"Watch out below!"
Hyūga Sumi, his Byakugan active the entire time, suddenly shouted a warning.
At the same moment, the ground beneath them exploded, and a black shadow burst forth.
A sharp, icy glint shot out from the shadow, streaking straight toward Hyūga Sumi.
Boom!
Uchiha Gen flickered forward, appearing beside the shadow in an instant. His fist slammed down with brutal force, shattering it and sending fragments flying in all directions.
It was a puppet.
Almost simultaneously, Senju Gen appeared beside Hyūga Sumi, grabbed him by the collar, and leapt backward, narrowly dodging the cold flash that followed.
A poisoned needle whistled past.
Aida Kai, who was a short distance away, wasn't fast enough. The needle pierced his arm, and in the blink of an eye, the skin around the wound darkened into an ominous blue-black.
Uchiha Gen's expression hardened. He raised his hand and struck out with several precise finger thrusts, sealing the tenketsu near Aida Kai's shoulder from a distance and immediately slowing the spread of the poison.
"Quick—circulate your chakra and force the poisoned blood outward!"
In the next instant, Gen flashed to Aida Kai's side. With a flick of his wrist, a shuriken appeared in his hand. He didn't hesitate—its edge sliced cleanly across Aida Kai's wrist.
A gush of thick, darkened blood poured out.
Aida Kai froze, shock written all over his face. It took several long seconds before he finally reacted, gritting his teeth as he followed Gen's instructions and forcibly circulated his chakra to expel the remaining poison.
Uchiha Gen scanned the battlefield grimly.
Of the twelve genin from the four squads, one was already dead, and three were injured—all within a single ambush.
Fresh academy graduates.
On a battlefield like this, they were little more than expendable pawns. Only those who survived would earn the right to be called shinobi.
His gaze shifted forward.
Shiranui Aoba and three other jōnin were locked in battle with a five-man Sunagakure squad. Three of the enemy were clearly puppet masters, chakra threads extending from their fingers as they manipulated their puppets with deadly precision.
Sharp blades, needles, and hidden mechanisms struck relentlessly.
Uchiha Gen's eyes flickered.
In his view, most shinobi in the ninja world were like fragile spellcasters—capable of unleashing devastating techniques, yet terrifyingly vulnerable once their defenses failed. Given the right opening, a single kunai was enough to end a life.
That was why the puppets advanced without fear.
Shiranui Aoba and his companions couldn't allow them to get close. At any moment, serrated edges or poisoned barbs could burst from a puppet's body. Forced on the defensive, they could only retreat, hurling kunai and ninjutsu while keeping their distance.
Meanwhile, the remaining two Sunagakure ninja circled constantly, launching coordinated attacks.
Before long, the Konoha side began to lose ground.
"Wind Release: Sickle Weasel!"
A violent gale packed with razor-sharp wind blades tore toward Shiranui Aoba. He twisted aside just in time—
—but a puppet behind him suddenly snapped open its chest cavity.
Two spinning, serrated wheels screamed through the air.
At the critical moment, Uchiha Gen appeared.
Clang! Clang!
A shuriken in each hand, he intercepted the wheels, sparks flying as metal collided.
"Gen, watch out!" Senju Gen shouted.
A stream of water surged past Uchiha Gen's side, colliding head-on with an incoming wind blade and dispersing it midair.
Shiranui Aoba didn't miss the chance to warn them. "Be careful—the projectiles from Sunagakure's puppets are all laced with highly potent poison."
"Understood," both Gen answered.
The two activated the Body Flicker Technique simultaneously and surged forward.
Senju Gen coordinated with Aoba, suppressing one of the Sunagakure ninja with a relentless barrage of kunai and shuriken.
Uchiha Gen went straight for a puppet master.
He swept his leg forward, the shadow of his kick snapping out like a striking python.
Bang!
A puppet lunged in from the side, blocking the blow.
At the same time, an iron tube extended from its mouth, spewing thick, black smoke. A strong, fishy stench filled the air—the unmistakable sign of lethal poison.
Uchiha Gen leapt backward while forming a hand seal with one hand.
An earth wall rose instantly in front of him.
"Hiss… hiss…"
The sound of corrosion echoed as the poisonous smoke ate into the surface of the wall.
Gen's eyes narrowed.
So this is Sunagakure's poison craftsmanship… No wonder they can stand among the Five Great Villages despite the Land of Wind's weak resources.
He flipped his wrist—four kunai slid neatly between his fingers.
Leaping upward, he hurled them toward the puppet master.
The enemy reacted quickly, snapping his puppet into position to block. The kunai struck and stuck harmlessly—
—but Uchiha Gen had already appeared above.
A single shuriken left his hand.
It cut through the air like a falling star and pierced straight through the puppet master's chest.
Clean. Precise. Fatal.
With one puppet master down, the pressure on Shiranui Aoba's group eased immediately. Seizing the opening, they unleashed several powerful ninjutsu, blowing apart the remaining puppets.
The Sunagakure ninja responded instantly, throwing multiple poison smoke bombs.
Bang! Bang!
Dense clouds spread across the battlefield, forcing Konoha's forces to retreat.
By the time a jōnin dispersed the smoke with Wind Release, the Sunagakure squad had vanished—taking even their fallen comrade's body with them.
One of the guiding ninja approached and nodded at Uchiha Gen and Senju Gen.
"You both did well."
His gaze shifted to the genin behind him, and he sighed softly.
Shiranui Aoba stepped forward. "We owe this battle to you two. Without your support, we might not have broken out of their encirclement."
Neither Gen responded.
Their eyes were fixed on the bodies laid out before them.
Three genin lay dead.
Five more were gravely injured.
Senju Gen's expression darkened. He hadn't expected death to come so suddenly—to people he'd stood beside only moments ago.
For the first time, the full cruelty of war truly sank in.
Shiranui Aoba rested a hand on his shoulder. "Gen… this is war."
Uchiha Gen turned and walked over to Aida Kai. "How do you feel?"
Aida Kai trembled visibly. His eyes flicked between the bandaged wound on his wrist and the corpses of his fallen teammates.
"Gen-kun… thank you," he said hoarsely. "If it weren't for you, I'd already be dead."
The three genin who had died had all been struck by Sunagakure's poisoned needles.
The toxin acted swiftly—mercilessly—from the very instant it entered the body.
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