Shunren vs. Gari!

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"Inoichi-sensei, are you all right?" Shizune hurriedly took out a medical kit. "Where are you hurt? I'll bandage it..."

Inoichi shook his head. "I'm not physically injured. I just suffered backlash from a technique."

Shunren's gaze shifted. Exceptionally sensitive to mental energy, he could clearly sense how weak Inoichi was at the moment. But being clever, he also quickly realized that Inoichi didn't want them to worry and was also bluffing the enemy.

"Sensing Technique: Mind's Eye!"

Shunren quickly grasped the situation around them. There were four Stone ninja, three of whom were already dead. But the last one had extraordinary Chakra, and his strength was no less than Inoichi's!

Shunren couldn't probe any deeper. After all, his current sensing ability was very limited.

"Hm?!"

Ninja Art: Mind Transmission Technique!

Shunren showed no outward reaction as he secretly accepted Inoichi's mental link.

"Shunren, I'll transmit the enemy's information to you first..."

Inoichi's voice echoed in his mind. From its low tone, Shunren could hear how weak he was.

Gari, a Stone Jonin and a ninja with the Explosion Release Kekkei Genkai. His ability allowed him to drive explosive formulas into his targets through Taijutsu. His attack style was close combat...

Inoichi told Shunren everything he had gathered during the battle, including specific data on Gari's Chakra properties, muscular strength, and movement speed.

Shunren frowned deeply. From the information Inoichi had given him, he concluded that he had to avoid contact with his opponent as much as possible. No—with Explosion Release's combat power, if Gari got close enough to hit him even once, it would all be over!

"Are these brats the companions you mentioned?" Gari said coldly, stepping forward.

"Kurenai, Shizune, escort Inoichi-sensei back!" Shunren said gravely. "In that case, I'll just have to fight from a distance."

"Yin Release: Projection!"

A mysterious golden amulet with blue markings fitted snugly over Shunren's left hand. It extended along both sides of his wrist, forming a translucent light-blue wrist bow!

This was the weapon of the adventurer Ezreal from League of Legends, the Ascended Amulet of Shurima!

"Hm? What's that?" Gari asked, a little surprised.

Shunren aimed the wrist bow at him.

"Mystic Shot!"

Gari's pupils contracted as a light-blue bolt came straight at him!

He instinctively raised an arm to block it.

"Bang!"

Gari felt his arm go numb as a tremendous force struck him, forcing him back several steps.

"A projectile filled with Chakra? Interesting..." Gari tore off his shattered sleeve with one hand, revealing an arm packed with explosive muscle.

Shunren remained unmoved. He had already learned from Inoichi's information that Gari possessed astonishing arm strength, so without another word, he fired the wrist bow in his hand.

"Mystic Shot!"

Gari flickered out of the way of the Chakra bolt. At the same time, his foot suddenly twisted at a strange angle before stomping hard on the ground. An orange-red light appeared beneath it. "Explosion Release: Splitting Step!"

"Boom!"

A muffled blast erupted beneath his foot, and at the same time, the tremendous reaction force from the explosion's shock wave sent Gari flying!

"So fast!" Shunren's pupils shrank. His opponent's sudden burst of speed was completely beyond his ability to sense and react to!

"Target, two o'clock!" Inoichi sent him an early warning through the Mind Transmission Technique.

Shunren immediately pressed his right hand against the Ascended Amulet on his left arm. A golden light flashed.

"Arcane Shift!"

Instant movement through a spatial leap!

The next moment, the spot where Shunren had been standing was blown apart,

Gari pulled his fist out of the ground where it had sunk deep and looked at Shunren in surprise. "Body Flicker Technique? No... that was Space-Time Ninjutsu!" "Crack!" The Ascended Amulet on Shunren's left hand split apart.

"Yin Release: Projection!"

An ornate bow carved from ice appeared in Shunren's hand!

Avarosa's ancient ice bow, the weapon of Ashe, the Frost Archer from League of Legends!

"What is it this time?" Gari was utterly astonished.

Shunren instinctively drew the bowstring to its limit. An ice arrow of will took shape, condensed from the freezing air, and the frost arrow burst forth!

An explosion went off beneath Gari's feet as he used Splitting Step to move at high speed.

"Ding!" The ground struck by the ice arrow instantly froze over with frost.

"Is that Ice Release?" Gari's face was full of surprise. "You've got quite a few strange moves, but unfortunately, with your level of strength, there's no way you can hit me."

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!" Shunren fired several arrows in succession. He could faintly feel cracks forming in the ice bow in his hand. A weapon temporarily projected with Yin Release couldn't last very long.

"Between four and five o'clock!" Inoichi's signal came through his mind again!

Shunren's gaze sharpened. He poured a large amount of Chakra into the ice bow, ignored the figure flashing around in a dizzying blur before him, and immediately turned his head.

"Whoosh!" Sure enough, Gari's figure really did appear at roughly four-thirty!

Gari looked toward Inoichi, who was not far away, and mused, "I see... so you're the one behind this?"

"Volley!"

Having predicted where Gari would move, Shunren unleashed a deluge of frost arrows!

The dense barrage left Gari nowhere to dodge. He had no choice but to press both hands to the ground and inject an explosive formula into it.

"Explosion Release: Minefield!"

"Rumble!" A massive explosion scattered the many frost arrows before him.

"Pfft!" But somehow, one fish slipped through the net and pierced his thigh!

Inoichi, this "human radar," had given Shunren the ability to strike with precision. At the same time, the ice bow in his hand reached its limit and shattered.

"Yin Release: Projection!"

The Zanpakuto, Zangetsu!

Shunren's arm sank under the weight, and he steadied the great black blade with both hands.

"Sure enough, this thing consumes the most mental energy..." Shunren felt stabbing pains in his head, but he gritted his teeth and held on, because he knew this was his last and only chance!

Though Gari was not a sensory ninja, the instincts expected of a Jonin still allowed him to faintly sense an unusual pressure from the great blade in Shunren's hands.

"That sword... there's something strange about it!" He instinctively tried to stand, but suddenly felt his legs go numb, and the movements of all four limbs seemed to slow. "Did that arrow drive Ice Release into my body?"

The brief slowing effect of Frost Shot!

That was precisely why Shunren had projected Zangetsu, despite its enormous cost.

A moment of carelessness had driven him into a deathtrap. Such was the cruelty of a ninja's battle. Yet for some reason, faced with the devastating strike about to come, Gari remained expressionless—or rather, his face was stiff, and his eyes looked somewhat vacant.

"I never expected you to have inherited my power of Yin Release..." Gari murmured strange, incomprehensible words.

Shunren noticed that there was something very strange about his opponent, but he couldn't let this fleeting chance of victory slip away, and he had no time to think about it.

Shunren raised Zangetsu high and poured all his remaining Chakra into it.

"Getsuga Tenshō!"