In an instant, a massive "Circle of Extinction" with a diameter of 160 meters erupted.
Hyūga Yū didn't even bother to look at Munashi Jinpachi, who was currently being swallowed by the "Great River of Wind." As an elite Jōnin, the man wouldn't die that easily.
This move was excellent for clearing out fodder, but if Yū truly wanted the man's life, he would need to pull out another trump card.
However, Yū's current battle plan was simple: diminish the enemy's combat effectiveness at the lowest possible cost.
Yes, low cost.
Yū activated his Byakugan, the veins around his eyes bulging as he inspected his own internal pathways. The chakra he had refined vanished by half after releasing the Wind Style: Heavenly Subjugation—equivalent to a quarter of his total reserves.
Having reached a chakra level of approximately 5 in Stamina, Yū's resting chakra reserves were sufficient to maintain his Byakugan: Wind Style Chakra Mode and fire off the Heavenly Subjugation twice. By stalling for a bit of time, he could refine nearly his full amount of chakra again using his remaining physical energy. In other words, in a single battle, he could unleash this level of Wind Style roughly four times.
However, the Cyan Chakra—the evolved form of his base Byakugan chakra—possessed the ability to decompose techniques that had already been released and reconvert them into usable energy. Once the command was issued and he no longer needed to control the air pressure, Yū could use the Cyan Chakra to reclaim about one-third of the total chakra spent on the Jutsu.
Furthermore, Yū slowly lowered his palm, quietly reaching his other hand toward his abdomen. Five characters—Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth—glowed on his fingertips. He pressed them against his stomach and gave a slight twist.
"Five Elements Unseal!"
In that moment, the Zero-Tails core sealed within his abdomen began to rapidly vomit out the Dark Chakra generated during the fight—energy amplified and absorbed from the enemies' negative emotions.
By using the Cyan Chakra to decompose it into ordinary chakra and then converting it into his own signature energy, Yū's chakra levels began to skyrocket once again!
The amount of Dark Chakra the Zero-Tails generated wasn't fixed; it depended entirely on the total volume of extreme emotions the enemy produced during the encounter. However, Yū had a rough metric for reference. For instance, the conversion of Jinpachi's terror, fear, shock, disbelief, and thoughts like "How is this kid so ridiculous?"... resulted in a massive bounty of Dark Chakra.
Based on Yū's "Stamina 5" capacity, it was immense. After just a few seconds of seven complex conversion cycles, Yū's chakra was back to full, and he had only used half of the Dark Chakra generated by those emotions!
The remaining Dark Chakra was stored back in the Zero-Tails core. Since it wasn't a complete Zero-Tails and lacked a massive storage capacity, the excess energy was unfortunately leaking out into the air.
This caused the usually frugal Yū to feel a pang of "flesh-stinging" regret. Damn it, I've never fought such a "rich" battle in my life!
After firing off a massive ultimate move, not only was his "blue bar" not empty, it had refilled to the brim with half a bar to spare!
Could you even believe it?
And this was exactly why Yū had designed the Byakugan: Wind Style Chakra Mode to be the centerpiece of his combat system.
Simply put: the better Yū "acted the part," the greater the shock he delivered to his enemies, and the more incomprehensible he seemed... the more chakra he would have!
Compared to Sasuke, who usually got nothing but a "slap of love" for his posturing—gaining nothing but style points with zero efficiency—this was the True Art of Posturing!
Back on the battlefield.
A single round of Yū's "Chakra-negative" Wind Style: Heavenly Subjugation had plowed the earth, leaving behind a massive, yellowish-brown, wavy concentric circle spanning 160 meters with Yū at the center.
Kuriarare Kushimaru, who had barely escaped the strike by leaping into the air, landed on a tree stump that had been sheared clean off at the root.
Within a 160-meter radius of the Hyūga brat, not a single tree remained intact.
Kushimaru's breathing grew noticeably ragged. He tried to use everything he had learned in his twenty-four years as a shinobi to understand what he was seeing. However, not only could he not comprehend it, his expression became increasingly vacant.
In the center of the clearing, that Hyūga kid—who by all rights should have exhausted a massive amount of chakra after such a large-scale Ninjutsu—didn't even look winded. Looking at him, Yū wasn't even gasping for air; in fact, his indifferent, elegant face seemed to have a healthy, almost "over-nourished" flush to it!
"???"
This was what Kushimaru found most impossible to grasp. As a top-tier elite Jōnin of the Hidden Mist, a master of various styles and secret techniques, he prided himself on being able to achieve similar feats—but never with such efficiency.
From a strategic standpoint, although Yū's move had repelled Jinpachi, it hadn't killed him. That was strange.
Shinobi are fragile creatures. Slit their throat, they die. Pierce their heart, they die. Even a small cut left untreated will eventually kill them.
Hell, just like when he dealt with Biwa Jūzō earlier, the brat could have simply poisoned the stationary, immobilized Jinpachi, and the man would have been finished right there.
Yet, Yū hadn't. He hadn't moved a single step.
He simply stood there, palm raised, like an aloof deity granting boons or passing judgment upon mortals!
Even when facing enemies who had once broken his arm and blinded one of his eyes, those pale, indifferent pupils held no hatred, no desire for revenge, no malice, and no anger. There was only indifference—a high-and-mighty coldness that viewed them as nothing more than insects.
It was as if, to him, the power to declare their life or death was something he could do with a mere casual wave of his hand.
However, after the initial shock passed, Kushimaru narrowed his eyes.
Something was clearly wrong.
"Cough, cough, cough! N-no... gh... wah!"
Nearby, Munashi Jinpachi crawled out from the dirt, vomiting blood. His long, donkey-like face was a mask of terror, shock, and daze.
He hadn't even processed what happened before Yū's move nearly blasted him into oblivion.
A sea of wind blades had submerged him in an instant. But in that same split second, the stagnant, skyrocketing air pressure returned to normal, allowing Jinpachi to move again. Relying on the muscle memory of a long shinobi career, he had raised the Blastsword Shibuki to parry while simultaneously triggering a Blastsword Jutsu: Blazing Death. Using the massive recoil of the explosion, he propelled himself backward to the edge of the circle, narrowly escaping the most terrifying part of the eruption.
In the face of Yū's massive AOE attack, the Blastsword's ultimate move was like a flickering spark in a tidal wave—it flared for a second and was instantly swallowed whole.
Jinpachi slowly raised his face, which was bloodstained and riddled with shallow cuts, staring blankly at Yū, who remained motionless in the center of the crater.
His throat felt dry, his voice rasping.
It was then he heard Kushimaru's calm, heartless voice from not far away:
"Munashi Jinpachi, pull yourself together. Be ready to support me at any moment!"
"I have an idea—"
Kushimaru looked toward the tall, god-like figure in the center of the field, a cold killing intent flashing in his eyes.
Jinpachi's heart hammered against his ribs. He looked up in horror and couldn't help but shout, "Kushimaru-kun, no! Don't go over there!"
However, before he could finish, Kushimaru began to move.
He didn't charge at Yū immediately. Instead, he began to sprint around the perimeter of the 160-meter circle, his speed increasing further and further!
He turned into a blur, like a mother spider diligently weaving a web for her prey.
And Yū, standing in the center of the web being woven around him, let out a soft, "Heh."
He remained perfectly still, merely tilting his head slightly. He gave a faint, elegant smile, his eyes filled with an even deeper sense of indifferent mockery.
"Have you still... not recognized reality?"
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