Three Mist ninja filed into the cave, while the rest stayed at the entrance on guard. The Mist captain stood alone on a tree trunk, looking down at everyone from a high vantage point.
Suddenly, muffled voices came from inside the cave. Soon after, a Mist ninja scrambled out of the entrance in distress, shouting frantically, "Run, there's..."
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A series of explosions spread from inside the cave outward, followed immediately by the sizzling sound of burning fuses near the entrance.
"It's an explosive tag trap, scatter!"
The Mist captain's pupils constricted as he quickly issued an order, but it was too late. Before he could speak, the violent explosions had already engulfed the Mist ninja near the cave entrance.
Suddenly, the Mist captain felt something and instantly pulled out a kunai to block behind him.
Clang!
Sparks flew as Makiya's short sword collided with the kunai. Tremendous force pressed down on the Mist captain.
"What incredible power."
Caught off guard, the Mist captain almost lost his grip on the kunai. He had to use the force to leap backward and create distance, his hands rapidly forming seals while he didn't forget to talk tough:
"Shisui Uchiha, I didn't expect you to proactively... Eh, who are you?"
Midway through his threat, his vision focused, and the Mist captain realized the boy in front of him was quite unfamiliar.
Makiya brandished his short sword, the tomoe in his eyes spinning. "Leaf Genin, Makiya Uchiha."
Seeing the three-tomoe Sharingan, the Mist captain suddenly understood. "Not running away and instead choosing to approach me... so you've awakened the Sharingan? Shisui's little sidekick, did Shisui send you to stall for time? Did he not tell you that the Sharingan is useless before us Mist ninja? Water Style: Hidden Mist Jutsu!"
Thick mist spewed from the Mist captain's mouth, instantly enveloping the nearby woods. The Mist ninja who had survived the explosion immediately formed seals upon seeing this, performing the Hidden Mist Jutsu together.
The thick mist, infused with chakra, spread out, covering the woods within a five-hundred-meter radius.
In the final second before the mist closed in, Shisui appeared beside Makiya, blood dripping from the short sword in his hand.
"I only managed to take out five; they reacted very quickly."
Shisui's tone carried a hint of regret, feeling he had wasted the time Makiya bought him. He had wanted to kill as many Mist ninja as possible to reduce their search party, but he hadn't expected this Mist unit to be so well-trained; they recovered quickly even after being dazed by the blast.
"Uchiha brats, scream and struggle! Can those eyes you're so proud of even see me?"
The Mist captain's voice echoed from all directions. As he finished speaking, three senbon shot toward Makiya's eyes in a triangular formation, only to be easily parried by Makiya's short sword.
"Eh? Sharp intuition, sidekick. How long can your luck last?" The Mist captain was slightly surprised. The location of his voice paused briefly before returning to its elusive state.
Makiya: "..."
Soul Reaper Makiya could investigate enemy positions through spirit ribbons. This ability was shared with Makiya; because the world's rules had shifted, he could sense the aura of souls.
Though the thick mist blocked his eyes, the souls were clearly visible. The Mist captain was talking while running in circles around them; he looked quite exhausted.
Shisui's expression was grave as he stood back-to-back with Makiya, holding his blade on high alert. "Makiya, I'll create an opening in a moment. We'll split up and escape. You must deliver the intel back to the village."
"No need. If Plan A failed, I still have Plan B." Makiya gave Shisui a confident smile.
"Plan B? When did we..." Shisui froze, then saw Makiya start forming seals. He quickly called out a warning, "The mist is mixed with a large amount of chakra; ordinary Wind Style won't blow it away!"
"Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!"
Powerful flames erupted from Makiya's mouth, a sea of fire surging out and instantly vaporizing the nearby mist.
What was clearly an ordinary B-rank ninjutsu exhibited A-rank power in Makiya's hands. The surging sea of fire scorched everything, the flames running wild.
Viewed from high above, a temporary void appeared in the center of the mist cloud. Soon, the surrounding mist flowed back into the center. Although it filled the gap, the concentration was significantly thinned.
Seeing this, the surrounding Mist ninja immediately used the Hidden Mist Jutsu to replenish the mist, but Makiya didn't stop.
"Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!"
"Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!"
"Fire Style: Great Fire..."
The massive amount of chakra completely changed the ecology of the battlefield. No tactics were needed; just pouring out ninjutsu was enough. Map-wide bombardment crushed all the fancy tricks.
If there were still survivors, it just meant the payload wasn't enough. Do it again!
It was just that Makiya hadn't mastered any high-power ninjutsu yet; otherwise, it would have been more efficient. His memory contained many high-level Kido mastered by Soul Reaper Makiya, but since the world rules were different, Makiya wasn't sure if they would work using chakra. To be safe, he would have to try them out on his own time.
"Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!"
Spitting out another sea of fire, Makiya's throat felt like it was smoking as he coughed twice. Turning his head, he saw Shisui looking at him with a face full of disbelief.
"What's wrong?" Makiya wiped the sweat from his forehead, feigning ignorance.
Shisui looked around. The forest was completely ablaze, with flames and thick smoke spiraling into the sky. The scorching heat distorted his vision, and the Mist ninja were nowhere to be seen.
"Makiya, when did your chakra become so vast?"
"I'm not sure myself. After opening my eyes, my chakra suddenly increased. Isn't it like that for you, Shisui?" Makiya scratched his head, giving a bright smile.
"Is that so? My... my situation is a bit different from yours." Shisui rubbed his chin thoughtfully. One couldn't generalize people's constitutions; perhaps Makiya was simply born with a massive chakra capacity, and the stimulation of awakening his eyes finally unearthed his innate talent.
Ninjas couldn't be judged by common logic; anything was possible.
Regardless, surviving this danger was all thanks to Makiya. He was a friend from his own clan and a trustworthy comrade.
'Maybe I should find an opportunity to ask him his thoughts on the village and the clan...' Shisui muttered softly.
"What? Did you say something, Shisui?" Makiya turned and asked. The crackling of burning branches was too loud, leaving nothing but static in his ears.
The Mist fodder might have been burned to death, but there were clearly experts in the team. The possibility of them being killed by Great Fire Annihilation was low; at most, they were trapped somewhere by the flames. Without seeing bodies, he couldn't let his guard down.
It was a pity his soul-sensing range wasn't large. If it could see through things for kilometers like the Byakugan, it wouldn't be so troublesome.
"Nothing. Makiya, let's leave quickly. Since the intel was leaked, the Mist won't just be intercepting us. The other recon teams are definitely in danger. We must let HQ know about this."
"Alright, let's go."
Makiya nodded. He understood the severity of the situation. The enemy even knew the latest emergency contact codes, showing how deeply the Mist had penetrated the Leaf's forces. Since they chose to act, they wouldn't stop halfway.
Moreover, Makiya had friends in the other teams as well; they had to provide support quickly.
Before leaving, Makiya formed seals and spat out a few more bursts of Great Fire Annihilation, adding more fuel to the raging forest fire.
There was no restriction here against causing mountain fires. Battles between ninjas easily left scars on nature that were hard to heal.
After the two left, the fire gradually spread. The scorched earth in the center was silent. At one point, the blackened ground bulged slightly, and the Mist captain crawled out from underground after pushing aside two corpses.
'What terrifying chakra levels. What is up with that Uchiha kid? Is he a Jinchuriki?'
The Mist captain looked around, his expression grim.
'That kid is a bigger threat than Shisui Uchiha. If he appears on the front lines, ordinary ninjas won't have any room to survive!'
A moment later, three more surviving Mist ninja gathered toward the captain. They were all covered in soot and grime, with varying degrees of burns, looking extremely pathetic.
Of the thirty-man team before the ambush, only four remained. There might be other survivors, but the Mist captain knew his position was finished. He would certainly be demoted to the bottom upon his return. He wasn't discouraged, though; he was determined to redeem himself by personally killing that kid on the battlefield.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the forest, two groups were in a fierce battle.
The Leaf side was primarily composed of the Hyuga clan, mixed with a few Uchiha and civilian ninjas. The captain, Hizashi Hyuga, had a very high purity of Byakugan and discovered the anomaly before entering the ambush zone. Because the Mist hadn't gained the upper hand, the battle wasn't one-sided.
But the ambush force was large, making it difficult for the recon team to escape in a short time.
Three kilometers away, Makiya and Shisui's figures flickered through the woods.
"It's just ahead, we're almost there."
Makiya stopped and looked ahead, using the rising columns of smoke in the distance as beacons. In the next second, he vanished from his spot.
"Makiya, wait!"
Shisui followed behind Makiya, panting. His broken leg had been treated by Makiya; although not fully healed, it had recovered seventy to eighty percent. Yet now, he actually couldn't keep up with Makiya's speed. Shisui, who had always taken pride in his Body Flicker Technique, found it somewhat hard to believe.
'This guy Makiya is so fast. What's going on? Can awakening the eyes even enhance the Body Flicker Technique?' Shisui fell into deep thought.
Makiya didn't know what Shisui was thinking. While traveling, he had subconsciously applied the techniques of Flash Step, and the results were outstanding.
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