A cascade of black hair draped limply over Genma, smothering him. He clawed at it frantically, scrambling out in a disheveled mess, hands and feet flailing.
Having endured a direct assault from Jigo Yurei's black threads of Jiongu, Genma's body was riddled with deactivated tendrils when he emerged. He resembled a porcupine whose quills had gone soft, the threads protruding grotesquely from his flesh.
The corrosive power of Jiongu was extraordinary. In the fleeting moment the threads pierced Genma's body, they showcased their invasive nature, only for him to seize all their chakra the next instant. Yet, in that brief window, the threads had already "taken root," fusing with his blood and flesh.
Fortunately, Genma's body was heavily "White Zetsu-ified," his internal organs shielded by White Zetsu cells, and his pain receptors dulled significantly. Concerned about further harm, he ignored the risk of secondary damage and tore the threads from his body with brute force.
The gamble paid off. Having destroyed three more hearts and absorbed their chakra, the balance of power shifted. Genma now held the chakra advantage over Jigo Yurei.
"You've got no chance of winning," Genma said to his enemy, standing not far away.
He assessed the situation, arriving at this simple conclusion.
"Save your breath," Yurei retorted dismissively. In a ninja's battle, how could one skip the process and jump to conclusions? Genma's words were nothing but arrogance.
Unfazed, Yurei's remaining attribute mask wriggled to his shoulder. Black tendrils solidified into an arm once more. The fight was far from over.
A mass of Jiongu tendrils contracted inward, compressing tightly before exploding outward at blinding speed, spreading across the room like a spider's web.
Yurei knew Genma could absorb chakra, but in this desperate struggle, minor details no longer mattered. The web-like tendrils carried minimal chakra. As long as the hearts—chakra nodes—remained intact, Genma's absorption would yield little. Yurei was confident he could outlast his foe.
Genma was now prey trapped in the web.
He took a deep breath, feeling the pain radiating from his battered, perforated body. He knew he couldn't hold out much longer.
Searing steam surged from within him, white vapor coiling around his form. Genma stomped the floor, causing the keep of Kikyo Castle to shudder. His body launched forward like a cannonball, carrying unstoppable momentum toward Yurei.
In this short charge, countless black threads shot toward Genma.
Flying blades? You really understand physics, don't you?
The battle left no room for hesitation. Taut black threads sliced into Genma's body, but they couldn't halt his advance.
Feeling the invasive threads, Genma pressed forward relentlessly. His chakra roiled violently, pushing his body to its breaking point. His ravaged frame was like a fifty-year-old, rust-covered steam engine, recklessly overloaded with coal.
Scorching heat radiated from him, threatening to burn him out before he could destroy his enemy. In such a state, what were a few thread attacks?
Yurei's flying blade technique was his trump card—razor-sharp, compensating for limited single-target damage with overwhelming attack frequency. This move alone could shred most enemies to pieces.
But as the blades pierced Genma's skin, they were halted by a torrent of heat. His boiling chakra, almost like a tangible stream of ionized energy, vaporized the chakra on the blades, then melted the weakened threads entirely.
In short, an attack that could dice an ordinary person into fragments was utterly ineffective against Genma.
Like a cannonball, Genma carved through the steam-filled space, his fist forming the spearhead of a sharp, arrow-like vortex.
Boom!
Genma's full-force punch slammed into Yurei's chest.
Despite Yurei's Earth Release reinforcement and Jiongu's buffering, blood sprayed from his mouth. His massive Jiongu-enhanced body spun through the air, crashing into the wall behind him. The impact warped the vertical surface into an outward bulge.
With creaking groans, the upper levels of the keep began tilting to one side.
Thud!
Genma pressed his advantage, closing in and stomping on Yurei's remaining arm.
For a moment, Genma seemed to dominate, but Yurei was far from helpless. He and the mask on his left shoulder opened their mouths in unison, unleashing two intersecting lightning bolts aimed at Genma's neck.
Lightning Release: False Darkness – Gleaming Spear Convergence
Genma had been right—Yurei's strongest techniques were Earth Release and Lightning Release.
The blinding lightning illuminated Genma's pale face. In this life-or-death moment, he displayed unyielding ferocity. Instead of retreating, he advanced, clenching his left fist. High-density chakra coated his arm, and then…
He smashed his fist into the lightning spear!
The spear was formless, a technique no flesh could block. Yet Genma's chakra clashed with Yurei's Lightning Release, creating mutual repulsion. While he couldn't nullify the damage, his punch deflected the spear.
The gleaming spear spun wildly, embedding into the wall behind.
Simultaneously, Genma's right foot pushed off the wall, propelling his body upward. Before the second spear could strike, he drove his knee into Yurei's chin.
Yurei's head snapped back, the spear he'd unleashed arcing uselessly through the air.
Genma's previously injured knee, barely healed, was battered again. His left arm, scorched and carbonized from contact with the high-intensity lightning, hung limp. Yet it didn't stop him from forming seals.
With Yurei pinned against the wall like a target, this was the moment for a killing blow.
Genma's seals flashed into completion:
Water Release: Water Severing…
But as he prepared to unleash the water blade, Yurei's head slammed into his.
In that brief contact, Yurei's chakra drained rapidly. He doubted he could muster another ninjutsu, but the threat of death drove him to pour everything into this desperate headbutt.
Genma was sent flying.
Unable to suppress the technique he'd prepared, Water Severing Wave activated mid-spin, slicing not Yurei but the building itself. The attack carved through the keep like a hot knife through butter.
The tilted keep was cleaved into two sections, upper and lower, which began to slide apart under gravity's pull.
Tumbling through the air, Genma adjusted his stance mid-flight, landing lightly on the opposite wall. With a burst of recoil, he charged back toward Yurei.
Yurei struggled to rise, back against the wall, using an Earth Release-hardened palm to block Genma's fist, barely holding it at bay.
"Cough… that punch was weaker than the last," Yurei rasped. "Seems the outcome's still unclear."
Both fighters' physical conditions were deteriorating, but their resolve only burned hotter.
Genma frowned. If this were a duel of honor, he'd already claim victory. But killing Yurei outright? That was proving maddeningly difficult. Those who mastered Jiongu had vitality rivaling cockroaches—near impossible to eradicate.
"Perhaps," Genma muttered.
Then, a spark of inspiration struck. He recalled another lethal application of Boil Release. Glancing at the misaligned structure—sealed on all sides, open at the top like a courtyard—it was an ideal battlefield.
As his thoughts shifted, the ratio of water and fire chakra coursing through his meridians began to change.
With the water chakra proportion rising, the steam from Genma's body cooled, losing its scorching heat. In its place, it gained corrosive acidity, growing stronger by the second.
This was Genma's first attempt at adjusting chakra ratios, yet the process felt seamless, like a continuously variable transmission. He sensed innate "gears" within him—when the chakra ratio hit a specific range, he instinctively knew it maximized the acid's lethality.
The fused water-fire chakra was mere energy within Genma's body, but upon leaving it, it transformed into a deadly ninjutsu.
Acidic mist began filling the space.
Unlike controlled chakra, the mist was harmful to Genma himself. But he devised a solution instantly, infusing it with manipulability.
As the mist poured out, Genma mixed in a large amount of ordinary chakra, like grains of rice stuck to tape or a fishing net. By controlling this chakra, he could direct the mist's flow, sparing himself its corrosion.
"Cough… cough, cough…"
At such close range, the unprepared Yurei inhaled deeply, only to realize its potency too late.
The mist began searing his lungs.
It saturated the space, corroding everything but Genma.
White smoke billowed from the gaps where the keep's halves had parted, making the structure resemble a leaking chimney.
As the mist became omnipresent, the gas from Genma's body reverted to steam. He switched back to monstrous strength mode, swatting Yurei's arm aside and driving a fist into his chest.
Yurei's once-impenetrable Jiongu defenses now felt like rotting cabbage leaves.
The acid had eroded Yurei's combat capability entirely. Had Genma used this tactic from the start, Yurei's vigilance might have thwarted it. But after an intense battle, Yurei had grown accustomed to Genma's constant "steaming." Who could've anticipated such a sinister trump card?
Yurei's body—skin, fat, muscle, bone—began to dissolve layer by layer.
"Why…?" Yurei's voice dripped with bitter resentment. His strategy hadn't failed; his opponent was simply too cunning.
First, a silent infiltration to ambush. Then, posing as a weak ninja, only to reveal himself as a relentless brawler. And the final blow? Another underhanded trick. A fighting style so unpredictable yet circling back to its deceptive roots—who could guard against it?
Was this something a human could pull off?
"I told you," Genma said, "I didn't know how at the start."
Yurei was a formidable foe, earning an extraordinary death—dissolving into bones in a pool of acid.
At that moment, the bisected keep, further weakened by the acid's corrosion, lost its structural integrity. The upper half slid off the main body, crashing to the ground with a thunderous roar.
With the walls gone, the night breeze swiftly diluted and dispersed the acidic mist. Yurei's corpse, or what remained of it, was partially preserved.
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