Chapter 45: Can the Eighty Gods' Vacuum Strike Be Reverse-Engineered?
—So strong!
—Shikotsumyaku… it really is Shikotsumyaku. How did he even obtain that bloodline?
—This level of power has already surpassed that of an ordinary jōnin!
At the mountain summit—
Inside the crumbling earthwork fortress, in addition to the Konoha shinobi originally stationed there, another figure had appeared, sprawled atop the parapet and staring intently at the bloody slaughter unfolding on the slope below.
That man was none other than Yamanaka Kaido.
He had arrived under the guise of a medical ninja sent as reinforcement. Coincidentally, there was already a member of the Yamanaka clan inside the fort. Though the two were not particularly close, they recognized one another well enough to confirm each other's identities. As a result, Kaido had entered the fortress without difficulty.
No one inside required immediate medical treatment, so he remained with the others, observing the fierce battle below between Hyūga Ritsu, Uchiha Shisui, and the Mist shinobi.
Kaido's demeanor had changed completely.
What began as calm observation had turned into something close to dread. Any lingering thought of assassinating Hyūga Ritsu with a sneak attack had been utterly extinguished. All that remained in his heart was shock.
How could someone be this powerful?
He had seen it clearly.
Uchiha Shisui was locked in combat with the Hōzuki clan prodigy, Hōzuki Mangetsu, and had provided Ritsu with no assistance whatsoever.
Hyūga Ritsu was facing over forty Mist shinobi entirely on his own.
Among them were nearly ten jōnin; the rest were seasoned, battle-hardened chūnin. And yet—rather than being overwhelmed—Ritsu was driving them back relentlessly.
In barely a minute, more than twenty Mist shinobi had been killed, three grievously wounded.
Fewer than twenty remained capable of fighting.
And even those survivors clearly stood no chance.
If Fuguki Suikazan did not intervene soon, those Mist shinobi would be slaughtered in moments.
At that moment, a voice spoke beside him.
"Shouldn't we go down and help them?"
It was the honest, taciturn jōnin captain.
The others exchanged uneasy glances.
"No."
Yamanaka Kaido answered immediately.
All eyes turned toward him, but he remained composed.
"What help do you think you can offer?" he said calmly. "Do you truly believe you'd make a difference down there? To be blunt, going down now would only hold them back. You'd be a liability."
"The real way to help is to stay here and not interfere. You must trust the decision made by the frontline command. Since they sent only those two as reinforcements, it means they've already judged that those two are capable of stabilizing the situation."
To be absolutely clear—he spoke entirely from the standpoint of the village's interests, without the slightest trace of personal motive.
After all, Aburame Ryūma's orders to him were simple: observe carefully and gather intelligence.
Nothing more.
Every action he took had to be grounded in the village's benefit. That was the very purpose of Root—to exist in the shadows, to abandon honor, to use any means necessary to eliminate obstacles to the village's prosperity.
And these battered defenders of the Ishigoryu Mountain line were not such obstacles.
Kaido genuinely hoped they would survive, rather than throw away their lives due to a rash decision.
The others exchanged glances again.
They were convinced.
Or rather—they weren't fools. They knew full well that charging down with their level of strength would amount to suicide. Still, watching from above left them feeling uneasy. Kaido's words gave them the justification they needed to remain where they were.
After all, they believed he had come together with Hyūga Ritsu and the others.
Then—
The situation below changed once more.
Fuguki Suikazan finally made his move.
And when he did, it was with overwhelming force.
Water Release: Exploding Water Shockwave.
An immense volume of water erupted forth—enough to form a lake—roaring like a flash flood. The torrent surged wildly across the mountainside, uprooting and flattening large swaths of forest in its path.
The sight made those atop the mountain break into cold sweat.
Thank goodness they had listened to Kaido.
Had they gone down earlier, that single technique alone would have sent them fleeing in panic, turning them into nothing more than burdens for Hyūga Ritsu and Uchiha Shisui.
After all—even Hyūga Ritsu and Uchiha Shisui, faced with such a massive, awe-inspiring area-of-effect ninjutsu, had no choice but to retreat swiftly, unwilling to meet it head-on.
"Large-scale offensive ninjutsu…"
Ritsu moved backward up the slope, retreating as he climbed, dodging the surging torrents of water crashing wildly across the mountainside. At the same time, he calmly assessed the situation.
His most obvious weakness had once again revealed itself—
A lack of large-scale offensive techniques, and likewise, insufficient means to deal with large-scale attacks.
And this was not merely his personal flaw.
Strictly speaking, it was a systemic weakness of the Hyūga clan.
The Byakugan itself possessed no inherent offensive power, and the Gentle Fist passed down through the Hyūga line focused on precision and internal damage. It lacked any true wide-area destructive techniques.
"Is the Eight Trigrams Air Palm basically a severely downgraded version of the Eighty Gods' Vacuum Strike?"
"I wonder… could it be reverse-engineered into Eighty Gods' Vacuum Strike?"
An almost absurd thought flickered through Ritsu's mind.
In the next instant, he forcefully buried that impractical notion deep within his thoughts.
He halted his backward retreat, glanced at the water level—which had peaked and was now rapidly receding—and twisted his body sharply. Raising his palm, he struck backward with a fierce Eight Trigrams Air Palm, smashing it straight into a pool of water behind him.
The water shark that had just begun to surface was blown apart before it could even fully form.
Not far away, standing atop the water, Fuguki Suikazan raised an eyebrow.
His carefully planted Rain of Four Sharks had been eliminated before it could even display its power.
The Byakugan's perceptive ability truly was troublesome.
"Then let's settle this head-on."
After a brief test failed, Fuguki decisively abandoned any notion of trickery. Against the Hyūga clan's Byakugan, opportunistic tactics had a pitiful success rate.
The only reliable solution was overwhelming force—crushing the Hyūga brat from the front.
His hands flew through seals, moving so fast they left afterimages.
Then—
Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!
The water's surface roiled violently as a ferocious, fully formed water dragon surged forth—horns, claws, and fangs all present—charging straight toward Ritsu with the momentum of a landslide, powerful enough to flatten forests and shatter mountains.
—No way to dodge!
Ritsu recognized this instantly.
He could clearly see the massive surge of chakra within Fuguki as it was gathered and released, but the attack's speed was simply too fast, and its range far too wide.
Unless one had mastered the Body Flicker to Shisui's level—or possessed space-time techniques like the Flying Thunder God that ignored distance altogether—evading this strike was impossible.
Eight Trigrams Palm: Revolving Heaven!
Ritsu unleashed the Hyūga clan's ultimate defensive technique once more.
The water dragon slammed into the rapidly spinning chakra barrier—and was instantly shattered.
The massive construct burst apart, torrents of water spraying outward in every direction, as though a sudden localized rainstorm had erupted across the battlefield.