Naruto: Cultivating to Immortality

Chapter 21 Uchiha Clan

The woods fell silent instantly.

Hyuga Kanan and his group refrained from making rash moves. After all, they were outnumbered, and their objective was merely to harass and delay the enemy, allowing their pursuing ninjas to quickly close in. They weren't going to fight to the death.

Hyuga Kanan kept his eyes fixed on the group opposite him, ready to attack whenever they tried to move away, thus disrupting their retreat.

Hyuga Kanan couldn't think of any other reason why he would dare to pursue the enemy with only a small team, except for extreme confidence in his own strength.

This time, our team's mission is simply to stall for time. With only three people, this is the only way we can disrupt them; we can't engage in face-to-face combat. The other side has a full seven members, and we don't even know their strength yet.

The situation remained deadlocked for a time.

Soon, the opposing side seemed to have thought of something and quickly split into three teams, breaking out simultaneously in three directions. This made Hyuga Kanan and his two companions somewhat embarrassed, since there were only three of them.

Yamanaka Ryuichi hesitated for a moment, as if he had made up his mind, and then immediately made a gesture.

When Hyuga Kanan saw the captain's gesture, he was also startled. This meant that they were to split into three teams and harass the three opposing teams separately.

Hyuga Kanan glanced at the distance of the pursuing group and immediately swiftly moved to intercept them in the opposite direction. His own pursuing group was very close, arriving in just a few minutes; he only needed to hold them off for a few minutes.

Soon, Hyuga Kanan arrived ahead of the escape team to the west; it was a team of only two. He took out several shuriken from his ninja tool pouch again and quickly threw them towards where the two had fled. At the same time, he took out a kunai and gripped it tightly, moving in that direction as well.

"Clang, clang." The two quickly deflected the shuriken with kunai, and instantly saw a figure rushing towards them—it was Hyuga Kanan. He knew very well that shuriken couldn't stop the opponent's escape; he had to personally intervene.

With a clang, sparks flew as Hyuga Kanan's sudden attack with his kunai was parried, slicing past the opponent's hand. Meanwhile, another man seized the opportunity to thrust forward. Hyuga Kanan twisted his body, stomping hard on a tree branch to maintain his balance and retreat. At the same time, he hurled his kunai at the attacker, blocking his attack.

Hyuga Kanan quickly retreated and landed on a tree about five meters away from the two men, her gaze fixed on the person opposite her. One was a rather thin and frail middle-aged man, and the other was a rather robust young man.

During their recent exchange, Hyuga Kanan realized that the thin, middle-aged Rain Ninja who had parried his attack was actually stronger than himself. He knew that when he used his internal energy, his strength far exceeded that of a Chunin, yet he had been easily parried by the opponent, who was at least a Jonin. He had suffered from inexperience; the seemingly weak man was actually the strongest. Moreover, with another person assisting him, he couldn't afford to fight him carelessly any longer.

Immediately, he set his sights on another burly young man. Judging from the fact that the man hadn't reacted immediately when he attacked earlier, he should be able to kill him quickly. Then he would only have one Jonin-level opponent left. Even if he wasn't a match for him, it would still make buying time much easier. With that thought, he immediately prepared to take action.

"Eight Trigrams - Deadly Strike!" Hyuga Kanan adopted the Gentle Fist stance of the Hyuga clan, simultaneously locking onto the burly young man.

In an instant, Hyuga Kanan vanished from his spot and reappeared in front of the burly young man. At the same time, a Bagua pattern appeared on the ground, locking onto the burly young man and immobilizing him. Before the thin middle-aged man could even intervene, he swiftly extended his sword finger and struck the burly young man's vital point in the chest.

With a "thud," a hole appeared in the burly young man's vital point, and his body was violently sent flying, crashing into a tree trunk with a loud "boom" before falling to the ground, where he remained motionless.

The burly young man was killed in one blow by Hyuga Kanan.

Upon seeing this, the thin middle-aged man roared in anger and instantly attacked, sweeping a whip kick at Hyuga Kanan.

Hyuga Kanan had no time to dodge and could only raise his arms to block. Then, a tremendous force slammed into his arms, and his body was sent flying uncontrollably.

Hyuga Kanan fell directly to the ground, her legs continuing to slide backward as they hit the ground, carving two furrows in the earth. At the same time, sharp pain shot through her arms, rendering her unable to move them for a moment.

But it wasn't over yet. The middle-aged man saw that Hyuga Kanan had blocked the whip kick, so he quickly formed hand seals. Dozens of seals were completed in a flash, and he placed his hands in front of his chest and let out a low shout.

"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"

The rainwater falling around them mixed with the rainwater on the ground, instantly condensing into a huge water dragon. After letting out a series of low roars, it fiercely charged towards Hyuga Kanan.

Seeing this, Hyuga Kanan reacted quickly. Trying to dodge by moving was obviously too late; he could only take the hit of the Water Dragon Bullet head-on.

"Bagua Palm - Reversal of Heaven!"

Hyuga Kanan instantly used the Hyuga clan's signature defensive ninjutsu, a ninjutsu that is said to be able to withstand all ninjutsu, combining offense and defense.

With a loud "boom," dust billowed up and filled the surrounding woods.

The Water Dragon Bullet Technique failed to break through Hyuga Kanan's Rotation, and didn't even cause him the slightest damage. However, Hyuga Kanan's arm, which had just blocked the whip kick, hadn't fully recovered and was still in some pain.

Then, a young man in black robes appeared on the tree.

In Hyuga Kanan's view, the black-robed youth's clothes had a pattern resembling a ping-pong paddle printed on them; he belonged to another powerful family in Konoha, the Uchiha clan.

"Fire Release: Great Fire Dragon Technique!"

Without any preamble or probing, the Uchiha youth spewed a fire dragon from his mouth, which shot straight toward the thin, middle-aged Rain Ninja opposite him, evaporating the raindrops along the way into mist.

"Water Escape-Water Formation Wall!"

The middle-aged Rain Ninja had fought this young man before, and upon seeing him arrive, he immediately unleashed a Water Release ninjutsu. Having clashed before, he knew roughly what kind of opponent he was facing.

"Hiss!" The temperature and range of the Great Fire Dragon Technique were extremely large. The water array wall directly above it also showed waves as if it was about to be breached. The surrounding trees were shaken by the shockwave.

"Thank goodness, this is the Land of Rain, and it's raining here." The thin, middle-aged Rain Ninja couldn't help but feel relieved; the Fire Release technique on the other side was simply too exaggerated.

"Oh! You actually blocked my Fire Release ninjutsu!" the Uchiha youth said. "That's why I hate the weather in the Land of Rain the most. The endless rain prevents my Fire Release from being fully unleashed, giving you the power to resist me." His tone was extremely arrogant.

"You won't escape from me again!" the Uchiha youth said arrogantly.

"The Uchiha, the strongest clan in Konoha? Can a young man completely suppress that middle-aged Amegakure Jonin? Judging from his confident tone, he might easily suppress, or even defeat or kill, the Amegakure ninja!"

Hyuga Kanan observed silently from the side, staring at the other's blood-red eyes, inwardly marveling. "As expected of the Six Paths Sage's most exploited clan," he thought, "their strength is terrifying. They're only a few years older than me, yet they possess such power."

At this point, the two had begun to close in on each other and engage in combat.

Although the Uchiha youth was younger than his opponent, his speed and strength completely overwhelmed him. His taijutsu movements were extremely elegant, instantly revealing his advantage.

Three tomoe spun continuously in his blood-red eyes. He easily dodged the opponent's physical attacks and continued to counterattack during the gaps in the opponent's attacks. After only a few rounds, the opponent was hit multiple times and was finally sent flying by a straight punch, crashing into a tree.

Over these few rounds, the Uchiha hadn't been hit once, nor had he even made a blocking or defensive move. He simply moved his body slightly to dodge the opponent's rapid taijutsu attacks, appearing incredibly relaxed and at ease. Clearly, he had far surpassed the ordinary standards of a Jonin.

The fact that he could dodge so gracefully while also launching a swift counterattack showed that he had completely figured out his opponent's physical techniques. His reaction speed and movement speed were incredibly efficient, and his striking power was at an advanced level. It could be said that he had easily defeated his opponent.

It can be said that a single Jonin poses no threat to him; only a group of people can fight against him.

He knocked the opponent away, but did not continue to attack. Instead, he looked at the opponent with indifference and disdain, completely ignoring the opponent's counterattack.

Hyuga Kanan watched this scene without any surprise, as he had carefully observed the Uchiha youth's body using his soul power and Byakugan. He discovered that the youth's chakra was constantly flowing into those blood-red Sharingan eyes. He also noticed a strange phenomenon: when the tomoe within the Sharingan rotated, it was as if the youth could see through the opponent's next move; if the body could react in time, it would be easy to dodge the attack.

Hyuga Kanan was secretly alarmed. Could it be that the Sharingan possessed an effect that utilized a trace of the laws of time? It seemed that the will bestowed upon the Sharingan by the Sage of Six Paths was quite extraordinary, already involving the laws of time. Furthermore, Obito Uchiha's Mangekyou Sharingan later involved the laws of space. Those were advanced laws of nature, far beyond what any ninjutsu could compare to.

It seems that the Sage of Six Paths valued the Uchiha clan highly, even attaching fragments of his will regarding the laws of time and space to them. No wonder the Uchiha clan is known as the strongest clan in the ninja world; after all, even a casual application of the laws of time is an extremely powerful ability.

Looking at the Uchiha youth's blood-red Sharingan, Hyuga Kanan felt a pang of envy. He himself would have to wait until the Nascent Soul stage to come into contact with the laws of time and space, while their clan considered it contact with the laws of time and space simply by awakening the Sharingan.

The middle-aged rain ninja, lying on the tree trunk, couldn't help but spit out several mouthfuls of blood, his spirits somewhat weakened. But his eyes kept scanning his surroundings, it seemed he still hadn't given up on his escape plans.

The Uchiha youth seemed to have noticed the gaze from the other, and his anger had subsided. He stared directly into the other's eyes, the three tomoe spinning rapidly. Instantly, the other's eyes went vacant, falling into a daze, and the body relaxed, completely abandoning its defenses.