Using Magic to Defeat Magic

At this moment, Retsuo had just reached the mountain pass at Hokage Rock. As he watched, a ninja wearing silver-white leather armor stepped around the corner. He wore a patterned mask and carried a ninja sword on his back, looking exceptionally elite.

"The Third Hokage needs your report. Come with me."

His voice was low, and the mask concealed his expression, but he was actually extremely astonished. He knew that this Uchiha orphan was still attending the Ninja Academy. He was neither the top student nor a genius, yet he had managed to detect someone deliberately hiding in the shadows? How had he noticed?

Retsuo merely gave an "oh" and asked curiously, "Who are you?"

The other man spoke coldly and condescendingly. "You don't even know about the ANBU?"

"Now I know. Let's go." Retsuo exhaled and sprinted after him.

As he ran, he secretly opened his Sharingan and refined an excessive amount of Chakra, sparing no thought for overexertion.

The moment he began refining Chakra, Retsuo was struck by one pleasant surprise after another.

Refining Chakra was the most basic of a ninja's basic skills. Retsuo was already nine years old and had begun practicing four years ago, but his aptitude had limited him. Refining Chakra had always been like "drawing silk from a cocoon," slowly combining his physical energy with his Spiritual Energy.

The key was that physical training only required hard work and perseverance to produce results. Especially after the clan had properly nurtured him over the past year, his taijutsu had improved by leaps and bounds.

But his Spiritual Energy was still a considerable distance from the Genin standard. To release any ninjutsu in actual combat, he had to stockpile enough Chakra in advance before launching a single attack.

It could be said that there were no shortcuts to increasing Spiritual Energy—unless one awakened the Sharingan...

Only now did Retsuo truly experience the power of the Sharingan firsthand. He did not even need to deliberately refine Chakra; it surged out in torrents.

Compared with before he had awakened his eyes, the difficulty of refining Chakra had definitely dropped more than tenfold.

It was no wonder that Uchiha who had awakened the Sharingan were so arrogant and overbearing. Aside from Itachi, whose body was exceptionally frail, it seemed that no one in the entire Uchiha Clan ever lacked Chakra.

Retsuo only had One Tomoe, yet he was already experiencing the bliss of spiraling into the heavens. At this rate of Chakra recovery, mastering a few more techniques would give him the combat strength of a Chūnin. His physical energy, instead, had become the weak point.

Soon, the two of them ran down from Hokage Rock. Retsuo kept his eyes on the ANBU Ninja ahead. When he saw the man turn left, he immediately confirmed his suspicion.

He had seen it clearly earlier: the Nine-Tails' fox tail had been floating in the sky to the right.

Retsuo immediately turned right without saying a word, burst Chakra beneath his feet, and suddenly accelerated. The ANBU Ninja had never expected such a move and ran several more steps before realizing that something seemed wrong.

Huh? Where is he?

By the time the man angrily caught up with Retsuo, Retsuo had already crossed half the village. Countless civilians lay strewn along the road, while the cries of injured ninjas rang out without end. Broken walls and ruined buildings gave everything a desolate appearance.

Retsuo had practically forgotten about the "ANBU Ninja" by now. He was running for his life, racing against time.

The battle outside the village had begun again. The Nine-Tails' enormous body was impossible to miss. Countless ninjas charged forward one after another, leaping high in front of it to throw Shuriken and Kunai, only to be smacked back along the same path like flies.

Retsuo had no idea why the Konoha ninjas never attacked the Nine-Tails' lower body.

Maybe dying that way is more dignified?

Considering that Danzo had once used a Kunai to attack Susanoo, this possibility could not be ruled out.

However, whenever the Nine-Tails held a Tailed Beast Bomb in its mouth, Minato would appear and use the Flying Thunder God to vanish with it.

In other words, there was no guarantee he would arrive in time to use Talk no Jutsu. Why is this road through the village so long?

Retsuo was frantic. If Minato flew away, everything would be over!

At that moment, scenes from the anime he had watched in his previous life kept surfacing in his memory.

In the Original Timeline, when he was trying to take away the Nine-Tails, which was about to launch a Tailed Beast Bomb, Minato had looked down from above and watched Sarutobi Hiruzen and a large group of ANBU standing on the ground. He had not said a word about the urgent intelligence concerning the Masked Man before flying off.

Only his dramatic entrance and pose had taken quite a bit of time.

Retsuo hoped to recall even the tiniest bit of useful information, but nothing came to him. Instead, a thought surfaced in his mind—After Minato survived, would the village's higher-ups impeach him? People like Shimura Danzō would never let such an opportunity pass. Konoha had suffered heavy losses tonight, especially if they lost the Nine-Tails as well.

Minato Namikaze, a gentleman may be deceived by reason...

His only flaw was that he was too good to his comrades while being too harsh on himself. He liked to shoulder every responsibility, even at the cost of his life.

Given Minato's personality, perhaps even when he used the Reaper Death Seal, he had felt relieved to die and prove his resolve?

People like that, bathed in the Will of Fire, were like chives, sprouting again and again after each harvest. Retsuo could not help recalling Kakashi's father, the Konoha White Fang Sakumo Hatake, whom he had seen when he was little.

In his already vague memories, he had also been a warm man, and Minato resembled him greatly. The higher-ups of Konoha had these people's personalities firmly in their grasp.

While Retsuo's thoughts were running wild, the ANBU Ninja suddenly appeared in front of him with a Body Flicker Technique. He leveled his ninja sword and stared at Retsuo coldly, his eyes regarding him like a corpse. "You can really run. In all my years of carrying out missions, this is the first time I've encountered someone like you."

Retsuo said solemnly, "I need to see the Third Hokage immediately. Don't waste any more time! For the sake of the village, move aside!"

The ANBU Ninja replied flippantly, "The Third Hokage has no time to see you right now. The ANBU only follows orders. My orders are to take you away."

"But you're not ANBU. The ANBU Ninjas should be fighting the Nine-Tails with everything they have right now. You... are... Root!"

A murderous glint flashed through the eyeholes of the patterned mask. "Do you want me to deal with you personally?"

"You bastard! Do you know what you're doing?" Retsuo gritted his teeth. Every second wasted here was fatal!

But clearly, claiming that this was the Fourth Hokage's order and so on would never drive the other man away. It would only invite even greater humiliation.

Fight? If I weren't weaker than you, I would've beaten you to death already! I don't want to offend Shimura Danzō right at the start either. You forced me into this! You want to pick a fight with me? If you can't spread rumors, don't even think about picking a fight. Watch this!

Retsuo suddenly shouted at the top of his voice, "There's a spy here! He's impersonating an ANBU Ninja and trying to abduct me! Somebody, help!"

His childish voice was filled with anxiety and carried exceptionally far. This was the core area of Konoha, and Konohagakure was destined to remain sleepless that night. More than ten thousand ninjas were wandering the streets, and in an instant, the surrounding ninjas swarmed over.

With his face hidden beneath the mask, the ANBU Ninja was utterly dumbfounded. Seeing the unfriendly looks from the surrounding ninjas, he screamed inwardly, I'm not! I didn't! Don't come any closer—

Meanwhile, Retsuo continued shouting like a rapid-fire cannon, "I have urgent intelligence that must be reported to the Third Hokage immediately! This was personally ordered by Teacher Minato!"

After shouting, he bent his body slightly forward, clenched both fists before his chest, lowered his head, and adopted the appearance of someone consumed by righteous indignation!

Immediately, someone in the crowd shouted, "I heard the command from Uchiha Obito! He's that child from the Uchiha Clan!"

"I heard it too!"

"What exactly is the Fourth Hokage fighting?"

"It's a mysterious man with a Sharingan and a strange mask, but he absolutely isn't a member of our Uchiha Clan!" As he spoke, Retsuo pointed at the so-called ANBU Ninja. "This man claims to be ANBU and tried to trick me into going somewhere else. Please catch him, everyone. I have to go!"

With that, he continued sprinting. As he kept his head down and ran toward the edge of the village, he marveled at how far-sighted Minato Namikaze was. No wonder he had spoken so loudly on Hokage Rock...

Suddenly, the enormous Gamabunta descended from the sky—

Retsuo was shocked! But the Nine-Tails was already close. He could even see the expression on its face...

The next update would still be at 11:40. During the new-book period, I couldn't post more than that. Either one long chapter or two short chapters would be updated at the same time.