Whoosh! Whoosh whoosh!!
The wind swept past like a sudden storm, sending ripples through the air!
Tsunade only heard the howling wind around her grow shriller, the sharp wind blades seeming intent on cutting her into a thousand pieces.
The next moment, countless stinging pains erupted across her body, like needles piercing her skin.
"What is this?" Tsunade's expression tightened slightly as suspicion rose in her heart. "Gentle Fist? Or..."
Wind Release Ninjutsu? A hand-signless technique?!
The sensation was like fighting the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan Gentle Fist—one soft, seemingly harmless strike that carried a lethal threat.
But the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist directly struck the inside of the body, ignoring external defenses and inflicting internal injuries.
Against a Raikage whose Chakra formed an external cloak, it might have an extraordinary and unexpected effect. The Third Raikage had suffered because of it during the First Shinobi World War, which was why he had constantly sought secret techniques to temper his internal organs.
But Tsunade controlled the Chakra within her body, condensing it to an extreme degree. The Gentle Fist of Hyuga ninja was not especially effective against her.
The Chakra defense formed in this state could completely ignore ordinary physical attacks.
Yet this man's attack was entirely beyond her expectations.
The tiny, inconspicuous air blades targeted her heart, throat, and the back of her head, continuously executing her at fatal points.
Tsunade could feel the condensed Chakra around her body gradually being shattered by countless air blades.
At the vital areas under constant attack, the thickness of her Chakra coating had become much thinner than elsewhere.
"You damned bastard!!"
Feeling that ever-approaching sense of danger, Tsunade inexplicably felt a surge of unease. Veins bulged across her smooth, rounded forehead as nearly tangible Chakra burst from her body.
The dense wind blades around her shattered apart. Her muscular leg whipped high into the air and lashed viciously toward Yun Chuan.
"Is this all my initial level of control can manage?"
Yun Chuan frowned slightly at the sight, but a smile soon appeared in his eyes.
No, it could be stronger!
The next moment, before that leg could lash down like a long whip, he moved at a speed beyond Tsunade's expectations. She could only catch the instant his figure exploded forward.
Boom!!
His sweeping kick missed and struck the wall beside them, instantly caving it in.
A large amount of stone and dirt blasted outward, forming a streak of flying dust in the air. It was enough to show that even in a hurried strike, Tsunade's strength was terrifying.
"Will you only dodge and hide?!"
She pulled her leg from the ground, sending a large cloud of dirt and ash into the air.
Suddenly, a jolt ran through her nerves, frantically warning her to evade.
But why?
That man's attacks were clearly so fragile that, as long as she remained vigilant, they could not even break through her Chakra...
Yet at the very instant that thought arose, Yun Chuan vanished before Tsunade's eyes!
A chilling, bone-deep killing intent erupted in an instant!
It was like a glacier formed from a great river had shattered, unleashing the accumulated torrent beneath the ice with a thunderous roar that shook the heart as it poured down upon Tsunade below!
Could he actually be even faster?
Tsunade had not yet fully drawn back into her stance, but she had already sensed the source of the killing intent.
Her narrowed eyes caught that nimble figure above her.
Reflected in her brown pupils was only that black, ghostlike shadow, with the glaring midday sun behind it.
Throat, spine, lungs, liver, carotid artery, subclavian artery, kidneys, heart...
Tsunade could feel that killing intent locking onto every fatal point on her body, mercilessly intent on reducing her to a mangled corpse!
"Don't underestimate me!"
Sensing the opponent's undisguised intent, fire flared in Tsunade's eyes. Every muscle in her body tensed in an instant, and the Chakra condensed around her fist nearly became solid.
Two astonishing auras collided and churned, tearing apart within the hazy dust.
The next moment, the distance of less than ten meters vanished in the blink of an eye.
Bzzzt!!
A sharp hum rang out, like the sonic boom of air being torn apart.
In that instant, Tsunade felt as though her vision had blurred.
Yun Chuan seemed to become a hazy phantom in the air, a Soul Reaper that did not belong to this world, the sickle he swung wrapped in sharp, shrieking currents.
Too fast.
Under the air compressed to its limit, the short blade lost its shape from sheer speed. It moved so fast that its full outline could no longer be seen.
But Tsunade heard that horrifying, piercing wind howl!
Slash!!
Lost Cat: Flash Sheath: Eight Point Assault!!
Unlike his previous close-range slashes, several gleaming blade arcs swept out.
Stained with a faint golden glow like the dazzling brilliance of noon, they shot directly toward Tsunade's knuckles!
Boom! Boom boom!!
Tsunade swung her fists, shattering several slashes and scattering them in all directions.
But those slashes were like the Soul Reaper's black scythe of death. Once, twice, three times... they came again and again like maggots clinging to bone, countless slashes colliding against the shell protecting her body!
Every strike landed on the same point, widening the cracks until they neared their limit!
At last, alarm appeared on Tsunade's face as she felt her body reaching its breaking point.
Before she could react, a crisp crack rang out.
Splat!!
Spraying blood traced a beautiful arc through the air.
"Damn it!!" Tsunade's body shook involuntarily as agonizing pain surged from her arm. Her face darkened as she retreated.
Yun Chuan landed leisurely, narrowing his dark blue eyes as he watched Tsunade pull away.
So it could break through her defense.
That meant it could kill her.
"Let's try it," he murmured softly.
But just as Yun Chuan was about to take a step forward, firelight suddenly appeared in his eyes, and the air seemed to boil with heat.
It was flaming oil pouring down from above, flames ignited like a burning sea!
"Toad Oil Bullet!"
"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!"
In the distance, Jiraiya-sensei puffed out his cheeks with an angry expression and spewed a massive amount of flaming oil from his mouth.
Several Konoha ninja behind him were also forming hand seals, spewing concentrated streams of flame from their mouths.
Boom!!
The flames mixed with the cascading oil, instantly transforming into a towering sea of fire.
It surged around Yun Chuan, seemingly intent on burning him completely to ashes!
"What a shame. We won't find out who that guy was."
Seeing this, much of the anger in Jiraiya-sensei's heart dissipated. He had already concluded that the man had died in the inferno.
But at that moment, he felt the air around him grow viscous.
He instinctively looked into the distance, and his eyes suddenly widened.
Within that crimson sea of flames, a shadow warped by the fire gradually became clear.
"So there were two of you?" Yun Chuan's slightly troubled voice came through. "Compared to that, I really do dislike noisy toads."
Whoosh!!
Severed limbs burned amid crimson rolling flames, while waves of fire carried flesh and ash across the sky.
Before the eyes of the Konoha group, those violent, surging flames actually avoided that figure of their own accord as they rushed toward him!
Wherever Yun Chuan passed, the flames split around his body and ash scattered through the air around him. Only the firelight licked at his profile, making his mask appear both divine and demonic.
"Everyone."
Yun Chuan looked at the Konoha group and smiled softly. "This is the gift of a first meeting."
"Please accept it!"
Golden sunlight flowed through those once-deep-blue pupils.
The next second, Yun Chuan raised his hand toward the sky. The sea of fire twisted into a terrifying fire tornado, drawing everything around it into its grasp.
Amid heart-rending screams and cries, Jiraiya-sensei's sea of fire became the grave of his comrades. The surrounding ninja were all burned into charcoal.
Countless corpses turned to ash and fell, vanishing into the wind alongside that upright figure.
At the same time, Tsunade, who had still been standing, suddenly showed an expression of pain. Clutching the wound on her arm, she dropped to her knees.
"Ah!!"
Something seemed to be writhing beneath the flesh under her skin. The bone-eroding pain made Tsunade scream.
Yun Chuan's soft laughter mingled with Tsunade's miserable screams, reverberating across the entire Konoha camp.
Before you continue