Defeated the Stone Ninja?
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Great skill showed no artifice. With no flashy or flamboyant moves, the ultimate slash poured into the instant the blade was swung: Getsuga Tensho!
The enemy before him, the Stone ninja Gari, had not shown a change in expression, but that did not mean he had a way to withstand the slash.
The enormous pale blue crescent struck Gari squarely, his movements slowed by Frost Shot.
"Pssh!"
A great spray of blood burst from Gari's solid body.
It was real. He had not used a substitution or a clone; the person struck before them was Gari himself.
Gari's right shoulder and right leg were gone. Nearly the entire right half of his body had been torn apart while he was still alive by the enormous shock wave of Getsuga Tensho!
His vital points had been spared.
But it was not because the enemy had dodged at the critical moment. Shunren had shown mercy.
Leave him alive. I'll use the Mind Reading Technique to extract information about the Stone ninja.
That was the signal Inoichi had sent him.
"Crack..." Zangetsu slowly dissolved in his hand. Shunren stared at Gari, who had fallen unconscious from his grievous injuries, and could not help feeling puzzled.
The battle had felt a little too easy to win. Though it had been two against one, with a Jonin like Inoichi helping Shunren cheat throughout, the enemy was still a powerful Kekkei Genkai ninja with a wealth of combat experience. How had he fallen for Shunren's Frost Shot so easily?
In fact, the battle's swift conclusion had taken Shunren greatly by surprise. The Stone ninja Gari was the strongest enemy Shunren had faced so far, his estimated fighting strength even surpassing that of the Root Anbu ninja he had faced a year ago.
As he calculated how to defeat his opponent, Shunren had prepared to pay a heavy price: project an exceptionally vicious magical treasure from Zhu Xian and leave them both grievously wounded.
Getsuga Tensho was indeed tremendously powerful, but no matter how powerful an attack was, it had to hit the enemy. Shunren had no means of ensuring a hit, so he had thought to project Ashe's weapon, the True Ice Bow, and see if Volley could strike his opponent by luck, using Frost Shot's properties to slow him down. If it missed, Shunren would not have projected Zangetsu afterward.
Things had gone so smoothly that Shunren felt something was strange, though he could not say what.
As if sensing Shunren's doubts, Inoichi stood up after recovering somewhat. "Don't worry, Shunren. I've already scanned him with Mind's Eye. The enemy really has been defeated, and his Chakra is very weak. He's on his last breath and won't live long if left alone. But to be safe, you can take off his remaining limbs."
Shunren nodded. Despite Inoichi's assurance based on his sensing, he remained cautious and did not approach the enemy's body recklessly.
"Yin Release: Projection!"
The paired swords Kanshou and Bakuya were the weapons Shunren wielded most skillfully. Their greatest advantage was that they lasted a long time while consuming very little Chakra.
Shunren aimed the twin swords at the enemy's remaining left arm and leg and hurled them. Their sharp edges severed his opponent's hand and foot.
The grievously wounded, unconscious enemy still did not move; his Chakra response merely grew even weaker.
"Now nothing can go wrong." With all four limbs disabled, Gari could not put any scheme into action, no matter what he had planned.
Inoichi was very pleased with Shunren's caution. "Shizune, use bandages to give him a quick dressing, so he doesn't lose too much and die. Once I've recovered some Chakra, I'll use the Mind Reading Technique on him!"
"Teacher Inoichi, what about Team 8?" Kurenai asked. "If I remember right, that's the team Kakashi, Obito, and Rin are on, isn't it?"
The distress signal had come from Team 8, the team they were supporting on this A-Rank Mission.
"Don't worry! Kakashi Hatake-
"Worthy of being that senior White Fang's descendant, he became a Chunin at such a young age. There's also a member of the Uchiha Clan and a medical-nin. Working together, the three of them actually fought a Stone Special Jōnin to a standstill!" Inoichi had long since sensed every detail of the battle outside the village, not far away. "But to be safe, Shunren, Kurenai, you two should still go and back them up." Shizune stayed behind to tend to Gari's wounds. Keeping someone on the brink of death alive without giving him a chance to recover was a tricky technical task. Inoichi also needed someone to watch over him while he recovered his Chakra.
"Leave this side to me. Oh, Shunren, after using such a reckless move, can you still keep going?"
"I used up quite a bit, but I'm not exhausted yet." Shunren flexed his hand. He felt somewhat tired, but he still had enough left to fight.
"Then leave it to me. I'm in top form right now!" During Shunren's battle with Gari, the enormous gap in strength and Kurenai's lack of any means to protect herself had kept her from intervening. It had greatly stirred her competitive spirit.
"Both sides are basically unable to keep fighting now. All you need to do is stay hidden and deliver a fatal blow to the enemy from behind, and you can end the battle," Inoichi instructed. "Shunren, use the technique I taught you and work with the members of Team 8. Can you do it?"
"Leave it to me," Shunren said firmly.
"Whoosh, whoosh!" Shunren and Kurenai sped toward the outside of the village.
By now, outside the village, the battle between Kakashi's group and the Stone ninja was drawing to a close.
"Damn it... I really did underestimate you." The Stone ninja clutched his bleeding arm with one hand, his voice exceedingly grim.
With his Explosion Release Kekkei Genkai, he had originally held every advantage against Kakashi and the others. But something unexpected had happened: his companion inside the village had run into trouble. He was close enough to hear the sounds of fierce fighting clearly, and he worried about what kind of Konoha Ninja his companion had encountered to be drawn into such a bitter struggle. In particular, there had been that chill at the end, its sharpness palpable even from far away.
What was that slash just now? It was clearly not an attack he recognized as his companion's, leaving only one possibility: the enemy had unleashed it! The Stone ninja began to panic.
But as the saying went, concern brought confusion. Worried about his companion's battle, he lost focus for a moment, and Kakashi keenly seized the opening and gave him a vicious slash!
The battle had turned at that point. What had been a one-sided suppression by the Stone ninja became an even match.
Obito and Rin had long since collapsed from exhaustion, leaving Kakashi alone. But after fighting the enemy to this point, Kakashi had also reached his limit and could not even hold his blade steady anymore.
Just as Kakashi was swaying on the verge of collapse, an unfamiliar voice suddenly echoed through his mind!