Chapter 10: Internal Strife, Blazing Phoenix Fire Shot!
[You spoke righteously and countered Uchiha Seiichiro with solid reasoning.]
[You've gained his skill: Fire Release – Phoenix Flower Jutsu (C-Rank) (Proficient).]
[Your Heart of Steel stack has increased.]
[You can now view your Heart of Steel stack count and open your personal skill panel.]
Uchiha Ci blinked in surprise, then sighed with a faintly exasperated look.
He honestly hadn't meant to trigger this ability — he was just trying to find an excuse for a glorious death.
This actually counts as triggering it? Seriously?
At a mere thought, a translucent panel appeared before his eyes.
---
[Employee]: Uchiha Ci
[Title]: Heaven-Sent Stud
[Talents]: Heart of Steel (SSS), Sharingan (Unawakened – B), Battle Instinct (Unrealized – S)
[Skills]: Uchiha-Style: Threaded Shuriken Technique (Mastery – S),
Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu (Novice – C),
Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu (Proficient – C),
Taijutsu (Beginner)
[Heart of Steel Stacks]: (Expandable)
[Insurance Status]: Premium Paid
---
Ci glanced at it briefly. Everything looked more or less how he expected — except for one thing.
That "Battle Instinct" talent hadn't been there before.
Still, it wasn't a bad thing.
A skill panel and one extra Fire Release jutsu — harmless enough.
After all, the panel was just for show, and Phoenix Flower was merely a C-rank Fire Jutsu, one of the gentler arts of its kind.
Fire Release was known among shinobi as a "merciful" element — flashy, smoky, but rarely lethal.
If he could use his newfound reason and rhetoric to convince his two teammates, maybe this "suicide mission" could still turn out okay.
But reality had other ideas.
As his words of reason echoed in the night, Uchiha Seiichiro's expression darkened instantly.
A member of the Uchiha clan's dove faction, Seiichiro knew the real nature of their mission — and he already hated it.
He hadn't joined out of duty, but to survive.
Now this brat dared to lecture him?
His pupils narrowed as his Sharingan whirled to life, two scarlet tomoe gleaming in the firelight.
"Uchiha Ci," Seiichiro's voice dropped to a chill,
"Are you lecturing me?"
His eyes locked coldly onto Ci's.
"You're just a Genin who hasn't even awakened the Sharingan. And you think you have the right to lecture me? Seems you need to be taught your place."
He had half-agreed with what Ci said — but no one likes being called out in front of others, especially when they're already frustrated.
Breaking curfew to sneak across borders in the middle of the night? Only a madman would suggest that.
No way was he letting that slide.
Seeing Seiichiro's Sharingan flare, Ci instinctively averted his gaze, lowering his line of sight to his senpai's chest.
Then —
In the next heartbeat, Seiichiro lunged.
His hand grabbed Ci's hair, the other clamped down on his shoulder, and his knee rocketed upward toward Ci's head!
Ci's pupils shrank sharply.
He hadn't expected Seiichiro to actually attack — especially with the great elder Uchiha Setsuna standing right there!
Reflex kicked in.
He sucked in a deep breath, twisted with the pull of Seiichiro's grip, and let his body move on instinct.
Planting his heel, waist, and spine in a single motion, he flipped backward — just enough to let the incoming knee whistle past his face.
As he turned, his hand swept behind his waist.
Three shuriken flashed between his fingers — then sliced through the air toward Seiichiro's exposed throat, wrist, and temple!
"What—?!"
Seiichiro's Sharingan widened in alarm. Through the heightened clarity of his eyes, he saw the spinning steel disks cutting toward him — fast, precise, merciless.
He released Ci's hair and snapped backward just in time to avoid them.
His heart pounded.
Then anger flared.
This brat actually fought back!
He dared to defy his superior!
The tomoe in Seiichiro's eyes spun faster, his voice low and dangerous.
His hands blurred into seals.
But Ci was faster.
Midair, his own hands had already begun moving — Rat → Tiger → Dog → Ox → Hare → Tiger!
"Fire Release — Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"
By the time Seiichiro completed his final seal, six blazing fireballs were already screaming toward him!
And behind those fireballs came the sharp whistle of steel —
Six shuriken, three kunai, each wrapped in flame, howling through the air like a meteor storm.
"Damn it!"
Seiichiro's eyes widened.
Fifteen projectiles in total — a wall of steel and fire.
Even with his double-tomoe Sharingan tracking every trajectory, there was simply no room to dodge them all.
He had no choice but to flicker away with the Body Flicker Technique.
But even as he vanished—
Ci was still pulling out more.
Four more shuriken glinted between the fingers of his left hand, while his right hand reached to his side pouch and unfurled a sealing scroll.
A single, bold kanji glowed at its center — 忍 (Ninja).
From the look of it, the scroll could hold a hundred weapons at least.
What the hell— how much ammo does this kid even have!?
Before Seiichiro could curse again—
"Enough."
The cold voice of Uchiha Setsuna sliced through the chaos.
In a blink, he was between them, hand already on his sword.
With a clean motion, the blade drew a silver crescent in the air.
Clang, clang, clang!
Every single fireball, shuriken, and kunai was cleaved aside, scattering harmlessly into the darkness.
The clearing fell silent, only the crackle of the campfire left.
"Uchiha Seiichiro."
Setsuna sheathed his sword, his tone glacial, his gaze sharp enough to pierce bone.
"Get back to work."
Seiichiro froze, then trembled faintly under the elder's stare.
Without another word, he turned and stalked off into the trees to set traps, face tight with resentment.
He was a Chūnin — caught off guard, sure, but he could've beaten that brat easily if he'd gone all out.
That's what he told himself, anyway.
As the tension eased, Ci crouched down and began picking up his scattered weapons, his heart aching with every clink of steel.
Setsuna's sword had cut clean through two high-grade kunai — and the cheap shuriken? Split in half.
All of it money.
Money he'd meant to spend on real enemies, not some internal scuffle.
Now it was just wasted funds.
Setsuna's gaze lingered briefly on the three shuriken Ci had thrown first.
His sharp eyes caught what others would've missed — the faint gleam of fine wire wrapped around each one.
Had he not intervened just now…
Seiichiro would have body-flickered straight into that trap.
One pull of the wire, and—
Head. Gone.
Setsuna frowned slightly.
Something about this boy felt… uncanny.
That moment of precision — it had been almost instinctive, like his own reflex.
This kid's shuriken work… had something.
"Your name's Uchiha Ci, right?"
Setsuna's voice broke the silence.
"Ah— yeah, that's me." Ci blinked, nodding quickly.
The elder narrowed his eyes slightly, then sat down by the fire and gestured for him to come closer.
"Come here."