Of course, a technique like Earth Style: Earth Flow Spears Formation wasn't going to kill Hoshiyomi Gekkō.
The Earth Flow Spears required quite a few hand seals.
They weren't like Itachi, who could string together five or six seals in a single second.
The jutsu already took time to prepare—and since it expanded outward from the caster, the growth of the spires also required several moments to complete.
Hoshiyomi took advantage of this gap.
With Transparent Escape Technique, he concealed himself perfectly. Then, using Instant Step combined with his signature movement art Crescent Moon Slash, he calmly slipped out of the deadly spear formation.
When they heard his voice, the Konoha transport team's faces lit up with relief.
The Iwa shinobi, however, looked like they'd swallowed bitter herbs.
They had burned through massive amounts of chakra, only to watch Hoshiyomi return completely unscathed.
It was crushing.
One of the Iwa jonin glanced at the dense forest of earthen spears around them. The tightly packed spires had blocked their line of sight—they couldn't even see the Konoha shinobi beyond the formation.
Suddenly, his eyes brightened.
He quickly tugged on the sleeve of a nearby, pale-faced comrade and whispered:
"It's not over yet. Look around—these earth spears block their vision.
Except for the Byakugan user, the rest of them can't see where we are."
His companion's eyes lit up too, the shadow of death momentarily lifting from his face. He grinned nervously:
"Right!
Only the Byakugan can track all of us, and even then, there are blind spots.
If we stay here, we'll just die.
But if we dig underground and scatter, they can't possibly catch all of us.
Even if just a few escape, it's better than all of us dying here."
Their whispered conversation spread like wildfire among the remaining Iwa shinobi.
They exchanged looks and quietly began weaving hand seals.
On the other side, Hyūga Seishō, who had been celebrating Hoshiyomi's safe return, suddenly froze.
He wasn't from the Hyūga Main Family, so his Byakugan did have blind spots.
But even so, his vision was sharp enough to pick up on the enemy's subtle movements.
In that instant, he realized what they were trying to do.
"They're trying to escape underground!"
His urgent shout snapped the chunin into action. They started forming hand seals to intercept.
Uchiha Hokushin also shouted:
"Call out their positions! Worst case, we'll split up and chase them!"
But just then, Hoshiyomi's calm voice cut through the panic:
"Leave it to us."
He reached out and gave Lobo, his summoned wolf, a light pat on the head.
Lobo obediently leapt down from the transport cart, his body expanding until he stood nearly seven or eight meters tall."
At some point, Hoshiyomi had already leapt onto the massive wolf's head.
Lobo let out a resounding howl, his powerful hind legs tensing like coiled springs.
In a single burst of force, he launched skyward.
At the peak of Lobo's leap, just as his trajectory began to arc downward, Hoshiyomi stepped off the wolf's massive head and shot upward like an arrow leaving the string.
This time, it wasn't just a vertical jump.
He was aiming straight for the center of the Earth Flow Spears Formation.
Uchiha Hokushin frowned as he watched Hoshiyomi in the air.
"What's he doing?
He's at least ten meters high. Without powerful chakra protection, even someone like Hoshiyomi could seriously injure himself landing from that height."
As he spoke, Hoshiyomi reached the only open space in the entire spear formation—directly over its center.
At that moment, the Iwa shinobi had just burrowed underground, completely unaware of what was happening above.
Next to Hokushin, Inuzuka Fuji's eyes widened in sudden realization. He turned to explain to the others:
"I heard that Lady Tsunade developed an ultra-powerful taijutsu technique called the Monster Strength Punch (Chakra Enhanced Strength).
With one strike, she can smash a crater into the earth.
Could Hoshiyomi-sama be planning to use something like that?"
Fuji's guess was spot on.
Because of Hoshiyomi's influence, Tsunade had developed Monster Strength earlier than in the original timeline. And naturally, Hoshiyomi wasn't about to pass up learning such a powerful technique.
Although he didn't possess Tsunade's monstrous chakra reserves or her precise chakra control, his Six Gates-capable body and enhanced chakra manipulation through nature transformation made him more than capable of using a version of the technique.
His raw power might not reach Tsunade's level, but it wasn't weak either.
And more importantly—
He had his own way of using it.
That was the technique he had used before: Silverlight Falling Blade
By compressing large amounts of chakra into his Mikazuki Munechika, then unleashing it during a high-speed descent, he could release destructive power equivalent to the Monster Strength technique.
Unlike Tsunade, Hoshiyomi didn't need to channel chakra to protect his feet or body.
He only needed a small amount to safeguard his hands, using them to absorb the impact upon landing.
There was also an advanced version of the Silverlight Falling Blade—
Like now, launching it from even greater heights.
By combining the chakra release with the kinetic energy from a rapid fall, the destructive force was multiplied exponentially.
In Hoshiyomi's calculations, his safe limit was about 20 meters.
That was the sweet spot: maximum impact while still retaining combat readiness after landing.
The power of this advanced form of the Silverfall Blade—
Extreme: Silverlight Falling Blade—
Was essentially equivalent to the Heaven Foot of Pain (Tsūtenkyaku), Tsunade's devastating aerial kick.
It could blast out a crater nearly a hundred square meters wide.
In the transport team's tense gaze, Hoshiyomi clasped both hands around his Mikazuki Munechika, plunging down toward the ground.
BOOM!
The entire ground shook violently, like a massive earthquake had erupted beneath their feet.
Even from a distance, the transport team felt the tremor.
The moment the blade touched the ground, the compressed chakra detonated.
A massive shockwave ripped outward, transferring pure force into the ground.
The Iwa shinobi underground barely had time to realize something was wrong before the impact crushed their internal organs and shattered their bones.
The invisible shockwave spread in all directions.
Every Iwa ninja who had burrowed underground was either killed instantly or grievously wounded.
Those closest to the epicenter were directly pulverized into a bloody paste.
In the stunned eyes of the Konoha transport team, it wasn't just the earth that broke apart.
Even the towering earthen spears of the Earth Flow Spear Formation shattered under the massive impact.
Half the formation collapsed entirely.
The ground within a hundred meters turned into a ruined wasteland, crisscrossed with spiderweb-like cracks.
Blood seeped slowly from between the fissures.
Inuzuka Fuji's jaw hit the ground.
It took him a long time to stammer out:
"With that much force… I don't think anyone could have survived."
Beside him, Hyūga Seishō swallowed hard.
The sound of his gulp echoed strangely in the newly silent forest.
"They're… all dead.
Twenty people.
An entire six-jonin squad… all killed by Hoshiyomi-sama alone."