A Worthy Expert

Arc Gradual Sevenfold Rhythm · Second Turn.

Ninjutsu · Self-Retribution Cursed Binding Chidori Stream.

Chakra entwined with highly concentrated Nature Energy began to flow through Yuhara's body. The Lightning Release around him began to escape his control in an incomplete manner, and dazzling light suffused the white mist, forming a glowing patch. Then, as he alternately tapped the ground with his feet, Yuhara's lightning-wreathed figure burst from the dense Mercury mist in an instant.

Moreover, the direction of his charge wasn't toward the rear of the forest, but toward the lake ahead.

His rapidly moving figure dragged a vast swath of mist along behind him. Whether he was drawing it along or controlling it, Yuhara's goal was to use the mist to delay the four Mist Village enemies as much as possible. However, after breaking out of the mist, he discovered that Yagura, the one he needed to be most wary of and the strongest among them, had already disappeared.

Could he have already started pursuing me?

Yuhara's judgment had been slightly off, but since he had already charged out like this, withdrawing immediately wouldn't be easy.

In that case...

Yuhara pressed his lips together, then adjusted his direction and charged straight toward Juzo Biwa.

To him, Juzo Biwa was indeed the easier type to deal with.

"Water Release · Water Dragon... Too late!"

Juzo Biwa wanted to form hand seals and cast a technique, but that was impossible. Yuhara was not only incredibly fast in speed and momentum, but even faster in casting techniques... Someone who needed hand seals could never outpace someone who didn't.

The windless sky was clear, and the limpid lake was blue and tranquil. Yet clouds remaining still didn't mean the water wouldn't stir.

White curtains billowed, mercury speckled the air, and ripples dotted the surface.

What embellished this natural scenery was the gleam of blades and the flash of swords from the opposing sides.

The surface was as flat as a mirror, yet as perilous as a cliff.

Yuhara's figure flashed rapidly across the water, leaving behind only a series of straight ripples. Specks of lightning spread farther along those traces, while his high-speed figure and visibly immense Chakra forced Juzo Biwa to stop the hand seal he had only half-completed.

Unable to cast a technique in time, Juzo Biwa could only grip Kubikiribōchō tightly and swing it viciously at the enemy figure charging straight toward him.

Under normal circumstances, even a jonin would have to dodge such an attack, because Juzo Biwa possessed the arm strength to cut a person in half with one strike. Yet when faced with such an attack, Yuhara showed no intention of slowing down.

Just as the great sword was about to strike his neck, Yuhara abruptly lowered his body. At the same time, he reached backward with his right hand, and a huge silver sword, far broader than Kubikiribōchō, appeared in his grasp.

Then he quickly flung a ball of mercury with his left hand toward the direction from which the other two enemies were coming to provide support:

Secret Technique: Frostflow Mercury Lamp!

A giant twenty-meter-diameter mercury "dandelion" instantly opened over the lake and hovered there. By then, Hozuki Mangetsu had already charged into the technique's attack range, and in the blink of an eye, countless thin lines pierced through his body.

Yuhara dodged Juzo Biwa's attack, then swung the sword in his right hand upward from below toward the enemy's waist.

Juzo Biwa truly deserved his reputation as a master swordsman. Just as Kubikiribōchō missed and was about to sweep horizontally past the top of Yuhara's head, he suddenly twisted his wrist, forcibly turning the horizontal slash into a vertical chop.

One of them might be cut in half at the waist, while the other might be decapitated. At that moment, it came down to who was faster!

Was he going all out? Risking everything in a fight to the death? Yet Yuhara showed no intention of retreating. He raised his left hand, once again facing his palm toward Kubikiribōchō's blade.

Why say "once again"? Because Juzo Biwa remembered that this man could catch a blade barehanded.

He could only quickly retreat, tapping the water with his feet repeatedly and soon opening up the distance between himself and Yuhara.

The mercury greatsword in Yuhara's right hand swung forward silently and swiftly, yet struck nothing. Only an exaggerated semicircular ripple rapidly spread across the water.

As Juzo Biwa retreated, he tried to form hand seals again. But before his hands could even come together, another sharp sound of something tearing through the air attacked:

Secret Technique: Seaweed God!

Two Mercury Arrows hid within the sunlight reflected off the water and shot toward Juzo Biwa's head and chest at an outrageous speed.

The speed of this technique could no longer be described as merely fast!

Juzo Biwa swiftly raised Kubikiribōchō with his right hand, knocking one arrow away with the broad surface of the blade. However, the other arrow struck the outside of his left forearm.

The Mercury Arrow instantly burst into countless branching limbs, firmly pinning itself to his arm. Its tremendous impact flung his arm outward, dragging his body along and making him spin more than half a turn.

Then Juzo Biwa smelled a peculiar scorched odor. Lowering his gaze, he saw a palm-sized "slip of paper" hanging from the arrow's tail...

Yes, a little slip of paper that could explode.

Boom!

At such close range, the Explosive Tag detonated. All Juzo Biwa could do was use Kubikiribōchō to shield most of his body, but his left arm was certainly beyond saving.

His entire left arm was blown away.

By then, Yuhara had already charged in front of Juzo Biwa again. Unfortunately, the injured Juzo wasn't weakened. On the contrary, pain made him furious, and fury made him even more aggressive.

He swung Kubikiribōchō one-handed, slashing horizontally at Yuhara again.

This time, however, Yuhara neither dodged nor avoided it. He directly met the opponent's blade with his body, and then...

Clang!

Kubikiribōchō struck the right side of Yuhara's waist. Yet instead of being injured, his body emitted a sharp metallic collision, as though Kubikiribōchō had struck an iron pillar.

The impact at his waist made Yuhara slide slightly sideways across the water. Immediately afterward, he lowered his right arm and clamped the greatsword firmly between his elbow and body.

In his left hand, a thin, light Mercury Longsword formed once more.

Yuhara held the sword in one hand and thrust it directly toward Juzo Biwa's heart.

Although this attack was extremely lethal, Juzo Biwa could avoid it simply by releasing Kubikiribōchō. However, just as he was about to do so, something suddenly stabbed into his back.

Juzo Biwa couldn't see what it was, but Yuhara could tell him... It was the arrow he had just knocked away.

Yuhara could not only wield swords through telekinesis; he could even wield arrows the same way.

Boom!

The second Explosive Tag detonated immediately afterward. The powerful impact sent Juzo Biwa pitching forward, and the Mercury Longsword in Yuhara's hand pierced straight through his heart.

Juzo Biwa stared blankly at the sword embedded in his chest. Although his back felt searingly hot, he felt his entire body rapidly losing its warmth and becoming cold.

"Konoha... Genin..."

He muttered those words, then suddenly let out a furious roar. The muscles in his right arm bulged, and the heart still beating its final beats sprayed out a massive amount of blood. Tremendous strength surged toward Yuhara's waist once more, sweeping him away together with Kubikiribōchō.

How could he unleash such outrageous strength even after his heart had been pierced?

All one could say was that a jonin truly was a jonin. His strength was extraordinary.

As he was swept away, Yuhara silently praised him. Then, just before he was about to land, he added:

"Anyway...

The weakest one's dead."