Looking at the explosion in front of him, Uchiha Tatsumi slumped to the ground.
His body, kept taut through sheer willpower, could no longer hold up.
Suddenly, his head spun with dizziness.
He didn't know if it was the aftereffect of his battle with a jōnin.
Gritting his teeth, Uchiha Tatsumi forced himself up.
He needed to see if Sakamoto had been blown to pieces by the explosion tags.
The smoke cleared.
But instead of the gore he expected, what lay before him were the remnants of a collapsed Doton technique.
Crumbled debris and chunks of scorched stone were scattered everywhere—evidence of a Doton: Multiple Earth-Style Wall used just in time to block the explosion.
Suddenly, a pale hand reached out from beneath the rubble.
"Hahaha… damn brat! You almost killed me."
Sakamoto's voice rasped from beneath the destroyed wall.
Uchiha Tatsumi's face darkened. He immediately recognized the technique—Doton: Tajū Doryūheki.
Sakamoto had shielded himself at the last moment. Typical for a jōnin of his caliber.
Sakamoto shoved a broken rock aside and pulled himself out. His hair was scorched, flakes of burnt debris drifting down as he emerged.
"Damn it! Whoever said Konoha's genin are easy to deal with—I'll beat that guy senseless! I don't even care who his mother is!"
Sakamoto sat down heavily, groaning as pain surged through his limbs.
His skin was blackened and blistered in places, the smell of burnt flesh hanging in the air.
His signature yellow shinobi vest was tattered, soaked with blood. More blood dripped from his mouth and ears.
And yet—his thick black-rimmed glasses were miraculously intact, untouched by the blast.
Had he not specialized in Earth Release, and if he hadn't completed that seal in the nick of time, he would've been vaporized.
"Bastard…" he muttered.
Panting, Uchiha Tatsumi gripped a kunai.
The distance was too far for Genjutsu to take effect effectively.
But his arm stung sharply—the one Sakamoto had nicked with his kunai.
He narrowed his eyes. That wound was turning an unnatural shade of purple.
"...Poisoned?"
He looked up.
"Your kunai... was poisoned?" Tatsumi asked, his tone dark.
Sakamoto covered one ear, smirking.
"Of course. That punch you landed—heh—I let it happen. I deliberately exposed an opening, made it look like a mistake, just to scratch you."
"I just didn't expect your punch to be that powerful… and to fall into your trap right after. Tsunade's student, huh?"
"My teacher. Scared?" Uchiha Tatsumi grinned.
Sakamoto chuckled, still in pain. "Uchiha Kagami's brat, Tsunade's student. You've taken down a jōnin like me—be proud of that. Honestly, I'm reluctant to kill you now."
Uchiha Tatsumi's face remained composed, even as the burning pain from the poison flared again.
"This isn't just any poison," Sakamoto said. "Want to hear the good news or the bad news first?"
"Good news," Tatsumi said, dusting himself off.
"The good news is, this poison is still experimental. You'll probably survive for another forty minutes."
"…And the bad news?"
"The bad news? There's no antidote. And I'm going to kill you in the next ten minutes."
Before the words finished echoing, Sakamoto's figure blurred forward, the short sword in his hand slicing through the air toward Tatsumi's back.
But just as the blade came down, Genjutsu snapped onto Sakamoto again.
He froze mid-attack.
Tatsumi never believed anything Sakamoto said. Not fully.
A shinobi lies—lies to others, lies to himself. The greatest ninja can even deceive their own instincts.
Judging by the wound's color, the poison was real—but slow-acting. He had perhaps twenty minutes left if he didn't strain himself too much.
Which meant he had to end this quickly—without getting into drawn-out taijutsu exchanges.
The moment Sakamoto broke the Genjutsu, he reappeared behind Tatsumi, blade poised to strike.
But Tatsumi didn't move.
"Giving up already, kid?" Sakamoto taunted.
His short blade slashed cleanly into Tatsumi—
Only for his body to erupt in a puff of smoke.
"Shadow Clone?!"
Sakamoto's eyes widened behind his glasses.
What the hell?
He realized it now—the one who'd been chatting with him all this time… had only been a Kage Bunshin.
Pretending to talk trash… just to buy time and slip away?
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