Flying Thunder God Slash
"Splash splash splash..."
In an instant, a giant water dragon surged from the sea and crashed towards the Kirigakure group. Hyōji immediately stepped in front, Hand Seals and erecting three Ice Wall in front of him. "Boom!"
After the Water Dragon Bullet knocked away one of the defenses, it hit the wall with insufficient force, but Shuichi was not idle. He followed up and attacked again, "Wind Release: Vacuum Orb!"
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh..." With his current strength, this Ninjutsu was even more powerful. His superb control ensured that all the vacuum spheres hit the same point. The two thick Ice Wall cracked at an astonishing speed. Sensing the danger, Hyōji Shi shouted, "Scatter!"
"Ugh..."
The two men standing in this straight line were shot through, and their formation was completely disrupted.
Sarutobi Keito's squad didn't just stand by and watch; they seized the opportunity when the enemy was in disarray and launched an attack, and the two sides began a life-or-death battle once again on the high seas.
Shuichi charged straight for the Hyōji amidst the chaos, a Kirigakure attacked from the side with a slash, which Shuichi easily dodged by stopping in his tracks. He then struck the attacker in the chest with a backhand, not caring whether the attacker lived or died, before kicking him away and continuing forward.
The moment it started, countless ice Shuriken swarmed towards it from the front, while a large area of Lava Release acid pressed down from above from the side.
Seeing himself surrounded by enemies, Shuichi unusually calm. With a quick glance, he identified the positions of the people in the field, and several Kunai appeared in his hands as if by magic. He then threw them back at the direction of the ice Shuriken.
"Ta-da..."
After the area covered by his Ice Release was breached, he calmly dodged left and right, as if the acid that was about to engulf him from above didn't exist.
Among the Shuriken thrown, one was slightly different from the others. The seal on the hilt glowed faintly. After clearing away the obstacles in front, the Shuriken went straight for a ninja behind Hyōji.
"Hit!" Shuichi stared at its trajectory, and when he saw the Shuriken hit the opponent, he immediately activated the Flying Thunder God Technique. The Kirigakure didn't even have time to widen his eyes before the short sword slit his throat, and he couldn't make a sound before he died.
"Boom..."
The Lava Release acid crashed down with tremendous force. Seeing her Ninjutsu execute smoothly from a distance, Terumi Sora wondered uncertainly, "Did I take them down? I didn't see anyone leave..."
"Lord Hyōji, watch out behind you!"
A loud roar made the Kirigakure in the arena tense. Just now, Hyōji felt a slight fluctuation of chakra behind him and thought it was his teammate blocking Shuriken.
The person who spoke was now facing her. Realizing the anomaly in her blind spot, she turned around as fast as she could, but it was too late.
"Clap clap clap..."
Shuichi unleashed a torrent of lightning from his entire body, paralyzing her. At the same time, he slashed upwards, instantly killing the Ice Release ninja whose body was nearly cleaved in two.
"It was a bit embarrassing. The interference of space on chakra isn't so easy to get rid of. It took me almost two seconds to recover." Shuichi clicked his tongue. He thought to himself that he hadn't done too badly to reach this level.
"How is that possible? How did he move there?" Terumi Sora was filled with disbelief, but now was a matter of utmost urgency, so she turned and fled without looking back.
The Kirigakure Village, surrounded by Konoha Ninja, attacked desperately, trying to buy time for their teammates. Seeing this Shuichi gave chase, but his Konoha teammates stopped him in time.
"No need to risk your life, reinforcements have arrived, I can handle the rest by myself."
After giving his instructions, he slipped away. Running on water is not as easy to gain momentum as running on land, so his speed was not obvious, but he still gradually approached the enemy.
"Captain, I'll go stop him!"
A young man from the Kirigakure, with a look of grim determination, turned and stopped, then drew his sword and attacked Shuichi, who was chasing after him, shouting, "Hah!"
"Clang, clang..." The two blades clashed and sparked as they exchanged blows. This was a Jonin swift and sharp swordsmanship, who fought Shuichi to a standstill in a short time.
Seeing that Terumi Sora was about to run far away, Shuichi deliberately feigned an opening and his hand went limp. The Kirigakure youth seized the opportunity and slashed at his wrist. Shuichi had no choice but to drop his sword and dodge to the side, but in the midst of the exchange, he quickly grabbed the youth's forearm. "Bang!"
The Mist Ninja hand had been blown off, tried to retreat as fast as he could, but he was no match for the opponent's continuous attacks. Two fingers followed and struck his throat, rendering him powerless to defend himself.
Shuichi after finishing off this person. "My chakra is running low, and the opponent still has two more opportunities for a gauntlet attack. It seems difficult to take them all down..."
Despite this thought, he didn't slow down his pursuit and quickly caught up with Terumi Sora and the others who had run some distance ahead.
Seeing that his opponent was about to send someone to entangle him again, Shuichi no longer hesitated. He roughly calculated his stamina, extracted all the remaining chakra, leaving only what he needed for the journey ahead, and immediately Hand Seals, taking a deep breath. "Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!"
"Swish swish swish..."
Several Great Wind Blade, each over ten meters long, swept towards the opponent. Sensing the commotion behind him, the Hidden Mist Ninja shouted, "Watch out... Ughhh..."
Several shredded corpses fell from the sky, Shuichi approached with a hint of regret.
Ahead, a one-armed man sped away, and it was Terumi Sora who dodged his fatal attack by using several "human shields" and her physical instincts.
"You're lucky."
Losing an arm is a fatal blow to a ninja who uses Ninjutsu; their strength is estimated to decrease by more than 50%.
After the battle, Shuichi breathed a sigh of relief. He had set up this sea defense line himself, relying on his Summoning Technique and Super Beast Imitation Drawing to facilitate rapid communication between the teams, catching Kirigakure guard.
"This tactic won't work anymore, so it seems we'll have to retreat. But at least for a while Kirigakure should be quiet."
Returning to the previous battlefield, many Konoha Ninja were already cleaning up the corpses of their own and the enemy's.
After Akiha and Uchiha Fugaku's team arrived, the Mist Ninja made a desperate last stand were easily dealt with.
"Captain Shuichi, we have 4 dead and 3 wounded. The enemy..." a ninja reported as he returned.
"Prepare the bodies of each teammate carefully and prepare to bring them back to Konoha for burial." Shuichi's expression was serious. These casualties were unavoidable, and considering the outcome, Konoha's resounding victory was an extremely successful decision.
The Kirigakure faction dispatched four squads this time, but only one disabled person escaped.
First, Kaguya and her two companions broke away from the group and disrupted the order. Then, they were surprised by how quickly Konoha's reinforcements arrived, and the long period without a major battle had made them less vigilant.
"Notify Taichi- senpai to retreat immediately; I don't have much chakra left."
"Yes!"
After cleaning up the battlefield, the Konoha people retreated directly to the central region of the Land of Whirlpools, where they set up new defensive lines at several seaports and key locations.
After resting for a full day, Shuichi had fully recovered his strength, and the other Konoha squads did not encounter any enemies during this time.
"The Kirigakure didn't send anyone else, which is about what we expected."
Just as he was pondering how to deal with the upcoming war, the village's Anbu unexpectedly arrived at the front lines of the Land of Whirlpools.