Behind the Iwagakure Jonin, one of the Shin'uns who had hidden before the battle began appeared without a sound.
Seeing his opponent crouched before the second Shadow Clone's head, which protruded from the ground, delivering a victory speech, Shin'un took even greater care to conceal the sound of his movements.
The distance between them steadily closed. Just as Shin'un was about to draw a kunai and deliver a righteous backstab to the Iwagakure Jonin before him, his opponent suddenly struck, driving his kunai into the second Shadow Clone's eye socket.
Unable to react in time and still too far from the Stone Ninja, Shin'un could only prepare his ninjutsu while the Shadow Clone trapped underground had yet to disperse.
Bzzzt...
As the crackle of electricity gradually rang out, the Stone Ninja ahead seemed to sense something wrong. Without looking back, he immediately used the Body Flicker Technique to leave his position, appearing in a spot over thirty meters away.
Seeing the Stone Ninja turn to look at him, Shin'un smiled. Remembering what his opponent had said to him earlier, he immediately returned the words in kind:
"Goodbye. Go to hell with your regret and resentment!"
Shin'un raised both hands, fine currents of electricity coiling around his entire body. Feeling the astonishing rate of chakra consumption, he dared not delay. He hurriedly crouched and slapped both hands against the ground.
As his palms struck the earth, countless electrical currents poured into it, traveling along the puddles left by the torrential rain.
In an instant, the ground within fifty meters was flooded with countless electrical currents.
To conserve chakra, the Shin'un Shadow Clone using this ninjutsu resembling Lightning Release: Earth Flow had not increased its power, keeping it only strong enough to paralyze.
But with his previous experience, Shin'un would not give his opponent another chance to escape the current's hold.
Poof!
Over ten meters away, a head-sized stone suddenly burst into smoke, revealing Shin'un.
After appearing, this figure who seemed to be Shin'un's real body briefly surveyed his surroundings, then fixed his gaze on the Iwagakure Jonin paralyzed by electricity nearby.
Turning to glance at the clone continuously releasing electricity into the ground to paralyze the Stone Ninja, Shin'un nodded and walked toward his opponent.
"You... damn... brat!"
Paralyzed by the current, the Iwagakure Jonin could not move a muscle or even speak clearly. He could only stare at Shin'un before him with fear and fury in his eyes.
Shin'un walked up to the Stone Ninja and saw layers of rock beginning to form around his legs again as he tried to escape the current coursing through the ground.
Seeing this, Shin'un had no intention of wasting words. He drew a kunai and looked at the Stone Ninja's neck, its veins bulging.
Slash!
The sound of a blade cutting flesh rang out as the Stone Ninja's neck was sliced open.
To ensure the wound was fatal, Shin'un mercilessly gripped his kunai and sawed back and forth across the Stone Ninja's neck, then withdrew it and stabbed several holes in his chest.
After riddling the Stone Ninja's body like a tattered sack, Shin'un carefully backed away to guard against a final counterattack.
About a minute passed. Shin'un saw that rock was no longer forming around the Stone Ninja's legs and his eyes had lost focus. He appeared to be dead.
Out of caution, Shin'un did not intend to approach and check whether his opponent was dead.
He reached into the ninja tool pouch behind him and took out an Explosive Tag.
He fed chakra into it. Once the Explosive Tag activated, Shin'un tossed it at the Stone Ninja's feet and used the Body Flicker Technique to move away.
Seeing an activated Explosive Tag tossed at his feet, the Iwagakure Jonin, who had appeared dead, suddenly raised his head and began struggling.
Seemingly realizing he had no hope of dragging the Konoha prodigy before him down with him, the Stone Ninja dropped his act and glared at Shin'un with utter venom.
Looking at the Stone Ninja's murderous gaze, Shin'un had a sudden thought. If this Stone Ninja had a pair of Sharingan, perhaps this hatred on the verge of death would let him brush against the threshold of the Mangekyō Sharingan...
Perhaps he really could kill him with a glare...
After a delay of several seconds, the Explosive Tag at the Stone Ninja's feet exploded.
Boom!
An explosion rang out, and the resulting shock wave sent the surrounding mud flying.
Once the mud thrown up by the explosion had fallen, Shin'un, who had been waiting at a distance, returned to the spot.
He turned toward the distant Shadow Clone still pouring electricity into the ground and gave it a wave.
The Shin'un Shadow Clone, which had remained crouched on the ground releasing electricity, saw him, nodded, and dispersed on the spot.
Turning back, Shin'un stood at the blast site and looked down. The Stone Ninja's "pieces" lay scattered across the ground from the explosion.
Patiently searching through the organs and flesh of varying sizes on the ground, Shin'un found the Stone Ninja's head, the only part still reasonably intact.
After examining it, Shin'un confirmed that the head was real.
"Looks like this Stone Ninja really is dead."
With that, Shin'un casually tossed aside the Stone Ninja's head in his hand, and his entire body vanished in smoke.
As this Shadow Clone that had confirmed the Iwagakure Jonin's death dispersed, its brief memories appeared in Shin'un's mind.
In the distance, an unremarkable large puddle on the ground suddenly burst apart. Smoke scattered, and Shin'un emerged from within.
"Is he dead?"
Only after seeing the unmistakably real images in his mind of the Shadow Clone checking whether the Stone Ninja was dead did Shin'un finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Looking around, he saw that the surrounding battles were drawing to a close, most ending in victory for the Konoha Ninja.
Even those at a disadvantage in battle would turn defeat into victory with help from the other Konoha Ninja.
Seeing that they did not need help from a Genin like him, Shin'un took a moment's respite. No longer able to hold back the weakness within his body, he sank to the ground for a brief rest.
"That Iwagakure Jonin was right. I really am still a little too young."
Clutching his still-aching chest and feeling how little chakra remained in his body, Shin'un felt somewhat reflective.
He was only ten years old now, his body had yet to mature, and this was his first battle against enemy ninja.
He was like a complete newbie who had run into a level seventy or eighty miniboss right after leaving the starter village. It would have been strange if he had not ended up battered and bedraggled.
"I still need to train hard. My current strength is nowhere near enough."
Examining his injuries, Shin'un silently made up his mind.
Today's events had taught him a lesson.
If he wanted to survive in the Shinobi World and protect his companions from harm, the only way was to become stronger.
If Shin'un had possessed earth-shattering strength today, if a casual Lightning Release could unleash overwhelming thunder and change the color of heaven and earth, if a movement of his limbs could collapse space and destroy the world, he would never have needed to end up in such a sorry state.
With that thought, Shin'un summoned the Skill Editor, which had not appeared in a long time. Looking at the halfway-filled progress bar on it, he felt much reassured.
Once this skill into which he had poured so much thought successfully manifested, it would surely improve his strength considerably.
At least he would not end up in such a sorry state as he had today.
Thinking this, Shin'un turned to look around. Most of the surrounding battles had already ended. Only some of the stronger Stone Ninja were still barely holding out under attacks from several ninja.
Thinking of Yūichi, who was still in the dense forest, and the gravely injured Shiina Kō, Shin'un's expression turned serious. He suppressed his injuries and stood, about to return to the forest to check on Yūichi's battle against that Stone Ninja Chunin.
Just as he was about to take a step, Shin'un suddenly stopped and began to think.
Although he had great confidence in Yūichi, Shin'un had just fought a battle with everything he had. He had expended most of his chakra, broken several bones, and had only a tenth of his usual fighting ability left.
Encountering another enemy now would be extremely dangerous.
Standing there, Shin'un turned his head and saw several Konoha Ninja who had finished fighting cleaning up the battlefield. He immediately had an idea.
Invoking Orochimaru's name, Shin'un successfully requisitioned these Konoha Ninja and had them follow him.
This time, Shin'un stepped into the dense forest again with a much greater sense of security.