[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-starting-off-with-horse-and-sword-in-konoha":3,"chapter-starting-off-with-horse-and-sword-in-konoha-starting-off-with-horse-and-sword-in-konoha-chapter-130":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Starting Off with Horse and Sword in Konoha",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2349181,4591,"Chapter 130: A Difficult Choice!","starting-off-with-horse-and-sword-in-konoha-chapter-130",130,"\u003Cp>The transformation technique that even the three-tomoe Sharingan couldn’t detect, Uchiha Shisui had only seen on Fujinaka Genma.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Precisely because of that, he felt this exam was far from simple.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, far from becoming lax because Fujinaka Genma had appeared, they grew even more serious.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among these examinees, Uchiha Shisui believed no one understood this man’s eccentricities better than he did.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon, the three resumed their journey.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time, as soon as they neared target location C, they were ambushed and triggered traps.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Powerful explosion tags and various hidden weapons and pitfalls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Uchiha Shisui and Kakashi remained unharmed, but Akimichi Jota, less agile, was first blown up, then stabbed in the buttocks by a shuriken.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, he was in his Expansion Technique state at the time, with strong defense—only superficial wounds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But when they reached the destination—a cave—Akimichi Jota was utterly exhausted, nearly incapacitated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, as before, they used clones to probe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But barely inside the cave, a deafening explosion shook the ground, and Kakashi’s clone was obliterated outright.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Watch out!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Uchiha Shisui shouted, drawing his blade to meet the black shadow rushing toward him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kakashi stood before Akimichi Jota, blade in hand, eyes locked on the two figures clashing swiftly and fiercely within the forest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Half a minute later.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Uchiha Shisui grunted, spat blood, and was flung backward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But mid-air, he forced himself to form hand seals despite his injury and unleashed a massive Fireball Technique, creating a small sea of flames to block Fujinaka Genma’s high-speed pursuit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kakashi leapt forward, catching the falling Uchiha Shisui. “How are Itachi?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Not serious.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Uchiha Shisui said: “Go. The scroll isn’t here.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kakashi was stunned, landed, and had no time to ask further—when he saw the enemy circling behind them, striking at Akimichi Jota, who could barely resist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Uchiha Shisui gasped.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Too late!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Boom!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Akimichi Jota, face twisted in terror, had his throat slit by a shuriken, blood spraying.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But immediately after, he exploded with a loud bang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Smoke billowed, accompanied by the shriek of Chidori—a blue column of light pierced through the smoke, impaling Fujinaka Genma.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Boom!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fujinaka Genma’s clone vanished, leaving nothing behind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The smoke cleared. Uchiha Shisui saw a crater—Kakashi and Akimichi Jota were both inside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lightning Clone!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Clearly, Kakashi had deliberately exposed Akimichi Jota as bait, setting a trap instead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But there was no scroll.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Didn’t it blow up with him?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Akimichi Jota crawled out of the crater.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“In real combat, the enemy might destroy intelligence—but this is an exam; they wouldn’t do that.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Uchiha Shisui analyzed calmly: “The intelligence must be somewhere we overlooked!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kakashi and Uchiha Shisui exchanged glances and spoke in unison: “The bear!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before Akimichi Jota could react, Kakashi hoisted him onto his back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The three hurried back to location A, saw the black bear still lying on the ground, and both Uchiha Shisui and Kakashi exhaled in relief.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then Uchiha Shisui stepped forward, found a wound on the bear’s abdomen, and pulled out a scroll from inside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Akimichi Jota stared wide-eyed: “Hidden here…?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kakashi sighed in relief—thankfully, the Sharingan’s hypnosis was strong enough.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the bear had woken up and left earlier, they’d have had to expend far more effort.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They opened the scroll—but found no direct intelligence, only a complex sequence of runes and numbers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, both Uchiha Shisui and Kakashi were academic prodigies; they deciphered the hidden message easily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the three frowned—the intelligence revealed only one fragment, with no clear next step.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Clearly incomplete.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Kakashi, what do Itachi think?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Uchiha Shisui asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This is only a tiny portion. I suspect we need to find all ten scrolls to obtain the complete final intelligence!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kakashi analyzed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Akimichi Jota frowned: “Why not find a corresponding scroll? The scrolls should match—then we’d get the next clue.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I agree with Kakashi.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Uchiha Shisui analyzed: “Although this exam is overseen by the Fourth Hokage and the Third Hokage, its purpose must be tied to Genma’s reforms within the Root.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Genma opposes training methods that force ninja to kill each other—he’d never approve an exam structured this way.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Akimichi Jota nodded: “If so, we should split up and contact other teams?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kakashi immediately rejected: “Too dangerous. We’d be picked off one by one.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Kakashi’s right. The enemy is strong. Alone, none of us stands a chance.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Uchiha Shisui said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So after resting briefly, waiting for Akimichi Jota to regain mobility, the three moved out again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time, it tested their tracking skills.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But in this area, all three excelled—especially Uchiha Shisui, with his Sharingan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kakashi, too, had extraordinary abilities—his sense of smell surpassed normal limits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meanwhile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Other teams weren’t as fortunate as Kakashi’s.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two teams had already been eliminated—because they split up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each carried their scroll information to find other teams, only to be wiped out entirely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet among the teams were not only Uchiha, but also the more perceptive Hyuga clan—so teams began merging.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the end, only six teams fully converged; one team had only one survivor; three teams were wiped out completely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That meant three segments of intelligence were missing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>More critically, over half of the survivors were severely wounded—now a liability.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even the rest carried some injuries—none were untouched.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The missing information can probably be deduced from what we have.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But the real issue now: what do we do with the wounded?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Uchiha Shisui spoke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Abandon them!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Someone spoke coldly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The wounded liabilities were left behind; the rest continued the exam.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The speaker was an Uchiha, his expression icy: “The exam rules didn’t allow abandoning the test—but carrying them could mean death for everyone. We must send them away.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Split into two teams: one continues the mission, one escorts the wounded out!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a silence, a Hyuga member spoke: “I agree. This is the best solution.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But someone immediately countered: “The enemy is strong. Splitting our forces reduces our chance of success.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“And we risk being picked off one by one.”\u003C\u002Fp>",984,"2026-06-21T02:29:34.312Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","f49a06e9aa60b8552232444ae4968b996ec4e64ce7097daa82d64d04522a397d","starting-off-with-horse-and-sword-in-konoha-chapter-131","starting-off-with-horse-and-sword-in-konoha-chapter-129",157,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fstarting-off-with-horse-and-sword-in-konoha-cover.jpg"]