Chapter 18 Under Attack
"Toichi, calm down. With me there, I'll be able to protect him."
Kakashi was helpless. It was the first time he had seen Kihon Toichi this emotional.
But he could understand.
Kihon Toichi really had accepted Yoruha as his disciple.
"You? How many comrades have died alongside you? Sure, Anbu ninja should've been prepared for that day from the start, but I don't want him entering Anbu."
"I just want him to become a ninja who protects the village, someone who can live freely in the sunlight."
Kakashi fell silent.
Kihon Toichi's words made him think of Obito and Nohara Rin.
This was a knot in his heart that had never loosened all these years.
"He's different from other people. If I take him with me, it'll be to help him grow, not to really treat him as a teammate for missions."
"If it's a truly dangerous mission, I won't bring him. That should be enough, right?"
Kakashi had already taken a step back.
But Kihon Toichi still shook his head. "Impossible. Give it up. I absolutely won't let him go risk himself before he has the power to protect himself."
"Toichi, you've really changed a lot. The old you wouldn't have been like this."
Kihon Toichi looked at Kakashi. "And you haven't changed? You're completely different now from how you were in Anbu."
After saying that, both of them fell silent. Yes—they had both changed.
Because of Yoruha.
Because both of them knew that with Yoruha's talent, as long as he was taught properly, he would definitely become a powerful force protecting the village in the future.
It was just that the two of them had different ideas on how he should be taught.
Yoruha knew nothing about any of this.
"I naturally wouldn't take him out on missions before he has enough ability to protect himself."
"How about we make an agreement? I'll only start taking him out after he has the strength to defeat you."
Kakashi looked at Kihon Toichi seriously.
Kihon Toichi thought it over, then nodded.
The reason he agreed was that Kihon Toichi wasn't a combat-type ninja.
In terms of fighting ability, he was only around the level of an ordinary Jonin.
But if Yoruha could defeat him, then at the very least it would prove he possessed Jonin-level strength.
If anyone else had overheard this conversation, they would absolutely have thought the two of them were talking nonsense.
No matter what, Kihon Toichi was a Jonin, while Yoruha was just a rookie fresh out of the Ninja Academy.
Never mind whether Yoruha could defeat Kihon Toichi—even whether he could become a Jonin at all was still an unknown.
After all, in any ninja village, Jonin were the elite among ninja.
Not just anyone could become one.
As long as someone became a Jonin, whether they were combat-type ninja or not, their basic strength would be at the level of a normal Jonin.
And ninja who could become Jonin were one in a thousand.
Even in the Five Great Ninja Villages, the number of Jonin was only around a hundred.
In other words, Kakashi was saying he wanted Yoruha to gain the strength to defeat a Jonin in less than a year.
It was simply a fantasy.
Any normal person would think it was absurd.
But Kakashi and Kihon Toichi, who understood Yoruha's talent, both thought it was perfectly natural.
Both of them believed that by the time Yoruha was allowed to go out on missions beyond the village, he would already possess Jonin-level strength.
And in Konohagakure, rookie teams were generally allowed to leave the village for missions after three months of village assignments.
The next day, after completing another D-rank mission, Yoruha mastered the ninjutsu behind Tree Climbing Practice.
Because of the pressure Yoruha brought, Yamada Juki and Tanako Hon were both working very hard.
But the two of them were only average in talent, so they still couldn't master the few techniques Kihon Toichi had taught.
That night, while walking home, Yoruha suddenly stopped in the middle of a street.
With his powerful sensory ability, he looked at the completely empty road with a grave expression.
Even though he couldn't see a single person, Yoruha had the strong feeling that if he walked forward, he would be in great danger.
Just as Yoruha was about to turn around and take another route, dozens of Kunai and Shuriken suddenly shot toward him.
The sound of Kunai and Shuriken slicing through the air made Yoruha inwardly curse.
"Buzz—"
"Clang clang clang..."
In that instant, just as the dozens of Kunai and Shuriken were about to hit him—
Yoruha's gaze sharpened, and in the blink of an eye, his figure vanished from where he stood.
The dozens of Kunai and Shuriken missed and struck the wall more than ten meters away.
At once, sparks flew everywhere as the Kunai and Shuriken embedded themselves deep in the wall with tremendous force.
With such terrifying power, if they had struck a human body, they would have pierced straight through flesh in an instant.
Now several meters away after his instantaneous movement, Yoruha turned to look at where the Kunai and Shuriken had hit and sucked in a cold breath.
"Damn. If those had hit me, I'd be dead."
What Yoruha didn't know was that on a tree dozens of meters away, the person who had thrown the Kunai and Shuriken was even more surprised.
"That speed's already at the level of the Body Flicker Technique. This kid's pretty quick-witted too."
Just now, Yoruha had instantly gathered Chakra beneath his feet and burst several meters away in a single moment.
The principle was exactly the same as the Body Flicker Technique.
And Yoruha had never learned the Body Flicker Technique.
One could imagine just how powerful his Chakra control and physical strength were.
Coming back to his senses, Yoruha looked toward the direction of the attacker.
There was no one around now. Yoruha drew a Kunai and took up a fighting stance.
"I can't stay here long. I need to find a chance to escape. Judging from that attack just now, this person's far stronger than I am."
In a flash, Yoruha had already analyzed the gap between them.
But at this moment, he didn't dare turn his back. In a situation like this, the moment he turned around, the attacker would immediately strike from behind.
Yoruha had no intention of tangling with the assailant. Right now, he didn't know a single ninjutsu, and even his taijutsu wasn't all that good.
Relying only on the few basic techniques he had learned, there was absolutely no way he could contend with the attacker.
Yoruha had known that from the start.
The real question was how to run.
For a moment, the surroundings fell silent again.
Only the evening wind blew through.
There weren't even any streetlights here; the pitch-black surroundings gave off wave after wave of cold unease.
Yoruha kept his eyes fixed in the attacker's direction.
He had already sensed the attacker's approximate position. Right now, he didn't dare make any rash move.
Suddenly, Yoruha sensed a fluctuation of Chakra behind him.
"So fast!"
Yoruha froze. In almost an instant, the attacker had appeared behind him.
He hadn't even had time to react.
But in the very next instant, Yoruha snapped back to himself.
This time, he didn't instantly move away again.
He knew very well that the attacker's speed was above his own.
Trying to move away again would only get him killed.
In that split second, Yoruha spun and lashed out with a sweeping kick.
Bang—
With a muffled sound, the figure behind him burst apart from the kick and turned into a puff of white smoke.
"Damn, it's a clone."
Yoruha inwardly cursed.
"Earth Release: Mud Swamp"
Yoruha suddenly felt the ground beneath him turn soft.
The street under his feet instantly became a swamp, and the swamp's suction was so strong that it quickly dragged Yoruha down into it.
At that moment, half his body had already sunk into the swamp.
And he was still sinking.