Chapter 4: Displaying Skills Before a Master

"Run! Why aren't you running now?"

Four Sand shinobi surrounded Uchiha Gen. The tallest among them, a chunin squad leader with a scar across his forehead, sneered coldly.

Uchiha Gen smirked strangely. With a flick of his wrist, two Explosive Tags ignited in his palm.

The Sand chunin's face changed drastically. While retreating, he shouted, "Fall back, now!"

BOOM!

The two tags detonated simultaneously, sending a powerful shockwave laced with fire in every direction.

Three Sand genin were too slow to evade. They were blasted into the air. Though they weren't killed instantly, they sustained serious internal injuries and lay on the ground coughing up blood.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

From the treetops behind the Sand nin, three shuriken flew out—aimed directly at the chunin's head, back, and lower spine.

The Sand chunin remained calm under pressure, spinning swiftly to deflect all the incoming shuriken with his kunai.

At that very moment, Uchiha Gen seized the opportunity and leapt from a tree above, slashing his sword down toward the enemy's head.

The timing was perfect. The Sand chunin couldn't dodge, nor had time to weave hand seals—he could only raise his kunai to block.

Clang! Sparks flew as the weapons clashed. Gen's left hand shot out toward the chunin's throat.

The Sand chunin raised his arm to block and prepared to counterattack—but then, his body suddenly froze.

"How… how is this possible?!"

His face twisted in disbelief.

Behind him, three shuriken were embedded in his back. They had pierced through his spine in a straight line, blood flowing down in crimson rivulets.

Armor wasn't something every ninja could afford. And even those who could often avoided it, unwilling to compromise their speed.

Thud. Without a word, Uchiha Gen kicked the stunned chunin in the stomach. His eyes turned into a pair of crimson Sharingan—two tomoe spinning in each. He slashed his sword, deflecting all flying shuriken and kunai with ease.

The chunin hit the ground hard. The embedded shuriken had gone even deeper, and with his spine severed, he was now a cripple.

Seeing their squad leader taken down, then noticing the crimson two-tomoe Sharingan in Uchiha Gen's eyes, the remaining three Sand genin were overwhelmed with fear.

A two-tomoe Sharingan?

In the ninja world, everyone knew what that meant. A top-tier chunin—possibly even special jonin level.

How could three mere genin even hope to fight that?

Their fear was all the opening Gen needed. He activated the power of the Soul-Soul Fruit—and instantly, their souls and life forces were drawn from their bodies, flowing out through the tops of their heads.

A wave of helplessness swept over them. Before they even understood what was happening, all three collapsed to the ground with dull thuds.

"W-What did you do?!"

From his position, the Sand chunin had caught a glimpse of his subordinates' strange demise. His face twisted with terror.

"You don't need to know."

Uchiha Gen walked up to him, first extracting his soul and life span, then flipping him over and stabbing his sword into the back of his head, destroying his brain. After that, he retrieved the three bloodstained shuriken and turned to leave.

After departing, Gen found a quiet place to calm the unsettling feeling of having killed.

Earlier, he had been too focused on using his new powers to create Homies, too excited to feel any discomfort.

On the battlefield, right and wrong don't matter—only sides do. With that mentality, and aided by the original host's combat memories, Gen soon composed himself.

He proceeded to clean his tools, eat a soldier's ration pill to fill his stomach, and begin restoring his chakra.

Even though the fight had been resolved with conventional weapons, just using a single Shadow Clone Technique had consumed nearly half his chakra.

Though some chakra had returned, he needed to recover quickly.

Chakra recovery wasn't easy—it took time, something in short supply on a battlefield full of hidden dangers. Ration pills were essential.

The Uchiha clan's ration pills were top-tier, rivaling even those made by the Akimichi clan. They controlled about 40% of Konoha's ration pill market.

Because of his strong soul, Gen also had strong mental energy, allowing him to finely control chakra distribution with ease.

Such precise control was extremely beneficial for learning and using jutsu.

After half an hour of recovery, Gen resumed his hunt. Within minutes, he found a lone Sand ninja.

Judging by the armor, the scroll on his back, and his calm demeanor despite being alone, this one was likely skilled.

But Gen wasn't fazed. At worst, this was a special jonin—true jonin-level fighters were already deep in the battle at Kikyo Mountain.

Though he could've snuck up with the Camouflage Concealment Technique, Gen opted not to. If the enemy had sensory abilities and set a trap, it'd be dangerous.

So—stick to the basics. Start with some shuriken and test the waters.

Just as Gen was about to make his move, the Sand ninja suddenly struck, hurling three shuriken straight toward Gen's concealed position.

Heh, sensory type, huh?

Gen wasn't shaken. While dodging, he threw his own shuriken in return—thwack thwack thwack!—embedding them neatly into tree trunks.

The Sand ninja dodged and started forming hand seals, but the shuriken Gen threw looped around in mid-air and came flying back.

Startled, the Sand ninja immediately abandoned the seals and pulled out a kunai, barely managing to deflect them in a flurry.

Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Jutsu!

Orange-red fireballs shot from Gen's mouth, like a flurry of phoenix flowers. Guided by finely tuned chakra control, they sealed off all escape paths.

The Sand ninja clapped his hands together—poof!—a cloud of smoke burst forth, from which rained a dense barrage of senbon (needles). These disrupted and scattered the flame projectiles.

Gen dodged the follow-up attack, and signaled the fallen shuriken to hold position.

When the smoke cleared, a grotesque wolf-shaped puppet appeared. Its head was clearly that of a wolf.

"A Uchiha…"

The Sand ninja's expression soured upon seeing the Sharingan in Gen's eyes.

As puppet masters, they hated facing Uchiha the most. The Sharingan's keen insight made many mechanisms useless.

Gen tilted his head slightly. With a flick of his right hand, a glowing white orb shot forward.

The Sand ninja twitched his pinky. A kunai launched from the wolf puppet's mouth and passed through the white orb—but nothing happened.

Cautiously, the Sand ninja moved the puppet in front of himself. The orb vanished the moment it touched the puppet.

That's it?

I thought—

CRACK!

The wolf puppet suddenly turned, opened its jaws wide, and launched several kunai—at its own master.

Caught completely off guard by the puppet's betrayal at such close range, the kunai tore through the ninja's chest armor and pierced into his chest.

"W-What… how…?"

Blood dribbled from his lips. He looked down in disbelief at the kunai sticking out of his chest.

The armor had helped—it didn't kill him outright.

But before he could recover, Gen leapt in and drained his soul and lifespan as well.

The wolf puppet wagged its tail, which was lined with barbs, rubbing affectionately against Gen's leg.

Using puppets against me?

What a joke. Even Sasori of the Red Sand would be a novice in front of me.

Too bad for you.

Gen shook his head and said firmly, "Destroy your brain. From now on, unless I give permission, you don't speak."

"Yes, master."

The Homies created from weak souls and limited lifespan had low intelligence, but were still capable of following basic commands.

"You three, return."

The shuriken on the ground immediately floated up and returned to Gen's weapon pouch—efficient and convenient.

After cleaning up, Gen sealed the wolf puppet into a scroll and departed.

Meanwhile, at the edge of the battlefield, atop a tall tree—a figure slowly appeared.

"Looks like I wasn't too late..."

The man had blond hair and blue eyes, wearing a tight blue combat suit underneath a green Konoha flak jacket. His features were handsome, and his warm, sunny presence radiated like spring sunlight.

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