The "ultimate move" Xingye had prepared was the culmination of a year's worth of sweat and the System's mysterious logic: Secret Skill: Assault.
With Sakumo's White Fang inches from shattering his guard, Xingye gritted his teeth and willed the skill to life. He felt his chakra roar. It wasn't the steady, controlled flow he had practiced; it was a violent surge that raced through his limbs, turning his skin tingly and cold.
Suddenly, the world shifted. It wasn't just that he had disappeared; his very perception had achieved a qualitative leap. Every pore on his body seemed to open, sensing the minute fluctuations of temperature and humidity in the air. The courtyard, once a blur of motion, became a map of thermal currents and shifting pressures.
Across from him, Sakumo froze.
Jiraiya's eyes bugged out of his head. "Hey! No way! Where'd he go? Where did a whole Xingye just disappear to?!"
Sakumo spun in a tight circle, his blade held in a low, defensive arc. His mind raced through possibilities. Substitution? No, there was no log, no smoke. Genjutsu? He bit his tongue, the sharp tang of copper filling his mouth as he tried to disrupt his own chakra flow. But the world didn't shatter. Jiraiya's frantic shouting felt real.
The legendary "White Fang" was sweating. Sakumo was a prodigy, but he was still a six-year-old facing an anomaly. The unknown bred a primal, cold irritabilty in his chest.
Xingye, meanwhile, was momentarily lost in the novelty. From his perspective, his body was draped in a translucent, shimmering veil of shadow. He lifted his hand and realized he could see the pebbles on the ground through his palm. It was intoxicating. He watched Sakumo's desperate vigilance with a smirk, tempted to linger in the silence.
Then, a warning light flickered in his mind. His chakra reserves were plummeting—half gone in under two minutes.
Party's over, Xingye thought.
He moved. He didn't run; he glided, his feet making no sound on the dirt as he circled behind Sakumo's blind spot. He reached the optimal distance and let the shroud drop.
He didn't want to kill the boy, and an invisible strike at high speed was too hard to pull back. He chose to appear first—a split-second warning for a fellow shinobi.
"Look out!" Jiraiya screamed as Xingye materialized like a ghost from the ether.
Sakumo's instincts were terrifying. He sensed the displacement of air and began to pivot, but he was already too late. Xingye's blade was no longer a swing; it was a bolt of lightning. The Assault bonus kicked in, lending his thrust a velocity that defied his young age.
SHING.
The cold steel of the ninjato came to rest against the skin of Sakumo's throat.
The courtyard went silent. Xingye didn't push. He held the position for a heartbeat to ensure the point was made, then retracted his blade with a smooth, professional flick.
Sakumo stood paralyzed. After a long, agonizing silence, he sheathed the White Fang and bowed deeply, his voice barely a whisper.
"I lost."
"Hahaha! You did it!" Jiraiya erupted, jumping for joy. "Xingye, you actually took down the arrogant one!"
Sakumo's head remained bowed, his fists trembling at his sides. The sting of defeat was exacerbated by Jiraiya's heckling. Sensing the boy was on the verge of a breakdown, Xingye stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You're already terrifyingly strong, Sakumo," Xingye said honestly. "If I hadn't used my Bloodline Limit, you would have had my head three moves ago."
The word 'Bloodline Limit' acted like a lightning rod for their attention. Sakumo looked up, his brow furrowing. "So... that wasn't a Genjutsu?"
"What kind of ability is it?" Jiraiya asked, his eyes practically glowing with envy.
"It's called Transparency Release," Xingye explained, knowing that secrecy was useless if he wanted to build a team. "It lets me turn invisible for a short duration. It's not as flashy as the Sharingan, but it has its uses."
Jiraiya's face transformed into a mask of pure, lecherous wonder. He slapped Xingye's back, a pig-like grin spreading across his face. "Flashy? Xingye, it's the greatest power in the world! If I could be invisible, I could... I could visit the hot springs and... hehehe!"
Xingye rolled his eyes. Some things never change.
Sakumo, however, seemed to find a small measure of peace in the explanation. Losing to a Bloodline Limit felt more "fair" than losing to raw skill, though he still looked dissatisfied. "A loss is a loss," he insisted. "Even without the invisibility, that final thrust... I wouldn't have been able to block it."
Xingye sighed. Stubborn brat. He was about to offer more comfort when a translucent notification flared in his peripheral vision.
Swordsmanship Experience: 5 / 100
Xingye's heart skipped a beat. A year of solitary practice had barely moved the needle, yet one high-intensity duel with a future legend had jumped his experience by five points.
He looked at the brooding Sakumo, and suddenly, the boy didn't just look like a friend or a rival. He looked like a gold mine.