Chapter 592: The Rookie Battle
Land of Fire.
Konoha's rookies were in a heated battle against Kurotsuchi's team.
Rock Lee was constantly being pinned down by Kurotsuchi's Earth Release and Kaoru Fujii's Fire Release.
Lee was the strongest of the Konoha group, so he was the primary target.
Whenever he tried to break out of the ninjutsu encirclement, Tsuruhime's bees would swarm him with explosive tags, forcing him back.
Iwa lacked close-combat specialists here, so they adopted a defensive counter-attack strategy.
Kurotsuchi, at the front, had to deal with Lee while also fending off Kiba Inuzuka.
Iwa's numbers were fewer, so instead of one-on-one duels, they fought in a chaotic melee, often handling multiple opponents at once.
Suddenly, a cloud of black kikaichū insects rushed at Kurotsuchi, but were intercepted midway by a swarm of bees.
The insects changed targets, engaging the bees in a fierce aerial battle.
It was a brutal clash, with large numbers of both insects falling from the sky.
In terms of individual strength, Tsuruhime's bees were far inferior to Shino Aburame's kikaichū.
The Aburame bugs had much higher resistance to fire and water, and were more adaptable to different enemies. Tsuruhime's bees couldn't compare in versatility.
However, in a direct confrontation, it came down to physical toughness.
Although Tsuruhime's bees hadn't undergone generations of selective breeding like the kikaichū, they had been baptized by Ishiro's Sage chakra. Their physical durability wasn't much worse.
So the fight was relatively even, with the kikaichū holding only a slight advantage.
But Tsuruhime had a massive advantage: she was older than Shino, an Elite Jonin, and had far more chakra.
For an insect user, chakra meant numbers.
In a war of attrition, Tsuruhime, with her larger swarm, firmly held the upper hand.
She suppressed Shino while still finding opportunities to support the others.
Just as the kikaichū were intercepted, an ink tiger leaped at Tsuruhime.
Before Tsuruhime could react, Sakura stepped forward, her hand glowing with a Chakra Scalpel. She slashed.
The ink tiger exploded into a splash of ink.
Opposite her, Sai frowned.
Sakura's progress was too fast. Two years ago at the exams, she had needed a surprise attack to beat him.
Now, as an Elite Jonin, she effortlessly dismantled his attacks.
But he couldn't get distracted. He missed one strike, so he quickly started drawing the next.
As Sai drew, Ino Yamanaka beside him formed a hand seal, aiming her Mind Body Switch Jutsu at Sakura.
Ino knew Sakura had learned the Yamanaka secret techniques and had always wanted to test herself against her.
They hadn't met before, but today was her chance.
After casting the jutsu, Ino's body went limp.
Sai, still drawing, shifted slightly to shield her body.
Sakura, having just destroyed the tiger, paused, then turned to Ino.
She smiled. Opportunity.
The Mind Body Switch could control an enemy's body.
But that worked on regular ninja with low Yin Release.
Sakura had studied Yin Release since childhood. With two souls, her training time was double Ino's.
Even if Ino had tricks Iwa didn't know, she wouldn't be much stronger than Sakura at the same level.
And Sakura was a level above her.
Sure enough, the moment Ino's soul entered Sakura's body, "Inner Sakura" grappled with it.
This didn't affect Sakura's physical movement at all.
She leaped, dodging Shikamaru's shadow and bypassing Sai to face Ino directly.
She formed the same hand seal Ino had just used.
Her goal was to switch bodies with Ino, relying on Inner Sakura to hold the fort.
The next instant, Ino's limp body jerked and opened its eyes.
Sai, thinking Ino had returned, asked, "What happened?"
But then he realized something was wrong. "Ino" had pulled out a kunai. He knew Ino rarely used kunai in combat.
Sure enough, Ino moved fluidly, slashing the kunai at his throat.
Startled, Sai threw himself to the side.
Schlck.
He saved his throat, but the kunai slashed his arm, severing blood vessels and tendons.
Sai didn't make a sound, rolling away with his arm hanging limp.
Ino didn't chase. She turned the kunai around, aiming for her own heart.
Just as she was about to stab, her body froze.
Inside Ino's body, Inner Sakura realized immediately: Shadow Possession Jutsu.
Shikamaru was fast!
Knowing she couldn't kill Ino's body, Inner Sakura released the jutsu and returned to her own.
Seeing Ino go limp, Shikamaru didn't relax. He dragged Ino's body back while shouting to the real Sakura (who was currently Ino), "Ino, come back!"
Ino's soul, trapped inside Sakura, heard Shikamaru and thought he had captured Sakura.
So she released her jutsu.
But upon returning to her body, she found herself far from the front line, and Sai injured.
Just then, a barrage of earth spears shot toward Ino.
Before she could react, her body dodged on its own.
Startled by the loss of control, she instinctively resisted.
But her mind caught up quickly—it was Shikamaru's Shadow Possession.
She stopped resisting and let him move her.
But because of that momentary resistance, her movement lagged. An earth spear pierced her thigh.
A large gash opened, bleeding profusely.
Fortunately, Shikamaru was controlling her movement, so the injury didn't slow her down, and she dodged the rest of the spears.
But with her leg injured, Ino became a target.
Tsuruhime's bees split off a group to attack her.
Even Kaoru, who was helping Kurotsuchi pin down Lee with fireballs, sent two fireballs at Ino.
Shikamaru had to focus on moving Ino and couldn't counter-attack.
Sai and Ino were injured. They had lost.
He shouted, "Kiba, Choji, Tenten! Break away and cover Lee's retreat! Everyone else, fall back with me!"
"Fang Over Fang!" Kiba and Akamaru became tornadoes, scattering the bees and rushing to Lee.
Choji expanded into a boulder, smashing through Kurotsuchi's earth wall to free Lee.
Tenten, whose previous attacks had been blocked by Sakura, Kaoru, and Tsuruhime, unfurled two large scrolls and unleashed a massive barrage of weapons at the Iwa ninja.
Under their cover, Lee finally broke free.
The three covered the retreat as the Konoha group pulled back.
Shikamaru didn't retreat further once they had some distance. He faced off against Kurotsuchi's group while treating Sai and Ino.
Shikamaru's face was grim. He had confirmed the enemy was all Elite Jonin.
On his side, only Lee could reach that level with the Eight Gates.
The Iwa rookies' growth exceeded his expectations.
Tsuruhime could handle Shino's insects and pin down Kiba. And she still had energy to help Sakura block Tenten.
Kaoru was the same, multi-tasking with her soul-burning flames across the battlefield.
Shikamaru knew they couldn't win. He looked at the battle between Hinata, Naruto, and Sasuke.
After a quick glance, he sighed.
"Shino, signal them. We're retreating."
He led the group back toward Konoha.
Kurotsuchi didn't order a pursuit. Lee hadn't shown his full power yet. She sensed he was holding back the Fifth Gate, but hadn't hit his limit.
She didn't want to force him into a corner.
But she couldn't just let them go. She signaled Tsuruhime and Kaoru to attack Lee.
Lee, forced to defend, grit his teeth and opened the Sixth Gate.
Kurotsuchi immediately signaled a halt.
Lee wanted to counter-attack with his burst of power, but considering the situation, he followed Kiba and Choji in retreat.
Seeing this, Kurotsuchi followed them.
Her intent was clear: wait for the Sixth Gate to wear off, then attack.
Lee's explosive power was terrifying. Her team of technical ninja dared not face it head-on.
Lee realized this. He grabbed Kiba and Choji and sprinted toward Shikamaru's group.
In the distance, Sasuke saw Shikamaru's signal via Shino's bugs.
His expression was ugly. He had been suppressed by Neji the whole time.
Neither his taijutsu nor ninjutsu had gained an advantage.
Although the Hyūga didn't use elemental jutsu, Neji's new arts and the Tenseigan's power neutralized Sasuke's Fire and Lightning Release.
Sasuke knew the main reason was that his base stats were far below Neji's.
He had only survived this long thanks to Susanoo.
What angered him most was that Neji clearly wasn't taking him seriously.
Neji was just warming up, while Sasuke's pupil power was draining away.
Sasuke felt that if he deactivated his Sharingan now, his vision would be blurry.
He was unwilling. He had the Uchiha's strongest eye, so why couldn't he beat Neji?
Was the Uchiha really inferior to the Hyūga? He couldn't accept it.
He felt he was shaming his clan.
So, despite the signal, the proud Sasuke didn't retreat.
His thought was: Even if I die today, I will fight until my eyes bleed dry.
He knew he was at his peak. If he couldn't beat Neji today, he never would.
Next time they met, he might not even have enough pupil power left to fight.
So Sasuke activated the third form of Susanoo—the armored, flesh-covered giant.
This was his limit. His strongest form.
Sasuke charged instead of retreating, desperate to fight Neji. Neji didn't panic. He retreated while forming hand seals, then slammed his hands on the ground.
A giant stone golem erupted from the earth to meet the Susanoo.
Susanoo slashed the golem; the golem punched the Susanoo.
The two giants began to brawl.
Susanoo could regenerate as long as it wasn't instantly destroyed (and as long as Sasuke had pupil power). The golem was also indestructible, regenerating quickly from damage.
They were evenly matched.
Neji was happy. He was here to test his new abilities.
This was the first time he had summoned the golem using only his eyes (and Tenseigan chakra), without the giant Tenseigan's direct aid.
It was a rare chance to test its power. He decided to play with Sasuke a little longer.
The golem he summoned had a certain combat instinct; he didn't need to control it fully.
And unlike Sasuke, he didn't need to stay inside it.
Neji could have left Sasuke to the golem, or joined the golem to double-team him.
He could even have pumped more pupil power into the golem to make it bigger and crush Sasuke.
But to test the golem's combat power, he didn't. He just watched from the side.
On the other side, Hinata, seeing the signal and Sasuke's reaction, frowned.
She fired several Vacuum Palms, shattering Haku's mirrors.
Then she leaped to Naruto, who was partially transformed.
"Naruto-kun, go help Sasuke retreat!"
She grabbed one of his chakra tails and threw him toward Sasuke.
At the same time, her eyes flashed, freezing Haku's ice attacks in mid-air.
Shion was annoyed that Hinata threw Naruto away to fight them alone.
Even if they were losing, one-v-two was an insult.
She cast a Mind Body Disturbance Jutsu at Hinata.
But as the jutsu approached Hinata, it dissipated.
Shion frowned. Her eyes.
Haku said, "Careful. Her dōjutsu freezes space."
"When she uses it, our attacks are useless. We can't reach her."
He paused. "Look for an opening. Use sealing jutsu!"
Haku felt helpless. The world seemed to belong to dōjutsu users. All his hard work was negated by a single look.
Susanoo, Imperial Wheel, and now Hinata's eyes.
He had found several openings to hurt Hinata, but her eyes neutralized them all.
Shion nodded, seeing the frozen ice.
Haku glanced at Neji. Neji could handle two people.
"Careful," Haku added. "She's only shown one ability. She might have more."
"It'll be hard to stop her with just two of us."
"Increase the attack frequency. We need to force out her other abilities."
"Understood," Shion said.
They sped up their attacks.
Haku used his mirrors to move rapidly, attacking from all angles.
Shion cast genjutsu relentlessly.
But as Haku said, this was the era of eyes.
Dōjutsu users had high genjutsu resistance. Hinata's Jōgan was high-level.
Shion's low-level genjutsu had almost no effect.
And Haku's speed was useless against her vision.
Soon, Shion switched to sealing jutsu.
The Priestess seals were noteworthy.
They were designed to seal Mōryō—meaning they targeted the soul.
Neither the Jōgan nor the Gentle Fist could defend against soul seals.
But Shion's seals glowed brightly, making sneak attacks impossible.
Seeing Shion use seals, Haku didn't slack off. He used large-scale Ice Release to restrict Hinata's movement.
His Crystal Ice Mirrors finally came into play. He covered the battlefield with them.
He moved constantly, blocking Hinata with ice.
His speed advantage finally showed.
Hinata could track him and block his attacks, but she couldn't move fast enough to escape the mirror dome.
With Shion throwing seals and Haku blocking her, Hinata's dodge space shrunk. She had to use her space-freezing ability repeatedly to create room.
As time passed, Haku and Shion figured out the ability's limits, and Hinata's situation grew dire.
Meanwhile, with Naruto joining in, Neji was also fighting one-v-two.
Unlike Hinata, Neji was handling it with ease.
As he made the golem bigger to suppress Sasuke's form-three Susanoo, he personally engaged the partially transformed Naruto.
Naruto had power and speed, but zero technique compared to Neji.
Neji was a genius who invented new arts. Naruto only knew how to flail with shadow clones.
Soon, Naruto was forced to use his fourth tail.
This was his limit; he risked losing control.
But even then, Neji suppressed him. And Neji hadn't even used the Giant Tenseigan yet.
He was fighting them with his own power.
Naruto charged on all fours like a cannonball.
Neji dodged easily.
He followed Naruto, extending his hand. Imperial Wheel!
Naruto, speeding past, was suddenly slowed by the repulsive force.
Off-balance, he was caught by Neji.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Three heavy blows to the back.
Naruto spat blood in mid-air. The cloak didn't fully protect him.
If Neji had been in front and hit his stomach, he might have cut off the Nine-Tails' chakra again.
Even so, the three hits shattered Naruto's four tails.
Naruto flew a long distance before stopping.
(End of Chapter)
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