"It's a Genjutsu from the Uchiha clan's Sharingan, don't look him in the eyes!"
Cries of alarm rang out as the remaining seven Cloud ninja hurriedly retreated, heads lowered, not daring to meet Yun's gaze.
"plat!
Yun withdrew his longsword. A spray of blood shot from the chest of the Cloud captain.
The dying captain stared angrily at Yun, struggling to speak, "He... is not... a normal... Sharingan... user…"
Thud!
With that final word, he collapsed to the ground, lifeless after revealing the only intel he managed to deliver.
Yun shook his head slightly. Aside from Susanoo, Mangekyō Sharingan abilities rarely overlap.
"Hey, Shimura guy, can you still move?"
At his question, Ken Shimura, collapsed beside his teammate's corpse, struggled to sit up. "Thanks for the rescue... I... I can still move. Need any help?"
Looking at the clearly chakra-depleted ninja, trembling as he stood, Yun smirked. "Find somewhere to hide. These guys are no threat to me, but if one of them decides to take you down with them, that's just your bad luck."
Ken froze for a moment. True, this Uchiha had just one-shotted their captain, but only due to catching him off guard, and the fact that the captain was already wounded by Ken's own Wind Release, right?
Has the Uchiha remained this arrogant all these years?
Without bothering with the marginalized Shimura, Yun looked toward the remaining enemies and disappeared in an instant.
Whoosh!
"Bang!"
With a single-handed strike, Yun's blade crushed a Cloud ninja to the ground.
Just as the others prepared to assist, Yun's left hand rapidly formed a Rasengan.
"Boom!!!"
"That's the second."
The enemy was sent flying, incapacitated. Before the others could react, Yun vanished again.
"This Uchiha bastard is too fast! And that jutsu without hand seals, there's no time to react!"
"That's the Fourth Hokage's Rasengan! Combined with the speed of his Body Flicker, it's unbeatable!"
"What now? I think I accidentally made eye contact while trying to help... That Sharingan was like nothing I've seen."
The ninja who spoke froze mid-sentence.
He suddenly felt paralyzed.
Then, his surroundings, his teammates, slowly started to change.
They were all turning into Yun.
"You said… You looked into my eyes?"
Yun's voice echoed omnipresently.
Now, everything the ninja saw, teammates, trees, flowers, all looked like Yun.
"Never look into a Uchiha's Sharingan. It's a battlefield law. And you… broke it."
On his shoulder, a miniature head of Yun appeared, crimson Mangekyō eyes glowing.
"AAAAHH!!!"
Screaming, the ninja clawed at his own throat as a fountain of blood burst from his neck.
He collapsed, dead.
"That's the third."
In the real world, watching another comrade felled instantly by Genjutsu, the five remaining Cloud ninja were frozen in terror.
They were just a recon squad. Without a captain, knowing only to avoid eye contact wasn't enough to survive Sharingan illusions.
"What do we do? We stand no chance like this!"
"That eye… I've seen it recorded in the village archives. It's the same as the Uchiha ancestor; it summons chakra giants. No mistake."
"The Uchiha founder? The one who rivaled the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju? How do we fight that?"
"Fight? I'm more worried about escaping alive!"
"Let's scatter! Even if one of us makes it out, "
"No! Don't scatter. The camp's not far. You all run, I'll hold him off!"
The others turned to look at the elder who spoke.
"What're you staring at? I've been a Chunin for over ten years, and I'm not going any higher. I've been lucky to cheat death this long."
The old Cloud ninja's expression hardened. "I'm just an old dog who's escaped death a few times. But you, you're young. You're the future of the Cloud Village."
"Actually… I really hate war. Take care of Rom for me. Tell him… he doesn't need to avenge me."
"GO!!"
With one last shout, the old man began weaving hand signs, lightning wrapping around his blade.
No hesitation. The four remaining Cloud ninja choked back tears, nodded, and vanished into the forest.
Alone, the old man's body surged with lightning, burning his skin. He stared straight at Yun.
"I've channeled lightning chakra through my whole body. It disrupts my chakra flow, so your illusions won't work."
"It's not Lightning Chakra Mode?" Yun asked. "You came up with this yourself?"
"Yeah. It burns me, but it speeds me up. And if it buys them time to escape, my life is worth it."
"Is that so?" Yun sighed.
"Then let's end this... Kotodama!"
"Whoosh!"
Yun disappeared.
"SPLAT!"
The elder, confident in his countermeasures, was stunned to see Yun's blade pierce through his heart.
He had seen the attack path. Why couldn't he block it?
It was as if his chest had moved toward the blade, like Cloud knew his every move in advance.
Not just predictive vision... it was preordained fate.
'Such a terrifying ability… How?!'
"That's the fourth."
Yun pulled his blade free with another sigh.
"So this is war. Doesn't matter if you admire your opponent. The goal is to kill every last enemy."
"Cloud's leader started this war for their own ambition. But you, mid-tier and opposed to war, were the one who gave your life. What a cruel irony."
With those words, Yun vanished, beginning the chase.