Chapter 20: Count Me In for Bullying Noobs!
"I won't go easy on you!"
Uchiha Shisui said this, yet still used his usual method for dealing with his own crow, reaching out a hand to grab Kitahara's neck... The motion closely resembled that of a slaughterhouse worker at a breeding farm...
Some people are dead, yet they still live.
Some people are alive, yet they should have died long ago.
Kitahara silently recited a little poem in his mind, forming a small Tailed Beast Bomb in its beak. The amount of chakra it contained was small, but its power...
Boom!
The firelight was dazzling. After the thick smoke dispersed, a huge, deep pit was revealed in the ground...
Uchiha Shisui retreated to a distance, his back pressed tightly against a tree trunk, breaking out in a cold sweat. He looked at the crow with lingering fear and suspicion, "What kind of ninjutsu is this..."
It clearly didn't seem like an inherited clan technique that a Ninja Crow should possess!
Seeing the crow once again condensing chakra in its beak, seemingly without needing any rest... Shisui forced a bitter smile onto his face, quietly moved away from his spot, and left a sentence echoing in the woods, "What a simple and crude fighting style..."
Kitahara sensed the location of the Flying Thunder God marker on Shisui... Found it!
The crow's figure instantly vanished from its spot!
Uchiha Shisui was hiding behind a rock, contemplating tactics, "That ninjutsu, it should be an energy blast condensed with high-intensity chakra..."
"Caw~"
Kitahara extended a wing and lightly touched the young man's shoulder, calmly watching Shisui's surprised face, "When did you..."
Whether it was speed or perception, astonishingly strong!
Shisui, of course, couldn't possibly know that he had been marked with a Flying Thunder God seal the moment he made contact with the crow before the battle began. This fight was doomed to be futile...
"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Flower Nail Crimson!"
The genius Chunin no longer dared to be careless. He unleashed his limit: four shuriken entwined with flames. As they shot towards Kitahara, Shisui used the momentum to instantly retreat!
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
A double barrage of Fire Style ninjutsu; that crow was probably ready for the dinner table...
Clang!
The four incoming shuriken were swatted down by the crow's wings, along with extinguishing the fire-natured chakra imbued on them. Shisui's signature ninjutsu was violently broken by the crow...
Uchiha Shisui forcefully blew a large fireball towards Kitahara's direction. Sensing the crow was no longer within attack range, he hurriedly searched for its whereabouts...
Crimson eyes were right in front of him...
Kitahara had appeared beside Shisui at some unknown moment, tilting its head as it watched him perform...
"Just that slight interval for hand seals, and it managed to escape..." Uchiha Shisui marveled. This ability to observe timing was no less than that of a ninja.
"Then next... Body Flicker Technique!"
Over a dozen clones carrying chakra markers appeared, surrounding the crow. Uchiha Shisui's real body mingled among the clones, constantly switching places with them.
Shisui attempted to rely on his usual tactic: clones to corner Kitahara, continuously using the Body Flicker Technique for close-quarters combat, to exhaust its stamina and find an opportunity...
Kitahara slowly flew into the air, a small blackish-purple Tailed Beast Bomb hovering in its beak... The meaning was clear... No matter what kind of clone or real body, there's nothing that can't be solved with one Tailed Beast Bomb!
Boom!
All clones instantly dissipated...
If it were any other ninja, they would probably be tormented to tears by the crow's maneuvers... What was clearly an exquisite combination of ninjutsu and taijutsu was just flashy nonsense in front of Kitahara!
"Substitution Jutsu! Body Flicker Technique!"
He, Uchiha Shisui, would never give up easily! How could such an unreasonable crow understand the essence of a ninja...
Kitahara watched Shisui from afar. He was using high-speed movement to create two afterimages, heading in three different directions... It seemed he intended to temporarily retreat.
So smart! A newly developed technique could be applied in actual combat. If the enemy couldn't distinguish his real body, they couldn't catch him. Even if they happened to guess where his real body was, he could quickly switch with other clones...
The only problem was probably...
There probably wasn't any ninjutsu faster than the Flying Thunder God, nor was there an easier way to find the real body than with a Flying Thunder God marker.
"Caw~"
The crow, having easily found Shisui's real body using the Flying Thunder God marker, flapped its wings beside him, looking as if it were about to fall...
This act was a bit too fake!
Uchiha Shisui silently retorted, but his feet dared not relax. His figure instantly switched with a clone, escaping in another direction...
"Caw~"
Still looking half-dead...
Shisui roared in utter fury, "Don't insult a ninja's intelligence! Even Itachi wouldn't be fooled by how you look now!"
"..."
Kitahara silently pondered... This person is about to lose, has he already started losing his mind and spouting nonsense? Openly insulting my acting skills... I often pretend to be tired from flying and rest on my cub's shoulder...
Watching Uchiha Shisui use his speed to switch clones again...
"Caw~ Caw~"
Realizing Kitahara had caught his real body for the third time, Shisui simply stopped and made a stopping gesture, "I... I surrender..."
Recognizing there was no possibility of victory, Uchiha Shisui decisively chose to surrender.
Anyway, it was just to test the new Body Flicker Technique in actual combat. It seemed there were still flaws. Itachi, even with the Sharingan, couldn't distinguish it, but how did Kitahara figure it out?
"How could Shisui lose to Kitahara?" Uchiha Itachi, upon learning the result, looked in astonishment at the smug Kitahara on his shoulder, "It's just a crow!"
Its once proud head drooped. It really did want to become human again, "..."
"It seems the new jutsu still has many imperfections..." Uchiha Shisui chuckled awkwardly on the side. After all, actively surrendering was truly helpless... He was originally known for his speed, yet he was defeated by a crow using speed in a battle.
Honestly, it didn't feel good.
If others knew Shisui's thoughts, they would feel even worse... Clearly a genius in genjutsu, yet he had made a name for himself in speed as 'Shisui of the Body Flicker'...
"Kitahara, how did you find Shisui's real body?" Itachi had been thoroughly tormented by the Body Flicker Technique during their spar and was very curious about this question.
Shisui, beside him, perked up. He was even more curious about Kitahara's answer...
The new Body Flicker Technique he developed had its pros and cons compared to the previous version that used clone jutsu, but it was actually better in real combat, allowing for pursuit or escape from enemies at any time.
"Caw~ Caw~" Kitahara leisurely pecked at a fruit. It had just mastered Shisui's Body Flicker Technique during the battle, so it gave him an answer that sounded rather ridiculous but was actually very correct.
As long as you're fast enough, you can dodge any attack...
"...What did it say?"
Uchiha Itachi's face turned a little red, "It said, Shisui, your speed is too slow..."
"Indeed." Uchiha Shisui nodded in agreement, "With my current taijutsu and speed, I'm far from my limit. But its speed is simply too fast..."
It was like a festering sore that clings to the bone.
If Shisui had focused on fighting Kitahara head-on, he would have realized this crow was likely using an S-rank forbidden jutsu to counter a new technique based on a D-rank ninjutsu.
This method of tormenting a genius was a bit shameless... but it was indeed physically and mentally satisfying...
(End of this chapter)