Hearing the voice, Taiichi broke out in a cold sweat. He turned slowly to see a masked man standing empty-handed not far away.
What gave Taiichi a sliver of relief was the man's condition. He had multiple wounds on his body, and his breathing was unstable.
Clearly, he had just been in a battle and had escaped here, likely intending to regroup with the ninja Taiichi had just killed.
Taiichi cursed silently. Is Konoha a sieve now?
The one earlier was, at best, a Special Jonin, and Taiichi had managed to take him out with a surprise attack.
But this one... judging by his aura alone, he was a Jonin. Are Jonin so cheap nowadays? Can they just run into Konoha to cause havoc?
The only comfort for Taiichi was that this Jonin was also heavily injured. Maybe he could hold out for a bit—if he could last until the pursuing ninjas arrived.
"Are you talking about that idiot just now? My teacher killed him. He went to get backup and will be back any second. Don't come any closer!" Taiichi feigned panic. If I can bluff him for even a second, it's worth it! But inside, he was thinking, What if it actually works?
The masked man sneered contemptuously. Without wasting words, he flashed forward, charging straight at Taiichi.
Taiichi didn't back down. He swung his sword and met the charge.
The moment they clashed, Taiichi felt something was wrong. The opponent's strength was overwhelming; he was completely outmatched.
After just two exchanges, he had already sustained a cut from a kunai.
This was the first time Taiichi had been suppressed so thoroughly.
Another hard clash later, Taiichi was knocked back to his original position. He didn't dare retreat further; the little girl at his feet was obviously the target. If he left, she would be in danger.
The masked man saw through Taiichi's hesitation and charged unceremoniously. Taiichi could only grit his teeth and intercept him again.
Blades clashed back and forth. Taiichi was clearly weaker, suffering cuts from the kunai repeatedly.
The explosive sound of colliding metal rang out by the riverbank. Blood seeped from the web of Taiichi's hand gripping the sword.
The masked man's kunai, carrying the scent of blood, slashed down again. Taiichi gritted his teeth and took half a step back. Wind Chakra suddenly hummed on his blade as he forcibly blocked the heavy slash capable of splitting rock.
"You're in the way, brat!" The masked man panted and changed his move, his left leg sweeping toward Taiichi's waist like an iron whip.
As Taiichi spun to dodge, he glimpsed blood seeping from the bandages under the man's ribs—a through-and-through wound left by the pursuing ninjas earlier.
He deliberately exposed a weakness. As the kunai grazed his left shoulder, he suddenly threw three smoke bombs.
Purple smoke instantly swallowed both of them. Relying on his sensory perception, Taiichi quickly circled behind the enemy. The moment his blade pierced the smoke, the masked man twisted his body with eerie flexibility, causing the short sword to barely graze his right arm.
Taiichi's heart sank. Even with a heavily injured body, this man maintained Jonin-level reaction speed.
"Your blade is too slow." A cold voice whispered right by his ear. Taiichi's hackles rose, and he instinctively bent down and rolled away.
The masked man's kunai skimmed his scalp, slicing off a few strands of black hair. Taiichi used the opportunity to retreat, returning to the little girl's side.
After this exchange, Taiichi had gained two more wounds.
But it also confirmed one thing for him: for whatever reason, the masked man couldn't use ninjutsu. Otherwise, a Jonin wouldn't have wasted so much time with him without using a single jutsu.
Thinking of this, Taiichi decided to start "cheating."
He added an Attribute Point to his Constitution. Instantly, his exhausted stamina and nearly depleted Chakra were fully restored.
Taiichi didn't hesitate. He stabbed his short sword into the ground and formed hand seals with both hands. His two max-level skills, Wind Style: Great Breakthrough and Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu, were used alternately in rapid succession.
First, a gale mixed with countless wind blades roared toward the masked man. Facing such a wide-range attack without being able to use ninjutsu, the masked man could only dodge rapidly.
Before the Wind Style jutsu ended, the next Fire Style jutsu attacked. A sky-covering barrage of fireballs chased the masked man, exploding continuously.
A Jonin was indeed a Jonin. Relying on his speed to dodge and weave, he still managed to slowly close the distance to Taiichi.
But what the masked man didn't expect was that Taiichi's ninjutsu seemed to cost no Chakra. He didn't stop for a second, releasing one jutsu after another relentlessly. This gradually suppressed the man at a certain distance, preventing him from advancing.
"Damn brat! I don't believe you have that much Chakra! Once you run out, I'm going to chop you into pieces!" the masked man cursed inwardly.
Actually, under normal circumstances, Taiichi's Chakra would have bottomed out long ago. In just these few minutes, he had released over a dozen C-rank jutsu.
And these weren't basic versions; they were enhanced versions powered by Taiichi, with power comparable to B-rank jutsu. Even a Jonin's Chakra reserves couldn't withstand such consumption.
But Taiichi had cheats. In just this short while, he had already added another Attribute Point to Constitution.
With this continuous release of ninjutsu, Taiichi discovered the benefits of the two skills he gained yesterday. His Chakra response was faster, casting speed was quicker, consumption was lower, and power was greater.
Furthermore, the constant use of Fire and Wind styles gave Taiichi a glimpse into combining these two elemental natures.
These incremental improvements reflected on the battlefield as the masked man was forced further and further back. The current Taiichi was effectively a "Ninjutsu Turret"!
At this moment, the masked man was depressed to the extreme, feeling himself being pushed further away.
That brat's Chakra was pouring out like a bottomless pit. He knew he no longer had a chance to capture the target. Now he had to consider how to retreat.
If he had known earlier, he wouldn't have held back initially for fear of an ambush. He should have just sneak-attacked and killed the brat immediately.
Before the masked man could come up with a plan, the rustling sound of leaves rubbing against each other came from the distance—ninjas were approaching fast.
The masked man hesitated no longer. Ignoring the incoming fireballs, he turned abruptly to flee.
Taiichi wasn't going to let him get away. Without thinking, he quickly changed his hand seals. Water Style: Water Wall. But this water wall didn't rise in front of Taiichi; it rose behind the masked man.
Caught off guard, the masked man slammed into the water wall, his face distorted by the high-pressure water flow rebounding him. Before the retreating man could think, his instinct was to go around the water wall to continue escaping.
But at that moment, Taiichi had a flash of inspiration. Hands maintaining the Snake seal, he continued to pour Chakra. The originally two-meter-wide water wall stretched rapidly, forming a circle around the masked man, trapping him inside.
Then, the top of the water wall closed up quickly to form a water sphere. As Chakra was continuously consumed, the sphere filled rapidly with water, churning violently inside, trapping the masked man firmly within so he couldn't escape.
This was clearly a variant of the Water Prison Jutsu.
By now, the pursuing ninjas had arrived and surrounded the area.
Seeing this, Taiichi gritted his teeth and said, "Hurry! I can't hold it much longer!"
Hearing this, two masked ninjas quickly approached the water sphere. seeing them in position, Taiichi finally dared to release the Snake seal and stop the Chakra flow. The water sphere collapsed with a crash.
The masked man inside fell out. Just as he tried to resist, he was knocked unconscious by a prepared masked ninja with a single blow. This was a huge achievement—capturing a live one.
Taiichi slumped to the ground, panting heavily. Only now did he feel severe pain radiating from inside out all over his body. His Chakra pathways throbbed with continuous stabbing pain.
This was cakra pathway compression damage caused by high-intensity, long-duration Chakra circulation. It would take quite a while to recover.
At this moment, the two ninjas who had gone to check on the little girl and the scar-faced man's corpse returned to report to the leader.
Hearing that the little girl was safe and sound, the leader breathed a sigh of relief. Turning to look at the scattered battlefield destroyed by ninjutsu, marked everywhere by fire and wind blades, he marveled secretly.
"Kid, do you still have strength?"