Chapter 66: First Battle

Since ancient times, not flaunting one's wealth has been the safest practice. Once exposed, it attracts the covetous gazes of countless greedy individuals.

When Uchiha Nagi was purchasing supplies, several wandering ninjas had been secretly watching him. Upon seeing him easily take out over a hundred thousand Ryo, their eyes practically bulged. The few of them exchanged glances and tacitly departed first.

Little did they know, after awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan, Uchiha Nagi's sixth sense had become exceptionally sensitive. Moreover, after learning the Buddhist Heavenly Eye from the Stone Hashira, his perception of those around him had grown even sharper.

He left the small town in the Land of Hot Water, heading towards the Land of Water. Since the Land of Hot Water's border was coastal, he could reach the Land of Water after setting out to sea. Although the Land of Water was isolated overseas, it couldn't completely cut off all trade for supplies. At the very least, they frequently traded for grain from the mainland, with the Land of Fire being a major supplier. Therefore, Uchiha Nagi planned to travel to the Land of Water aboard a merchant ship. With his Mangekyo Sharingan, it was incredibly simple to sneak onto a merchant vessel unnoticed.

Walking into a small grove, Uchiha Nagi suddenly stopped and called out faintly to his surroundings, "Come out. I know you're ambushing me there."

A gentle breeze rustled through the grove, making a soft shasa sound, as if nothing had happened.

"Hmph. In that case, allow me to draw you out." Uchiha Nagi took out several kunai and threw them.

In the woods, the few individuals hiding using various stealth techniques immediately leaped out. Nonsense, if they didn't jump out, the paper bombs would blow them to bits. The wandering ninjas quickly vacated their original positions. Just as the kunai with paper bombs struck where they had been, several explosions occurred.

"Well, well, well, to think we were discovered. Looks like this fat sheep isn't so easy to fleece," a wandering ninja with two scars on his face said, drawing his katana.

"Hey, hand over your money obediently, and we'll let you go. How about it? We have two Chunin here, you know," another bald, burly man sneered.

Ants can kill an elephant. In their eyes, how could they be so lucky as to encounter a Jonin? Jonin were sought-after individuals in ninja villages or by the daimyos of smaller countries. Besides, this wandering samurai before them didn't even have a forehead protector. That was right; without a forehead protector, Uchiha Nagi was mistaken for a wandering samurai. Generally speaking, wandering samurai weren't weak, but most, like those from the Land of Iron, were specialized. Their close-combat taijutsu and swordsmanship were very strong, but they didn't have much of an advantage against more versatile ninjas, unless they were like Guy or White Fang, who had trained their taijutsu and swordsmanship to the peak.

"Water Style..."

"Fire Style..."

"Shuriken..."

"Kunai..."

The few desperately poor wandering ninjas didn't even have paper bombs tied to their kunai and shuriken.

A few fireballs, a Water Style jutsu, and a pile of retrievable shuriken and kunai—Uchiha Nagi couldn't even be bothered to deal with them. He placed his right hand on his sword, took a deep breath, and the air he exhaled carried faint traces of lightning...

"Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash - Eightfold."

BOOM!

A clap of thunder resounded from his original position. Uchiha Nagi's body transformed into a streak of golden lightning and flashed past. The wandering ninjas didn't react at all; they only saw the golden lightning flash by, followed by a sharp pain in their necks.

"Urgh... My neck?!" The scar-faced wandering ninja who spoke first clutched his neck and collapsed in disbelief.

"So... so strong!!" The second, bald ninja barely managed to utter a sentence, gurgling sounds coming from his mouth as he could no longer breathe. He too fell, an unwilling expression on his face.

"This is... what kind of swordsmanship is this?! Why couldn't I dodge it?" The last, a samurai-like wandering ninja, was the Chunin of their group. He had seen it, but he couldn't evade it.

"Just be more careful in your next life," Uchiha Nagi said faintly, then sheathed his sword and walked away.

He didn't even bother to loot the bodies. These dirt-poor wandering ninjas definitely wouldn't have much money on them. Besides, people in the Ninja World were trap fanatics. Who knew if they had a few paper bombs strapped to their bodies even in death, waiting to ensnare those who came to loot them. Therefore, the first thing a novice ninja learned was not to be greedy and loot corpses. Experienced ninjas always used Shadow Clones to test the waters when looting.

Not long after Uchiha Nagi left, a second group arrived. They were several rogue ninjas with scratched forehead protectors. They had originally planned to be the oriole stalking the cicada, but instead, they found a scene littered with corpses.

"Tsk tsk, looks like they encountered a formidable opponent. Every one of them was killed with a single strike," one of the ninjas observed, a cold sweat breaking out on his brow. If they hadn't decided to wait a bit longer before coming, they might have ended up dead alongside this group of wandering ninjas.

"Hmph, not just that. Look at everyone's position, the direction they were facing, and how they died. It proves they were all killed while facing the enemy head-on. Terrifying swordsmanship. They didn't even have time to flee?" The lead ninja took one look and concluded that this group had been annihilated in a single move. As for how one move could successively kill several people scattered in different locations, he couldn't figure out who possessed such swordsmanship, aside from the already deceased White Fang of Konoha, or perhaps Hanzo...

At that moment, a burly man nearly two meters tall excitedly squatted beside a ninja, opened his pack, and began looting...

"Idiot! Don't touch anything randomly!" The leader, upon seeing this, couldn't help but curse loudly.

BOOM!!

A loud explosion. The wandering ninjas who had been too poor to use paper bombs to kill Uchiha Nagi had actually hidden a trap in their own packs. The two-meter-tall brute was now a mangled mess of flesh and blood, barely breathing.

"Hmph, that idiot. Better off dead. Recruit fewer fools like him in the future," the leader said angrily.

"But boss, brainless idiots like him make excellent cannon fodder..."

"..."

————

Although there was a small interlude, it didn't affect Uchiha Nagi's mood. This was how it was in the Ninja World; anything could happen when you were out and about. Ninjas were actually a relatively better group. The commoners were the most miserable. Some ninjas with malicious intent or overwhelming lust would vent their desires in remote villages. Although commoners in large countries paid heavy taxes and lived extremely hard lives, it was still much better than in small countries. At least their lives were relatively safe.