Sakumo Hatake suddenly felt something brush against his back.
The moment he turned around, his expression instantly changed dramatically.
At some point, Uchiha Yu had somehow obtained a small booklet from behind him and was currently staring at the cover with great interest.
“The Untold Story of the Wood and the Fox?”
Yu slowly read the title aloud, and his mouth immediately formed an exaggerated “O” shape.
“Ah!”
Sakumo let out a strange cry before instantly snatching the booklet back at astonishing speed.
Several flashes of white light appeared, and the unfortunate booklet was immediately shredded into countless pieces of confetti.
The three accompanying Jonin nearby blinked blankly, completely unable to understand what had just happened.
Meanwhile, Yu looked at Sakumo with sudden realization.
No wonder Kakashi would become so obsessed with reading those strange little books in the future.
So this hobby was hereditary.
Thinking of this, Yu immediately leaned over mischievously.
“Senior, do you happen to have any special collector’s editions hidden somewhere?”
Sakumo’s face immediately turned bright red, but he quickly forced himself to maintain a serious expression.
“As someone with life experience and as your senior, I am seriously warning you right now.”
Yu chuckled shamelessly.
“If Senior refuses to lend me the collector’s edition later, then I’ll spread rumors around camp that a certain White Fang actually has extremely exaggerated tastes.”
Sakumo’s composed expression instantly collapsed completely.
“You brat!”
He hurriedly reached out to cover Yu’s mouth.
“Aren’t you afraid of getting beaten to death for saying nonsense like that?”
Yu looked entirely fearless.
In fact, he even seemed excited.
“How about this?
Later, we’ll have a competition to see who kills more enemies.”
“If I win, Senior lends me the collector’s edition for a few days.”
“And if I lose, then Senior lends me the regular edition for a few days.”
Sakumo subconsciously prepared to nod before suddenly realizing something was wrong.
His expression immediately darkened.
“Wait a minute.
In the end, no matter what happens, I’m still the one losing out.
You’re quite cunning, brat.”
Yu laughed happily.
“If Senior thinks that’s unfair, then how about this instead?
In the future, I’ll personally teach your son Uchiha swordsmanship.”
Sakumo immediately raised his head proudly.
“Why would my son need you teaching him?
I’ll naturally teach him the Hatake Clan’s sword techniques myself.”
Then he suddenly paused slightly before glaring suspiciously at Yu.
“And besides, my wife isn’t even pregnant yet.
How do you know I’ll definitely have a son?”
Yu’s expression instantly became extremely strange as he slowly sized Sakumo up from head to toe.
“Senior…
don’t tell me you’re incapable?”
“You’ve already been married for over a year and still haven’t had a child.”
The moment those words entered his ears, Sakumo exploded like a cat whose tail had just been stepped on.
“You’re the incapable one!”
“Fine, fine, fine.”
Yu nodded repeatedly with an understanding expression.
“I’ll just assume Senior is capable then.”
“Nani?!”
Sakumo immediately became even more anxious.
“What do you mean you’ll ‘assume’ I’m capable?!”
He pointed furiously at Yu’s nose.
“What does a brat your age even understand about these things?!”
The two continued arguing noisily for quite a while, causing the surrounding Jonin to become increasingly speechless.
Only after night fully descended did the atmosphere finally calm down slightly.
As for the three accompanying Jonin, Yu found them too troublesome and directly sent them away to guard the perimeter instead.
At this moment, Yu and Sakumo were hanging upside down beneath the bridge like two bats, quietly concealing their presence.
Yu casually twirled the blade in his hand before glancing toward Sakumo beside him.
“Senior, when the fighting starts later, do you want me to cover you?”
Sakumo glanced sideways at him.
“No need.
Just make sure you don’t get yourself killed.
Otherwise, the Uchiha Clan will probably come after me demanding compensation.”
Yu was just about to continue joking when his expression suddenly became serious.
“They’re here.”
Sakumo was immediately startled.
“Damn, your perception is really that ridiculous?”
Roughly ten minutes later, a large group of shinobi finally appeared on the bridge.
There were nearly a hundred people in total.
At the front of the group stood a man and a woman, clearly the leaders.
The woman narrowed her eyes slightly while observing the surroundings.
“It’s too quiet here.
Could there be an ambush?”
The man beside her coldly snorted dismissively.
“Tsunade, Orochimaru, and the others are all occupied in the Land of Rain.
Konoha shouldn’t have spare manpower available.”
Even as he spoke, killing intent appeared within his eyes.
“And even if that Phantom Blade brat really appears, we’ll simply kill him together.”
The Sand shinobi force slowly stepped onto the bridge completely unaware that directly beneath them, two figures already waited silently with killing intent flashing within their eyes.
The moment the enemy group reached the center of the bridge, Yu and Sakumo quietly exchanged glances.
The next second, dazzling sword flashes suddenly erupted beneath the bridge.
Boom!
Two huge holes instantly exploded through the wooden planks as one large and one small figure burst upward like lightning.
Before the Sand shinobi could even shout warnings, the two figures had already flashed directly into the center of their formation.
Swish!
Swish!
Swish!
Several streaks of white light flickered across the battlefield.
Moments later, multiple heads flew high into the air.
Sakumo Hatake directly charged into the enemy formation and immediately unleashed a terrifying massacre.
The Hatake Clan had never been famous for possessing enormous chakra reserves.
Instead, they inherited the combat style of ancient samurai, specializing in overwhelming swordsmanship.
In only moments, corpses already surrounded Sakumo from every direction.
Meanwhile, lightning rapidly flickered around Yu’s body as his Three Tomoe Sharingan spun wildly.
His movement speed was not inferior to Sakumo’s in the slightest.
Within only a few breaths, numerous Sand shinobi had already collapsed lifelessly beneath his blade.
“Damn it!”
The enemy leaders instantly recognized him.
“Sharingan…
and that swordsmanship…
you’re Uchiha Yu!”
“Kill him immediately!”
The surrounding Sand shinobi finally reacted and hurriedly summoned puppets from behind their backs.
After all, this terrain was unsuitable for large-scale sand manipulation, so most of them could only rely upon puppetry techniques.
Yu merely sneered coldly.
“Did you idiots really think This Young Master only knows swordsmanship?”
His Sharingan rapidly rotated as he quickly formed hand seals.
Then he inhaled deeply.
“Fire Style: Great Fire Dragon Technique!”
Roar!
A massive dragon composed entirely of blazing flames roared forward violently toward the puppet formation.
In an instant, countless puppets were engulfed and burned apart by the overwhelming flames.
Swish!
Yu immediately seized the opportunity and flashed directly into the enemy ranks.
His Sharingan swept across the battlefield.
The moment several shinobi met his eyes, their movements instantly froze from Genjutsu interference.
A white flash passed through the battlefield.
Their throats were immediately sliced open.
Seeing Yu displaying such terrifying combat ability, Sakumo finally relaxed completely and focused entirely upon slaughtering the surrounding enemies.
At that moment, Yu suddenly shouted toward him.
“Senior, go deal with those two leaders.
Leave the rest to me.”
“Understood.”
Sakumo did not waste time speaking further and instantly charged toward Sasori’s parents.
Meanwhile, the surrounding Sand shinobi finally realized the terrifying danger Yu represented.
“Kill him first!”
The surviving enemies immediately concentrated all their attacks toward Yu simultaneously.
Yu calmly bit his finger before slamming his hand onto the ground.
“Summoning Technique!”
Poof!
A massive cloud of smoke instantly erupted across the battlefield.
Soon afterward, an enormous black shadow slowly rose from within the smoke.
Yu calmly stood atop Manda’s gigantic head while looking down coldly at the Sand shinobi below.
“Eat as much as you want.”
Manda’s huge vertical pupils instantly brightened.
“Understood, Master.”
Then the giant snake looked toward the terrified Sand shinobi beneath him and laughed cruelly.
“Little insects, all of you should obediently enter this great one’s stomach!”
Manda violently lunged forward and swallowed seven or eight shinobi in a single bite.
“Hahahahaha!”
The giant snake laughed wildly while rampaging directly through the battlefield.
Relying entirely upon his enormous body, Manda completely ignored the enemy attacks and casually devoured shinobi one after another.
The enemy ninjutsu and weapons striking his scales barely produced any effect at all.
Instead, they only further provoked Manda’s ferocity.
As time passed, the remaining Sand shinobi finally began mentally collapsing.
Someone suddenly shouted for retreat.
The surviving enemies immediately abandoned their puppets entirely and desperately fled in every direction.
“Hahahahaha!”
Manda laughed arrogantly while watching the escaping enemies.
“This great one hasn’t had enough fun yet!
Little insects, come back and continue entertaining me!”
Meanwhile, Yu casually strangled the final enemy in his hand before lazily glancing toward Manda.
He could not even be bothered paying attention to the snake anymore.
Once the summoning duration ended, Manda would naturally return on his own.
At this moment, Sakumo finally walked back carrying two severed heads while sighing toward Manda’s retreating figure.
“Tsk tsk.
Wasn’t this snake extremely arrogant before?
Why is it suddenly acting so obedient now?”
Yu simply smiled without answering.
Instead, he looked directly at Sakumo.
“Senior, it seems you’ve lost this competition.”
Sakumo immediately laughed before raising the two heads in his hands.
“The identities of these two aren’t ordinary.
This victory should count as mine.”
However, Yu’s smile only widened further.
“Did Senior already forget our original agreement?”
Sakumo blinked slightly.
Yu grinned mischievously.
“We agreed to compare who killed more people.”
Sakumo instantly froze.
He slowly looked down at the two heads in his hands.
Then he looked toward the mountain of corpses scattered around the bridge.
Only now did he finally remember.
It really had been a contest based entirely on kill count.