"Hey, Feifan, how did you spot me earlier?"
Bieshu Feifan was looking around, seemingly scanning his surroundings at random.
When he heard the Aburame Shinobi's question, Bieshu Feifan did not answer. Instead, he asked:
"By the way, what's your name? I still don't know."
"Haha, my name is... got you."
The Aburame Shinobi did not give his name. Instead, he unleashed a ninjutsu.
While Bieshu Feifan was keeping watch over his surroundings, he had already completed his Ninjutsu.
At some point, a dense black swarm of insects had reached Bieshu Feifan's back. It formed a large hand holding a kunai and stabbed straight at the back of his neck.
Squelch!
The Aburame Shinobi's kunai pierced the back of Bieshu Feifan's neck without any resistance.
But the Aburame Shinobi's expression changed, because the lack of resistance was quite literal.
As the attack struck Bieshu Feifan, his figure instantly dissipated.
"Clone Technique! When?"
Shocked, the Aburame Shinobi hurriedly put some distance between them.
But suddenly, he felt the resistance of a gust of air behind him. Someone had appeared at his back.
"Got you."
The Aburame Shinobi's pupils contracted sharply. It was already too late to react.
Squelch!
Bieshu Feifan's kunai stabbed into the back of his neck.
This time, Bieshu Feifan distinctly felt the blade entering flesh.
But his decades of experience slaughtering pigs told him that this did not feel like normal flesh and blood.
Bieshu Feifan's expression changed drastically. He swiftly pulled out his kunai and retreated several steps.
Sure enough, just as Bieshu Feifan retreated, the Aburame Shinobi's body suddenly turned into a black swarm of insects that surged straight toward him.
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique.
Bieshu Feifan swiftly formed several hand seals and blew toward the incoming swarm.
A wave of scorching flame instantly shot from his throat, burning more than half the attacking insects to death.
Both had exchanged a move. A draw.
Only then did the Aburame Shinobi emerge from the sand beneath the insects that had been burned down.
Bieshu Feifan and the ninja faced each other with kunai in hand, neither daring to attack again.
After a long silence, the Aburame Shinobi finally spoke first.
"Feifan, we shouldn't be fighting among ourselves now. Uchiha Qiongyue is our common target. He's not dead yet."
"Heh, weren't you the one who attacked first?"
"Didn't you also use the Clone Technique in advance without telling me, Feifan?"
With that, the two fell silent again.
There was no point saying more. Neither would trust the other again.
After all, both had just resorted to dirty tricks.
But both were also genin, with limited chakra.
A single Fire Release had directly consumed half of Bieshu Feifan's chakra.
The Aburame Shinobi was worse off: his Insect Clone had been burned away.
With his chakra, he could not cultivate enough insects to deal with Bieshu Feifan anytime soon.
The two remained in their standoff, kunai in hand, neither willing to back down.
Both were also wary and dared not attack.
If Bieshu Feifan retreated now, he was not confident he could shake off the other ninja's tracking insects.
Even now, the Aburame Shinobi did not know how Bieshu Feifan had discovered him.
Bieshu Feifan seemed to possess some means of long-range reconnaissance, and he was not confident he could escape that surveillance after leaving.
The two rested for a while. Feeling that he had recovered considerably, Bieshu Feifan suddenly drew a kunai and threw it at the Aburame Shinobi.
At the same time, he formed hand seals, seemingly about to complete a ninjutsu.
The Aburame Shinobi had anticipated this. Countless insects instantly poured from his body, forming an arm that caught the incoming kunai.
Then, rather than using Fire Release, Bieshu Feifan threw another kunai the instant he completed the final seal.
The Aburame Shinobi had already rolled aside to deal with the Fire Release attack.
But what came was not Fire Release. It was a kunai with an explosive tag tied to its end.
The Aburame Shinobi was startled. Bieshu Feifan had actually predicted where he would land.
It was already too late to dodge again. The Aburame Shinobi desperately drove his insects to form a barrier before him.
Boom!
The swarm was blasted apart, and the Aburame Shinobi was hurled several meters away.
He let out a muffled grunt, blood staining the corner of his mouth.
Bieshu Feifan gave him no chance to catch his breath.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Several whistles cut through the air. More kunai with explosive tags attached.
Where did he get so many explosive tags?
Could he have bought them with the Uchiha compensation money?
But now was not the time to think about that. He was from the Aburame Clan; he had money too.
The Aburame Shinobi immediately took out explosive tags of his own and had his insects carry them to intercept the incoming kunai.
Boom, boom, boom!
Several more explosions rang out.
This time, Bieshu Feifan had gained the upper hand.
He saw that his opponent also had explosive tags, seemingly quite a few of them.
Bieshu Feifan did not dare close in. He took out the explosive tags he had previously seized from the other Aburame and traded throws with this one.
After two more collisions and explosions, Bieshu Feifan ran out of shuriken. He could only grab a handful of yellow sand from the ground and throw it with an explosive tag. The Aburame
The Shinobi used only a few insects each time to carry explosive tags to intercept, while sending other insects carrying explosive tags around the front to attack Bieshu Feifan from the side.
Good tactics.
Bieshu Feifan silently praised him.
But judging by his opponent's appearance, controlling two fronts was no simple task.
Bieshu Feifan threw explosive tags while dodging the attacking insects.
Every time, he managed to dodge just before the explosive tags on the insects detonated, giving the Aburame Shinobi no chance to adjust.
Meanwhile, the explosive tags Bieshu Feifan threw came at increasingly tricky angles, always bypassing the Aburame Shinobi's first wave of interception. This forced him to expend even more insects and explosive tags.
After only a few exchanges, the Aburame Shinobi felt immense pressure.
Fighting Bieshu Feifan actually felt like facing an Uchiha.
Every move he made was predicted. He could not seize the initiative at all.
The Aburame Shinobi gradually began panting heavily, and he had few explosive tags left.
With defeat looming, the Aburame Shinobi squeezed every bit of chakra from his body and instantly sent out most of the insects within him, forming a wall of insects between them.
Boom, boom, boom!
After several explosions, the swarm was completely destroyed.
Then the Aburame Shinobi could be seen limping away into the distance.
Bieshu Feifan grinned.
"Found you."
Bieshu Feifan stepped forward, seemingly about to chase the Aburame Shinobi.
But after running just a few steps, he suddenly threw the kunai in his hand toward a spot beneath the desert sand to his right.
Whoosh!
It whistled through the air.
Squelch!
"Aaagh!"
Bieshu Feifan's kunai sank into flesh.
The surface of the desert quickly shifted. A small patch of yellow insects scattered in alarm, revealing the Aburame Shinobi.
Bieshu Feifan smiled smugly.
Earlier, he had been unprepared.
Now, at close range, he could see the inside of the Insect Clone clearly. It was completely different from a human's chakra pathways.
The kunai had sunk into the Aburame Shinobi's abdomen. He was beyond saving.
The Aburame Shinobi struggled into a sitting position. Looking at Bieshu Feifan, who still did not dare approach him even now, he gave a bitter smile.
"Feifan, it seems that lord misjudged you. With your talent, you're sure to become a pillar of Konoha."
"Heh, 'that lord'? Isn't it just Shimura Danzō? You act like nobody knows."
At those words, the Aburame Shinobi's dying eyes suddenly widened.
"You... how do you know?"
"Of course I know. I also know that he'll use his life to seal half a bridge in the future."
"You..."
The Aburame Shinobi wanted to say more, but Bieshu Feifan threw another kunai.
This one struck the Aburame Shinobi squarely in the throat.
"So much like... an Uchiha."
The Aburame Shinobi breathed his last. Not even twenty years old, he had been sent to his death by Shimura Danzō in the desert of a foreign land.
Seeing that the Aburame Shinobi was motionless, Bieshu Feifan struck him with another kunai before finally going over to collect the spoils.
The explosive tags were all gone. There were only a few kunai and some food.
After dealing with the Aburame Shinobi, Bieshu Feifan was exhausted too. He had kept both his Byakugan and Sharingan active the whole time and had also used a Fire Release technique.
It was a heavy burden on his seven-year-old body.
Although Soldier Pills tasted terrible, they worked quite well.
Bieshu Feifan ate one and recovered his strength before long.
"Byakugan, activate."
Looking toward a spot nearly a kilometer away, he could only vaguely make out people still fighting.
Although it was too far away to see clearly, Bieshu Feifan understood that Uchiha Qiongyue was still struggling.
He did not know what changes Uchiha Qiongyue had undergone in his mind, but since the other man had already attacked, there was no reason to let him return alive.
Bieshu Feifan walked several hundred meters forward. Only when he was two or three hundred meters from Uchiha Qiongyue could he clearly see the situation on the battlefield.
Then Bieshu Feifan involuntarily sucked in a breath.
On the battlefield, Uchiha Qiongyue had actually taken down a Sunagakure team of over a dozen people.
At this point, only one puppet-using Shinobi remained on Sunagakure's side, still desperately holding on.
Bieshu Feifan clenched his fists.
This Uchiha Qiongyue...
He absolutely could not be allowed to live.
Before you continue