Chapter 17: Hard Whirlpool Water Blade
"Hmph!" Kagejirō snorted. He had clearly misinterpreted Ye's kindness, believing that both Ye and the "damned Uchiha" were just trying to steal his mission merits.
"Do you think I'm the type of person to abandon my comrades?" Kagejirō said with a righteous air. "We should work together to annihilate the remaining enemies. They're poisoned; they won't last long."
Asuka nearly fainted when she heard his proposal. She herself was poisoned, and the venom felt like it was spreading to her heart. Her Byakugan flickered, on the verge of collapse. And this reckless fool, who had previously claimed the mission was paramount, was now willing to risk the intelligence for a sliver of personal gain.
The Sand ninja, hearing that the Konoha ninja planned to finish them, became even more desperate.
"Quickly, interrupt his hand seals! Don't let him release the S-rank water style, Hard Whirlpool Water Blade!" the porcupine-headed jōnin roared, pointing his sword at Sasuke, who was still frantically forming seals. In his mind, after such a long sequence, Sasuke had to be building up an immense amount of chakra for a world-ending water technique. The fool Kagejirō had confirmed it; it had to be true.
At their captain's command, the bald-headed chūnin and the two puppet masters leaped atop the crumbling earth wall and unleashed a barrage of attacks.
"Wind Style: Suppressing Damage!" the special jōnin puppet master shouted, his fingers blurring as he formed the seals for a B-rank jutsu. A vortex of storm-force wind compressed into a high-pressure ball and shot towards Sasuke.
The other Sand ninja threw a volley of chakra-infused kunai and shuriken, and the lead jōnin even added two exploding tags to the mix.
"Earth Style: Earth-Mound Dango!"
The bald-headed chūnin, squeezing out the last of his chakra, ripped a house-sized boulder from the ground and hurled it at Sasuke.
A storm of kunai, exploding tags, a high-pressure wind bullet, and a massive boulder all converged on Sasuke, who was still in the middle of forming his hand seals.
"Kagejirō, is this really an S-rank jutsu?" Ye asked, his eyes wide with confusion. "The number of seals is far too high, isn't it? There must be hundreds by now."
"This..." Kagejirō was speechless, unable to answer. He had been bluffing, pulling the name of a famous S-rank jutsu from the Book of Seals out of thin air.
Asuka had already foreseen the outcome. It's over. She knew the fake Uchiha's chakra was even less than her own. How could he possibly withstand a combined assault comparable to an A-rank ninjutsu? And the fat genin beside him was just a burden, making it impossible for him to dodge.
Kagejirō, on the other hand, was full of glee. This damned Uchiha was a political rival, a competitor for mission merits. He should be a chess piece, a tool to exhaust the Sand ninjas' combat power. When both sides were nearly spent, he could swoop in and claim all the glory.
"Tekudō, it's up to you!" Sasuke shouted, his hands still a blur of motion.
"No problem, Captain!"
Tekudō, his face grim, untied the final sealing scroll from his waist, gripped it, and hurled it into the air in front of them.
"Summoning: Double Iron Prison Gates!"
BOOM!
Amidst the smoke and dust of the scroll's explosion, two massive iron gates, etched with the demonic face of Rashōmon, rose from the earth. The smaller gate in front was ten meters high and a meter thick, more like a wall of solid steel.
And the gate behind it was far, far larger.