A pure mage simply cannot survive on the battlefield, so Haseo decided to shift from a mage to an assassin. However, fundamentally, he was still a mage, and there was a very simple reason holding him back from abandoning his "spellcasting abilities"—those who could instantly dominate heaven and earth in the later stages were all mages.
Haseo's spellcasting speed was fast, and so far, he believed himself not to be among those ninjas lacking sufficient mana reserves.
With a single hand, Haseo swung his blade rightward, using tremendous force to parry aside Sakumo Hatake's chakra-infused tanto. Even Sakumo himself tilted backward slightly from the impact... The longer the reach, the greater the advantage—physics and torque still played a role even in ninjutsu combat.
While Sakumo was momentarily off-balance, Haseo's left hand, crackling with lightning chakra, shot straight toward him.
Even in practice, Haseo never held anything back when facing Sakumo Hatake. If Sakumo ended up stabbed fatally by this move, well then—that's what he signed up for.
Sakumo Hatake sharply twisted his body backward, nearly contorting himself like a pretzel, but ultimately managed to evade Haseo's strike. He hadn't been struck, but sweat had already broken out across his brow.
He felt a wave of fear—it was obvious the attack just now was genuine, not faked in the slightest. That precise, fast, ruthless strike felt no different than one used against someone's father's murderer.
Frustrating as it was, Haseo went all out precisely because he trusted Sakumo's skill... The truth was exactly that—Haseo wouldn't dare use such a technique on a weaker teammate because they might actually die, while theoretically, Sakumo couldn't be killed by just one stab.
After forcing Sakumo back with one move, Haseo clapped both hands together again. At first, he intended to use Water Dragon Jutsu, but during training against teammates who weren't particularly agile, a high-damage pinpoint breakthrough technique like Water Dragon Jutsu might seem somewhat excessive—in case someone got seriously hurt. So instead… let's go with Exploding Water Colliding Wave. Although its effect was grand, its focused pressure wasn't as intense as Water Dragon Jutsu.
Thus, the powerful torrent of [Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave] surged forward, sweeping along even the smugly posing Sakumo Hatake as it charged toward the three Uzumaki ninja.
By this point, other watching ninja had already sensed something odd about Haseo—the multiple elemental chakra affinities didn't make sense, nor did the unreasonable speed at which he released his jutsu… Had they all learned different hand seals? Could Konoha really have some secret training method?
The water surged across half the training field, but due to the higher terrain, water didn't pool—it flowed past in an instant, leaving behind a scene resembling one ravaged by hurricane winds.
Then immediately after, Haseo suddenly sensed something.
His sensory abilities, while vastly inferior by Uzumaki standards, proved remarkably accurate at extremely close range. Thus, Haseo clapped his hands once again and pressed them against the ground. As his chakra surged beneath his feet, the earth in front of him abruptly rose up, forming a wall half a meter thick and seven or eight meters high, its edges jagged and uneven.
[Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall]
After Sansho-sensei's death, Haseo no longer had the freedom to casually learn various ninjutsu techniques as before. Although the Third Hokage knew many jutsu, there was no reason for the Hokage to take responsibility for teaching Haseo... Fortunately, the Third's three students—those so-called "Sannin"—were essentially under Haseo's control, allowing him to extract techniques from them.
For example, most of the Earth Release ninjutsu Haseo recently mastered were learned from Jiraiya. There was no issue of coercion involved; actually, if Haseo wanted to study under Jiraiya, the latter would be more than happy to teach him… After all, it boosted Jiraiya's sense of achievement and vanity when even someone stronger than himself wanted to learn from him.
It was a bit hard to swallow at first, but Haseo didn't see anything wrong with it—after all, if you're the expert, you teach. This way, both sides got what they wanted. As for Jiraiya… he didn't really enjoy being a mentor, but in today's terms, having Haseo seek his guidance could trigger oxytocin release in his brain, genuinely making him happy.
Almost as soon as the Earth-Style Wall formed, it was instantly pierced repeatedly by numerous white chakra chains.
Powerful surges of chakra danced across the training field.
After dodging the attack, Haseo quickly climbed atop the wall's summit, immediately identifying the source of these chakra chains… It was Mokkō.
"Adamantine Sealing Chains… Even among the Uzumaki, this shouldn't be a normal clan member's technique, should it?"
Witnessing this scene, Haseo murmured to himself.
Not only would ordinary Uzumaki members struggle to use this technique, but practically speaking, those who could were extreme exceptions. Moreover, the opponent was so young… To put it plainly, any Uzumaki capable of wielding this technique possessed the potential to become a jinchūriki.
Now, Haseo felt completely reassured about the strength and caliber of these young Uzumaki ninja sent into the Kagenami.
However, looking at those chakra chains slicing through both air and earth, Haseo realized—he really shouldn't have claimed to be a ninja with a bottomless chakra well.
Next to the Uzumaki, his current chakra levels were downright shameful—laughably low.
The three Uzumaki ninja were still grouped together; The Exploding Water Colliding Wave—basically a powerful water blast—only soaked them without actually knocking them down.
The chakra chains continued swirling through the air, then redirected themselves toward Haseo's current position.
So, the question remained—where exactly was Hatake Sakumo?
Techniques like Adamantine Sealing Chains were designed for taking down huge targets—like tailed beasts. When used against individual ninja, first, their power was excessively overwhelming. A sealing technique strong enough to bind a tailed beast was clearly overkill for regular shinobi. Second, being a long-range technique, it lacked the necessary flexibility in dealing with single moving targets.
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