Kekkei Genkai!

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Boom! The enormous explosion could be felt even a hundred li away!

Inoichi was hurrying along when he felt an unusual tremor in the air. His expression changed, and he immediately stopped and formed hand seals.

"Sensing Technique: Mind's Eye!"

A vast surge of mental energy spread out, reaching the small village over a hundred li away.

"Uh, did we go a little overboard?"

The Stone ninja, who had used Earth Release to burrow underground, returned to the surface after the explosion technique ended.

As far as they could see, the land was scarred and ravaged. The entire village had been razed to the ground, and civilian corpses lay strewn everywhere.

"Konoha probably won't rest until one side is dead after this..."

"Hmph, who cares? Since it was our Lord Tsuchikage who gave the order, the village must have prepared for war with Konoha."

"But still, I can't understand why we attacked a civilian village like this. There's no value in it at all..."

The Stone ninja tried to ask their captain, Gari, for an answer, but for some reason, Gari, who was usually all talk, had become a sealed gourd today.

"Huh?!" The Stone ninja's sensory ninja raised the alarm. "It's an enemy sensory ninja!"

"Can you counter his sensing?"

"No! Such powerful mental energy!" He tried to use an equal amount of mental energy to block the other's sensing, but it was shattered in an instant. The Stone sensory ninja's expression changed slightly. "Watch out. The enemy is probably at least Jonin level too!"

Of the four present, Gari was a bona fide Stone Jonin, while the rest were Stone Special Jōnin.

"This is bad... The large-scale explosion technique we just used took more than half our Chakra, and the enemy coming is a tough one. Captain Gari! We've finished the mission to bomb the village. Shouldn't we retreat?"

"Prepare for battle!" Gari said coldly, announcing his shocking decision in a few terse words.

"Captain Gari?!"

"That's an order!"

Though the Stone ninja were puzzled, they chose to yield in the face of Gari's long-standing forceful manner.

A hundred li away, Inoichi's eyes snapped open.

"Those damned Stone ninja! How utterly inhuman!" His powerful senses had taken in everything in the village. Every one of the more than a hundred civilian households had perished, with not a single survivor!

The scene was so appalling that even the normally composed Inoichi couldn't help flying into a rage.

"Judging from the attackers' Chakra characteristics, it should be the Stone Ninja Explosion Corps..." Inoichi forced himself to calm down and carefully analyzed the situation.

"Staying put... Are they waiting for me?" From his earlier sensing, Inoichi already knew that the other side also had a sensory ninja. The man had even tried to block his Mind's Eye, but Inoichi had forcibly torn through the barrier and scanned all four of them from head to toe.

What Inoichi had never expected, however, was that after committing such an atrocious act, they would actually dare to stay where they were and wait for him.

A naked provocation! They were utterly deranged!

Even so, Inoichi couldn't help feeling puzzled. He couldn't understand why the Stone ninja would attack a small civilian village for no reason, doing something that harmed others without benefiting themselves. What were they scheming?

But whatever the reason, Inoichi, as a Konoha Ninja, couldn't possibly let them go.

"Whoosh!"

Body Flicker Technique!

Inoichi picked up his pace and headed straight for the village.

Meanwhile, behind Inoichi, Shunren and the others were also on their way, but a Genin's speed on foot couldn't compare to a Jonin's. They would probably arrive somewhat later.

Back at the small village, the four Stone ninja behind the bombing were resting on the spot under their leader Gari's orders, waiting to face the Konoha Ninja!

The last member of the Stone Ninja Explosion Corps was still locked in a fierce battle with Kakashi and the others outside the village.

"You bastards! How could you do something so utterly heartless?!" Thanks to Rin's Medical Ninjutsu, Obito had barely recovered enough to move. They weren't far from the village, so naturally they could feel what had happened there.

"Obito! Don't be rash, your injuries haven't healed yet!" Rin hurriedly held back the enraged Obito. But after what had happened, even the kindhearted Rin couldn't help feeling anger and resentment toward the Stone ninja before her. "Attacking defenseless civilians-shameless Stone ninja!"

"Heh, little Konoha brats, this is war." The Stone ninja was unmoved by Obito and Rin's angry reprimands, though he muttered to himself inwardly. Gari and the others really did make that big a fuss. Have they made up their minds to go to war with Konoha?

Kakashi's mind was entirely occupied with strictly following the rules, so he didn't lose his composure over the Stone ninja's actions. Instead, he calmly dealt with the enemy's attacks.

Even so, Kakashi couldn't avoid falling into a disadvantage.

Kakashi was gifted and had become a Chunin at a young age, but he was facing a Stone Special Jōnin. There was a whole level between them in strength, and an even greater gap in their combat experience.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!" Several Shuriken came flying in succession.

Kakashi rapidly formed hand seals and pressed his hands to the ground. "Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"

The rising earthen wall blocked every one of the Shuriken.

"Hmph! You're not a Stone ninja, but I didn't expect you to be so good with Earth Release. However..." The Stone ninja used the Body Flicker Technique to appear in front of the earthen wall, then clenched his hand into a fist and slammed it against the wall.

"Kakashi, look out!" Rin noticed what seemed to be a strange technique appearing on the Stone ninja's fist.

Kakashi's expression changed drastically as well. The wall blocked his view, so he couldn't see what the man was doing, but he still keenly sensed a heart-stopping surge of Chakra gathering on the other side! Without another word, he immediately formed hand seals.

"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!" Inside the earthen wall, Kakashi formed another barrier of flowing water. To have mastered intermediate Earth Release and Water Release at such a young age, he truly deserved to be called Konoha's greatest genius of his generation!

Faced with Kakashi's perfect double defense of earth and water, the Stone ninja gave a sinister grin as an orange-red light gathered on his fist.

"Explosion Release: Landmine Fist!"