"Patriarch, let me guard the Songshan Mine!"
Raizen blurted it out, his thoughts already racing. The Songshan Mine was the Amamiya Clan's only real industry, the lifeblood of the family's coffers. And everyone in the Ueshi Clan had eyes on it—Eighty percent of their ambition to annex the Amamiya came from wanting this mine.
"Hmm? Why the sudden urge to go there?" Amamiya Gen raised an eyebrow, curious. Three remaining Jōnin already defended the mine—hardly a shortage of manpower.
Raizen crossed his arms. "The Ueshi will target it first if they start trouble. I want to be there to stop them."
Amamiya Gen considered his words, then nodded slowly. "True… but that also makes it dangerous. You're the hope of the new generation, Duoren. I can't simply let you go."
"Doubt my strength?" Raizen smirked, his eyes glinting. "If I go, I guarantee no one in the Ueshi Clan will stop me."
"Oh?" Gen's eyes sparkled with curiosity. He recalled the reports of Duoren's skill, but never had he seen it firsthand. "Very well. Prove yourself in a sparring session with me. If you can hold your own, I'll let you guard the mine."
"Fight the patriarch?" Raizen's surprise quickly morphed into excitement. Since coming to this world, he had faced elite Jōnin, but the strongest opponent he'd yet faced was a real Jōnin master. Amamiya Gen would show him exactly where his own strength stood.
"Come with me," Gen said, reading Raizen's expression perfectly. They walked to a small clearing near the patriarch's quarters. Gen's eyes flashed sharply as he stopped and faced Raizen.
"Ready?"
"Of course." Raizen pulled a Flying Thunder God Kunai from his belt, holding it firmly in front of his chest, pulse quickening with the thrill of anticipation.
"Then you attack first!" Gen called, assuming a defensive stance.
Raizen lunged. The kunai soared. Gen's eyes narrowed as he instinctively blocked it on the first attempt.
Ding!
The kunai clashed against Gen's defense, and in a blink, Raizen vanished from sight. When Gen blinked, a figure appeared behind him. The same kunai—Raizen's Flying Thunder God—had somehow teleported mid-air, aimed directly at Gen.
"This speed…" Gen's eyes narrowed instinctively. He moved to intercept, relying on reflex alone. But the wind of Raizen's movement swept past, faster than he could track.
"Huh?!"
The kunai disappeared again. Raizen himself vanished, reappearing directly in front of the thrown weapon, flipping over and landing safely on the ground.
"Ninjutsu…?" Gen murmured, realization dawning as he saw Raizen's movements and the strange kunai technique. The boy was manipulating his tools mid-teleport—an unpredictable, lightning-fast style unlike anything Gen had seen before.
"Douren, be careful!" Gen muttered under his breath, surging forward as an afterimage, too fast for Raizen's eyes to track.
Raizen's pulse raced. Danger flared. Instinctively, he drew six kunai from his bag and flung them to all four corners of the clearing, vanishing from sight once again.
The sparring match had begun, but Raizen already felt the exhilarating sting of true challenge—a taste of war-speed combat, and the thrilling calculation of life-and-death decisions.