Tsunade raised her leg high and descended from above, her kick crashing down toward Kian.
Kian reacted instantly.
The moment he sensed her presence, he leapt backward onto a nearby branch.
Tsunade's opening strike missed—but she didn't overextend. She retracted her force midair, tapped the tree with her foot, and launched after him again.
Her fist swung forward.
The air screamed.
Kian had just landed when the shockwave hit him. There was no time to dodge—he crossed his arms in front of his body.
BOOM!!
His figure was blasted backward, smashing through tree after tree.
Tsunade didn't let up for a second.
She chased him down relentlessly.
The battle erupted in an instant.
By the time the other ninja reacted, both Tsunade and Kian had already vanished deep into the forest.
From the left flank, Hyūga Hiashi and Hyūga Hizashi struck simultaneously.
"Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Wall Palm!"
With their Byakugan activated, each extended one palm.
Two compressed vacuum shockwaves erupted forward at the same time.
This was a cooperative taijutsu technique—an advanced application of Eight Trigrams: Air Palm, designed specifically for long-range engagement.
BOOM!!
The shockwaves detonated in the middle of the enemy formation.
The four remaining ninja scattered in all directions to avoid the blast.
Hiashi and Hizashi immediately pursued the two chūnin.
The two genin landed together on the ground, preparing to move in support.
But just as they took a step—
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several shuriken flew in from afar, embedding themselves at their feet and forcing them to halt.
Upside down on a tree branch, Hyūga Ming grinned so wide it nearly reached his eyes.
"You're fighting me."
He crossed his arms, two shuriken pinched between each set of fingers.
"Pulling mobs."
"Shuriken—Heavy Fire Mode!!"
Chakra surged into both hands, swelling outward like massive bear paws.
Bear Grapple Hand.
Fire.
Shuriken exploded from his hands in a relentless stream—both arms blurring into afterimages.
The two genin turned pale and split in opposite directions, fleeing desperately.
The air filled with piercing whistles as the shuriken tore past.
They glanced back—
And their blood ran cold.
A shuriken struck a tree trunk—
BOOM!
The entire trunk exploded into splinters.
That's a shuriken?!
Who the hell throws shuriken like this?!
If that hit a person, there wouldn't even be a body left.
Both genin pushed their bodies to the limit, sprinting frantically.
Behind them—
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Trees exploded one after another, like death itself chasing their heels.
No time for hand seals.
No time for jutsu.
"You won't escape," Hyūga Ming sneered.
His hands never stopped throwing.
His figure moved like a ghost through the forest.
One genin ducked behind a tree, trying to steal a breath.
But under the Byakugan—
He was completely exposed.
"Got you."
Hyūga Ming's right hand suddenly stopped. His fingers flew through hand seals.
Fire Release: Ignition required only simple seals.
Single-handed casting slowed him down slightly, but it was still fast enough.
"Fire Release: Ignition!"
"Bear Grapple Hand!"
Two techniques overlapped.
With his left hand, he hurled a shuriken with everything he had.
Mid-flight, it transformed into a fist-sized fireball.
BOOM!!
The tree was pierced clean through.
So was the genin behind it.
[Experience Gained: 456]
Hyūga Ming didn't slow down for even a second.
There was still one left.
The remaining genin had already created distance.
But he had underestimated Hyūga Ming's speed.
With the movement boost from the bandit greaves, Ming became a streak of shadow tearing through the trees.
The Byakugan locked on.
Shuriken resumed firing.
This time, there was no side-to-side evasion.
One fire-enhanced, chakra-boosted shuriken tore through trees—
And straight through the fleeing genin's body, riddling him with massive holes.
[Experience Gained: 543]
Hyūga Ming closed in, swiftly collecting the dropped items.
Then he doubled back, retrieved the first genin's drops, and stored everything away.
Only then did he turn toward the chūnin battle.
Elsewhere in the forest—
Hizashi's body slammed into a tree, snapping it in half.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
The chūnin completed his seals and expelled a violent gale.
Hizashi hit the ground hard, gritted his teeth, and activated Rotation.
A blue hemispherical barrier formed, blocking the storm.
But the chūnin drew his blade and charged straight through.
Hizashi's breathing grew ragged.
He couldn't maintain Rotation for long.
Seeing the incoming enemy, he forced himself forward.
I don't need to win.
I just need to hold him.
At the moment they were about to clash—
Shuriken suddenly screamed in from the side.
The chūnin's expression changed instantly.
Midair, with no room to dodge, he twisted his waist, kicked Hizashi away to gain recoil, and barely evaded the barrage.
Hyūga Ming rushed in, bronze blade already in hand.
His chakra was running low—Heavy Fire Mode wasn't sustainable anymore.
"Gentle Fist—Passive-Aggressive Blade!"
He had no swordsmanship training.
He simply forced Gentle Fist movements onto a blade.
Awkward.
Unnatural.
But just as uncomfortable for the enemy.
The chūnin raised a kunai, blocked twice—
Then kicked Ming square in the abdomen, sending him flying.
"What the hell was that?" the chūnin muttered, frowning.
He stepped off a branch and pursued, kunai raised, aiming to finish Ming mid-fall.
Then—
Hyūga Ming grinned.
And vanished.
Substitution Technique.
The chūnin's pupils shrank.
A paper tag filled his vision.
The kunai stabbed straight into the explosive tag.
BOOM!!
The blast swallowed him whole.
He'd underestimated his opponent.
Who would expect a genin who couldn't even wield a blade properly to pull off a god-tier substitution trap?
Hyūga Ming appeared at a distance, exhaling softly.
No experience notification yet.
Not dead.
He leapt down, preparing to finish the job—
But Hizashi rushed in first, kunai raised, eyes blazing.
"Touch him and I'll kill you!!"
Several shuriken flew toward Hizashi—
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