"Monster..."
Toji spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, staring intently at Yamada as he walked out of the shadows.
In all his years in the underground black market, he had never been so cleanly and decisively crushed in the field of pure Taijutsu that he was most proud of—crushed in a one-sided manner that was almost humiliating.
Just now, that man hadn't even shown half of his strength. That ease of manner was like teasing a slightly larger pet.
"Is the warm-up over?" Yamada stopped five meters away from Toji.
"Your physical quality is not bad, and your ability to take a hit is barely passing. However, if you're only at this level, then the game between us can end."
Hearing this undisguised contempt, Toji's pride was stung. He knew that by relying on fists and feet alone, he could not win against the monster in front of him.
"Since you want to play for real... then don't blame me for getting serious."
Toji stood up straight, his gaze becoming cold. He reached out and pulled two weapons from the mouth of the Cursed Spirit on his shoulder.
In his left hand was a broad short sword.
In his right hand, he held a uniquely shaped short blade with a three-pronged edge.
Special Grade Cursed Tool—Inverted Spear of Heaven!
This weapon, capable of forcibly nullifying any activated Cursed Technique, was his greatest trump card against Jujutsu Sorcerers.
"Whether it's spatial transfer or some other messy technique, before this blade, they are all invalid."
Toji's figure turned into an afterimage, this time even faster than before. Wielding the Cursed Tools in both hands, he wove a lethal net of blades under the night sky, closing in on Yamada.
Looking at the Inverted Spear of Heaven stabbing toward him, Yamada didn't dodge, mockery surfacing in his pitch-black pupils.
"Nullify all techniques?"
A crimson hexagram suddenly lit up in the depths of Yamada's eyes—the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan was active.
"Then you might as well try and see if you can nullify the things within these eyes."
Yamada's right hand rested on the hilt of the sword at his waist. The Kusanagi Sword did not leave its scabbard, but the air around him boiled in that instant.
Pure Chakra materialized in the void.
Crack!
Just as Toji's Inverted Spear of Heaven was about to pierce Yamada's chest, a purple skeletal rib cage erupted from Yamada's body without warning, blocking the space between the two of them.
Clang!
The Inverted Spear of Heaven struck the purple ribs, erupting in dazzling sparks.
Toji's pupils shrank violently.
This Special Grade Cursed Tool, capable of ignoring Infinity, let out an overburdened wail upon touching this layer of purple skeleton. Not only did it fail to nullify it, but it also nearly flew out of his hand under the massive counterforce.
"This is impossible! Why didn't the Inverted Spear of Heaven work!" Toji was horrified.
"Because this isn't what you call a Cursed Technique or Cursed Energy at all." Yamada's cold voice rang out from behind the skeletal frame.
The purple Chakra continued to surge, instantly forming a massive skeletal arm.
"This is power belonging to the Uchiha Clan."
Bang!
The purple skeletal hand slammed into Toji's body with a violent slap.
Toji didn't even have time to make any defensive moves before he was slapped directly into the hard asphalt road.
The ground cracked and sank over a large area, forming a human-shaped pit several meters deep.
Yamada dispersed the purple skeleton of his Susanoo and jumped down along the edge of the crater.
Toji lay at the bottom of the pit, covered in dust and bloodstains.
His body had suffered unprecedented trauma under the crushing weight of that unreasonable, absolute power just now. Three ribs were broken, his internal organs were displaced from the massive shock, and every breath was accompanied by a tearing, sharp pain.
Yamada leaned over and nonchalantly pulled the Special Grade Cursed Tool from Toji's stiff fingers.
Inverted Spear of Heaven.
The blade had a peculiar jitte shape and felt heavy in his hand.
Yamada could clearly feel a strange power attached to this blade, capable of forcibly interrupting any Cursed Technique.
"Forced cancellation of techniques. It's a nice toy, I'm confiscating it."
With a slight thought from Yamada, the vortex in his right eye quietly rotated, sucking the Inverted Spear of Heaven into the Kamui dimension.
Toji stared fixedly at Yamada's movements, bloodshot veins spreading wildly in his eyes due to extreme unwillingness. He bit back the blood in his mouth and, relying on his freakish muscle control, forcibly reset his broken ribs.
"Don't look at me with those high-and-mighty eyes... I haven't lost yet!"
Toji let out a beast-like roar and stood up unsteadily from the bottom of the pit.
As he moved, a Cursed Spirit with a baby's face and an ugly, caterpillar-like body crawled out of his stomach and coiled around his neck.
This was his domesticated arsenal Cursed Spirit.
Toji thrust his hand into its mouth and pulled out a pitch-black chain with a sharp hook at the end.
Cursed Tool: Chain of a Thousand Miles.
As long as the hook at the front isn't destroyed, this chain can extend infinitely, making it an excellent weapon for close combat and mid-range suppression.
"I was careless just now, caught off guard by that purple turtle shell of yours."
Toji spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, gripped the Chain of a Thousand Miles with both hands, and his muscles bulged once more.
He pushed his five senses to the absolute limit, his aura becoming like that of a lone wolf driven into a corner.
"Without that defense, in pure close-quarters combat, I will absolutely not lose!"
Hearing this stubborn declaration, Yamada stopped in his tracks. He looked at Toji's state of high alert, a hint of mockery flashing in his eyes.
"Won't lose? It seems you still have a blind confidence in your close-quarters combat."
Yamada unbuttoned his collar and loosened his wrists and neck.
"Since you're so persistent, I'll completely shatter your illusions. I won't be holding back this time."
The moment the words fell, Toji was the first to strike.
"Don't be too arrogant!"
Whoosh!
The Chain of a Thousand Miles tore through the air under Toji's monstrous strength, heading straight for Yamada's throat with a sharp whistle.
The chain changed direction eerily in mid-air, sealing off the escape routes to the left and right.
Yamada did not retreat. Instead, he advanced. Facing that afterimage, his body sank downward with an extremely small yet perfect motion.
The chain grazed his scalp, shearing off a few strands of black hair.
Taking advantage of the opening while Toji was changing his move, Yamada exerted force with his feet and instantly slipped into Toji's inner blind spot.
Toji reacted extremely fast. Seeing the chain miss, he immediately gave up on pulling it and slammed his right knee upward with a whistling wind, aiming straight for Yamada's chest.
Yamada's expression remained unchanged as he turned his right hand into a palm strike, chopping at the weak point of the quadriceps just above Toji's knee.
Bang!
The muscle took a violent hit, and Toji felt his entire right leg go numb instantly.
The originally powerful knee strike was forcibly stripped of most of its force.
Immediately after, Yamada formed a fist with his left hand and delivered a clean, sharp uppercut from below, slamming it into Toji's chin.
Crack!
Toji's head snapped back violently, and his brain went blank for a split second due to the intense shock.
The moment he lost his balance, he immediately yanked the Chain of a Thousand Miles back, attempting to bind Yamada with the iron chain.
"Good speed, but full of openings." Yamada's voice rang in Toji's ear.
He didn't even look back, reaching out with his left arm to firmly catch the flying Chain of a Thousand Miles with his fingers.
"What?!" Toji's pupils shrank suddenly.
Catching his chain barehanded? How terrifying a grip strength was needed to stop the momentum of the Chain of a Thousand Miles?
"Get over here!"
The muscles in Yamada's arms bulged under his trench coat, and an overwhelming, force erupted along the chain.
Toji's body was yanked off the ground by Yamada with one hand, flying forward toward him. Mid-air, Toji had no leverage and could only watch helplessly as Yamada's offensive descended.
Yamada leaped up, his right leg tracing a sharp half-moon arc in the air.
Uchiha Style Taijutsu: Shadow of the Dancing Leaf!
The heavy whip kick landed solidly against Toji's chest and abdomen.
Boom!
Accompanied by the sound of major bone fractures, Toji was once again slammed into the already shattered crater.
The massive impact caused the rock layers at the bottom of the pit to completely collapse, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Cough... Wah!"
Toji vomited large mouthfuls of blood, the Chain of a Thousand Miles sliding powerlessly from his hand.
This time, he truly couldn't stand up. His internal organs felt like they were twisted together, and the recovery power of his Heavenly Restriction body had reached its limit, on the verge of collapse after Yamada's merciless taijutsu combo.
An unprecedented sense of powerlessness submerged him.
He had always thought that the physical peak gained by discarding Cursed Energy was the strongest paradox in the world.
As long as he didn't encounter an unreasonable, out-of-spec technique like Satoru's, he was invincible in the realm of close combat.
But today, the black-haired youth before him had used the purest strikes to rub him into the dirt. That perfect combination of speed, power, and technique seemed like a combat instinct forged through countless life-and-death battles, leaving him without even the qualification to look up to it.
***
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