[You countered Uchiha Seishiro with a righteous argument.][You have acquired a skill from the target: Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique (C-Rank) (Proficient).][Your Heartsteel stacks have increased.][You can now view your Heartsteel stacks and open your skill panel.]
Ren froze for a moment, a look of utter exasperation crossing his face. I really didn't want to trigger that talent. I was just looking for an excuse to get killed! Does "talking back" really count as a trade?
With a thought, a translucent blue grid flickered before his eyes.
Employee: Uchiha Ren
Title: Hero Descending from the Heavens
Talents: Heartsteel (SSS), Sharingan (Unawakened, B), Combat Intuition (Undeveloped, S)
Skills: Uchiha-Style Manipulating Windmill (Sublime, S), Great Fireball Technique (Beginner, C), Phoenix Sage Fire Technique (Proficient, C), Taijutsu (Beginner)
Heartsteel Stacks: (Expand to View)
Insurance Status: Premium Paid.
Ren glanced at it briefly. Everything was as expected, except for the new "Combat Intuition" talent which left him puzzled. Whatever. A C-Rank Fire Style won't save me. Fire Style is famous for the 'Smoke-but-No-Damage' rule anyway.
However, reality didn't care about Ren's plans. Seishiro, a member of the Dove faction, was already boiling with resentment. Being lectured by a 'trash' Genin who hadn't even awakened his eyes was the final straw. His Sharingan ignited with a crimson glow.
"Ren... are you lecturing me?" Seishiro hissed, his brow twitching. "A Genin without eyes thinks he can talk down to me? It seems you need a lesson!"
Ren immediately looked down at Seishiro's chest to avoid the genjutsu.
Whoosh!
Seishiro moved with a blur, grabbing Ren by the hair while trying to pin his shoulder down. His knee lunged upward, aiming a brutal strike at Ren's head.
Ren's pupils shrank. He hadn't expected Seishiro to actually start a fight with the Great Elder standing right there!
Subinctively, Ren's body took over. He leaned into the momentum of Seishiro's pull, twisting his waist and back to perform a mid-air backflip, narrowly dodging the knee strike. By the time his feet left the ground, his hand was already at his pouch.
Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!
Three shuriken spiraled out, locked onto Seishiro's throat, wrist, and temple.
"What?!" Seishiro's Sharingan widened. He caught the trajectory and barely dodged, releasing Ren's hair. Anger surged through him. This kid actually dared to fight back?!
Seishiro began weaving signs for a counterattack—but Ren was faster. He had started his seals while still in mid-air!
Rat – Tiger – Dog – Ox – Rabbit – Tiger! Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!
Six volleys of fire leaped toward Seishiro before he could finish his own jutsu. But they weren't alone. Hidden within the flames were six shuriken and three kunai, creating a wall of projectiles.
"Damn it!" Seishiro realized he couldn't track fifteen separate moving objects even with two-tomoe eyes. He prepared to use the Body Flicker (Shunshin) to escape.
But Ren wasn't done. He was reaching into a sealing scroll on his hip—a scroll marked with the kanji for "Shinobi" that looked like it held over a hundred more weapons.
How many things can this kid shoot?!
"Enough!"
A cold, detached voice cut through the clearing. Setsuna suddenly appeared between them, his katana unsheathed. With a single fluid arc, he swatted every fireball and projectile out of the air.
"Uchiha Seishiro," Setsuna said, his gaze chillingly sharp. "Do your job."
Seishiro shivered and retreated into the darkness to set traps, his face a mask of wounded pride. He told himself he was just caught off guard. If he fought seriously, the kid wouldn't stand a chance... right?
Conflict over, Ren was busy picking up his broken gear, his heart bleeding. "That katana strike ruined two high-quality kunai... that's money down the drain!"
Setsuna watched Ren for a moment before looking at the three shuriken Ren had thrown initially. They were attached to thin, nearly invisible wires.
If Setsuna hadn't intervened, Seishiro would have Body-Flickered right into those wires. One yank from Ren, and Seishiro might have lost his head.
Setsuna frowned, a strange feeling washin over him. It's almost like... I was the one fighting through him. His tool mastery... it's something else.
"You. Your name is Uchiha Ren, right?" Setsuna asked.
"Uh, yeah. That's me," Ren replied, blinking.
Setsuna sat back down by the fire and beckoned him. "Come here."