Who Gave You the Courage

However, Uchiha Ran's Phoenix Flower could not be blocked with a hasty defense.

Boom boom boom boom boom—!

The blazing Phoenix Flower flames exploded violently, and an orange-red glow instantly swallowed his figure.

The first fireball tore through the dust and slammed into his crossed arms. The immense impact made both his arms shudder violently, and his defensive stance collapsed at once!

Then came the second and third... striking him with the precision of a raging storm!

"Urgh—!!!"

His incomparably miserable scream lasted only a brief instant before it was completely drowned out by the explosions that followed.

The flames mercilessly licked at his body. His ninja vest instantly charred and shattered under the intense heat, while his flesh sizzled with a scalp-numbing sound.

A thick stench of burning flesh filled the air. His scar-covered face twisted and blackened in the firelight.

The instant the Hidden Sand jonin staggered backward and fell from the blast—

Whoosh!

Uchiha Ran moved like lightning, instantly crossing the lingering flames and smoke between them!

The tachi in his hand no longer merely gleamed with a cold light. It became a frigid silver streak that flashed across the Hidden Sand jonin's neck!

For an instant, time itself seemed to freeze where the blade passed.

That charred, smoking body, still twitching faintly, suddenly stiffened.

Then it hit the scorching sand with a dull thud.

Uchiha Ran pointed his tachi diagonally at the ground, flicked his wrist, and shook the last drop of blood from the blade.

Boom—!!!

At that moment, a deafening explosion suddenly rang out!

Not far from Uchiha Ran, an orange-red fireball instantly burst and expanded, mixing with shattered chunks of the earth wall to form wave after wave of air blasts.

Boom!

The Great Fireball's blazing flames instantly swallowed the burly Hidden Sand ninja.

The scorching blast stirred up the surrounding dust once more and blew aside Tekka's messy bangs. He clearly saw the flames consume his target and even heard an extremely brief, muffled grunt from within.

It worked!

"Hahaha, what Hidden Sand jonin? Nothing special. Cough, cough... remember this—the Uchiha Clan... is Konoha's strongest clan!"

The tension in Tekka's body abruptly eased, and an overwhelming wave of exhaustion crashed over him, making him gasp heavily.

After all, he had just used up half his chakra. He was more exhausted than he had ever been, like after spending half a day doing that.

The Three-Tomoe in his Sharingan rapidly dimmed and faded, eventually returning to ordinary black pupils. His vision even began to blur and darken.

When he saw the scorched, unrecognizable round log still smoking, he could hardly believe it.

A log?!

The smile on Uchiha Tetsuka's face instantly froze, and his pupils shrank sharply with extreme shock and terror!

An icy chill shot up his spine and straight to the top of his skull.

"The Substitution Technique... when..."

His mind went blank, with only that thought screaming within it.

How was that possible? He had clearly seen the other man swallowed by flames! He had clearly heard the sound! Could it have been... cover from the smoke?

"The most basic Substitution Technique... and you still couldn't see through it? Uchiha's 'genius'?"

A cold voice filled with endless mockery and bone-deep hatred suddenly rang out clearly behind him, like a frigid wind from the depths of hell.

Uchiha Tetsuka's blood seemed to freeze instantly!

Just as he tried to turn and counterattack, a rough hand smeared with dirt and blood clamped down on the hair at the back of his neck like iron pincers, brutally yanking his entire upper body backward!

Then a heavy backward strike slammed into his waist.

The agony blackened his vision, and a pained whimper escaped his throat.

Thud!

Uchiha Tetsuka crashed heavily to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The wound along the back of his body was deep enough to expose bone, and blood quickly soaked the dirt beneath him like a gushing spring.

The excruciating pain made his entire body convulse, and cold sweat instantly covered his forehead.

He struggled to push himself up, but his injured spine could not exert any strength at all. The piercing pain nearly suffocated him.

Half of the burly Hidden Sand ninja's face was covered in burns from the Great Fireball.

He picked up Uchiha Tetsuka's unsheathed tachi and looked down at him from above.

With a savage curl of his lips that exposed stark white teeth, he said:

"You evil Uchiha brat, you dared to ruin my handsome face!"

"Trash Uchiha, this is the price of wasting your chakra so freely. Remember it in your next life!"

Just as he prepared to use Uchiha Tetsuka's own sword to kill Tekka himself, a fierce gale swept over.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

"Pah!"

The burly Hidden Sand ninja groaned as he felt his internal organs being viciously compressed. His entire body was hurled away by the violent airflow like a kite with its string cut.

His forehead protector flew off, and sharp flying stones instantly cut several bloody gashes across his face and arms. The clothes on his back were torn open in several places by the shockwave, revealing bleeding flesh beneath.

He awkwardly forced himself to adjust his posture in midair, attempting to land.

Just as he was about to finish adjusting himself and land in a relatively safe posture—an abrupt change occurred!

An extremely cold chakra filled with killing intent erupted without warning from the smoke behind and to his side!

The position was chosen with extreme cunning, precisely catching the instant the burly Hidden Sand ninja landed.

Squelch—!

The sound of a sharp weapon tearing through flesh was especially piercing amid the fading echoes of the explosion.

"Argh—!"

This Hidden Sand ninja let out a short scream even more agonized than when the blast had struck him, as a sharp blade viciously pierced through his chest.

"Every movement you make is a weakness! Who gave you the courage to judge the Uchiha Clan, Fish Leong?"

Behind him, Uchiha Ran's cold voice spoke lazily.

With a faintly mocking tone, Uchiha Ran slowly pulled the bloodstained tachi from the Hidden Sand ninja's corpse. Blood dripped from the blade with soft pattering sounds.

He casually flicked the blood from the sword, his movements utterly nonchalant.

"Tekka, are you okay?"

"Captain, I think I'm not okay. My spine seems to be broken."

"Good, then you're fine. I'll go support Inasui and Daotian first!"

Uchiha Tetsuka: Huh?

Elsewhere.

Although Uchiha Daosui and Uchiha Inada were fairly strong, they still found it somewhat difficult to face six Hidden Sand chunin.

Moreover, their opponents excelled at puppet techniques and Wind Release. The two types of ninjutsu complemented each other, tightly suppressing Uchiha Daosui and Uchiha Inada for a time, and they nearly took one of them down several times.

Seeing victory within reach, all six Hidden Sand chunin felt the urge to start celebrating before halftime.

Until their two jonin squad leaders were killed one after another by Uchiha Ran. At that sight, the hearts of the six Hidden Sand chunin instantly turned cold.

If even their two jonin squad leaders had been defeated so easily, how could they possibly be a match for this Uchiha?

With that thought, the six Hidden Sand chunin no longer cared about anything else and turned to flee.