Chapter 31: This Victory Belongs to the Shadow Clone

Kawaki Aoba felt his forehead vein throb. Although he was merely a shadow clone dispatched by his original body, seeing his teammates abandon him so decisively to buy time against the enemy pursuer felt like they were treating him as less than human.

He decided to vent all his frustration on this Sand shinobi.

"Way of Destruction No. 4: Pale Lightning!"

He might not be able to land a hit on a healthy elite jonin, but couldn't he handle one who was critically wounded? He remembered how those two Hyuga chunin had been worn down to exhaustion. Even as a shadow clone, aside from shattering upon a single hit and possessing only half the original’s chakra, he could still exert the full strength of his original body’s normal state. Before his chakra ran dry, replicating a battle of attrition should not be a problem.

Aoba charged toward the approaching Sand shinobi.

"Hmm? Even with his kidney shattered, he can still dodge the Pale Lightning? It seems this will be a tough fight."

As they closed the distance, a kunai sliced through the air, grazing Aoba’s neck. With a soft *pop*, the shadow clone disintegrated into a cloud of white mist.

In the distance, Kawaki Aoba’s original body twitched. *Damn it, is this the true extent of his strength without using cheats? Am I really that pathetic?*

The Sand shinobi who had just destroyed the shadow clone had the same thought. *Is this brat even the same person as before? How is he as weak as a genin? He was gone in one move; he didn't even get to use the ninjutsu he was secretly preparing.*

*Forget it, no matter. Better to hurry and capture one of the brats as a hostage.*

Pressing one hand against the blood-soaked hole in his side, he flung a kunai with the other, aiming for the leg of one of the brats. In his current state, he couldn't afford a continuous burst of intense movement, as he would literally spray blood. After throwing the kunai, he reached into his ninja tool pouch for a shuriken.

However, just as his fingertips touched the shuriken, his movements froze. What had he just seen? After the kunai successfully hit its target, one of the two brats had also burst into a large cloud of smoke.

Another shadow clone. Was Konoha really that incredible? Could any random brat learn such a high-level jutsu? If two out of the three brats were shadow clones, then the last one...

The last one left was Asuma. Having seen Kurenai Yuhi vanish into mist beside him, he ran even faster. Most absurdly, he had somehow intuitively mastered a serpentine evasion pattern. But as he ran, Asuma looked back and wondered, *Huh, why hasn't that guy caught up?*

His speed slowed until he finally stopped, locking eyes with the Sand shinobi. For a moment, the world was completely silent. Perhaps prompted by some strange instinct, after standing stunned for a moment, Asuma actually turned back around. He charged toward the elite jonin who had lost all his puppets and was severely injured.

Forming hand seals, Asuma, much like Kawaki Aoba before him, wanted to test his own strength against this opponent.

*Swish, swish...*

Two shuriken were thrown by the Sand shinobi, coming straight at him. Asuma didn't fear them in the slightest. *What a joke. They’re just shuriken. Back at the Ninja Academy, not a single shuriken could hit him; what did it matter if they were thrown by an elite jonin? They were all the same to him. After all, he was Asu—*

*Bang!*

The two shuriken were far too fast. Asuma failed to dodge either one and, upon being struck, exploded into a large cloud of white mist.

Across from him, the Sand shinobi took a deep breath. Although he knew it was impossible, he had held onto a sliver of hope after throwing the shuriken, but now... the thought of turning the tide was gone completely.

"Konoha ninja, you really don't treat me like a human being, do you?" The Sand shinobi turned his head to look behind him, his expression becoming unnaturally calm.

Sure enough, behind him, Kurenai Yuhi’s father, Shinku Yuhi, had already finished off his last two puppets. Beside him appeared the three annoying brats—though whether they were still shadow clones, he couldn't tell.

*Shadow clones, shadow clones...* Today, he had been defeated by shadow clones. This entire team was crazy; from the lead jonin to the girl who looked the weakest, everyone seemed to have a shadow clone. If he recalled correctly, didn't Konoha's shadow clones split the original's chakra? Were these people's chakra reserves so abundant?

By now, he knew he couldn't escape. So, even if he had to die, he would die as a proud Sand shinobi.

"You despicable, shameless Konoha ninja, I lost this time. But don't get cocky. Our comrades in the Sand will avenge me on the battlefield sooner or later. When that time comes, you so-called geniuses will definitely die on the cruel battlefield."

He said these things only to preserve his dignity in death. After all, losing this way, he at least wanted to maintain some decorum.

As his opponent, Shinku Yuhi looked at his wretched state with a sense of melancholy. This was an elite jonin. In any village, such an individual was at the very top, holding voting power on major village affairs. Yet, he was in such a pathetic state.

First, he had lost a teammate to his own clones. Then, he was ambushed by a paper bomb trap, losing his primary combat power. He was then blindsided by the teacher hiding in the shadows, losing his last two teammates. Finally, he was severely wounded by that brilliant student of his, who caught him off guard and destroyed a kidney. And in the end, he was toyed with by those three little kids.

Reflecting on how an elite jonin had been played to his ruin, Shinku felt his eyelids twitch. He glanced sideways at Kawaki Aoba. This boy was the true mastermind. Without Aoba using sensory ninjutsu to detect the enemy from seven kilometers away, they wouldn't have had time to prepare. Moreover, the speed Aoba had displayed and the taijutsu he used had truly shocked him. Especially at the end, right before the boy fled, Shinku’s heart had been in his throat. Fortunately, the boy had run fast and even left the enemy critically wounded.

That was... truly excellent.

Right now, Shinku wasn't thinking about how to kill the Sand shinobi, but whether it was possible to capture him alive. An elite jonin, even if not in power, was still a member of the upper echelons. With the Sand Village making such big moves recently, the man surely knew many secrets.

"Heh, wanting to take me alive? Konoha ninja, don't be too arrogant." The Sand shinobi naturally read the meaning in Shinku’s eyes.