It was a method Akira Sarutobi had inherited from his old father, Hiruzen Sarutobi.
In the original story, during the Chunin Ninja Exams, Hiruzen Sarutobi had used this kind of Explosive Tag against the reanimated First and Second Hokage, blowing off one of each of their legs on the spot.
As long as she dared betray him, he would channel Chakra to activate them, and the small Explosive Tags attached inside her clothes would detonate.
They would not reduce her to ashes, but blowing her into several chunks of flesh and leaving no intact corpse would be easy enough.
"Alright, it's time to begin..."
Akira Sarutobi turned around and faced the forest.
The forest air after the rain was exceptionally fresh. In thermal imaging mode, none of the Kirigakure ninjas could escape his detection.
"A-Hui, Ruri, Nonō, Ringo Ameyuri, the four of you break through from the weakest direction..."
The four girls' battle plan was to use the forest for cover, fighting as they retreated and finding ways to defeat the enemies one by one.
"As for me..."
Naturally, he would serve as the main force and draw the enemy's attention.
"Understood." Nonō nodded. "But Young Master Ryo, you have to escape too..."
She looked at Akira Sarutobi with a serious expression.
The brief dozen or so days they had spent together had already made her regard Akira Sarutobi as a true companion.
And when it came to companions, there was never such a thing as too much concern. This was also the difference between Konoha and Kirigakure.
The true Will of Fire would never treat companions as stepping stones.
After three days, the barrier's effectiveness had weakened considerably.
The watchful Kirigakure ninjas surrounding them signaled that the battle was about to begin.
"Release!"
As Akira Sarutobi raised his right hand, formed a seal, and dispelled the barrier, he charged out like a fierce tiger.
Amid the whistling force of his fist and a series of cracking bones, a corpse was sent flying.
This marked the start of the battle.
Cries of alarm and furious roars rang out together.
After taking down one person with a single blow, Akira Sarutobi's right eye shifted.
Relying on the Dynamic Vision ability newly gained by his right eye, he could see every enemy's movements within his broad fan-shaped field of view with absolute clarity.
Three days of training.
Akira Sarutobi's taijutsu and Steel Release had both risen to another level.
Furthermore, the true power of Kekkei Genkai was that one's strength could advance by leaps and bounds in a single day.
A bloodline that subtly altered one's DNA was one of the greatest cheat tools in this world.
He had fused a Kekkei Genkai through his own abilities.
That also meant Akira Sarutobi was progressing from an ordinary ninja toward becoming something superhuman.
Crack!
He casually twisted off one man's head and kicked another man's neck apart.
These enemies, whose strength was merely at the level of Chunin, were no match for Akira Sarutobi. Dealing with them looked as easy as playing with toys.
Over on Ino Yamanaka's side, the four of them gathered into a group and broke through toward the weakest point.
Ino Yamanaka and Ruri Hyuga were both Jonin.
Nonō was responsible for covering Ameyuri.
Their breakout encountered no major resistance.
When the Kirigakure ninjas noticed this and tried to send more men over, a rising stone wall blocked their path.
"Earth Release... Earth Shore Return!"
Akira Sarutobi slammed one hand against the ground.
A massive slab of stone rose with a thunderous rumble.
Earth Release restrained Water Release.
Most Kirigakure ninjas possessed a Water affinity.
Thus, this sudden obstruction immediately took effect.
It also separated the two sides.
Looking at the stone wall behind them, Nonō could not help becoming even more worried.
"Can Young Master Ryo really hold back so many people?"
Just as she thought this, Ino Yamanaka stopped moving, dropped to one knee, and prepared to form hand seals.
The instant several enemies rounded the earthen wall and appeared, her seals were already complete.
"Mind Disturbance Technique!"
Multiple Mind Disturbance Techniques simultaneously took control of several enemies.
Before they could react, they began attacking their own companions.
A scene of mutual slaughter unfolded in the forest.
Only then did Ino Yamanaka say, "That's why we need to make a counter-kill plan... now is the time!"
"Hah..."
Ringo Ameyuri neither agreed nor disagreed. Still recovering from a serious illness, she slowly formed a hand seal.
It was a Lightning Release seal.
Lightning Release restrained Earth Release and Water Release alike. After all... water conducted electricity.
Then, with a flash of lightning in the air, a wide net of electricity shot across the ground.
How fast was an electric current?
Probably... the fastest of the five basic elemental attributes.
"Lightning Release... Ground Walk!"
The wide electric net instantly struck several enemies.
After releasing this ninjutsu, Ringo Ameyuri's complexion turned a few shades paler.
What did it feel like to fight her former comrades?
Nothing much.
After all, that was simply Kirigakure's moral code.
The next second, Ruri Hyuga rushed out. Her petite figure bloomed amid the trees, and with her astonishing Gentle Fist taijutsu, she swiftly finished them off.
"Maybe... we really can..."
Nonō murmured.
Their side effectively had four Jonin.
Although Ringo Ameyuri had only just recovered from a serious illness, and the other three had only recently advanced in rank,
if they relied on strategy and the right timing, dealing with thirty Chunin did not seem impossible...
And just then.
Thunder suddenly rumbled through the forest.
Boom!
The sun that had emerged after the rain suddenly vanished.
It had clearly been morning sunlight just moments ago, yet dark clouds were now gathering overhead.
"Is it going to rain again?" Ino Yamanaka looked up, but she quickly noticed something wrong. "No... there's a lot of Chakra in those clouds!"
It was that guy named Raiga Kurosuki!
Boom!
Another peal of thunder sounded.
A pale-white bolt of lightning lit up the sky.
It was an electric flash that seemed capable of splitting the heavens apart, winding down from high above.
Lightning took only one thousandth of a second.
Therefore, unless one possessed special observation abilities such as the Three Tomoe Sharingan or Byakugan,
it was impossible to evade.
And after the lightning struck down, the earthen wall exploded with a crash.
Flying fragments scattered everywhere.
Then, Raiga Kurosuki appeared, holding his twin blades toward the sky.
And... Akira Sarutobi was still standing there proudly, head held high.
Left-Hand Seal: Body Flicker!
"..."
Raiga Kurosuki's smile froze on his face.
"Did he just... evade the technique? No... how is that possible..."
He had clearly already aimed at him.
"Oh?"
In the distance, Ringo Ameyuri narrowed her eyes and soon saw through it.
"A little... impressive..."
As the former wielder of the Thunder Sword Fang, and one reputed to be the strongest wielder in its history,
Ringo Ameyuri clearly understood this sword's characteristics better than anyone.
"The speed of Lightning Blade: Falling Lightning is indeed only one thousandth of a second, but using this move requires one condition..."
Wherever one's gaze fell was where it struck.
In other words, as long as one's vision failed to completely lock onto the enemy, there was a possibility of missing.
But that required the enemy to possess extremely nimble movements, or else...
"Dynamic Vision that surpasses the Thunder Sword Fang's wielder. That young master of the Second Generation Hokage... does he have even better Dynamic Vision than Raiga Kurosuki?"
Ringo Ameyuri truly deserved her title as a genius girl.
After just one exchange, she had analyzed the essence of their previous clash.
"It isn't real falling lightning..."
Akira Sarutobi looked at the shattered chunks of earth at his feet.
Having witnessed this move twice, Akira Sarutobi felt even more certain.
If it had been genuine lightning, getting hit meant certain death.
But clearly, what Lightning Blade: Falling Lightning brought down was Lightning Release condensed from Chakra.
Until its destructive power reached Kakashi's S-rank Lightning Blade, it did not possess absolute lethality.
This move could instantly kill a Chunin.
But it could not instantly kill a Jonin.
Before you continue