Earth Release: Earth's Grasp
Vrrmmm…
The ground trembled, and several human-like hands made of hardened earth erupted from it in a cluster. Some earthen hands were as small as regular human hands, while the others had palms that were as large as a two-story house.
The earthen hands blitzed toward Hyuga Natsumi from different directions and in wide arcs at such speed that Natsumi had no other path to retreat except for moving backward.
Numerous hands literally flooded in from her left, right, and front sides. Some tried to grab her limbs and torso, some tried to swat her away, and others clenched into hardened fists and tried to punch her to the ground, intent on turning her into meatpaste.
Damn it…this new teammate of hers was ruthless, completely ruthless. What's with some of those hands making swatting and slapping gestures?
Was she some kind of housefly?
Hyuga Natsumi, who was usually gentle and refined, decided to write this incident down in her secret, little notebook of grudges, swearing to pay him back tenfold someday.
But that was a story for another time—no time to get distracted.
The earthen hands moved so fast that she had no time to form hand seals and use defensive ninjutsu.
Deep down, she knew even if she managed to cast defensive ninjutsu, such as Water Release: Water Formation Wall or Earth Release: Earth-style Wall, the sheer number of earthen hands and their power would tear them apart in a second.
Helpless, she could only retreat backward and rack her brains to come up with a proper counter.
Boom… Boom…
Crumble…
Crack…
The earthen hands that missed Natsumi slammed into the ground, cracking the surface and leaving several craters.
But Seimei kept channeling more chakra into his jutsu with a calm smile. As a result, more and more hardened, earthen hands rose from the ground and relentlessly assaulted his new teammate.
Boom… Boom…
Seeing the sheer amount of destruction before her, Natsumi's blood ran cold.
What an absurd ninjutsu. I have never heard about it before. The degree of chakra control, chakra output, and mastery over earth affinity required to pull something like this is beyond the grasp of most ordinary Jonin.
Not to mention, I didn't even see him perform hand seals.
But this can't go on. If I don't retaliate, I will soon be overwhelmed. It will cost some chakra, but there's no other choice.
Natsumi thought inwardly and made her decision.
Despite having a chakra reserve that far outstripped most of her peers, even by the Hyuga clan standards, she never liked to waste or spend her chakra recklessly.
But her current situation had really forced her hands.
To get out of her current predicament, she had to use one of the most complex and chakra-draining secret techniques of the Hyuga clan.
"Haaaah"—"Huuuuuu"
Natsumi took a deep breath and exhaled as her pure-white Byakugan with a hint of lavender stared directly at the approaching earthen hands.
And then, she moved.
Eight Trigrams: Palms Revolving Heaven
Strands of chakra, precise and perfectly controlled, flooded out of her tenketsu. At the same time, she rotated her entire body at high speed.
In less than one-fifth of a second, a pale blue, revolving dome of chakra formed all around her, protecting her from every direction.
Crash… Crack… Bang…!
Dozens of earthen hands slammed into the revolving dome of chakra at full speed, only to halt, crack, and crumble away. The chakra barrier flung the fragments of rocks from the destroyed earthen hands away.
At first, the revolving chakra barrier was only three meters in diameter.
But Natsumi wanted to sever the connection between the earth and Seimei's chakra, all while destroying the remaining earthen hands.
So, she poured even more chakra into her jutsu, causing the rotating chakra barrier to expand rapidly. In the blink of an eye, the diameter of the revolving barrier expanded to twenty meters.
BOOM…!!
The very ground cracked beneath the revolving chakra barrier. The earthen hands and their roots were blasted apart.
Her dense chakra rapidly assaulted the ground until it completely severed the connection between earth and Seimei's chakra, putting an end to Seimei's ninjutsu.
"Oh?"
Seimei exclaimed softly and raised an eyebrow. He was genuinely impressed.
For Hyuga Natsumi to deploy Eight Trigrams: Palms Revolving Heaven jutsu on such a scale at her age meant her talent was excellent.
The defensive and repulsive force displayed by the revolving chakra barrier was solid, too.
Unless an S-rank ninja threw S-rank ninjutsu with devastating attack power or A-rank ninjutsu with incredible penetrative power, anybody else with lower combat prowess, chakra capacity, chakra quality, and chakra control could forget about ever breaching her defense.
As Seimei was thinking that, Natsumi slowly cancelled her technique. The revolving chakra barrier slowly shrank before vanishing out of existence.
Seeing the aftereffect of her jutsu, Seimei could help but whistle lightly.
The ground in the area covered by the revolving chakra dome, centered around Natsumi, sank at least half a meter. Not to mention, it was covered in several cracks, deformed earth, and spiral marks.
After everything settled, Natsumi looked at Seimei calmly, but battle intent was almost spilling out of her eyes.
Seimei looked back at her. He rubbed her chin with his thumb and index finger, his eyes full of mischief.
He was curious. What else did his new teammate have in her arsenal? Curious, very curious, indeed.
And Natsumi satisfied his curiosity.
Whoosh!
Wind surged around Natsumi, causing her clothes to flutter. Raw chakra poured into her palms and ignited like flames.
Soon, the igniting chakra shifted shape and formed large, lion-shaped shrouds of violent yet controlled chakra around Natsumi's hands.
It was one of the high-level, elite secret techniques, accessible only to a very few members of the Hyuga clan's main family.
Gentle Step: Twin Lion Fists
With lion-shaped chakra shrouds in her hand, Natsumi blitzed forward. The chakra shrouds in her palms seemed to twist and burn the very atmosphere as they crossed the distance with her.
She instantly arrived right in front of Seimei and slammed her right palm, shrouded in lion-shaped destructive chakra, toward Seimei's chest.
The main feature of her secret technique was to seal the opponent's chakra network and drain a massive amount of chakra upon the slightest touch.
But the technique's destructive power was nothing to scoff at either. With her current level alone, she could smash boulders, destroy weapons, and even crush a small hill.
So, no matter how humans reinforce their bodies with chakra, receiving a direct hit from the Twin Lion Fists technique would mean death.
Normally, Seimei would have dodged, but…
"It will be boring, right?"
As Seimei whispered those words to himself, he moved his palm to intercept Natsumi's right hand, shrouded by the lion-shaped destructive chakra.
In the blink of an eye, a glowing, blue sphere of violently spiraling chakra, at least twice as big as a basketball, appeared in his empty palm.
Big Ball Rasengan
Next, the Big Ball Rasengan and the Twin Lion Fist technique collided.
BOOOOOOM…!!!
A series of loud, visible shockwaves of chakra and compressed air spread from the point of collision. The two techniques ground each other before exploding.
The residual energy destroyed their sleeves, putting immense pressure on their forearms. In the end, Natsumi's right arm flung backward.
Still, neither of the two stepped back.
Gritting her teeth, Natsumi raised her left hand, shrouded in another lion-shaped chakra, and slammed it at Seimei, targeting his stomach.
But Seimei didn't give her the chance.
He had already evaluated the power of her secret technique. There was no need to confront it head-on once more.
With that thought in mind, Seimei swiftly sidestepped to his right, dodging her attack effortlessly.
His left hand shot out and grabbed Natsumi's left arm, carefully avoiding the chakra shroud that could absorb his chakra.
And then…
Lightning Release: Electroshock Technique
Crackle… Crackle…
Blue lightning arcs flickered in Seimei's left palm, shocking and paralyzing Natsumi's entire body.
"Argh…"
Natsumi let out a suppressed scream. Lightning arcs coursed through her body. The lightning arcs delivered stinging pain all over her body, messing with her nervous system.
As a result, she simply lost control over her body, as if someone had slapped her with a Self-Cursing Seal.
Fortunately, Seimei held back.
So, apart from slightly singed clothes and minor flesh tissue damage, she didn't suffer from any kind of serious injury.
As for the flesh tissue damage…simply soaking her body in a medicinal bath would fix that, with no risk of any lingering issue.
It was just that the electric shock was truly too painful, which was only natural since Seimei deliberately designed the technique to stimulate the human body's pain receptors.
The paralyzing effect? That was secondary.
Efficient, cost-effective, and extremely vicious.
Seimei couldn't help but smile upon seeing the effect of his experimental ninjutsu. The effect was pretty good.
If Natsumi knew what Seimei was thinking, she would have surely cursed him and his past fourteen generations.
With Natsumi paralyzed, the match had come to an abrupt end.
Seeing the pained expression on Natsumi's face, Seimei felt a bit guilty. But that guilt quickly vanished, and he metaphorically gave himself a thumbs-up for developing an interesting jutsu.
But I can't let her suffer for long, can I? She is my teammate now, after all.
Seimei thought inwardly.
So, he quickly flooded her body with gentle, restorative Yang-natured chakra, soothing her nerves and healing her body.
Within a few seconds, both the paralyzing effect and the pain vanished from Natsumi's body.
Feeling the pain receding, Natsumi almost thanked him. Well, almost.
She looked at Seimei blankly and mentally noted this painful experience in her little book of grudges, too.
Clap!
Suddenly, Reina clapped her palms once, drawing both Seimei's and Natsumi's attention.
She smiled and declared, "Alright. The spar ends here."
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