The Secret Art of Yin-Yang Release

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

Yemo opened his mouth and spat out a torrent of flame. The flames roiled and gathered into a huge fireball several meters across, which raced forward just above the water, crushing everything in its path as it hurtled toward the shore.

Faced with the oncoming fireball, the Kumo Ninja Jonin remained unhurried and sneered. "Brat, you dare use a mere B-rank Ninjutsu against a Jonin? Today I'll show you what a real Jonin can do."

Before he had even finished speaking, the Kumo Ninja Jonin moved. His hands flew in a blur of dark shadows, and in the next second, he had completed all the Hand Seals.

Compared to his speed, Yemo's was practically that of a turtle. There was no comparison at all. Before Yemo's attack could reach him, the Kumo Ninja Jonin had already finished his Hand Seals. This was the power of a Jonin.

"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"

With a soft shout, a spot on the rolling sea suddenly bulged upward by several dozen centimeters. The surrounding water spiraled, and the surface burst apart as a giant water dragon over ten meters long rose from it. The dragon soared upward, its enormous body seeming to blot out the sky as its massive head looked down at Yemo.

At the sight of the water dragon shooting into the sky, Yemo's heart jolted, and a sense of mortal danger welled up within him.

The water dragon opened its enormous jaws and dove, its momentum utterly terrifying as gusts of fierce wind rushed at Yemo. It swallowed his fireball whole, and before the fireball could explode, the flowing seawater smothered it, sending up only streams of white steam.

His Ninjutsu had been forcibly dispersed, throwing the Chakra in Yemo's body into chaos. His blood and Qi surged as though something had struck him, and he involuntarily staggered back several steps.

"Go!"

The Kumo Ninja Jonin formed a hand seal and gave a soft shout, directing the water dragon to kill Yemo. He had decided to stop wasting time playing with this brat.

The water dragon burst through the steam, whipping up waves and currents. The small pool seemed like a sea in the grip of towering waves as its massive head charged at Yemo. Even after swallowing the fireball Yemo had unleashed, the water dragon's power had not diminished in the slightest.

The water dragon crossed the mere ten-odd meters in an instant. In that brief time, Yemo could do nothing. A Jonin might still have been able to use Ninjutsu to block it.

But Yemo could only watch helplessly as the water dragon loomed larger and larger before slamming into him like a speeding train.

At the moment of impact, a tidal wave of force surged into Yemo's body. He could clearly feel every rib in his body breaking at once, and some even pierced his internal organs.

"Pfft..."

Yemo spat out a mouthful of blood. The immense impact knocked him unconscious instantly, and he lost all awareness of what was happening around him.

The water dragon collapsed with a roar, and tons of seawater crashed heavily onto the surface, raising waves several meters high. The rolling surf rushed straight toward the shore.

The unconscious Yemo was swept out through a gap in the pool by the rolling waves, and the current carried him into the distance.

The Kumo Ninja Jonin watched Yemo being swept away without moving, but did not go over to check. He was confident in his own strength. How could a brat who had not even become a Genin survive his Ninjutsu?

"All right, the brat's dealt with. Time to go back and report!"

The Kumo Ninja Jonin muttered to himself, then his figure flickered as he used the Body Flicker Technique and vanished.

Meanwhile, the unconscious Yemo was swept toward the foot of the mountain by the rushing stream. The stream was swift at first, but gradually slowed farther downstream, and the water slowly widened until it resembled a small river.

Yemo drifted slowly along the river's surface until a broken tree trunk blocked his path. Pushed by the current, he floated little by little along the trunk toward a riverbank covered in aquatic plants.

Warm sunlight poured directly onto the river. Half of Yemo's body lay in the water and the other half on the bank. Time passed slowly, and the sun descended from high in the sky until it was about to disappear behind the mountains.

The last rays of sunset fell. Just as day was about to pass and night was about to descend, Yemo finally awoke from his long unconsciousness.

Cough, cough...

Yemo first spat out the river water in his chest on instinct, then slowly came to. He opened his eyes. With night approaching, there was no dazzling sunlight.

Still, everything he saw was blurry. Only after he blinked gently did the scene before his eyes begin to clear.

The orange-red glow of sunset, clouds ablaze across the sky, the small part of his body soaked in the icy river water, and the dense canopy overhead.

Yemo called out instinctively, "Where am I?"

Memories began to return to his aching head. Scene after scene flashed through his mind like a movie, surging in like a tide. Only then did Yemo remember everything: the Kumo Ninja Jonin had knocked him unconscious, and he had drifted here along the stream.

Yemo took stock of his body. Bones were broken all over, and he was in a thoroughly battered state. A bitter smile appeared on his face. "A Jonin's strength really is formidable. He could easily kill me without even using his full power."

Only Yemo had managed to keep his life after that Jonin's attack. An ordinary person would have been killed long ago. The Kumo Ninja Jonin had thought the same, which was why he believed Yemo was certain to die.

But he did not know that Yemo belonged to the Uzumaki Clan and possessed powerful vitality to begin with, allowing him to survive the Kumo Ninja Jonin's attack. Even so, in his current condition, Yemo was only a step away from being half-dead.

In such a battered state, even with Yemo's fearsome regenerative ability, his injuries were so severe that recovering would take quite some time.

Yemo could not stay here waiting to recover. The sun had already set, and night would soon arrive. The forest at night was not as safe as it was during the day. All sorts of savage beasts would awaken and hunt under cover of darkness, and it was extremely dangerous for him to remain here, unable to move.

I'm so badly injured now. I can try that move! Yemo thought.

Yemo laboriously raised his hands and drew on the Chakra in his body. He overlapped his thumbs, right over left, forming the Rat seal.

"Yin-Yang Release: Revival Technique!" Yemo shouted with difficulty.

As his voice fell, a faint green glow emerged from Yemo's body, like fireflies twinkling in summer. The glowing lights floated briefly in the air, then drifted gently down and merged into every part of his body.

As the glow fell, Yemo's injuries could be seen healing at a rate visible to the naked eye. Wounds several centimeters long quickly healed completely, leaving no trace of the injuries.

That was only on Yemo's surface. Inside his body, his broken bones were being restored one by one by an invisible force. This process, however, was very slow, and it would take quite some time for them to heal completely.

The Revival Technique was a secret Yang Release art that Yemo had created after studying Yin-Yang Release. He had combined his immensely powerful vitality with the concept of Yang Power, which used the physical energy governing life as its source. For the time being, he alone could use it.

By using Yang Release to apply powerful Chakra, the technique increased his regenerative ability more than tenfold for a short time. Yemo's regenerative ability already far surpassed that of ordinary people, and after another increase of more than tenfold, it became monstrous. Wounds several centimeters long could heal in an instant, and even broken bones and damaged internal organs would not take long to recover completely.

However, using this technique required two prerequisites: vast reserves of Chakra and vitality. The amount of Chakra needed was so enormous that if a ninja with little Chakra tried it, let alone recover from anything, their body would be drained dry and they would die instantly.

Of course, it depended on the injury. A simple injury required little Chakra, and an ordinary ninja could use the technique too. But for injuries as severe as Yemo's current ones, the amount of Chakra required was terrifying.

It had to be said that this technique was indeed extremely powerful. In just a few minutes, all the broken bones and damaged organs inside Yemo's body had healed, as had every surface wound. From the inside out, Yemo had fully recovered.

Of course, the Chakra consumed was terrifying as well, as could be seen from Yemo's somewhat weakened complexion. Even someone with Chakra reserves as vast as his could be left weak, so the amount consumed was easy to imagine.

Yemo was still dissatisfied with the technique. Later in Naruto, Naruto, who controlled the power of Yin-Yang Release, could casually grow Kakashi a new eye and even save Guy, who was certain to die. The two could not be compared at all.

Yemo had only recently begun studying Yin-Yang Release, so it was already quite good that he could accomplish this much. Before long, he had fully recovered and got to his feet in the water. Apart from slight discomfort in a few places, there was basically nothing wrong with him.

By then, the sun had completely set, leaving not a speck of light in the sky. Night had fallen, and the forest returned to its most primal state as the darkness hidden beneath the sunlight burst forth.