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Chapter 142: A One-Sided Battle!
🕑 Added 2025-08-20 14:45:52 +0000 UTCChapter 142: A One-Sided Battle!
The next morning.
"Captain, get up."
A cool, detached voice sounded in his ear.
Half-asleep, Nara Keisuke opened his eyes and saw a pair of pure white, crystalline eyes with almost no impurities staring straight at him. The last remnants of his drowsiness were instantly scared away.
"Ah..."
Keisuke raised his palm in some pain and covered his eyes, curling up in his bed. "Hyūga, it's too early in the morning to be scaring people like this."
"To prevent you from slacking off, Captain."
Hyūga Retsu knelt beside him, sitting up straight, and said calmly, "I have already prepared your washing utensils and breakfast."
"Hah..."
Keisuke's mouth opened slightly, and a faint groan like that of a dying man came from his throat. "Hyūga, you are too diligent."
"It's you who is too lazy!" A trace of emotion entered Retsu's cool voice. "Captain, get up. Time to fight."
Urged on by her, Keisuke was forced to get out of bed. Uchiha Shisui and Shizune, who had been secretly watching the whole time, couldn't help but shrug and laugh. They had known about Retsu's plan all along. They had remained silent before precisely to see their captain get embarrassed.
"What are you two laughing at over there?" Keisuke picked up the washing utensils Retsu had prepared and shot an annoyed glare at Shisui and Shizune. "After I'm done with Hyūga, I'm coming for you two!"
Shisui's face showed pleasant surprise. "Really?"
Shizune was at a loss. "Huh? Me too?"
After a round of washing and cleaning up, Nara Keisuke picked up a soft white rice ball and beckoned to his three squad members. A [Shadow Creature] surged and emerged from his shadow. "It's too cramped in the camp to let loose. Let's go to the old spot outside."
Hyūga Retsu picked up another rice ball and, taking seemingly small but actually very quick bites, finished it. The [Shadow Creature] soared into the sky, carrying the four of them to a secluded spot outside the camp.
"Hyūga." Keisuke took a bite of his rice ball and beckoned to his teammate again. "Come on."
Looking at her captain's frivolous and怠慢 posture, Retsu couldn't help but purse her lips, the expression on her delicate little face becoming even more serious. Knowing the strength gap between them, she did not complain, but simply moved her legs and rushed over at high speed.
Her feet pushed off the ground slightly, and her small body immediately leaped into the air. Her fair palm, containing Gentle Fist chakra that could injure on contact, ruthlessly smashed towards Keisuke's face.
"Ooh, not bad," Keisuke said, tilting his head to the left and easily dodging her attack. "You've got more style than before!"
He was only halfway through his sentence when Retsu's palm had already passed the original position of his head. Keisuke suddenly twitched his right shoulder, striking her right forearm and knocking her movement completely off course.
For the Hyūga clan, their "Gentle Fist" taijutsu, passed down for many years, could indeed injure on graze and damage on contact. Even if it didn't land a solid hit, a simple graze was enough for the Gentle Fist chakra to penetrate the enemy's body through the point of light contact, thereby causing damage to that area's chakra pathway system.
But one point needed to be clear: the vast majority of "Gentle Fist" attacks still had to be delivered through the "palm," such as "pressure point strikes" or the "Eight Trigrams Palms." Of course, this was not absolute. For a very small number of Hyūga clan members who had refined the "Gentle Fist," they might be able to release it from other chakra points on their bodies. But in any case, avoiding the Hyūga's "palms" and instead attacking their other body parts was the most correct strategy when facing them in close-quarters taijutsu combat.
As Keisuke countered Retsu, a mission message quietly popped up on the panel.
[C-rank Ninja Combat Mission Detected]
[C-rank Mission: Squad Member #2]
[Mission Content: Defeat/Kill Hyūga Retsu]
[Mission Reward: C-rank Shinobi Secret Scroll]
Keisuke didn't have time to pay attention to the mission prompt; Retsu's next round of attacks had already arrived. Although her right hand, and indeed her entire body, had been knocked off balance by the force from his shoulder, this had also perfectly given her the opportunity to swing her left hand.
Retsu once again infused Gentle Fist chakra into her left hand and suddenly slapped it towards her captain's left waist. A vacuum cannonball, powerfully compressed and containing the power of the Gentle Fist, unexpectedly bombarded Nara Keisuke's kidney.
"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!"
[Flat Shadow Technique]!
Keisuke's figure suddenly dropped low, melting into the shadow below like flowing water. While successfully avoiding the attack of the "Vacuum Palm," his shadow and Retsu's overlapped, and the power of his Yin Release chakra spread through the overlap and into her central nervous system.
[Flat Shadow Manipulation Technique]!
Keisuke's figure emerged from the shadow again, leisurely catching the half-eaten rice ball. "A very insidious combination of moves, Hyūga."
Retsu also raised her hand along with his movement, but with no rice ball in her hand, she was just biting at the air. "The captain's shadow techniques are even more insidious than the Gentle Fist." Retsu's face was stern, yet she still maintained the posture of biting the air. This very childish posture created a strangely bizarre contrast with her usual cold image.
She had originally thought that the combination of moves she had prepared for a long time would at least be able to cause some damage to the captain. But she had never expected him to dodge so easily and then use his shadow to control her... This shadow technique that could make a person maintain the same actions as their opponent—the captain had never used it before. Could it be some kind of new shadow technique?
A few scattered thoughts appeared in Retsu's mind.
"Thank you for the compliment." Keisuke released the [Flat Shadow Manipulation Technique] and took another bite of his rice ball. "Hyūga, was this the move you used to defeat Shisui before?"
"It only succeeded once." Retsu took a deep breath. "Later, he started using the Body Flicker Technique... This battle, I've lost."
[You have defeated the C-rank Ninja Combat Mission target!]
[You have obtained one C-rank [Shinobi Secret Scroll]!]
"Hmm? Not going to continue?" Keisuke looked at her strangely and took another bite of his rice ball. "We only exchanged two moves... I can still keep going."
"It's meaningless," Retsu shook her head. "Captain, you can cast shadow techniques without hand signs. As long as I get close, I will be hard-controlled by you."
"Alright!" Keisuke stuffed the last little bite of rice ball into his mouth. "How about this: I won't use shadow techniques, and you don't use dangerous moves like the Gentle Fist. Just a simple taijutsu spar, what do you say?"
A sharp glint flashed in Retsu's white eyes. "Okay!" She refused to believe that the Gentle Fist forms she had trained for many years would be no match for this slacker captain!
A moment later.
Thump!
Hyūga Retsu was taken down to the ground by Nara Keisuke. Her pure white eyes were filled with deep bewilderment.
"Sorry, I don't think I mentioned it before. I studied Strong Fist taijutsu with Princess Tsunade for a while," Keisuke said, extending a hand and pulling her up. "Actually, my Strong Fist taijutsu level is also quite good."
Retsu refused to believe it. "Again!"
Thump!
The heavily defeated Hyūga Retsu silently retreated to the side, planning to postpone her plan to challenge the captain for a while.
Keisuke clapped his hands and looked at Uchiha Shisui and Shizune. "You two, who's next?"
Shisui and Shizune looked at each other. Under the latter's pleading gaze, Shisui took a step forward. "Captain, please grant me your guidance!"
Keisuke beckoned to him. "Come on, Shisui of the Body Flicker." Keisuke's smile did not reach his eyes. "That title of yours, it sounds so nice!"
Shisui didn't know why the captain was reacting this way, but he still formed hand signs in the first instance and used his most signature ninjutsu—Phantom Body Flicker Technique!
Hyūga Retsu was unwilling to engage in close-quarters combat with him. Uchiha Shisui was similarly unwilling. If it were an ordinary Nara ninja, they would still need hand signs to cast shadow techniques. But the captain's shadow techniques were no-hand-sign and instant-cast. It had maximized his close-range threat level to the extreme!
Under these circumstances, how could Shisui possibly charge straight up and engage in a close-range blade fight with him? 'I'll still use the Phantom Body Flicker to confuse the enemy, to create an opportunity for a real attack...'
Shisui raised his right hand, drew the kodachi from his back, and commanded his clones, who had also drawn their blades, to attack the enemy. "Uchiha Style: Sword Flame Dance!"
One Uchiha Shisui gripped his kodachi, and fire-nature chakra was infused into the blade, dyeing it into a flaming weapon. He quickly moved forward, at the same time swinging the flaming sword, and instantly slashed towards Keisuke's body.
A shadow shield quietly appeared in front of Keisuke, blocking the attack of this flaming weapon.
[Shadow Shield Technique]!
Clang!
The collision of the blade and the shield produced a crisp sound. The panel once again popped up with a mission message.
[B-rank Ninja Combat Mission Detected!]
[B-rank Mission: Squad Member #1]
[Mission Content: Defeat/Kill Uchiha Shisui]
[Mission Reward: B-rank Shinobi Secret Scroll]
While the first Shisui was attacking, the other Shisuis also prepared their own attacks. But at the same time, Nara Keisuke, behind the [Shadow Shield Technique], also smiled and extended his index finger. A ball of Yin Release chakra gathered at his fingertip, accumulating into the shape of a pellet.
[Shadow Piercing Bullet]!
Swish—
The initial [Shadow Piercing Bullet], approaching the speed of sound, let out a sharp and ear-piercing whistle as it cut through the air. The pupils of the Uchiha Shisuis contracted slightly as they tried to dodge the attack. But there were simply too many of them at this moment. Keisuke's [Shadow Piercing Bullet] shot past and easily smashed into a figure, sending one Uchiha Shisui away.
As if playing a live-action shooting game, Keisuke stood in place and calmly raised his hands, continuously releasing [Shadow Piercing Bullets]. The dense mass of lacquer-black bullets shot towards Shisui. The incredibly fast firing speed left him no time to form hand signs to defend, and he could only move to evade. Even so, the many phantom clones he had just released fell one by one under Keisuke's attack.
Seeing their captain's posture, Retsu and Shizune, who were watching from the side, finally understood how he had achieved his "battle record." The ability to fly, paired with this no-hand-sign, instant-cast, extremely fast lacquer-black pellet. Retsu and Shizune racked their brains but couldn't think of how they could possibly defend against it.
'The Hyūga's ultimate secret technique—Rotation?'
'Can I just surrender directly?'
Compared to his two teammates on the sidelines, the Uchiha Shisui on the field could feel the threat from the [Shadow Piercing Bullet] even more. Sensing his phantom clones disappearing one after another, Shisui knew he could not delay any longer. He gritted his teeth and simply had his phantom clones overlap each other to buy a brief moment for the main body to form hand signs.
But how could Keisuke not see through such an obvious tactic? Taking advantage of the moment Shisui's clones overlapped, he decisively stopped firing the [Shadow Piercing Bullet] and at the same time, quickly formed hand signs. "Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
A lifelike liquid water dragon was released from in front of him. Carrying an astonishing impact force and oppressive feeling, it crashed into the many clones of Shisui. The forced-to-overlap clones dissipated into nothingness under the attack of the "Water Dragon Bullet Technique," revealing the final main body, who was still forming hand signs. At that moment, Shisui also completed his fire-style hand signs. "Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"
Boom!
The collision of Water and Fire Release immediately created a cloud of steam in mid-air, obscuring vision. Keisuke's [Lacquer Eye] opened silently. Aiming at the figure in his senses, he once again fired a lacquer-black bullet.
[Spiraling Shadow Binding Bullet]!
The supersonic pellet instantly smashed in front of Uchiha Shisui. A solid shadow tentacle was released from the pellet, binding and restraining him on the spot. Keisuke walked over, and a shadow extended from his feet, connecting to Shisui.
The water vapor gradually dissipated, and the scene on the field was revealed. "Shisui, do you have any other tricks?"
Uchiha Shisui tentatively moved a few times and found that he really couldn't break free from the shadow's control. He could only shake his head. "Captain, I've lost."
[You have defeated the B-rank Ninja Combat Mission target!]
[You have obtained one B-rank [Shinobi Secret Scroll]!]
Keisuke released the [Shadow Paralysis Jutsu] and looked towards the last person. "Shizune?"
Hearing the captain's call, the medical ninja took a deep breath and, with a tragic expression, charged forward.
A moment later, the message on Keisuke's panel revealed the fate of this medical soldier.
[You have defeated the C-rank Ninja Combat Mission target!]
[You have obtained one C-rank [Shinobi Secret Scroll]!]
(End of Chapter)
