Just as he was about to be struck, Shin lightly leapt into the air. With his feet tucked in midair, he narrowly dodged the giant blade. As the blade swept just under his feet, he suddenly kicked off its surface, using the momentum to spring even higher, barely evading a flurry of thrown weapons coming at him from multiple directions.
While rising, he quickly formed hand seals. A torrent of water surged from his mouth, instantly creating a lake about a meter deep in the middle of the training ground.
However, just as the lake formed, a water dragon quickly coalesced from the water he had summoned, surging toward him.
"Such petty tricks, and you flaunt them before me?" Facing the oncoming dragon, Shin didn't even try to dodge. He let the dragon engulf him. But the moment it swallowed him, his body turned into a puddle of water.
His real body emerged from beneath the water at the edge of the battlefield, right behind Jūzō.
"My foolish little brother... farewell."
Jūzō, who had missed his previous attack and was lying in wait, turned pale the moment he heard the voice behind him.
Before he could react, Shin's foot had already slammed into his back. With tremendous force, Jūzō was kicked flying through the air, tracing a perfect arc before crashing into the water with a splash.
Jūzō: Eliminated!
That kick from Shin wasn't just powerful, it also channeled chakra directly into Jūzō's body, instantly disrupting his chakra pathways and rendering him unable to control his chakra for a short time.
The Gentle Fist could inject chakra into an opponent to damage their chakra network and harm internal organs. But that technique wasn't exclusive to the Hyūga.
The Hyūga only developed it further thanks to the advantage of the Byakugan, by abandoning other strengths and going all in on this path.
While not common, there were still a fair number of ninjas who could perform similar techniques, especially combat medics who had precise chakra control and a deep understanding of human anatomy.
Back to Shin: just after he landed the hit, two jets of water suddenly shot up from beneath his feet, spiraling upward like twin serpents and coiling around his legs.
At that very moment, a massive figure flashed in front of him like lightning, swinging a giant blade down with overwhelming force.
He immediately drew his swords to block the strike.
Clang!
A deafening crash rang out.
Under the sheer force of the blow, he was flung sideways.
"Damn it!" a figure burst out from beneath the water, cursing. "Yukimura, what the hell are you doing!?"
It was he who had used the water jets to bind Shin's legs from below, preparing for a coordinated attack with Yukimura.
But Shin not only blocked the strike perfectly, he also used the massive force to break free from the water jets' grip.
"Shut it! This guy's no pushover, if we don't take him out now, we're done," Yukimura shot back, dragging his giant blade as he chased after Shin.
Up ahead, the surface of the water suddenly surged, forming a humanoid figure made of water.
The water figure rapidly took human form, raised its hands in a gun-like gesture, and pointed at Shin. Two bullet-like drops of liquid fired from its fingertips with tremendous kinetic energy, hurtling straight toward him.
The Hōzuki clan's secret technique, Water Gun Technique. No, this was its enhanced version: Water Gun: Two Guns.
"So you're the real opponent!"
Shin swung his twin blades, smacking the droplets with the back of his swords, forcing them off course. But the powerful impact nearly knocked the swords from his hands.
Of course, that was all part of the act.
Missing his first shot didn't faze the Hōzuki ninja. He kept firing from both hands, unleashing a dense barrage of water droplets that locked down all of Shin's escape routes. And it wasn't just from the front, a massive greatsword was spinning wildly toward him from behind, seemingly ready to slice him in half. At the same time, the water below him surged violently, as if something was about to erupt from beneath the surface.
A three-pronged assault, no way to dodge.
"Interesting."
Shin tapped his toes lightly against the water's surface, launching himself into the air like a high jumper, body horizontal mid-flight.
The spinning blade barely missed him, whirling just beneath his body, one wrong move, and he would have been shredded into pieces.
As he narrowly avoided the blade, he performed a high-speed aerial spin and did something no one expected, he reached out toward the spinning blade.
"What the hell is he doing?!" Yumi shot to his feet.
He already dodged it! Why reach for it? What is this lunatic thinking!?
And she wasn't the only one, many with sharp eyesight felt their hearts leap into their throats.
What was this? Suicide?
Shin's right hand precisely grabbed the hilt of the spinning blade, halting its rotation. The force of the spin yanked his body in a wide arc before coming to a stop.
During the spin, he adjusted his posture, twisting his body and positioning the massive blade upright in front of himself, shielding his body completely.
The next second, a series of fierce impacts followed. The overwhelming force of the attacks sent him flying. And almost the instant he was knocked away, a massive water column erupted from where he had just been standing.
He had evaded three near-lethal attacks with near-impossible precision.
"What the hell!" someone in the audience couldn't help shouting.
"What did he just do!?"
"Can someone explain what happened?!"
"That was… terrifying…"
What had seemed like a long sequence of actions had, in fact, happened in the blink of an eye. Unless you had sharp perception or were a seasoned ninja trained for rapid reaction, you wouldn't have seen a thing.
Meanwhile, Shin, mid-flight, didn't care what anyone thought. With a flick of his right wrist, he rotated the blade ninety degrees and swung it hard at Yukimura, who still hadn't reacted.
Although Yukimura was a ninja from Kiri, he didn't specialize in Water Release techniques. He was a taijutsu specialist.
Normally, he was quick to react, but he never imagined Shin would survive that attack, let alone counter and launch straight at him.
At that moment, he had already committed to an attack. His force was already spent, and with his feet off the ground, he had no way to dodge.
Boom!
A deafening smack echoed through the arena. His entire body was launched like a tennis ball, flung through the air by the massive force of the blow.
Yukimura: Eliminated!
Having sent Yukimura flying, Shin, still dragging the giant blade, charged off in another direction.
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200 = +1 bonus chapter
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100+ Advance chapters!
[email protected]/Malphegor