WEEKLY POWER GOALS 💎🔥 30→2ch | 60→5ch | 100→8ch | 200→15ch | 400→25ch⏰ Resets Monday!
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"Nawaki!"
At the same moment, Gen reacted. The sight of Nawaki in danger struck him like a lightning bolt. His mind went blank.
Years ago, it was his own reckless ambition. He'd charged ahead against a powerful enemy, leaving two weaker teammates behind. Their deaths were on him.
This scene… it was a mirror of the past.
Gen's eyes instantly reddened.
"Water Style: Water Wall!"
WHOOSH!
Ignoring everything, Gen formed seals with both hands. A torrent of water, powerful as a waterfall, erupted from the ground, forming a solid barrier behind Nawaki.
"Impossible!"
Kūgo's pupils contracted sharply.
Without a lake nearby, with just two seals… Gen had conjured a Water Release of this magnitude?!
"It won't matter! It can't stop my Explosion Release!"
Kūgo snarled, his fist still driving forward, focused solely on punching through the wall and into Nawaki.
"Shit!"
Even Nawaki, for all his denseness, felt the massive disturbance behind him.
But the Iwa-nin in front of him swung his blade down, perfectly timing his attack with Kūgo's. A pincer. No escape.
"Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT!"
Panic screamed in Nawaki's mind, but in that split second, he couldn't break free from an opponent matching his own skill.
BOOM!
Kūgo's fist slammed into the Water Wall. Explosive chakra erupted from his arm.
Splash! Crash!
The wall shattered instantly, collapsing into feeble streams that pattered uselessly on the ground. Kūgo's momentum stalled for only a breath. He twisted his torso, gathered force, and drove his fist once more toward the trapped Nawaki's back.
"Water Style: Wave Riding Strike!"
In that critical moment, Gen rode the currents of his own fallen wall. He shot forward, sliding between Kūgo and Nawaki almost instantly.
One arm yanked Nawaki back. The other swung his sword in a vicious slash aimed at Kūgo's forearm.
"Tch!"
Kūgo's expression flickered. He shifted, dodging the blade, and used the momentum to pivot his hips. A heavy roundhouse kick smashed into Gen's shoulder.
THUD!
The impact was brutal. A sickening crack came from Gen's shoulder. Still in the wave-riding stance, he stumbled back, clutching Nawaki, and crashed to the ground several meters away.
All of this happened in less than three breaths.
Chiba's heart hammered against his ribs. He disengaged from the two Iwa-nin with a desperate burst of speed and landed in front of the fallen pair. His palms slapped the earth.
"Earth Style: Multiple Earth-Style Walls!" he roared.
RUMBLE!
Three massive, thick earthen walls surged from the ground one after another, forming a temporary barrier between them and the enemy.
"Haah… haah… Holy shit. A-rank missions. Never a dull moment," Nawaki gasped from within Gen's grip, the adrenaline of a near-death experience still buzzing through him.
"Are you hurt, Nawaki?!" Gen ignored his own screaming shoulder, gripping the boy's arm.
In that moment, Nawaki's face seemed to overlap with the ghosts in Gen's memory. A lump formed in his throat. Hot tears blurred his vision, spilling over.
"I'm fine," Nawaki said, confused by the old man's sudden tears. "Are… are you okay, Gen-senpai?"
"I'm fine. I'm fine…" Gen mumbled, tears still flowing as he looked at Chiba's and Nawaki's worried faces. For a dizzying second, he saw his two young comrades again.
「Pull yourself together, Gen! Everyone's counting on you!」 Their voices echoed in his ears, clear as yesterday.
「I will. I'll protect them. I won't let that mistake happen again.」 Gen swiped the tears from his face. His gaze hardened, sharpened.
CRASH!
The earthen walls collapsed. Kūgo led his three remaining men through the debris, charging once more.
"I've figured out that Explosion Release user's weakness," Gen said as the three of them fell back in a tactical retreat. He was fully focused now. "He can only trigger the explosions with his fists. And he needs to focus his chakra completely to do it."
"He's right!" Chiba nodded, thinking back. "When he shattered the Water Wall, he paused. He must have been charging the blast. Otherwise, Nawaki would've been paste before you could reach him."
"And just now," Nawaki's eyes lit up, catching on, "He had the perfect chance to blow us both up with a kick. But he didn't. He couldn't! The bastard's useless if we tie up his hands!"
"Exactly," Chiba agreed, glancing at Gen. "Gen-senpai, we need to work together from now on. No more solo engagements."
"I understand," Gen replied, his voice heavy with conviction. "I won't let you down."
Nawaki and Chiba shared a look. "New plan," Nawaki said. "Chiba and I keep the boom-hands guy busy. You finish off the other three. Fast."
Thump.
Chiba untied the rope around his waist and unceremoniously heaved the unconscious woman toward a patch of ground nearby. Gen flipped the iron pot off his back. It landed with a clang, covering her.
The Explosion Release user was strong. Tying him down would require their full attention. The woman would just get in the way. If they failed, she was dead anyway. Simple logic.
The three shinobi pivoted as one. They fanned out into a loose triangle formation and charged the approaching Iwa-nin from different angles.
"Hah! Done running, little mice?" one Iwa-nin sneered.
"They're skilled. Don't get careless!" Kūgo barked.
"Shadow Shuriken Technique!"
Gen leapt into the air. With his uninjured arm, he hurled a single shuriken with all his might. Seals flashed from his hands—a technique taught to him by the Sandaime himself.
Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!
One became two. Two became four. In an instant, the air was filled with hundreds, then thousands of gleaming metal stars. They descended with an ear-splitting shriek like a flock of enraged birds, a dense, inescapable rain of death.
"Another illusion?!" an Iwa-nin cried, looking at the impossible hail.
"…No! It's not!" Kūgo's face paled as realization struck. "That's the Third Hokage's technique! Every shuriken is real! Every one can kill! MOVE!"
His warning was too late. Even if it weren't, it was pointless. The shuriken swarm formed a perfect killing zone. No room to dodge.
"Explosion Release: Landmine Fist!"
Kūgo drove his fist into the ground. The erupting earth and stone blocked most of the shuriken heading his way. His men lacked such defense.
"Earth Style: Earth Flow—"
One Iwa-nin, the one still sluggish from the nerve toxin, was mid-seal when a dozen shuriken punched through his body. He crumpled.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The other two scrambled. One frantically parried with his blade. The other, in a moment of pure desperation, ducked behind his comrade's falling body, using the corpse as a macabre shield.
"Damn you!" Kūgo roared. He shot toward Gen like an arrow. If he didn't stop that old man, his remaining men were dead.
"Not happening! Your fight is with us!"
Nawaki and Chiba closed in from left and right, their movements synchronized, their attacks a coordinated storm aimed solely at Kūgo's arms.
"Senju Style: Drawing Slash!"
"Chakra Scalpel!"
They weaved around him, footsteps light and fluid, their blades—one steel, one shimmering blue chakra—a constant, harrying threat to his fists and forearms.
"Explosion Rel—"
Kūgo tried to trigger his bloodline limit multiple times. But under their relentless, precision harassment, he couldn't focus the chakra. He fought, furious and frustrated.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!"
On the other side, Gen's seals summoned a roaring dragon of water. It plowed through the two remaining Iwa-nin, smashing them against the canyon wall with bone-jarring force.
"Damn it all…"
He saw it from the corner of his eye. A cold dread settled in Kūgo's gut. He knew, with chilling certainty.
He wasn't leaving this canyon alive.
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