Sasuke's expression remained unchanged, maintaining his façade of Uchiha arrogance. It was evident that he had practiced his Transformation Jutsu to a level of near-impenetrable mastery. It proved that even a basic jutsu, if perfected to the extreme and used correctly, could have miraculous effects.
The Sand ninja before him possessed no ocular techniques or Kekkei Genkai, so naturally, they couldn't see through his disguise. Not just them; even two of the Konoha chūnin nearby, who had some knowledge of the Uchiha, harbored no doubts. It was the cat-masked chūnin who, with his Byakugan, saw the truth.
"Hahaha! It's a jōnin from our village's Uchiha clan!" the eagle-masked ninja celebrated.
"We're saved. That was too close, we were almost captured by those Sand bastards," the monkey-masked one added, visibly relaxing as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
The Hyūga chūnin in the cat mask rolled his eyes again and again, filled with conflicting feelings. 'How could he be an Uchiha? My Byakugan sees the truth... his chakra and his attire under the transformation are clearly those of an ordinary chūnin from a patrol squad. But outing him now would mean death for everyone. I'm trapped.' He gritted his teeth, brandished his kunai, and cut into the wound on his waist, attempting to physically extract the poison.
"Hmph." The monkey-masked chūnin observed the haughty expression of the "Uchiha jōnin," but the joy in his eyes gradually faded, replaced by a chill. He whispered with sarcasm, "Evil Uchiha."
If it weren't for the enhanced hearing of his radar technique, Sasuke would never have heard that barely audible voice.
'Well, well. So the three of you are from Konoha's ninja clans,' Sasuke thought, looking at them. From their attire and the barely distinguishable clan emblems, he had already confirmed their origins.
The one in the monkey mask had to be from the Sarutobi clan. His "evil Uchiha" comment betrayed the well-known political friction and suggested a considerable status within his clan. The one in the eagle mask was likely from the Gekkō clan, experts in swordsmanship; his cough and pale appearance were telling clues. And the one in the cat mask, now treating his wound, was undoubtedly a Hyūga; no one could fake that Byakugan, and from the headband on his forehead, he had to belong to the branch family.
With three clan chūnin on his side, their combat power was guaranteed. As long as they worked together, they could hold out.
But it was at that moment that his idiot new comrade started causing trouble.
"Hahaha!" The Sarutobi, named Kagejirō, swapped his previous dejection for an overbearing arrogance. "You damned Sand ninja, you've come all this way just to die!"
His haughtiness almost matched the one Sasuke was feigning.
"You little Sand rats, the information is right here. Don't you want it back? If you have the guts, come and get it." Kagejirō's words were filled with a sarcasm that implied they held all the cards.
The Hyūga chūnin felt a pang of panic. "Kagejirō, the mission is what's important. We just need to deliver the information, don't take unnecessary risks," he repeated, hoping his comrade would get the hint and stop provoking the enemy before they discovered the deception.
Sasuke was also furious. He felt an irrepressible urge to rip off the idiot's socks and stuff them in his mouth to get him to stop spouting nonsense. 'Can't you just shut up? Don't you see how nervous the Hyūga kid is? In the current situation, we have no advantage! Both sides are evenly matched!'
His three genin could, at best, hold off the bald chūnin. That meant the three chūnin on his side, including the reckless Kagejirō, would have to face a jōnin with a disabled hand, a special jōnin skilled in Wind Style, and a chūnin with a half-broken puppet. Advantage? This was digging their own grave! If it weren't for the fact that the Sand-nin were poisoned, he would have ordered a retreat long ago.
Kagejirō's sarcasm was very effective. The Sand ninjas' anger exploded.
"Ahhh! Even if we die, don't think you'll have it easy!"
The Sand jōnin's chakra flared, his eyes burning with rage. Crash! He ripped off his tattered shirt, revealing three parallel scars running across his chest from his shoulder to his abdomen—marks of honor from a past battle with Shimura Danzō. His Will of Wind erupted again, vowing to fight to the death.
Seeing this scene, Sasuke had an inexplicable sense of déjà vu. 'A guy with a spiky hairdo who rips his shirt off to fight... according to the laws of anime, he's just signed his own death warrant.'
Anticipating the jōnin's suicidal charge, Sasuke avoided a direct confrontation. He turned and leaped backward, landing elegantly by the river. Tekudō, in an act of unspoken understanding, jumped to his side.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!" Sasuke shouted, as his hands moved at a dizzying speed, a blur of complex movements, weaving the forty-four hand seals of one of the most feared Water Style ninjutsu.
"This is bad! Advanced Water Style!" the Suna jōnin yelled, completely buying it. "Iwago, defend!"
"Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall!"
The bald chūnin, Iwago, skillfully launched the defensive ninjutsu for the third time. With a chūnin's chakra, after three B-rank jutsus, his reserves were now completely depleted, even if he had swallowed a precious Hyōrōgan pill.
But the expected Water Dragon Bullet never appeared.
The battlefield fell silent, the only sound being the rapid hand seals of the Konoha ninja.
Sand Ninja: ??? What's going on? Where's the jutsu?
"Careful, it's not the Water Dragon Bullet! He's still forming seals!" the jōnin warned his comrades.
Sasuke continued to move his hands at high speed, almost like a mirage, as if he were about to unleash an even more terrible secret of the Water Style.
"Pfft... wuwuwu..." Tekudō, at his side, gently slapped his own face, trying to hold back his laughter. In his heart, he was marveling at his captain's genius. The tactical deception had not only bought them at least half a minute but had also increased the poison's effect time on the Sand ninja and completely exhausted the bald chūnin's chakra. It was a win-win-win situation.