Plundering Ninjutsu

Kazuhiko Uchiha stood beside the golden giant ape's corpse. His calm words put boundless pressure on the three Stone Ninja, leaving them utterly silent.

Ninja Beast Little Gold was a special ninja beast that Akiyama's father had painstakingly raised for years. In his transformed state, he possessed Jonin-level strength. Had it not been to protect his son during the Chunin Ninja Exams, Akiyama's father would never have allowed him to take Little Gold even one step outside Iwagakure.

During the second exam, the Gray Soil Squad had encountered several groups of enemies. With Ninja Beast Little Gold's formidable strength, they had eliminated or driven off every opponent without suffering any injuries. Little Gold was their strongest trump card.

Now, Little Gold had been killed in an instant despite being in his Jonin-level form. It was easy to imagine how powerful their opponent was, and they had lost all courage to continue fighting.

When the Stone Ninja failed to answer for a long while, Kazuhiko Uchiha frowned and asked in a low voice, "Are we still fighting or not?"

Seeing the displeasure on Kazuhiko Uchiha's face, Huirang could only steel himself, cold sweat pouring down his body. With an awkward smile, he said, "Your strength is extraordinary. We are thoroughly impressed. We'll leave right away and never bother you again."

"Wait. Who said you could leave?"

Just as the Stone Ninja thought they could leave safely, Kazuhiko Uchiha's murderous words chilled them to the bone.

The Stone Ninja stopped in their tracks and stared at him in bewilderment, unsure whether he had changed his mind.

"Do you think you can just walk away after disturbing me?"

Seeing them give in, Kazuhiko Uchiha had already abandoned the idea of killing them all. After deactivating the Eight Gates Released Formation, however, he suddenly recalled the Grass Ninja he had encountered earlier, so he moved to block their path.

As the squad leader, Huirang stepped in front of his teammates with a resolute expression and asked coldly, "What do you want?"

"One ninjutsu from each of you. Consider it the price for disturbing me."

Kazuhiko Uchiha knew only a handful of Fire Release Ninjutsu, leaving his offensive options somewhat limited. This exam was the perfect opportunity to acquire some ninjutsu he had yet to master.

After hearing Kazuhiko Uchiha's demand, Huirang and his companions looked deeply troubled.

Every ninjutsu was part of a ninja village's foundation. Regulations forbade even sharing them privately among comrades, let alone passing them on to ninja from another village. If this came to light, they would certainly face punishment from their village.

But their lives were at stake. After a brief discussion, the Stone Ninja decided to give Kazuhiko Uchiha ordinary ninjutsu that nearly every major ninja village possessed.

"We're willing to give you ninjutsu, but you have to promise us you'll never tell anyone about this," Huirang said, his face livid as he looked at Kazuhiko Uchiha and put forward his own condition.

"Fine. I swear on the name of the Uchiha Clan."

Although the Uchiha Clan's honor meant nothing to Kazuhiko Uchiha, who had transmigrated into this world, it was still a convincing guarantee to outsiders who knew nothing of his circumstances.

"I hope you keep your word." Huirang took out a blank scroll, wrote on it, then tossed it over to Kazuhiko Uchiha.

Kazuhiko Uchiha caught the scroll and found three Earth Release ninjutsu inside: [Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld], [Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears], and [Earth Release: Headhunter Jutsu].

"You can go."

Delighted to have obtained three usable ninjutsu, Kazuhiko Uchiha waved the Stone Ninja away. Leaving a Shadow Clone to continue watching the surroundings, his original body returned to his previous campsite, where he prepared to finish up while studying his newly acquired ninjutsu.

"Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!"

Using primal energy, which surpassed chakra in quality, to cast the ninjutsu made the ground soften faster and increased its suction beyond that of an ordinary Swamp of the Underworld. In the blink of an eye, the test Shadow Clone's legs sank into the earth, leaving him unable to move.

"Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears!"

Hard black stone spears thrust out of the ground, shattering a massive rock on the surface. Kazuhiko Uchiha took out a kunai and threw it at a black stone spear with the strength of an ordinary Chunin. It penetrated only a few centimeters before lodging firmly in place, revealing just how astonishingly hard the black stone spear was.

"Earth Release: Headhunter Jutsu!"

Kazuhiko Uchiha sank beneath the ground. The once-solid earth became as yielding as river water, and he traveled a considerable distance underground with almost no effort. Although he could not move quite as quickly as he could aboveground, the difference was slight.

Having tasted the rewards of robbery, Kazuhiko Uchiha began entertaining more ideas. He created another Shadow Clone and sent him out to search for other teams.

The next day, Kazuhiko Uchiha's Shadow Clone located a squad of Sand Ninja. After observing them from hiding for a while and roughly assessing their strength, he launched a frontal attack.

The Sand Ninja squad was reasonably strong and naturally refused to wait helplessly for death. The three worked together against the Shadow Clone. Although they were no match for him, they showed no signs of defeat in the short term.

"Konoha ninja, why are you attacking us?"

The Sand Ninja captain was puzzled. Konoha and the Sand Ninja were allies. In an exam like this, they should have been working together against enemies from other ninja villages. Besides, his team did not even possess the items needed to pass this exam, so there was no conflict of interest between them.

"I want your ninjutsu. Give me three, and I'll spare your lives." The Shadow Clone drove one of the Sand Ninja back with a slash and bluntly stated his purpose.

"Dream on."

"Not a chance."

The Sand Ninja flatly rejected Kazuhiko Uchiha's demand. Abandoning any regard for their alliance, they unleashed lethal attacks on the Shadow Clone.

"Fine, then. Take your ninjutsu to hell with you."

Kazuhiko Uchiha likewise stopped holding back. He used Earth Release ninjutsu to restrict the Sand Ninja's movements, then killed the squad with a few basic moves from the Wind Spirit Sword Art.

After the battle, Kazuhiko Uchiha searched the three ninja's tool pouches. He found only some Military Ration Pills and ninja tools, with no valuable items such as ninjutsu scrolls.

With a look of disdain, the Shadow Clone casually discarded the items, sat down to restore his chakra, then set off once more in search of enemies.

An hour later, the Shadow Clone encountered a team of Takigakure Ninja. After defeating them, he obtained two different ninjutsu scrolls: [Wind Release: Great Wind Blow] and [Water Release: Water Flow Arrow].

Three hours later, the Shadow Clone discovered a combined squad of nine Cloud Ninja. After comparing their strength with his own, he skirted around them and continued onward.

Five hours later, he encountered a Konoha squad fighting a Cloud Ninja squad. After helping the Konoha squad kill their enemies, he obtained a [Lightning Release: Lightning Ball] ninjutsu scroll from the spoils.

While the Shadow Clone continued collecting ninjutsu scrolls, two competing teams from different ninja villages entered East Avenue Forest, where Kazuhiko Uchiha was staying, one after the other.