"Die!"
The gleam of the blade spun like a wheel, severing heads as easily as cutting grass. Two headless bodies were flung into the grass, their still-warm blood melting the snow, staining the soil red. The heads, full of confusion, rolled far away. The cold air was tinged with the metallic scent of blood, though luckily, the cold weather meant there was no worry about attracting insects.
Uchiha Itachi flicked his short sword, wiping the remaining blood with a tissue.
"All done on my side as well..."
Kimimaro approached, carrying two severed heads. Blood dripped from the necks as he glanced at Uchiha Itachi sheathing his sword. Clicking his tongue, he said, "Tch! Am I one step behind again? You're still as fast as ever."
There was a third person with them—a 14-year-old girl with long blonde hair, her face fresh and pretty, dressed in the standard uniform of a Konoha Chūnin. Her name was Yamanaka Aoi, from the Yamanaka clan, temporarily assigned to this squad with Uchiha Itachi and Kaguya Kimimaro.
Yamanaka Aoi blinked, feeling like she was in a dream. This was... a bit too much. Sure, she knew these two boys, much younger than her, were talented prodigies, but it seemed like not all geniuses were created equal!
This was not the kind of genius she was used to.
"Hey, what are you daydreaming about?" Kimimaro called out when he saw Aoi standing there like a statue.
"Ah, no... I was just checking if there were any more enemies around," she said, snapping back to reality. She realized that not only had she been of no use in the battle, but she'd also spaced out... which made her face flush with embarrassment.
"Oh! Did you find anything?"
"No, nothing. There are no more enemies for now."
Aoi closed her eyes and formed hand seals, using the Yamanaka clan's mental sensing technique. Expanding her chakra perception in an 800-meter radius, she detected no chakra signals besides her two teammates.
This wasn't surprising. They had already taken out four Cloud Ninja squads in the area, so it was likely that most of the enemy forces nearby had been eliminated. Unfortunately, their orders were to defend, not to attack. Unless the Cloud Ninja crossed the border, they couldn't actively pursue them.
"Well, since there are no more enemies, it's probably time for lunch."
Kimimaro looked up at the gray, overcast sky. The time of day was hard to determine from the sky, but his growling stomach confirmed it was mealtime.
"Boom!"
Itachi bit his thumb and summoned a flock of black crows. "Keep an eye out for anything unusual," he instructed. These crows were trained ninja crows by Uchiha Shisui, and as one of Shisui's few close friends, Itachi had also formed a contract with them, summoning them as needed.
Now, with the crows watching, they could eat without needing to take turns on guard duty.
After a short while, the crows returned.
"Caw! Caw!" Their cries were harsh and grating.
Uchiha Itachi instantly dropped the rice ball in his hand, stood up, and drew his short sword. Kimimaro was just as quick, standing beside him with sharp bones protruding from his hands.
"Aoi, check the northeast!" Itachi ordered.
While the crows were intelligent, they couldn't speak or communicate telepathically, so they could only give vague warnings. For detailed information, Itachi relied on Yamanaka Aoi, who had been assigned as their "eyes"—a privilege he understood well. Sensing ninjas like those from the Yamanaka, Hyūga, and Inuzuka clans were highly valuable in teams.
In battles, the importance of sensing ninjas couldn't be overstated. Unless the enemy had a comparable sensor, having a good sensing ninja meant holding a significant advantage. Whenever a sensing ninja was left without a team, there was always a scramble to reassign them quickly.
Yamanaka Aoi's former teammates had died in battle; one was blown apart by an explosive tag, forcing him to retire from the field. As she awaited new teammates, she was directly assigned to Uchiha Itachi and Kaguya Kimimaro by their superior.
Before that, Itachi and Kimimaro had been operating as a duo. Their team had an overwhelming advantage in combat strength, easily mowing down Cloud Ninja squads, but they lacked a strong sensory ability. The crows summoned by Itachi couldn't compare to a trained sensing ninja.
Compared to Itachi and Kimimaro's godlike reflexes, Aoi's reaction was noticeably slower.
But she quickly set aside her food, formed seals with her oily hands, and expanded her sensing range. The intense chakra signatures flooding into her perception made her face go pale.
"It's a large force! Over 20 Cloud Ninjas are headed this way, and there are many more behind them... It's a full-scale Cloud Ninja battalion! They're preparing for another war!"
"Kimimaro, Aoi, retreat immediately."
Upon hearing Aoi's report, Uchiha Itachi gave a swift command. With only three of them, they could take on a few small squads, but against a full Cloud Ninja battalion, there was no way they could hold out.
A signal flare shot into the sky.
At the same time, Itachi attached a pre-written note to one of the ninja crows and sent it off to find Uchiha Shisui. Only after completing this did Itachi retreat with his companions. But no matter how fast they moved, some time had already been lost.
The Cloud Ninjas were upon them.
Even Kimimaro could sense the murderous intent approaching from the northeast.
"Itachi?" Kimimaro glanced at him as they fled.
Given the current situation, it would be difficult to escape without engaging the Cloud Ninjas. A confrontation seemed inevitable.
"We'll fight as we go. Don't let them surround us. Aoi, you go ahead and request reinforcements. Kimimaro and I will hold them off," Itachi commanded, fully aware that getting bogged down in battle would be fatal. If they were surrounded by the Cloud Ninja battalion, even their strength wouldn't be enough.
A full retreat wasn't possible either, with enemy shuriken flying toward them.
They could only fight while retreating and hold out until reinforcements arrived.
"I understand," Yamanaka Aoi responded without hesitation. She had seen enough to know that Uchiha Itachi and Kimimaro, though younger than her, were on another level. She likely wouldn't be able to help much in the fight and might even slow them down. She trusted Itachi's orders.
Focusing solely on running, she ignored the murderous intent creeping closer from behind.
Itachi and Kimimaro didn't stop running either, but unlike Aoi, they kept some of their energy in reserve, always alert for attacks from behind. Suddenly, a blinding light flashed, and Kimimaro instinctively blinked.
In the next second, Itachi tapped him, channeling chakra into his body. Kimimaro realized that he had unknowingly stopped running.
"What was that?"
"Genjutsu!" Itachi replied.
"A brilliant illusion technique, using strong light as deception, tricking people into believing it's a vision-obstructing jutsu, thus smoothly trapping them in the illusion." Unfortunately for the person using the illusion, they didn't realize there was a Uchiha here, and not just any Uchiha... but one with the three-tomoe Sharingan.
In Uchiha Itachi's crimson eyes, three black tomoe spun.
With these eyes, he saw through the Cloud ninja's illusion and spotted the person attacking with it—an attractive man with golden hair.
"An illusion, huh?"
Kimimaro frowned, thinking to himself that he clearly needed to intensify his illusion-breaking training. He had already suffered under Uchiha Itachi's genjutsu during their sparring sessions. Despite his continued training in breaking illusions, the results were not yet evident.
"They're coming again, be careful."
As Uchiha Itachi ran, he waved the short blade in his hand, deflecting the shuriken flying toward him. The deflected shuriken then knocked aside kunai with explosive tags attached, and balls of fire ignited behind them. The Cloud ninjas quickly realized that using explosive tags was only hindering their own movements, so they stopped using them and focused solely on attacking Uchiha Itachi and Kimimaro with shuriken and kunai.
Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets
The boy with the kekkei genkai known as Shikotsumyaku didn't need hand signs to use his abilities. His bones grew with his will, and without harming himself, they could protrude from his skin. At this moment, he used his finger bones like bullets, shooting them with a flick of his hand.
These finger bones weren't large, but in terms of hardness, they were in no way inferior to shuriken. They were incredibly fast as well—so fast that one nearly pierced Nozomi head, slicing off a good number of his hairs as it flew past.
But,
While Nozomi was able to dodge Kimimaro's astonishing attack, that didn't mean his comrades could. A Cloud chunin swung his sword, trying to block the bone projectile, but failed. The bone pierced his heart, killing him instantly. There was no time to gasp for breath, nor did he seem to experience any pain at death. At the very least, his face showed no sign of suffering, only a blank look of confusion.
"Scatter, surround them! Flank from both sides and trap them!"
As the head of the advance party, Nozomi quickly commanded his men. His eyes gleamed with excitement. When his Lightning Illusion: Lightning Pillar was dispelled, he realized that the taller of the two kids chasing them was from the Uchiha clan.
And Kimimaro's strange bone-based fighting ability proved he was no ordinary person either. More importantly, they were both so young! Even in a place like Konoha, where talent was abundant, these two must be extraordinary geniuses!
These two might just be valuable bargaining chips.
In that moment, Nozomi decided he would try to capture Uchiha Itachi and Kimimaro alive.
However,
Uchiha Itachi and Kimimaro quickly demonstrated through their actions that capturing them alive would be no easy task. As the Cloud ninja forces split up and attempted to surround them, Itachi and Kimimaro wordlessly chose a side each and charged head-on into the approaching Cloud ninjas.
Fighting while moving made it impossible to flee at top speed. As the pursuers, Nozomi and his men had to be wary of counterattacks from Uchiha Itachi and Kimimaro, so they couldn't rush recklessly. Meanwhile, the flanking squads had no such concerns and were able to push forward with full speed, like the already advancing Yamanaka Aoi.
This led to a situation where Nozomi and his men in the center were still trailing behind, while Uchiha Itachi and Kimimaro had already clashed with the Cloud ninja coming from both sides.
Seeing the three Cloud ninjas, Itachi's three-tomoe Sharingan spun. Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique activated immediately. The Cloud ninjas, who hadn't avoided Itachi's gaze in time, were frozen in place by the genjutsu, unable to react. Itachi's short blade swiftly slashed across their throats.
Blood sprayed out, and their bodies collapsed.
On the other side, Kimimaro's body erupted with sharp, pale bones, making him look like a demon from the depths of hell. He easily crushed the Cloud chunin, leaving varying depths of wounds with his morphing bones.
The speed at which the battle ended almost made Nozomi forget to breathe!
It was too fast!
Yet Nozomi heart surged with joy. The more impressive Uchiha Itachi and Kimimaro's performance, the greater their value. If he could capture them alive, it might just meet the demands to trade for Lord Killer B. Nozomi quickly made a decision, "Inform the rear! We've encountered big fish here. I need reinforcements, preferably some jonin! If that's not possible, send several special jonin to assist!"
"Yes, Lord Nozomi!"
The message flew back to the main force. Nozomi kept his eyes fixed on Uchiha Itachi and Kimimaro, who had regrouped, gazing at them as if they were priceless treasures. He murmured to himself, "This time, I definitely won't let Lord Raikage down!"