"Begin the assessment!"
Sarutobi Nagakawa's voice echoed from outside the barrier.
Though he didn't understand why this particular test was being treated so unusually, he had no power to defy the higher-ups' orders.
Whoosh!
Kakashi lunged forward.
He knew exactly what this mission meant. But for the sake of the Hatake Clan's honor, even if the order was unreasonable, he would carry it out. He couldn't allow history to repeat itself like it did with that person.
Staring at the incoming Kakashi, Shigure Uchiha cursed inwardly.
Damn it!
Faced with someone who clearly wouldn't listen to reason, he genuinely wanted to cry.
Wasn't this world of shinobi supposed to be ruled by talk-no-jutsu? Why didn't it work for him?
It seemed that ability only worked in combination with the protagonist's plot armor. For a background character like him, better not to think too much.
But Shigure had no time to dwell on it.
Even if the opponent was this Kakashi, still before he became a legend, Shigure wasn't planning to sit and wait for death.
He jumped back while quickly weaving hand signs.
No, he wasn't as flashy as that Uchiha prodigy with single-handed seals and eight signs per second, but he was at least capable of a few per second.
"Boar - Dog - Bird..."
He rapidly finished the hand signs.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
With a sharp cry, Shigure slammed his right palm onto the ground.
Whether he could survive this pre-Fifty-Fifty Legend version of Kakashi all depended on this one jutsu.
Just one summoning jutsu was enough to drain all his chakra.
Luckily, the technique itself didn't require much from him—most of the cost could be offloaded onto the summoned creature. Otherwise, with his current chakra reserves, it would be impossible.
Even for a full-fledged genin, a C-rank jutsu could empty their entire chakra supply.
That's why genin on the battlefield usually relied on shuriken and kunai instead of chakra-based ninjutsu.
Even if they could perform ninjutsu, just the energy cost was enough to wipe them out.
Poof!
A burst of white smoke erupted.
Kakashi, mid-sprint, instinctively halted and took a few steps back, murmuring to himself.
"Wasn't he supposed to be the class dead-last...?"
He had gathered intelligence on Shigure Uchiha prior to this mission and had been convinced the boy was utterly talentless. He hadn't expected him to be hiding something this deep.
The smoke quickly cleared!
Standing between the two of them was a man-sized crow.
Its body was covered in feathers that shimmered with black and gold. Five golden plumes stood upright from its head like a crown. And it had an extra claw compared to normal crows.
It looked strange.
But no one would mistake it for an ordinary crow.
"A ninja crow...?"
Perched in a tree at the edge of the training field, Uchiha Fugaku murmured to himself.
As the young patriarch of the Uchiha clan, he had come here just to observe, but this unexpected development caught him off guard.
Still, one thing was clear:
This ninja crow definitely wasn't raised by the Uchiha clan.
The clan focused on breeding ninja cats. Ninja crows were only trained in small numbers, and there was no way one of theirs would be this powerful.
After summoning his trump card, Shigure did something no one could have predicted.
He suddenly turned toward the edge of the field and shouted to Sarutobi Nagakawa outside the barrier:
"I surrender!"
That's right. He gave up.
The summoning wasn't for a fight to the death—it was just to buy time to surrender.
Unfortunately...
Shigure noticed that his teacher only looked on in confusion, making no move to intervene.
For someone as slippery as his homeroom instructor, it was unthinkable to let a student fall into danger unless...
The barrier!
Not only did it prevent collateral damage, it also blocked sound, leaving no chance to surrender verbally.
Damn it! Shigure was furious.
Danzo, you old bastard, you clearly want me dead!
But all the anger in the world wouldn't help. First, he had to get past the boy charging at him.
Kakashi had resumed his assault, killing intent radiating from his eyes.
Hmph. If you want me dead, then I'll make sure you die first.
Shigure's bottled-up fear and frustration finally exploded.
He had wanted to coast through life not because he was lazy, but because he knew just how dangerous the ninja world was. But now someone had crossed the line.
Faced with imminent death, his hesitation melted away.
"Taiichi, kill him!"
Shigure shouted as he leapt back.
When it came to combat strength, he was honestly weak. His status as the class dunce wasn't fake.
You think elite ninja couldn't see through a simple genin-level disguise?
Caw!
Upon hearing the order, Taiichi—the giant ninja crow—let its eyes gleam gold and red. It locked onto Kakashi.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several shuriken were hurled at Shigure.
Wham!
Taiichi flapped its massive wings, summoning a fierce gust that blew the weapons off course.
Size equals strength.
In the ninja world, this equation was absolute.
While a ninja beast's size didn't determine everything, being large certainly came with advantages.
Kakashi vanished into the wind.
Taiichi raised its right claw, now engulfed in flames, and stomped down hard.
Boom!
The ground beneath cracked and fire erupted like a geyser.
The watching students were all stunned.
"So strong!"
"Am I dreaming?"
"There's no way Shigure could have a summoning beast like this. If it were mine..."
Beyond shock, they felt envy. Jealousy. Resentment.
A powerful summoning beast could genuinely elevate a ninja to greatness.
Just look at the Legendary Sannin.
Even more stunned were Shigure's two closest friends.
Honda Taka and Yamayama Koji exchanged bewildered looks. Was this even the same friend who did nothing but skip class and sleep?
While everyone gawked—
Whoosh!
A shadow burst from beneath the shattered ground, aiming straight for Taiichi.
Kakashi.
Clang!
His short sword was blocked by Taiichi's sharp beak.
Peck, slash, wing-smash!
Taiichi held his own against Kakashi's swift and brutal attacks.
More than that—if Kakashi tried to flank, Taiichi went on the offensive, forcing him into defense.
Despite being a crow, with the aid of its wings, Taiichi's short-range dashes rivaled Kakashi's speed.
After a few rounds, Kakashi backed off, realizing taijutsu alone wasn't working. He formed hand signs and inhaled deeply.
"Fire Style: Flame Bullet!"
A fireball the size of a cartwheel shot toward Taiichi.
Note: The Uchiha clan's signature Great Fireball Jutsu was more powerful and cost less chakra than Flame Bullet, along with many other fire techniques. That's why they earned the title of "Greatest Fire-Style Clan."
Caw!
Taiichi spread its wings and inhaled deeply. The air around them shimmered with rising heat.
The surrounding shinobi gasped.
"That move!"
"Stop it now!"
"Too late!"
The upcoming blast wouldn't threaten veteran ninja, but for a student who hadn't even graduated, it could be fatal.
Thanks to the sealing barrier, no one could intervene in time.
BOOM!
A wave of fire erupted outward from Taiichi, swallowing everything several meters ahead.
Boom!
"Kakashi!!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi smashed through the barrier and rushed into the field. Only when he found Kakashi unconscious but alive did he breathe a sigh of relief.
On the other side...
Taiichi, having used all its chakra, forcibly ended the summoning and vanished.
Whoosh!
Shigure was immediately surrounded.
"Shigure Uchiha, we suspect you're a spy from another village. You're coming with us to the ANBU for investigation!"
The ANBU captain said coldly.
Shigure didn't argue. He had no grounds to.
In terms of status, he was just a student. Not even a genin.
As for strength, even going all out he was barely genin-level. Taiichi could threaten a chunin, but only if the opponent didn't know its tricks.
So neither his status nor power gave him any right to protest.
And reason? Sorry—the ninja world doesn't run on reason.
Still, Shigure had no regrets.
Kakashi had attacked with the full intent to kill him.
Only those prepared to die have the right to kill.
Kakashi understood that too.
If he survived Taiichi's attack, it was because of his skill—not because Shigure held back.
If someone's trying to kill you, holding back would be idiotic.
But even so, Shigure didn't hate Kakashi.
The one who truly wanted him dead wasn't Kakashi.
It was that old bastard Danzo.
He had tried to stay hidden all this time, yet still hadn't escaped Danzo's grasp.
As Shigure wondered whether it was time to take a desperate gamble...