Being an otaku in the world of American comics

#316 - Negligence

After walking for about half a day, and having a simple lunch along the way, the group continued on their journey.

By this time, the village of Konoha had completely disappeared from their sight, and they were surrounded by a dense forest.

The dense foliage overhead made even the forest path seem somewhat eerie.

After a while, a seemingly inconspicuous puddle of water gradually appeared on the road ahead, in the middle of their path.

"It hasn't rained recently, has it...?"

Looking at the small patch of water awkwardly situated in the middle of the road, Liang Yue was speechless.

Unfortunately, his voice wasn't loud enough, and Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke, who were walking ahead, didn't seem to hear him.

Kakashi's ears twitched, but then he quietly transmitted a message to him using chakra.

"Don't act later..."

After saying that, Kakashi, who had been holding the back of his head, subtly formed a few hand seals and cast a genjutsu.

Then, a shadow clone replaced him, maintaining the same posture as before, and walked ahead of the group.

He looked like nothing was wrong, and was even telling them about his past experiences outside, which drew gasps of surprise from Naruto, while Sasuke and Sakura behind him listened intently.

Kakashi's main body then winked at Liang Yue.

Seeing this, Liang Yue also created a shadow clone to follow along, while he and Kakashi hid in the shade of the trees by the roadside.

"You're quite vigilant. How did you notice there was something wrong with that puddle of water? Just because it hasn't rained recently?"

Kakashi looked at him curiously and asked.

"For the past year or two, I've been maintaining the Byakugan's operation with a low-intensity chakra output, although I can't use its full capabilities.

But an ambush like digging a hole in the ground and filling it with water naturally can't escape my observation."

Liang Yue explained as if it were a matter of course.

"I see. A very practical skill. But keeping the Byakugan open all the time must consume a lot of chakra, right?"

Kakashi scratched his nose and continued to look at Liang Yue sideways.

Obviously, despite Kakashi's calm demeanor, he, who was nicknamed 'Flag Copy Ninja Kakashi', was still very concerned about this issue.

In the online world of his previous life, many people had tried to analyze why Kakashi, who was clearly a great genius in his early years, becoming a Jonin at the young age of twelve,

had later ended up in the situation of being 'Flag Copy Ninja Kakashi', and had lost his previous sharpness.

You should know that Kakashi was known as the Copy Ninja for a long time in the early and mid-stages.

Although this was already very strong, the title of Copy Ninja was far inferior to that of his father, the renowned shadow-level powerhouse, Konoha White Fang!

Therefore, this caused Kakashi's embarrassing situation of having a severe lack of chakra.

Whenever he fought someone, he would become breathless and even pass out due to excessive chakra consumption after only a few rounds...

"The Byakugan doesn't consume much chakra, much less than the Sharingan. Besides, I also have shadow clones training at home, so I can have several times more chakra whenever I need it."

Just as Liang Yue finished speaking, the two ninjas who were ambushing in the puddle of water could no longer hold back and suddenly jumped out.

Their weapons were a type of iron claw that could launch a serrated iron chain.

In a sudden surprise attack, they bound Kakashi's shadow clone in the blink of an eye, and then pulled hard, instantly dismembering the shadow clone into a pile of minced meat.

With the enhancement of the genjutsu, a large amount of blood instantly covered the entire ground...

This sudden battle stunned everyone.

Their mentor, who had just been talking and laughing with them and teaching them extracurricular knowledge, had suddenly turned into a pile of fragments. This change was truly caught them off guard!

However, while the little guys were unprepared, the enemy did not want to give up this excellent opportunity to press their advantage.

Immediately after, the two ninjas flashed again, instantly arriving behind Naruto.

Despite this blond kid usually being loud and creating his own ninjutsu, and aspiring to be Hokage or something, he was still unable to react in the real battlefield at this moment.

In addition, Kakashi's "death" was too sudden, and Naruto, who was completely unprepared for battle, froze in place, unable to move.

At this critical moment, Sasuke arrived in time, throwing two shurikens that accurately pinned the iron chains in the hands of the two enemy ninjas to the ground.

Then, he used taijutsu to fight back and forth with the two of them.

Seeing this, Kakashi put down the kunai in his hand and looked at Liang Yue with a strange expression.

"Shadow clones cannot train chakra, because although shadow clones have a physical body, they are essentially made of chakra. Without human cells, they cannot extract excess energy.

Of course, if it were senjutsu, it might be a different story, because in legends, senjutsu chakra is cultivated by directly absorbing natural energy from the air.

You...you haven't already found a way to absorb natural energy from the air and convert it into chakra, have you?"

"No, just think of it as me having a natural Sage Body," Liang Yue said calmly, denying the other party's guess.

However, in his heart, he immediately thought that he had made a mistake.

He knew he had said the wrong thing...

"..."

After that, Kakashi didn't continue to ask, and in a flash, he joined the battlefield in front.

As the two enemy ninjas abandoned Sasuke and headed straight for their employer, Tazuna, he directly intervened, breaking their necks...

After throwing the two ninjas aside and quickly searching them for spoils, Kakashi stood up.

Looking at the still somewhat dazed blond kid, he then sarcastically said,

"Sorry, Naruto, I didn't appear in time to help you, but I didn't expect that you wouldn't have any sense of retaliation when facing the enemy."

Hearing this, Naruto's face stiffened, and then he showed a face full of guilt and shame.

However, after saying that, Kakashi didn't give him a chance to explain or repent, and directly turned his attention to Tazuna on the other side.

After a series of sharp analyses, he directly left the other party speechless.

The general idea was that the two unidentified enemy ninjas were coming for you, old man.

You already have trouble on you, so our mission is not a C-rank escort mission at all, it's at least a B-rank mission, you better confess to me quickly.

Hearing this, Tazuna also lowered his head with a ashamed expression...

Then, Kakashi looked at Naruto again and said to him indifferently.

"The iron claws of the two ninjas just now were coated with poison. Although this poison is not fatal in the short term, it requires a professional medical ninja to perform bloodletting to remove the poison.

So, you should go back to the village, while you haven't gone too far yet."

Hearing this, the shame and anger on Naruto's face were even greater, and he immediately raised the kunai in his hand high.

"I don't want to go back! Bloodletting to remove the poison, right? There's no need for so much trouble! I'll do it myself!"

As he said that, the blond kid stabbed the shuriken hard into the back of his hand.

"Sizzle ~" A sound.

A stream of blood spurted out from his hand, staining the ground in front of him red.

Judging by the amount of blood, he must have cut off a blood vessel...