The Electromagnetic Sniper Cannon's First Battle

"Huh? My kidney's spicy?"

The thought had only just arisen when it was swallowed by intense pain and terror. The armor formed from rock kept crumbling and falling away, revealing his original flesh beneath.

"You... is this Gentle Fist?" the towering Iwa Ninja asked, his face deathly pale.

"Probably not."

Hyuga Satoru thought for a moment before answering.

Strictly speaking, this move was version 2.0 of Magnetic Storm Palm. The first generation of Magnetic Storm Palm used the principle of Electromagnetic Pulse, dealing burning electrical damage and impact damage to the human body. But in version 2.0, Hyuga Satoru had tried fusing Gentle Fist techniques with the Magnetic Storm Palm he had developed, using Gentle Fist techniques to strike the damage from within.

That was also why the opponent's rock armor had been so fragile—because the damage had erupted from the inside.

Hyuga Satoru never clung to form. Combining all kinds of techniques to unleash greater power was his pursuit and goal.

With his internal organs suffering a critical hit and his kidney flying out of nowhere, the towering Iwa Ninja finally collapsed powerlessly to the ground after letting out an unwilling wail.

Hyuga Satoru looked toward Uchiha Rin's position and saw that the battle there had also reached a fever pitch. The Iwa Ninja was relying on his ninja blade to force Uchiha Rin back step by step.

After seeing his companion killed by Hyuga Satoru, that Iwa Ninja let out a grief-stricken roar of fury. Bloodshot veins spread through his eyes, and the assault of his ninja blade suddenly intensified, suppressing Uchiha Rin so fiercely that danger sprang up all around her.

"Damn it!"

Hyuga Satoru's heart tightened.

But under the repeated attacks, a tiny opening appeared in Uchiha Rin's defense. That opening was seized by the Iwa Ninja, whose ninja blade slashed viciously toward Uchiha Rin's head, his expression savage.

"Die!"

The scene seemed to freeze. All that remained was the sound of flesh being pierced open and the bright red blood that kept flowing.

The Iwa Ninja's body seemed to solidify, his pupils trembling nonstop. His ninja blade brushed past Uchiha Rin's side, cutting off a lock of black hair.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but all that came out was red foam. A Kunai was lodged deep in his throat, and blood kept running down along the slender fingers gripping it.

In Uchiha Rin's cold eyes, a crimson as red as blood shone, and a single pitch-black tomoe slowly rotated.

Hyuga Satoru arrived and swallowed.

"Are you okay?"

"Satoru, you were right. Only at the brink of life and death can the Sharingan truly be awakened."

Pulling out the Kunai and flicking off the blood on it, Uchiha Rin spoke calmly.

"Congratulations."

Hyuga Satoru breathed a sigh of relief, then his expression turned strange. Awakening the Sharingan before the age of nine—without a doubt, Uchiha Rin was a true genius.

If he stayed this close to her, would he end up being sacrificed to the heavens one day?

Probably... not, right?

"What about Anko?" Uchiha Rin asked.

Hyuga Satoru looked over and saw that, beneath the feet of the Genin fighting Anko, a swarm of black insects had suddenly burrowed out. They surged up together, devouring his flesh and blood, drawing bursts of miserable screams from him.

"It's... it's over." Anko wiped the sweat from her forehead and collapsed weakly onto the ground.

Aburame Shibi appeared on the battlefield, looking at them with approval.

"You all did quite well. Facing ninja who surpassed you in both number and rank, you completed the mission perfectly."

"No, it was all Satoru and Rin's credit. I couldn't even defeat one Genin." Anko hung her head in dejection. This battle had made her see the gap between herself and her teammates clearly.

"No, Anko, you were already very outstanding. The Genin fighting you was already at a disadvantage. Even if I hadn't acted, the final victory would still have been yours."

Anko said nothing, her head lowered slightly.

"Teacher Shibi, let's go check the supplies the Iwa Ninja seized," Hyuga Satoru said.

"Mm."

When they reached the spot where the carriage had stopped, Hyuga Satoru discovered that the Iwa Ninja who had been guarding the supplies earlier was gone. A bad feeling suddenly rose in his heart. He yanked away the cargo cloth covering the carriage compartment and immediately froze.

Inside the carriage compartment were only empty wooden boxes with anti-spying techniques arranged on them. There was not a single bit of supplies.

"We were tricked!"

"This carriage was just a decoy. The real supplies were probably transferred away with a Sealing Scroll long ago."

Aburame Shibi's heart sank. During the battle just now, in order to watch over his students' safety, he had focused all his attention on the other side. He hadn't expected something to go wrong here.

Hyuga Satoru immediately activated his Byakugan. In the perspective of the Byakugan, he saw, nearly a kilometer away, a Chunin with a huge scroll strapped to his back fleeing madly into the distance.

It was the very same Iwa Ninja who had stayed behind to guard the supplies earlier!

"He's in that direction, about eight hundred meters from here." Hyuga Satoru immediately pointed out the fleeing Iwa Ninja's position from his Byakugan's perspective.

Aburame Shibi looked over. Across the vast grassland, he could vaguely see a black dot on the distant green horizon, steadily growing smaller.

Aburame Shibi quickly analyzed the situation, then sighed helplessly.

"We'll count this mission as a failure. I'll explain to the Hokage that it was my mistake. All of you performed exceptionally well."

"Wait, Teacher Shibi. Can you use your swarm to lift me up? It doesn't need to be too high. Five meters is enough."

Aburame Shibi was puzzled for a moment, then said, "Given your weight, using insects to build a platform and lift you to that height is possible, but..."

"There's no time to hesitate. Hurry!" Hyuga Satoru looked at him solemnly.

"All right."

Though he had no idea what this student of his was planning, he could only trust him now.

Aburame Shibi raised his hand, and countless pitch-black insects crawled out of his body, flying to Hyuga Satoru's feet and gathering into a black platform that shakily lifted him up.

"A little higher."

Aburame Shibi increased the output of the swarm, raising Hyuga Satoru to a height of five meters.

"What exactly are you trying to do?"

He looked up gravely at Hyuga Satoru on the black platform.

Standing on the soft cushion of insects, Hyuga Satoru took a deep breath and pulled a scroll from his robes, a glimmer of hope flashing through his eyes.

"The Electromagnetic Sniper Cannon's first real battle. Don't let me down!"

As the white smoke dispersed, a strange metal crossbow appeared in Hyuga Satoru's hands, reflecting a faint, cold gleam.

"That's... Satoru! You're finally going to use it?"

Below, Uchiha Rin's eyes lit up.

What was that?

Aburame Shibi stared in astonishment at the ninja tool in Hyuga Satoru's hands.

Was it a bow?

Was it a crossbow?

It was an Electromagnetic Cannon!

Hyuga Satoru took a deep breath, picked up a Metal Arrow, and set it against the bowstring. He began constructing the electromagnetic propulsion, the arrowhead aimed at the distant black dot that had already shrunk until it was almost impossible to see.

Electromagnetic propulsion constructing... construction complete!

Measuring wind speed...

Calculating air humidity...

Calculating gravitational acceleration...

Byakugan visual angle corrected. Target locked.

Hyuga Satoru held his breath. The fingers gripping the bowstring loosened slightly, and in an instant, accompanied by a sharp explosive crack, the Metal Arrow turned into a blue arc of lightning and vanished.

"Go, only my railgun!"

He roared in his heart.

"That was close, way too close! Looks like they didn't chase after me!"

Kaito, who was fleeing with all his might, glanced back and panted heavily.

"I never thought Iwato and the others would actually get killed. Those Konoha brats are terrifying. Once I get back to the Hidden Stone Village, I have to tell Lord Tsuchikage to raise his guard—especially against that Byakugan brat..."

Thinking of his two teammates who had died miserably, Kaito felt a chill rise in his heart. That terrifying Byakugan brat absolutely could not be allowed to live!

The thought had only just risen in his mind when an intense sense of deadly crisis suddenly exploded from behind him. He simply turned his head, and his pupils abruptly shrank.

A Metal Arrow wrapped in arcs of lightning shot toward him like a thunderbolt.

Kaito's eyes nearly split wide open.

What kind of ninjutsu was this!!!

Before he could even let out the roar, the arrow had already arrived. Its terrifying piercing power instantly tore through his body together with the scroll on his back, pinning him firmly into the ground.

On the insect cushion, Hyuga Satoru lowered the bow he had been holding high, the corners of his mouth curving up slightly as he murmured in a voice only he could hear.

"Target eliminated."