The moment the siblings saw the forehead protector on Uchiha Yuan's water clone, their faces turned pale with fright.
"W-We're...we're just residents of the Land of Bears... we came here to fetch water," the boy stammered, raising the bucket in his hand.
After the water clone carefully confirmed that the two were indeed harmless, he let them pass.
The siblings didn't dare look Yuan's team in the eye as they quickly drew water and fled in a hurry.
"Life isn't easy for ordinary people in the Land of Bears either—caught between us and the Mist ninja. Their country's become a battlefield," Yamanaka Kagetsu sighed.
Yuan didn't respond, but what Kagetsu said was true. Small countries without ninja villages or shinobi of their own were nothing but cannon fodder in this war.
But now wasn't the time to sympathize—just surviving themselves was already difficult enough.
"Let's move on. We've still got three more water sources to check."
Hyuga Asana and Kagetsu nodded and followed him to the next location.
The second and third small water sources were normal. At the fourth, however, they once again ran into some locals fetching water.
Given their prior experience with the sibling pair and the peaceful state of the previous locations, Kagetsu and Asana had lowered their guard somewhat.
Yuan, out of habit, activated his Sharingan for a brief scan.
But what he didn't expect was to find that among these "ordinary" people, two of them actually had chakra—and one of them had more chakra than he did.
"Something's off. Asana, Kagetsu, prepare for battle!"
At Yuan's order, Asana and Kagetsu immediately pulled away from the crowd and assumed combat stances.
Yuan targeted the one with the lesser chakra first and cast a genjutsu, then instantly shunshined behind the stronger one and launched a volley of shuriken.
Cling cling cling~! The shuriken were blocked by an ice wall that suddenly rose.
Poof! A puff of white smoke revealed that the "ordinary person" was actually a disguised Mist ninja.
A black-haired girl a few years older than Yuan appeared before them.
She turned and smacked her companion on the head hard. The one caught in the genjutsu snapped out of it.
"Qing-senpai? What just happened…?"
"You idiot! You were caught in a genjutsu!"
"Huh?! But that guy only has two-tomoe Sharingan. How did I get trapped?"
"Who knows?! Just be careful. That brat isn't just good with genjutsu—he's fast too."
The girl scanned Yuan and said, "You must be several years younger than me. The Uchiha Clan really is full of geniuses."
"That was Ice Release just now? Are you from the Yuki Clan?" Yuan asked.
"Looks like your identity's been exposed, Qing-senpai," her teammate muttered.
Smack! Qing hit him again and said, "I just used Ice Release—anyone could figure it out."
She showed no nervousness as she casually joked with her teammate, which annoyed Yuan. He quickly formed hand seals and unleashed the Uchiha's signature technique: Great Fireball Jutsu.
Qing didn't form seals in response. Instead, the temperature around them dropped rapidly. With Ice Release chakra, she condensed a large oval-shaped ice wall in mid-air, blocking the fireball.
"There it is—Qing-senpai's secret Ice Release technique: Frozen Hall Barrier!"
"Shut up! I don't need your commentary. Go deal with those two."
The man shrank his neck and obediently went off to face Kagetsu and Asana.
Yuan looked at the woman before him, a bit wary now. Twice, she had defended against his attacks without hand signs. The ice walls had seemingly materialized out of thin air.
"You've been on the offensive this whole time. It's my turn now. With water right here, my Ice Release can perform at full strength."
She formed hand seals, and a huge water dragon shot from the pool toward Yuan.
He used Body Flicker to dodge instantly.
But what Yuan hadn't expected was that the water dragon wasn't intended to strike him—it was to bring water near him.
The water dragon exploded, drenching the area. Qing again formed hand seals and used Ice Release to solidify moisture in the air, creating a ring of ice mirrors around him.
Yuan recognized the jutsu—Ice Release: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals. In the original story, Haku had used it against Naruto and Sasuke. The user could move freely between mirrors to strike from all directions.
"You're a speed-type ninja, aren't you? But inside my mirrors, speed is meaningless."
Her voice echoed from all directions. The next moment, her figure appeared behind Yuan in one of the mirrors, kunai in hand, thrusting toward his back.
But Yuan had already sensed her with his Mind's Eye technique. He turned, smiled, and waved at her—and then vanished from the mirrors.
Crack! Moments later, the ice mirrors shattered. Qing stared in confusion at Yuan, now safely standing at a distance.
This was the first time she had seen someone escape from the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals without destroying them.
"How did you do that?" she asked.
Yuan didn't answer. He formed more seals and launched Phoenix Fire Jutsu, testing whether her Ice Release was truly unbreakable.
Qing formed another ice wall to block it, then used an Ice Shunshin to close the distance.
She formed one-handed seals, unleashing ninjutsu with impressive speed, just like Haku in the original story.
A frost spread within a 2-meter radius around her. Yuan's legs were quickly encased in ice—it looked like he couldn't move.
"This time, you can't run. My Ice Release: Frozen Snow isn't so easy to escape from—"
Before she could finish, Yuan's figure disappeared again.
She quickly scanned the surroundings and found him beside her two teammates.
She also noticed that one of them had been disabled by Hyuga Asana's Gentle Fist technique.
"Useless fools!"
"Miss, I admit I'm not your match for now, but you can't do anything to me either. Your Ice Release has no effect on me," Yuan said with a smile.
"Your Body Flicker technique is strange. I really can't deal with you. But what about your companions? Can they escape me?"
"And what about these civilians? Don't Konoha ninjas love pretending to be all noble and self-righteous?"
"What if I said that if you don't surrender right now—I'll kill these civilians. What would you do?"
(To Be Continued...)