Chapter 741 - The Fear of Death
Neji explained while looking at the battlefield, “He created the Shadow Clone at the moment he used the Smoke Bomb.”
Kiyomi nodded in realization, “He used the smoke as cover, no wonder I didn’t notice, but you noticed because of the Byakugan.”
“So, Sasuke-san used Shuriken’s attack to divert Sensei’s attention, and created a cover of smoke, then using the cover of smoke he switched place with a Shadow Clone? This is the two-layered tactic that Shisui-Sensei talked about, Sasuke-san can already do that?” muttered Rock Lee, really Surprised.
Neji said in a flat tone, “Lee… this is a very normal tactic when facing a strong foe with unknown Jutsu, even if I was there instead of Sasuke, I would have done something similar.”
Kiyomi said in a speechless tone, “Neji-kun, this isn’t normal at all. Not everyone can use Shadow Clone Jutsu which you and Sasuke-nii-chan can use. If it was Lee-kun, or me there instead of Sasuke-nii-chan or you, we would have been stuck to the ground because of that Jutsu and completely vulnerable to Sensei’s attacks!”
Rock Lee nodded in a serious tone.
Hearing Kiyomi’s words, Neji nodded with an embarrassed expression, “Uh… yeah… I forgot, sorry.” At the same time he thought to himself, ‘Even if I couldn’t use Shadow Clone Jutsu, nothing would have happened to me, as I can protect myself using ‘Revolving Heaven’ that Sensei taught me.’
In order to let Neji, overcome the shadow of his defeat at the hands of Sasuke in the previous assessment, and to prepare him for the next Assessment, Kuroto taught Neji Revolving Heaven at Neji’s request.
Revolving Heaven is a Jutsu that is limited to the members of the Main Family, however, Kuroto had mastered this Jutsu back in his teenage, so teaching Neji was not a problem for him. In fact, even if Kuroto hadn’t taught him, Neji could have learned this Jutsu himself, Kuroto’s teaching only speeded up the time it would have taken Neji to master it.
With Revolving Heaven in his arsenal of Jutsu, Neji believes that he has perfect defense and there is no problem in defending against Sensei’s attack.
As for whether this is true or not is something only time can tell.
…
On the Battlefield
Sasuke placed Kunai on Iruka’s neck and said, “Iruka-Sensei, the rule says that if any team defeats the Chunin team, we can get a Scroll from you… well, now’s the best time to hand it over to us, don’t you think?”
“Well, that is indeed the rule.” Said Iruka, then added, “However, that’s only the case if any team does defeat us.” As he finished his words, his body suddenly exploded into a cloud of white smoke.
Poof!
“What… Shadow Clone?” muttered Sasuke in surprise.
“You aren’t the only one who has mastered the Shadow Clone Jutsu.” Iruka’s voice came as he appeared from the back of a tree, and he added, “Sasuke-kun, you shouldn’t underestimate your teachers, we are your teachers for a reason.”
Sasuke’s face sank, and he looked at the other two from the corner of his eye and noticed that they seemed to be doing fine as well. At this moment, Sasuke realizes that there is no problem in facing any of the three individually, however, when fighting against all three of them at the same time, defeating them becomes difficult as his attacks are getting scattered.
This is still under the circumstances that the three Sensei aren’t going all out against him, if the three of them go all out as if facing a real enemy, then the chances of winning will completely dim.
‘Am I still not strong enough?’ thought Sasuke as he glanced at Yakumo and Naruto, they aren’t strong enough to help me in this fight, sigh, if it was Neji this fight would have been over long ago! Alas, that’s not an option, it seems retreat is the only option that I have at this time.’
Just as Sasuke started thinking about how to escape without losing any scroll, suddenly, the sound of people approaching them reached his ears, and as soon as he looked in that direction from the corner of his eyes, Sasuke’s pupils shrank and his entire body shook, “Aka… Akatsuki Organization?”
At the same time as Sasuke, the three Chunin Sensei also noticed the approaching people and exclaimed in shock and fear, “Akatsuki, what the hell are they doing here?”
Not far away, Naruto and Yakumo’s faces also changed in shock, they were so scared that both of them collapsed on their butts.
As soon as the three students and three Chunin Sensei identified that the people approaching were the members of the Akatsuki Organization, they were fearful and their bodies shook in terror. The fear and terror of the Akatsuki Organization has been rooted in the Shinobi World, child as young as two or three and people as old as a hundred are aware of the Akatsuki Organization and knows that these are extremely dangerous and cruel people who want to destroy the entire Shinobi World.
Seeing the five people dressed in the iconic black turtle-neck cloak with red cloud prints approach them, Mizuki gritted his teeth in fear, “Damn, what the heck are these people here for?”
Ebisu said in a serious tone, “No matter what these terrorists are here for, we have to protect the children, nothing should happen to them!”
Iruka rushed to Sasuke’s side and hurriedly ordered, “Sasuke-kun, today’s assessment is suspended, take Naruto-kun, and Yakumo-kun with you and run towards the village while we hold them back!”
“Hold us back? Just three of you, don’t try to overestimate yourself!” said Asuma who was acting as the leader of this small group.
Hearing Asuma’s words, Iruka gripped the Kunai and shouted, “Uchiha Sasuke, what are you still doing here? Take your teammates and run, this is an order from a Chunin!”
Hearing this shout, Sasuke’s mind shook, and only now did he realize that this was not some Genjutsu, but a reality, the members of Akatsuki had really appeared here!
As this realization dawned on him, and he wanted to escape from here as per Iruka’s order, Sasuke’s body didn’t listen to him, his legs became numb, his entire body started to shiver in fear, and his mind had only one thought, ‘If I don’t escape, I will die!’ and the flashback of all his dark memories started to appear in his mind.
The encounter with Amatsukami’s leader and Homusubi in his childhood.
The time when that woman named Oto Yumie almost kidnapped him.
His defeat against Kimimaro.
His days at the base of the Akatsuki Organization.
‘Is this what a real battlefield is like? Facing a real enemy, I am incapable of lifting even a finger?’ Sasuke was shocked at angry at himself. He always thought that he was a ninja cut above the rest, best among the best, however, today it became clear that he is nothing special, he is afraid!
While the entire crowd was frozen, Kurenai quickly weaved hand signs and activated her Genjutsu.
Thump!
The Genjutsu quickly acted on the entire crowd and made them see what Kurenai wanted them to see.
Although Kurenai isn’t as good as Shisui and Itachi, however, she is also considered one of the best Genjutsu users in Konoha, so naturally, three Chunin and three Academy students were not able to put much resistance and started to see what she wanted them to see.
As the Genjutsu part was set up, Asuma, Anko, and the others started to act, the first target was Ebisu and he was stabbed to death by Asuma.
As a sword pierced Ebisu’s heart, he coughed up blood and collapsed on the ground with a muffled sound.
Plop!
Witnessing the ‘death’ of Ebisu again made Iruka realize that they couldn’t take these members of the Akatsuki Organization lightly and shouted at Sasuke!
“Sasuke-kun run!”
After this, he rushed towards Sasuke. He had to make sure that at least the children could remain safe.
But the problem is, Iruka is only a Chunin, in no way he can take on someone like Asuma who is one of the strongest Elite Jonin of Konoha. Iruka did his best, he tried to put up a fight but was defeated in just three-four moves. But unlike Ebisu, Iruka wasn’t ‘killed’ he was only severely wounded.
Mizuki swallowed in fear as he saw that both Ebisu and Iruka had been dealt with, ‘My life is more precious than those children, I can’t let myself die here. I don’t care what those Akatsuki members are here for, this entire matter has nothing to do with me!’ with such a thought in his mind, Iruka took a deep breath, then turned around and fled without looking back.
Saaa Saaa Saaa!
However, he had only taken ten steps, suddenly countless snakes swarmed him.
As Mizuki was dealt with, the snakes retreated back into the cuff of Anko’s sleeves.
“Dead… all… all of them dead!” Sasuke, Naruto, and Yakumo muttered with stunned expressions.