"Five seals per second! With such a fast sealing speed, he must be an elite jōnin who specializes in ninjutsu!"
"Without a doubt," his comrade confirmed.
Seeing Sasuke's terrifying speed at forming hand seals, Sarutobi Kagejirō and the Gekkō chūnin were immediately filled with confidence. They had heard of such a feat, but had never witnessed it. It was beyond the reach of ordinary people. A normal ninja might manage one seal in five seconds; the "Uchiha jōnin" before them was doing five in one second, his hands moving so fast they became afterimages. With such speed, he had to be a ninjutsu master, and ninjutsu masters were specialists in group battles. The intelligence mission seemed safe.
Meanwhile, the Hyūga chūnin, Asuka, who saw the entire battlefield clearly with her Byakugan, couldn't stop rolling her eyes, her heart filled with anxiety.
'This fake Uchiha is too good at bluffing,' she thought. 'That sealing speed is superhuman, not even an elite jōnin could achieve it. No wonder the Sand-nin have no doubts. It's too convincing.'
"Despicable! He truly has no master's style!" the bald chūnin, Iwago, shouted, enraged as he realized he had wasted his last chakra reserves on a useless defensive jutsu.
"Iwago, don't get flustered," his captain, the spiky-haired jōnin, warned him. "This is a tactical level that only elite jōnin and above possess. He doesn't waste even the slightest advantage. Don't let him see our flaws!" The Sand jōnin, with his vast experience, reacted immediately, believing he had deciphered the enemy's strategy. 'He's using a tactical feint to buy time to perform an even more powerful and complex Water Style ninjutsu. What a master of tactics!'
Seeing that the Suna jōnin had been completely fooled, Sasuke rejoiced inwardly. Tricking a master like him was much more satisfying.
As the tense standoff continued, the Gekkō chūnin, whose name was Ye, leaped to Kagejirō's side to secure the intelligence scroll. Then, he turned to the Hyūga and asked, "Asuka, are you okay?"
"Yeah... I'm fine. I'm not going to die yet," Asuka replied, leaning against a birch tree, her face pale and nearly delirious from the poison.
Ye nodded and focused back on the spectacle. He turned to Kagejirō and asked in a low voice, "Kagejirō, from the number of seals, what level of Water Style do you think it is? It's not the Great Waterfall Technique, is it? That's A-rank."
The Gekkō clan specialized in close-quarters combat, while Kagejirō's Sarutobi clan was known for its mastery of various escape techniques. When it came to ninjutsu knowledge, they were supposed to have more authority.
"No, it's definitely not the Great Waterfall," Kagejirō denied, shaking his head with complete certainty.
"So, what advanced jutsu is it? Kagejirō, you don't know either, do you?" Ye prodded.
"What?! How could I not know!" Kagejirō jumped as if his tail had been stepped on. Although he was just a second-rate, untalented member of his clan, he hated to show ignorance and be looked down upon by his peers.
He calculated quickly. 'Such a long seal... it can't be A-rank. It has to be S-rank! And there are only a few S-rank Water jutsus in the Book of Seals...'
The answer revealed itself to him. With an expression that said, "I know everything, come and praise me," he declared with absolute confidence, "I saw it from the start. This is definitely the legendary S-rank Water jutsu, the Hard Whirlpool Water Blade."
Hyūga Asuka: #￥%@&
Asuka felt the world spin. 'Great Waterfall? Whirlpool Blade? It's all lies, it's fake!' Her Byakugan, which saw the meridians, confirmed it: the chakra in the fake Uchiha's body was not being activated at all. How could he release a ninjutsu?
'Kagejirō is not only strong-willed and short-tempered, but also an ignorant braggart. How can he be so unreliable?' she thought, remembering how he had provoked the enemy and the flaw he had exposed at the trap. She almost fainted right there. 'With teammates like this, who needs enemies? I hope this fake Uchiha can hold out for a while.'
Due to the poison's erosion, her Byakugan's range had been reduced to less than a kilometer. Otherwise, she would have undoubtedly detected the arrival of the mobile patrol and understood the true genius of Sasuke's tactical deception. His intention was not just to delay time for the poison to take effect and to exhaust the enemy; it was to kill three birds with one stone, stalling until overwhelming support arrived.
"Ye, look," Kagejirō suddenly exclaimed, filled with renewed confidence. "Those three are already poisoned, they won't last much longer. Hahaha, we'll win!"
"Kagejirō, did you notice?" added Ye, who was much more observant. "Their special detoxifying pills are ineffective. They're relying solely on their chakra to resist the poison."
"Hahaha!" Kagejirō became increasingly arrogant. Then, he proposed, "Ye, how about you take the information and retreat first? I'll cover you this time."
"This..." Ye was speechless for a moment. Victory seemed within reach. To leave now and miss out on the mission's merit? However, the intelligence was the priority.
"Kagejirō, you retreat first with the information," Ye finally decided, brandishing his sword. "I will support this Uchiha jōnin." In his opinion, his strength was greater than Kagejirō's, and his help would be more valuable. Besides, Kagejirō was a relative of the Hokage. If something happened to him, it would be difficult to explain.