“What?!” Inaba Hyuga’s sudden surge of speed and flash of a drawn blade caught the Kaguya shinobi completely off guard!
Wasn’t this guy a Hyuga?
Were those eyes fake?
The Kaguya ninja had never expected Inaba to use Lightning Style and kenjutsu—a single moment of misjudgment rendered all his previous preparations completely useless!
The Ten Finger Drilling Bullets were easily deflected by the blade, and in the next instant, Inaba surged forward, bathed in lightning!
The hyper-grown bone armor hadn’t completely covered his body, making it useless against the cutting edge—he had originally armored himself against chakra point strikes, not sharp steel.
Inaba’s blade slid with surgical precision through the gaps in the bone armor, carving a horrifying gash across the opponent’s flank!
At least one kidney was completely ruined!
A wound of this severity was fatal even for a shinobi!
Terrified out of his wits, the Kaguya ninja retreated frantically, screaming in fury as he backed away.
“It’s fake!
His eyes are fake!!
Don’t be fooled by him!!” Fortunately, his teammates were no push-overs; support arrived quickly—how could a Kirigakure squad capable of hunting down an Uchiha team be mere small fry?
Before Inaba could land a finishing blow, another Kirigakure ninja emerged right behind him!
The newcomer’s body was formed entirely of liquid, his right hand transforming into a liquid gel-like hand blade that jabbed toward Inaba’s heart, quivering and swaying fluidly as it thrust.
Even without turning around, Inaba knew—this was a ninja from the Hozuki Clan!
Before the Fourth Mizukage took power and thoroughly purged the Kekkei Genkai clans, Kirigakure really had been brimming with talent.
While Inaba complained internally, his hands didn’t delay for a second.
Blade in his right hand, seals forming with his left—stealthy and remarkably fluid!
On his personal status panel, “Hand Seals” was his second-highest stat, right behind “Intelligence.” This was all earned through pure grind!
Forming hand seals was one of the few shinobi skills that didn’t require bloodlines or noble origin; as long as one was willing to put in the work, it could be leveled up.
Back when he couldn’t acquire new ninjutsu, Inaba had practiced hand seals endlessly by himself.
Hard work truly paid off.
The Hozuki ninja stabbed down with his palm, convinced he was fast enough and that his target was dead for sure!
In the very next moment, his eyes widened in shock as he watched the figure before him shatter into a burst of electric arcs.
“A clone?!” The Inaba he had impaled was no longer the real body!
Even worse: it was a Lightning Style clone.
The electric arcs exploding from the shattered clone instantly shocked him, sending him screaming in pain.
For the Hozuki Clan, whose bodies could turn to water, Lightning Style was their absolute bane!
The supporting Hozuki ninja wanted to curse at the top of his lungs.
Two against one, two of Kirigakure’s most famous Kekkei Genkai users ganging up on a Konoha kid, only to both get humiliated—it was an utter disgrace!
To make matters worse, a teammate’s desperate cry for help echoed from a distance right at that moment.
“Captain, save—” The voice abruptly cut short, followed by a brief, blood-curdling shriek that chilled them to the bone.
With both elite Jonin of their two squads held down by Inaba Hyuga, the squad’s only sensory ninja had been left completely exposed to the enemy’s blade.
The Hozuki squad captain whipped his head around, only to confirm a corpse with his eyes.
In that direction stood another Konoha swordsman.
In the blink of an eye, the man had split from one into three, three glints of cold steel weaving a fatal web that cleanly sliced their teammate into pieces in a single breath.
It was the Konoha-style taijutsu secret art: Dance of the Crescent Moon!
This technique could completely seal off an enemy’s escape routes from the left, right, and above in an instant, leaving them nowhere to run!
The only way to break it was to take the hit head-on and counterattack, just like Baki of the Sand Ninja had done in the original story.
Regrettably, this Kirigakure sensory ninja possessed nowhere near Baki’s strength, while Rinfu Gekko’s kenjutsu was far superior to that of his disappointing descendant in future generations!
Seeing their teammate die horribly, both the Kaguya and Hozuki Jonin stared with bloodshot eyes!
Yet thanks to Inaba Hyuga, one was severely injured and the other paralyzed at that crucial moment; neither could move in time to save him.
Until moments ago, they had been chasing the Uchiha all along the trail, filled with pride!
Who could have imagined that upon arriving here, in just a brief clash, one of them would end up critically wounded and another dead?
The sudden reversal caught them completely off guard.
Once the Hozuki Jonin recovered from the numbness, he immediately wanted to turn back and fight to avenge his teammate, his eyes turning red with fury!
However, the Kaguya Jonin was far more sober.
Realizing the gravity of their situation, he shouted decisively, “Go!
Abandon the pursuit, retreat now!” They had lost the initiative.
Fighting on would bring only disaster.
Besides, this area was closer to Kirigakure’s controlled territory; there was no need to fight Konoha to the death tonight.
They could fall back, call for reinforcements, and come daybreak, not a single one of these bastards—including the red-eyed Uchiha from earlier—would leave here alive!
In a flash, the Hozuki Jonin exchanged two more blows with Inaba Hyuga before heeding the warning and backing off.
At the same time, the last remaining member of the four-man Kirigakure team gave up pursuing the fleeing Uchiha and quickly fell back to the side of the Kaguya and Hozuki Jonin.
As he retreated, he even helped intercept Inaba Hyuga, who was pressing the attack.
“Senior Hozuki, I’ll block this Lightning Style kid for you!” In the blink of an eye, this was already the third Kirigakure ninja Inaba Hyuga had faced tonight.
The newly arrived Kirigakure ninja had not yet realized the severity of the situation.
Although the battle had turned against them, he instinctively assumed his teammates had only suffered due to elemental counter.
It was common knowledge that the Hozuki Clan struggled against Lightning Style.
But he wasn’t from the Hozuki Clan!
One of life’s classic delusions: *I’m different.
I can turn this around!* At first, things indeed went smoothly.
He first summoned a water bubble to block Inaba’s blade.
In that instant, Inaba felt a surge of resistance on his weapon, as if he had chopped into a ball of dense gelatin, glued tight and unable to move.
Without giving Inaba time to pull his sword back, the Kirigakure ninja altered his Water Style technique.
High-frequency vibrations rapidly traveled along the water flow to the blade, vibrating Inaba’s wrist so violently that he reflexively let go of the short sword.
This was…
a Water Style ninjutsu he hadn’t seen before.
In that instant, through the water bubble, Inaba saw an arrogant grin spread across the Kirigakure ninja’s face.
The opponent seemed quite pleased with himself.
Yet Inaba didn’t panic in the least.
Though disarmed, his center of gravity remained stable.
Stepping forward, he launched another attack!
“Ha!” The Kirigakure ninja laughed out loud, quickly drawing a kunai from his pouch and lunging forward to meet Inaba, convinced the outcome was already decided!
You lost your blade—what are you going to fight me with now?
I’ll take one down too and even the score!
However, that illusion lasted for less than a second.
In the next moment, Inaba pivoted sideways, taking the thrust of the kunai head-on with his shoulder while driving his right hand forward with fingers joined like a spear, striking directly at the opponent’s heart meridian!
It seemed like an even trade, but the young Kirigakure ninja’s face instantly twisted in shock, a mouth of blood spurting from his lips.
Staggering back two steps, the man opened his mouth in agony, but no words came out—only froth and blood gushed from his lips.
“Ch-chakra point strike…?!
How can you…?!” In his final moments, the young Kirigakure ninja didn’t look at Inaba Hyuga, who had dealt the fatal blow.
Instead, he turned back, casting a look filled with reluctance and complete bewilderment at his team’s Kaguya Jonin.
His expression seemed to demand: *Didn’t you just say his eyes were fake?!
Then why can he still strike chakra points?!*