Chapter 65: Repelling the Stone Ninja
Kyosuke looked at the enemy, who had now dissolved into a pool of pus, and sneered. He then turned to Hyuga Yōmyō and gestured for him to check on Torune.
Then, Kyosuke turned back to face the enraged Akatsuchi. "Now it's our turn."
"..." Akatsuchi looked at his dead and heavily injured teammates. Although a fire of rage was burning in his heart, he forcibly suppressed it, allowing himself to remain relatively calm.
After all, according to the rumors, this ninja before him was Konoha's biggest trump card in this Chunin Exam. He couldn't afford to be anything but calm.
Huu... Akatsuchi took a deep breath, then quickly crossed his hands to form a seal.
Since the enemy has no intention of making the first move, then I'll take the initiative.
"Earth Release: Rock Clone."
Five clones made of earth suddenly appeared beside Akatsuchi and then charged toward Kyosuke.
And that wasn't all. As the rock clones were charging, Akatsuchi cast another ninjutsu.
A large amount of chakra gathered in his palm, and he slammed it onto the ground.
In front of him, a crack silently appeared on the ground and then quickly spread toward Kyosuke.
"Earth Release: Fissure."
Boom!
As the fissure approached, the ground beneath Kyosuke instantly collapsed. If he hadn't reacted quickly and leaped up, he would have been buried alive.
However, Kyosuke's reaction had been anticipated by Akatsuchi.
This earth-style jutsu had been a feint from the beginning, its purpose to leave the airborne Kyosuke with no escape.
And just as Kyosuke leaped up to dodge, he found that the five rock clones were already waiting for him.
Although Kyosuke tried his best to resist, he was ultimately slammed to the ground by a heavy blow from the rock clones.
But before Akatsuchi could celebrate, he saw the fallen Kyosuke vanish with a poof.
A shadow clone?! When? Startled, Akatsuchi quickly scanned his surroundings, trying to find Kyosuke's real body.
Just then, Akatsuchi suddenly felt the light behind him brighten.
He had no time to turn and look. He could only rely on instinct and throw himself to the side.
At the same time, his hands quickly formed a series of hand seals.
However, how could Kyosuke's long-planned ninjutsu attack be so easily dodged?
The numerous fireballs of various sizes flying in the air suddenly changed their trajectory under Kyosuke's chakra control.
They traced a bizarre arc in the air and then shot toward the diving Akatsuchi.
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique."
Although with Kyosuke's current skill level and chakra control, he couldn't achieve absolute precision, slightly altering the flight path was not a problem.
Damn it, I'm too late, Akatsuchi's hand seal speed was no match for the speed of Kyosuke's ninjutsu. So, he had no choice but to give up on forming seals and prepare to grit his teeth and take the attack head-on.
However, at this moment, Mahiru, who had been forgotten by both of them, struggled to his feet and cast a defensive ninjutsu.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall."
Mahiru's timely support finally allowed Akatsuchi to survive this crisis.
Just as a slight smile touched Mahiru's lips, a calm voice suddenly sounded beside his ear.
"Not bad. To think you'd even know how to sacrifice yourself for others. I underestimated you."
Hearing these words, the hair on Mahiru's entire body stood on end.
"Akatsuchi, help... ugh..." Just as he was about to call for help from his comrade, a swarm of poisonous snakes had already coiled around him.
Countless fangs bit into his throat, injecting their deadly venom into his body.
In the end, Mahiru slowly died in an agonizing struggle.
[Notification: Successfully killed an enemy (Level 32). Gained 36 experience points.]
Tsk, only Level 32 and he dared to participate in this Chunin Exam? Is the Stone Village running out of people? Kyosuke thought, looking at the system notification and silently scorning the enemy.
However, although the experience gained from this kill was relatively low, plus the previous leftovers, Kyosuke's total experience points had once again reached 210.
Well, it's better than nothing, Kyosuke comforted himself, then looked up at the expressionless Akatsuchi.
At this moment, the chakra all over Akatsuchi's body was churning violently. Although it hadn't reached the point of bursting out of his body, it was clearly visible to Kyosuke's Sharingan.
Is he overcome with rage? Although Kyosuke's expression was still one of confidence, a strong sense of alarm had already risen in his heart.
He knew that Akatsuchi was preparing to go all out.
"Earth Release: Earth and Stone Dragon."
This time, Akatsuchi didn't bother with any probing. He directly launched his ninjutsu at Kyosuke.
In just a few short breaths, countless sharp rocks suddenly shot out from the ground around Akatsuchi.
This ninjutsu was a large-scale AOE skill.
Although Kyosuke could see the attacks of these rock spikes, there were simply too many of them. In the end, he had no choice but to temporarily retreat.
At the same time, he sighed inwardly. A miscalculation.
It turned out that Akatsuchi's purpose in using this ninjutsu was not to kill Kyosuke, but to use a large-scale attack to force him back and create an opportunity for himself to escape.
Kyosuke had only realized this after retreating to a certain distance.
Unfortunately, he had realized it a bit too late.
After the ninjutsu had ended, Kyosuke quickly looked toward Akatsuchi's position.
Sure enough, he was long gone.
And Hyuga Yōmyō, who had also noticed this, walked over, supporting Torune.
"Captain, should we pursue?" Yōmyō asked Kyosuke while observing Akatsuchi's movements with his Byakugan.
Hearing this, Kyosuke lowered his head in thought for a moment, then looked at Torune's scorched chest. In the end, he silently shook his head.
"Let's go. I'm sure no one will dare to trouble us now," Kyosuke said, then led the way toward the exam's finish line.
As he leaped forward at high speed, Kyosuke looked down at the kunai in his hand.
It's indeed a bit difficult to fight ninja with special weapons using just a kunai. I need to think of a solution, Kyosuke thought to himself.
From the past few battles, Kyosuke had discovered that neither Kisame with his Samehada nor the user of the Explosion Release were opponents that could be dealt with using just a kunai.
This was why, despite having the advantage of the Sharingan, Kyosuke had not engaged them in close combat.
The disadvantage of using a kunai was simply too great. It was fine against ordinary enemies, but against a tricky opponent, close combat would become a weakness for Kyosuke.
So, he was now planning to find a way to change this.
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