Chapter 137: Nara Keisuke VS Ōnoki of Both Scales!
The moment that heaven-and-earth-piercing white pillar of light appeared, Nara Keisuke knew the identity of the newcomer. In the entire ninja world, there was only one house of Dust Release, with no other branches.
But what surprised Keisuke a little was that the difficulty of the combat mission against the esteemed Ōnoki of Both Scales was only A-rank. 'Is it because he's old and his strength has declined, so his overall qualities aren't up to par? Or is it for some other reason...'
A thought flashed through Keisuke's mind. The battle with a Kage of the five great villages was too critical. He couldn't afford to be distracted by too much thinking and just looked down at the ground. At the end of the long, slender earth dragon on the ground stood a short old man. It was the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, who had just released the Dust Release.
"Only Ōnoki?" Keisuke's eyebrow rose slightly.
The Dust Release attack came and went quickly. As a one-way attack type ninjutsu, once the "Dust Release: Detachment from the Primitive World Technique" missed its target, there was no point in continuing to maintain its effect. After realizing that Keisuke had successfully dodged the attack, Ōnoki decisively cut off the chakra supply to the jutsu and at the same time, rapidly formed hand signs.
And at this time, Keisuke's counter-attack had already come down.
[Spiraling Shadow Killing Cannon]!
The lacquer-black spiral pellet descended from the sky at a speed exceeding that of sound, aiming with incomparable precision at Ōnoki below, like a black meteor falling from the sky.
"Earth Release: Earth Prison Dome of Magnificent Nothingness!"
Ōnoki finished his hand signs, slammed his hands on the ground, and a hemispherical rock fortress rose from beneath the earth, covering him firmly within. The well-molded earth-style chakra flowed ceaselessly over the outer wall of this rock fortress, further enhancing its defensive capabilities.
BOOM!
The [Spiraling Shadow Killing Cannon] and the "Earth Prison Dome" collided, instantly erupting in a deafening roar. The hemispherical rock wall was immediately blasted with a shattered hole. The spiral energy of the cannon, carrying the shattered rock fragments and yellow dust, spread out in all directions. However, under the continuous infusion of earth-style chakra, the shattered hole in the rock wall was quickly filled and repaired, directly resisting the attack of the [Spiraling Shadow Killing Cannon] and gradually grinding away its power.
After sensing that the chakra of the "Earth Prison Dome" was no longer being consumed, Ōnoki, who was hiding inside, walked out from the fortress and again quickly formed hand signs. "Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet Technique!"
With the formation of the last hand gesture, a lifelike rock dragon head suddenly emerged from the ground next to him. But this rock dragon head did not emerge completely from the ground as one might imagine. It merely opened its mouth, and one after another, rock and mud pellets were formed in its oral cavity and then fired towards the sky.
Thump! Thump! Thump!—
A continuous stream of rock and mud pellets was launched from the earth's surface, shooting densely towards Keisuke's position, faintly forming a sky-covering net of rock projectiles. Unfortunately, the distance between the [Shadow Creature] and the ground was simply too great. The rock pellets had no way of reaching the opponent in the first instance.
Keisuke controlled the [Shadow Creature], weaving back and forth with ease amidst the incredibly dense attack of rock pellets, suffering not a single scratch. Seeing this, Ōnoki could only lower his hands from their seal position and stop maintaining the jutsu.
"This Black Beast brat's flight ability is more flexible than I imagined." Ōnoki's brow furrowed slightly. "He can easily dodge an attack of this density. If I want to catch him..."
The randomly flying rock pellets stopped. Keisuke took this opportunity to aim at his opponent and raised both hands, condensing lacquer-black pellets at his fingertips.
Rapid-fire [Spiraling Shadow Piercing Bullet]!
The dense, lacquer-black bullets descended from the sky like a meteor shower, their attack range covering almost every corner around Ōnoki. Returning a favor is just good manners!
Faced with an attack of this level, Ōnoki didn't even lift an eyelid, but instantly retreated back into the protective range of the "Earth Prison Dome." The attack power of the [Spiraling Shadow Piercing Bullet] was already inferior to the [Spiraling Shadow Killing Cannon]. Although its attack frequency and density far surpassed the latter, it was still unable to break through the "Earth Prison Dome" that Ōnoki was deliberately maintaining.
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!—
The dense shadow bullets bombarded the rock fortress, only managing to create some insignificant small pits. In the blink of an eye, they were restored to their original state by the flowing and filling of the earth-style chakra.
"So he really is just an artillery mage, isn't he?" Keisuke was somewhat disgusted by Ōnoki's turtle-shell tactic.
When the opponent attacks, hide in the fortress; when the opponent rests, come out and fire cannons. A perfect defensive counter-attack, with both advance and retreat.
"In that case..."
Keisuke lowered the attack frequency of the [Spiraling Shadow Piercing Bullet]. His freed left hand touched the summoning talisman on his wrist.
[Summoning Technique: Lightning Flash Blade Transformation]!
An [Explosion Release Mask] instantly fell into his left hand. With a thought, a small, crow-sized [Shadow Creature] emerged from his shadow and grabbed the mask.
Once upon a time, Keisuke had thought of using the [Multiple Shadow Clone Technique] paired with the [Clone Great Explosion] to form a terrifying Explosion Corps. Later, he realized... the [Explosion Release Mask] was clearly much better to use!
The [Shadow Creature], holding the mask, under the cover of Keisuke's attack, charged fearlessly towards the rock fortress below. In just a few breaths, it reached its destination. It effortlessly activated the Explosion Release chakra stored within the mask and placed it directly on top of the fortress.
The full reserve of Explosion Release chakra was directly transformed into the B-rank technique [Explosion Release: Killer Bomb] at this moment.
BOOM!!
From his distant viewpoint, Keisuke watched as the chakra in this B-rank mask was completely activated in the blink of an eye, producing a strong, huge explosion! The [Explosion Release], which was already specialized in material destruction, had a significantly better effect on the "Earth Prison Dome" than the [Spiraling Shadow Killing Cannon], which was made of pure Yin Release chakra.
Amidst the cloud-piercing, stone-shattering roar, the rock fortress formed by the "Earth Prison Dome" was directly blasted with a huge, damaged crater, revealing the true scene inside.
"Ōnoki! Your turtle shell is—"
Keisuke steered the [Shadow Creature], approaching the fortress with its blown-off roof, just about to greet the Third Tsuchikage.
"Hm?"
In the fortress, what responded to Keisuke's greeting was a scorching hot, fierce ball of lava. "Lava Release: Flowing Rock Technique!"
A dark red lava ball flew out from a crack in the broken fortress. The high-temperature, scalding lava scorched all things, and the air around it was distorted and deformed by it.
"Lava Release?!"
In that split second, Keisuke controlled the [Shadow Creature], narrowly avoiding the attack of this Scorch Release chakra, and once again flew back into the sky.
A new mission prompt popped up on the panel.
[A-rank Ninja Combat Mission Detected!]
[A-rank Mission: Lava Ninja]
[Mission Content: Defeat/Kill Iwagakure's Four-Tails Jinchuriki, Rōshi]
[Mission Reward: A-rank Shinobi Secret Scroll]
"To deal with me, they sent both the Third Tsuchikage and the Four-Tails Jinchuriki at the same time?" Keisuke scratched his head, but he couldn't hide the smile on his face. "This great gift is truly豪華 and unexpected!"
"Rōshi! I've told you many times before!" Ōnoki's slightly rough, aged voice spread across the land. "You must wait until that kid has landed before using your Lava Release!"
"I don't need an old man like you to tell me how to act!" The Four-Tails Jinchuriki, Rōshi, crossed his arms, paying no attention to the fact that the person he was talking to was the supreme leader of Iwagakure. "To be honest, I've had enough of listening to your orders!"
"You!" Ōnoki's beard bristled, but considering that the enemy was in the sky, he couldn't argue too much with Rōshi. "Earth Release: Super Light-Weight Rock Technique!"
An unknown force eliminated the gravity of Ōnoki's body, causing him to float up lightly like a balloon, flying into the sky along with Nara Keisuke.
The Third Tsuchikage in the sky. The Four-Tails Jinchuriki on the ground. This was the lineup that Iwagakure had specifically arranged to deal with the "Black Beast." Ōnoki's original plan was to use a long, drawn-out battle to lure the "Black Beast" to the ground, and then have Rōshi's "Lava Release" deliver a one-hit kill. But he hadn't expected the other to have mastered such high-level explosive means. The power of the explosion was in no way inferior to their own Explosion Corps. The "Earth Prison Dome," which he had thought was foolproof, was thus blown open, causing his own trump card to be completely exposed.
Considering the opponent's flight ability, this capture operation could almost be declared a failure at this moment...
"Black Beast." Ōnoki floated into the sky, maintaining a rough altitude with Keisuke. "You—"
"Wait, I've been wanting to ask from the very beginning." Keisuke somewhat impolitely interrupted Ōnoki's words. "This title, you couldn't be using it to refer to me, could you?"
Ōnoki was stunned for a moment, not expecting the other to be paying attention to such trivial details at a time like this. "Troublesome little brat..."
"Pardon me for being direct, but this title, I really don't like it!" Keisuke extended his index finger, a small lacquer-black pellet condensing at his fingertip. "Mr. Old Turtle from Iwagakure, would you consider changing a title for me?"
The [Spiraling Shadow Imitation Bullet] was fired without a trace of smoke. Ōnoki had already noticed the other's action. Incomparably experienced, he merely sidestepped and dodged the attack of this black bullet. But, with a fine-tuned adjustment from Keisuke, the Yin Release chakra used to maintain the shape of this bullet was only a thin layer. Halfway through its flight, the Yin Release chakra in its core directly erupted, forming another Nara Keisuke in mid-air.
The Keisuke that appeared behind Ōnoki had a brilliant smile. He raised his hands, and all the Yin Release chakra in his body gathered at his fingertips.
[Spiraling Shadow Piercing Bullet]!
Ōnoki vaguely sensed a danger from behind. He turned around, and the lacquer-black pellet hit him right between the eyes.
(End of Chapter)
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