Swish!
Another slash swept out.
A seemingly nonfatal wound appeared on the Ame ninja's leg.
He should have been able to dodge Yubi's reckless attack.
But for some reason, his limbs had stiffened at the crucial moment.
"That brat's blade..."
The Ame ninja narrowed his eyes.
The scalpel in the boy's hand was extremely thin and easy to conceal, yet exceptionally sharp.
Being wounded by a Genin yet again bruised the Ame ninja's pride, and his expression filled with fury.
Yubi, however, did not press his advantage.
Instead, he turned and leaped toward his injured teammate lying on the ground in the distance. His figure flashed as he scooped him up.
"Hm?"
Only then did the Ame ninja realize something was wrong.
The stiffness and numbness in his body were growing worse.
Poison...
The Ame ninja's pupils contracted.
Across the entire Shinobi World, Sunagakure was arguably the most adept at using poison.
Although Hanzō of their own Amegakure was also an expert with poison, particularly with certain ninjutsu performed in conjunction with the black salamander-even the Konoha Sannin could not withstand them, and his methods were renowned throughout the Shinobi World-he was ultimately just one formidable individual, whereas Sunagakure was most famous for its puppeteers.
Those puppeteers researched and used mechanisms and poisons extremely frequently in pursuit of more effective ninja arts.
Their expertise in poisons... was therefore not to be underestimated.
It was not that Sunagakure's poisons were the strongest, but that they were the most practiced at using them.
Still... this poison won't be much of a problem.
The Ame ninja's gaze turned cold.
While he still had some feeling in his body, he immediately put more distance between himself and Yubi.
He intended to buy time.
They were fighters trained personally by Hanzo of the Salamander to die on command... They had some resistance to any poison that was not too potent.
"Stop wasting your effort... You're already dead."
Unexpectedly, his movements instead drew the boy's indifferent gaze and a calm remark.
Then Yubi wasted no more time fighting and quickly leaped away with his teammate.
"Arrogant brat!"
The Ame ninja gritted his teeth.
But soon, an inexplicable wave of dizziness struck him.
Weakness and exhaustion swept through his entire body.
It wasn't poison!
The Ame ninja looked down and discovered that the seemingly shallow cut the boy had just made on his leg had actually spurted out a massive amount of blood in a short time, so quickly that he had not even noticed how fast he was losing blood.
Thud!
I actually lost to a wet-behind-the-ears Genin?
The thought flashed through the Ame ninja's mind. Then he crumpled to the ground and lost consciousness.
Whoosh.
Supporting his teammate, Yubi leaped repeatedly along the rock face before finally landing on a high ledge on a cliff.
It overlooked the entire battlefield and was far enough away.
He glanced at his teammate. His face had been injured in the explosion, one eye was clearly beyond saving, and parts of his hands and feet were missing.
"Sorry... Yubi... for causing you trouble. Don't worry about me. You're a medical ninja. Go on ahead and get the intelligence out." The boy's one eye moved as he watched Yubi calmly and quickly treat his injuries, and he spoke weakly.
"It's all right... There aren't many enemies. Endo has them held off for now." Yubi smiled faintly.
But out of the corner of his eye, he had already caught sight of the battlefield below.
The situation was grim.
Three of the Ame ninja who had ambushed their squad remained.
But Endo was almost the only one left on their side.
The other Genin and the injured Chunin had already been killed.
In fact, less than five minutes had passed since the ambush began. It had been remarkably fast.
Small-scale clashes between ninja were not as drawn-out as battles on a large battlefield. Life and death were decided in moments.
As a medical ninja, he should have strictly followed the rules and prioritized his own safety.
But the circumstances were exceptional, and the others could no longer protect him first.
"Rest for a bit."
After giving the wounded boy some basic treatment, Yubi prepared to return to the battlefield.
To help Endo, who was barely holding on.
Although these men appeared to be Hanzo of the Salamander's elite, judging by the intensity of his exchange with that Ame ninja just now, Yubi believed... that he and Endo had a chance of winning together.
Even if he was only a Genin.
With that thought, Yubi quickly headed back toward the battlefield.
"Hm?"
They noticed that one of the Sunagakure brats was actually still alive.
The expressions of all three Ame ninja on the battlefield shifted slightly.
"That bastard Aoki's dead?"
"He couldn't even handle a Genin. What a useless piece of trash!"
The Ame ninja cursed.
"Run!"
When Endo saw Yubi recklessly coming to help him, he shouted.
I've watched for a while. I have enough data.
Yubi turned a deaf ear to Endo's shout.
There was not a trace of fear on his face as he charged toward the three Ame ninja. His eyes darted back and forth before finally locking onto one enemy.
As someone who had transmigrated, Yubi knew this world very well, including its various ninjutsu and the fighting styles and abilities of the major ninja villages and different types of ninja.
One could say he had a database in his head.
Although it was incomplete... and not all that detailed, it was still an advantage.
But that was not his trump card. That was the knowledge and insights he had gained through the system: Kuroo Hazama's legacy.
It gave him a thorough understanding of the human body's structure... He had also consciously worked on this, honing his body since before he entered the Ninja Academy.
He had first used his own body as a sample to temper.
Thanks to his outstanding medical skills, his hellish training allowed him to recover quickly after exhausting every ounce of his strength and begin another round of training.
To some extent, he was constantly training at his limits.
Beyond that was his advantage as a doctor. By observing a target's movements, he could determine the range of their physical mobility and assess the scope of their potential offensive and defensive capabilities... He could even identify anything wrong with their body or hidden sites of illness.
Using this, along with a powerful physique that surpassed his peers and the data in his head... Yubi had combined them to create the attack framework that currently suited him best.
He called it "Data Taijutsu."
At his current stage, this combat ability was at least sufficient.
Even the poison he used was something he had mixed himself.
But just as Yubi charged over, ready to fight the enemy to the death...
Several puppets abruptly descended from above.
Without the slightest warning... they appeared beside the three Ame ninja.
The puppet on the left spat a spike from its mouth, which shot straight into the enemy's brain.
The puppet on the right held a blade spinning at high speed and sliced an Ame ninja in half at the waist.
Both of these were humanoid puppets.
The last puppet resembled a crawling lizard.
Once it approached its target, all the plates on its back opened, spraying out a great number of poisoned Senbon.
They shot the enemy full of holes.
The sight brought Yubi's attack to an abrupt halt.
In what seemed like a daze, his squad's desperate struggle ended just like that.
A figure landed in the distance.
An equally youthful face slowly came into view, accompanied by calm footsteps and swaying Chakra Threads in his hands.
It was Sasori.
This is a genius who truly deserves to be called a monster.
Yubi put his scalpel back into his waist pouch, unsurprised.
Granted, these Ame ninja were nothing particularly impressive, and ninja ranks were merely titles that could not conclusively measure combat strength. In the context of the major ninja villages and battlefields, they were small fry.
But at the very least, they had been somewhat difficult for Yubi and his teammates to handle.
Eight years old seemed very young... but in this world, many people had already begun displaying their brilliance at that age.
And they were utterly unstoppable.
Before these geniuses... a lifetime of effort for many people was merely their starting point.
Sasori strolled over and put away his puppets, meeting Yubi's gaze from a distance.
"I thought... with you here, nothing would go wrong."
Ignoring Endo entirely, Sasori looked at Yubi and spoke flatly.
"You think far too highly of me."
Yubi sighed.
Sasori stared at him without a word.
His gaze seemed intent on seeing right through Yubi.