"Since you won't choose, I'll decide for you—throat it is!" Ye Liangnai's voice cut through the fog, cold and final, followed by the sharp whistle of a blade slicing the air. The sound was impossible to pinpoint, a ghostly echo in the suffocating mist.
Without sensory skills, Yukuchi Mitsuta was a fish on the chopping block, forced into a desperate defense. "Damn it, I'm not going down like this!" he roared, his grip tightening on his longsword. He refused to believe Ye Liangnai could close the distance without him sensing it. His instincts, honed by years of combat, screamed that he'd detect any approach.
Hiss!
A sudden jolt of danger flared from his left, a dark silhouette flickering in the fog. Mitsuta swung, his blade cleaving through the shadow with a satisfying thud. But his triumph turned to dread—the resistance wasn't flesh. "Wrong again," Ye Liangnai's voice taunted from behind. "I'm right here."
Shlck!
A white-hot pain erupted as Ye Liangnai's katana pierced Mitsuta's chest, the blade sinking deep. But as Ye Liangnai moved to withdraw, his face twisted in alarm. The sword wouldn't budge—caught in Mitsuta's ribs, held fast by the rogue's sheer will.
Ye Liangnai's hands flashed into seals, but Mitsuta was faster. "Water Style: Water Prison Jutsu!" A torrent of water surged, encasing both in a spherical cage, the liquid pressing against Ye Liangnai like iron chains. The Hidden Mist Jutsu collapsed, the fog dissipating as Ye Liangnai's concentration shattered.
Mitsuta turned, his grin feral despite the blood seeping from his wound. "Your mist isn't invincible, kid. I win."
With a savage thrust, he drove his blade through Ye Liangnai's chest, the steel biting deep. But even as pain seared through him, Ye Liangnai's voice rang out, defiant and sharp. "Genjutsu: Binding Illusion!"
The seals he'd woven earlier weren't for nothing. His speed, once again, was his salvation. A surge of chakra flooded Mitsuta's mind, locking his body in place. The Water Prison dissolved, its control broken as Mitsuta froze, his eyes widening in horror. He didn't even weave seals for that genjutsu?
Mitsuta's heart raced, a chill gripping him. He'd underestimated Ye Liangnai's terrifying talent. Gritting his teeth, he funneled all his chakra to break the illusion. Binding Illusion's nothing—I've shattered it before! But to his shock, the genjutsu clung like tar, its hold far stronger than expected. Only half its effect lifted, leaving him sluggish.
Ye Liangnai, blood dripping from his chest, closed the distance in a heartbeat, his kunai slashing across Mitsuta's carotid artery. "No!" Mitsuta's scream was desperate, but the genjutsu held firm. He could only watch as blood gushed from his neck, his life draining away in seconds.
Ye Liangnai staggered back, his vision swimming. "Ugh…" He coughed, blood staining his lips, the wound in his chest a burning agony. This… isn't good. I might actually die here. The gash was deep, blood flowing freely, his strength fading with every heartbeat.
Gritting his teeth, he rummaged through his ninja pouch, pulling out a needle and thread. His hands trembled, but his resolve was iron. Long pain's worse than short. With a sharp intake of breath, he drove the needle through his flesh, the pain a white-hot lance that pierced bone and soul. His body shook, sweat pouring down his face, but he forced his hands steady, stitching the wound with crude, desperate precision.
"Cough… cough!" When he finished, Ye Liangnai was drenched, his clothes clinging to him as if he'd been pulled from a river. His face was ghostly pale, his breath shallow, but the dizzying blood loss had slowed. The makeshift sutures wouldn't last—two days, max, before infection set in—but it bought him time.
Haruha Yuya and Natsuka Rin, fighting nearby, stared in stunned silence. "Ruthless," Yuya muttered, his voice tinged with awe.
Natsuka's eyes were wide. "Sewing his own wound like that? That's not human."
Sky Armor, observing from the sidelines, felt a chill of respect. His judgment's unreal. The moment his blade jammed, Ye Liangnai had pivoted, weaving seals for a counterattack. That kind of calm under pressure… I couldn't do it. Sky Armor knew he'd have faltered, caught off-guard by panic. Yet Ye Liangnai had turned the tables, killing a Special Jonin against all odds.
"And that endurance," Sky Armor thought, his gaze lingering on the blood-soaked boy. "Stitching a wound like that? The pain's worse than ten fingers breaking at once. He's a terrifying subordinate—decisive, relentless." The makeshift fix was a gamble, but it was the best choice in the moment. Ye Liangnai's grit earned Sky Armor's rare admiration.
Numakura Yoroi and Nobutomo Suke, locked in their own battles, felt their hearts lurch as Mitsuta's body hit the ground. "He… he killed Yukuchi Mitsuta?" Yoroi stammered, his voice trembling. "An A-rank rogue, taken out by that kid? No way!"
Suke's face paled. Mitsuta was a titan, a name feared even in the wider ninja world. Yet Ye Liangnai, a mere Genin, had felled him. The reality was surreal, a nightmare unfolding before their eyes.
"Run!" The thought hit both rogues simultaneously. Sky Armor's presence, looming like a vulture, was threat enough, but Ye Liangnai's prowess was a death sentence. Even wounded, he was a tiger not to be trifled with.
"Don't let them escape!" Yuya and Natsuka shouted, their voices sharp with urgency.
"Water Style: Water Vortex Trap!" Yuya slammed his hands to the ground, a swirling whirlpool erupting beneath Yoroi and Suke. The water churned, pulling them downward, threatening to swallow them whole.
"Not good!" Yoroi yelped, his hands flashing into seals to counter. Suke mirrored him, panic in his eyes.
"Water Style: Water Fang Bullet!" Natsuka's jutsu struck, two spear-like water projectiles bursting from the vortex, aimed at their chests. But the rogues dissolved into water—Water Clones.
"Think your kiddie jutsu can hold us? You're decades too early!" Yoroi taunted, he and Suke reappearing at the forest's edge, smirking with smug triumph.
"You're not getting away!" Yuya roared, his face twisting with frustration.
"We won't let you!" Natsuka echoed, both sprinting after the rogues, but the distance was too great.
Yoroi and Suke laughed, turning to flee. "Give it up, brats!"
But their laughter died as two streaks of icy light flashed before their eyes, slicing past them with lethal precision. "Multi-Hawk Flash," Ye Liangnai's voice rasped, his katana sheathing with a soft click.
Shlck!
Blood sprayed from their necks, their bodies collapsing as life fled. Ye Liangnai swayed, another mouthful of blood spilling from his lips as he dropped to one knee. Using such a high-intensity technique while gravely wounded had pushed his body past its limits, the pain a roaring inferno in his chest.
"Damn fine work, Chill," Sky Armor said, his voice carrying rare praise. He turned to Yuya and Natsuka, his tone sharp. "Learn from him. You let two B-rank rogues slip through your fingers. That's pathetic."
Yuya and Natsuka bowed their heads, muttering, "Yes, sir." But their eyes burned with resentment. Ye Liangnai had stolen their kills, and now they were expected to thank him? The injustice stung, a bitter pill they couldn't swallow.
"Clean the battlefield and move out," Sky Armor ordered, collecting the rogues' heads as proof of the mission's success. "We leave now, before the Cloud ninja show up."
The team moved swiftly, vanishing into the night, the weight of their victory tempered by the blood and pain left behind.