Sakura dug her finger into her ear. Even now, her mind still echoed with the sound of explosions. Tenten's special abilities came in two types: [Kinetic Infusion] and [Law of Causality].
Kinetic Infusion meant injecting kinetic energy into objects, allowing them to explode on command. This was why Retzu had sensed something off about the explosion caused by the Explosive Tag. The Kunai wrapped in Explosive Tags thrown by Tenten not only exploded from the tags themselves, but also contained infused kinetic energy from Tenten. When the Explosive Tag detonated, it triggered the Kunai's explosion as well, creating a double explosion. This led Retzu to mistakenly believe that Tenten had used a new variant of the Explosive Tag.
"I know about Kinetic Infusion—Tenten uses it all the time—but what exactly is [Law of Causality]?" Kakashi asked, raising his gaze.
"In this world, cause and effect are interdependent. Every effect has its cause, and every cause leads to an effect. Normally, causes always come before effects. But for Tenten, she can reverse this relationship."
Sakura took on the role of the explainer for Kakashi. "Take attacking an enemy with a Kunai, for instance. Throwing the Kunai is the cause, and hitting the enemy is the effect. However, this effect isn't fixed at 100%. Whether due to natural interference or human factors, the outcome may vary. Therefore, one cause could lead to multiple possible outcomes."
"But when Tenten reverses the causal relationship, then the effect becomes absolute. Once a specific cause is set, there will be only one fixed result. Before throwing the Kunai, Tenten can preset the desired outcome first—for example, the Kunai will hit the enemy's shoulder—and then assign a cause, such as simply throwing the Kunai into the air."
"Normally, if you throw a Kunai into the sky, there's very little chance it would end up piercing your enemy's shoulder directly in front of you. But under Tenten's Law of Causality, this becomes an absolute certainty."
Chapter 227: Art Is Patrick Star [3] (A play on 'Art Is Explosion,' referencing SpongeBob SquarePants' Patrick Star)
"Hitting the enemy's shoulder is the effect, while throwing the Kunai into the sky is the cause. In other words, once Tenten throws that Kunai upward, it will inevitably strike the enemy's shoulder, no matter how many natural or supernatural disruptions might interfere. The outcome never changes."
Sakura finally pointed toward Lee and said to Kakashi, who was deep in thought, "In short, Tenten's Law of Causality guarantees 100% accuracy with any thrown weapon. When it comes to Tenten's infallible accuracy, no one knows it better than Lee!"
"A projectile weapon with guaranteed 100% accuracy? That ability is terrifying!" Kakashi instantly envisioned the scenario and quickly broke down the countless ways this ability could be applied. Yet shortly after, curiosity crept into his expression. "Wait… Why do you say Lee is the most experienced with it?"
Lee used to nag Tenten endlessly about youthfulness, even insisting she wear the same green spandex as him. Eventually he pushed her too far. She activated her Law of Causality ability, setting "Tenten throws a kunai" as the cause and "Lee gets stabbed in the butt by a kunai" as the effect. After that, Lee ran thirteen laps around Konoha trying to escape his fate—but ultimately still got stabbed in the butt by a flying kunai.
Sakura felt a smirk creeping onto her face as she recalled how Lee had been pursued across Konoha by a single kunai. Since that day, Lee had the good sense not to bring up the topic of making Tenten wear green spandex ever again.
"This ability really is terrifying!"
Kakashi twitched slightly at the thought—it was like having an unrelenting curse that would hunt you to the ends of the earth. Once marked by Tenten's ability, you'd probably have no chance to escape.
"It's not necessarily that bad," Sakura smiled. "Actually breaking this ability is quite simple! Just destroy the medium connecting the causality, and the ability becomes useless. Tenten uses various throwing weapons to channel her Law of Causality, so if those enhanced weapons get destroyed, the causal effect automatically disappears. As Itachi once said, 'There is no technique without a weakness.' The weakness of Tenten's Law of Causality lies in the thrown weapons themselves!"
"I see!" Kakashi suddenly understood. If Tenten's Law of Causality had no weaknesses, she really would become invincible—obviously something impossible.
While Sakura above explained things calmly, below, Retzu was furious enough to explode.
"If you don't want to tell me, fine! But our battle isn't over yet. We still don't know who will win or lose!"
"Are you stupid?" Tenten scoffed. "Like anyone would actually tell their opponent all their secrets."
Retzu was speechless. He had simply asked out of reflex just now, and only realized his recklessness after thinking it through.
"Fine, I'll give you that point—the fight isn't over yet, and no one knows who'll come out on top."
Tenten pulled out a summoning scroll, unfurling it immediately to release a barrage of kunai and shuriken directly toward Retzu.
"What? No explosive tags? You ran out already?"
Retzu quickly noticed there were no explosive tags attached to the ninja artifacts summoned by Tenten. He immediately felt a wave of relief upon noticing the absence of explosive tags on the ninja artifacts summoned by Tenten, quickly convincing himself he had uncovered the truth. Explosive tags were costly—even regular jonin couldn't afford many. A lowly genin like Tenten probably could only afford to use those earlier ones because she came from a wealthy background.
Still, without explosive tags, Retzu definitely didn't want to take these projectiles head-on either. His Kekkei Genkai was Explosion Release, not Diamond Release—he couldn't achieve diamond-hard durability.
"Wait—Earth Release: Hardening Jutsu!"
Just as Retzu prepared to dodge the incoming weapons and charge toward Tenten, a sudden overwhelming sense of danger struck him. Without hesitation, he immediately cast his hardening technique to boost his defense.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The kunai and shuriken Retzu dodged exploded just a few feet away from him, creating shockwaves that hurled his body through the air like a ragdoll. Thankfully, he used [Hardening Jutsu] in time, thickening his skin enough to survive—if not for that, he probably would have been badly injured by the blast.
<><><><><><><><>
Thank you for reading! Your support will keep me updating!
~ Every 50 Powerstones = **4 Bonus Chapters** this weekend!
<><><><><><><><>
Want to read the subsequent content in advance?
Please follow my Patreon:patreon/Tansnovel
Tans Novel - The Fastest-Updating Naruto Fanfiction Account
Read 100+ chapters in advance, with at least 3 new chapters updated every day! More free chapters! 20+ Naruto fanfictions!
Just three steps:
1. Download and open the "Patreon" app
2. Search for "Tans Novel"
3. Click on the collection and enjoy to your heart's content
<><><><><><><><>