchiha Lan—resounded through the streets and alleys, Ninja Academy, taverns, and teahouses.

The Uchiha Clan members held their heads so high they might as well have been staring at the sky. Even their clan crest seemed to shine brilliantly because of those accomplishments.

Most of the radical faction members who had not joined the war shouted every day about going to the battlefield. They figured that if Uchiha Lan, a Three-Tomoe Jonin, could fight a hundred men alone, then they could surely take on ten each!