Rock Ninja Tactics: Sacrificing for Chakra!

Lightning-Earth, under the attribute advantage of extreme Ninjutsu, the seemingly thick and solid Earth Flow Wall was as fragile as brittle white pastry. A light touch caused it to collapse with a roar, turning into dust and debris.

Blue sky, green grass, and a tall bridge appeared through the dust, suddenly visible to Kakashi, Nohara Rin, and Obito.

"Move!" Kakashi grunted, the lightning in his hand still blazing, chirping. Under the power of the electricity, his palm opened like a tiger claw, his charge unceasing. Nohara Rin and Obito, already in perfect sync with Kakashi, followed close behind.

Kakashi in front, Obito at the rear, and Nohara Rin in the middle, forming a line, they broke free from the encirclement in an instant.

The Demon Leech leaped from the high Earth Flow Wall. One arm and half of its body had hardened like rock. Using potential energy from gravity, it punched towards Obito. Obito didn't look back, casually throwing three shuriken towards the Demon Leech.

The three shuriken, at varying speeds, landed on the Demon Leech one after another, but only rang out with a ding-dang sound, leaving not even a white mark.

Seizing this opportunity, Obito unleashed another Great Fireball Technique.

Flames spewed from his mouth, forming a massive fireball that engulfed the Demon Leech. He didn't dare to linger, withdrawing the Great Fireball Technique as soon as it was cast. He took two quick steps and, like a gazelle, leaped out of the encirclement.

With a dull thud, as if a heavy object had fallen to the ground, the firelight dispersed to reveal a Stone Man, its entire body scorched a dark red.

The Demon Leech reappeared beside the firelight, glaring darkly at Obito, then at Kakashi and Nohara Rin. "What kind of monsters are these Konoha ninja? How is this kid so strong?" It then felt fortunate—they had made complete preparations and had enough manpower.

Numbers, good coordination, and using Earth Style to alter the terrain to create an overwhelming force had always been the Rock Ninja's advantage.

How long could these three brats, however talented, last?

Hardening Jutsu!

A Rock Ninja blocked Kakashi head-on, hardening its upper body and charging directly at him.

This charge was simple yet effective. The hardened body was essentially a transformation into rock, making the body as hard as stone. The drawback was the loss of mobility; they had to release the hardening to move.

But precisely because of this, after hardening, the weight and hardness of the hardened parts were the same as stone.

A charge was no different than smashing a person with a boulder the size of a torso. No normal person could withstand such a blow, and ninja were no exception. However, Kakashi was an exception.

He looked at the fading lightning in Kakashi's hand, a ferocious glint flashing in his eyes, squeezed into a thin line by his fleshy face.

But this ferocity lasted only a moment before turning into terror!

The lightning in Kakashi's hand suddenly intensified.

Chirp, chirp, chirp...

Kakashi's speed also suddenly increased, approaching like lightning. His hand, enveloped in brilliant lightning, pressed down. His momentum did not falter, and more lightning permeated his entire body, as if he were a god wielding electricity.

Kakashi's hand pierced through the Rock Ninja, followed by his arm, then his torso. The Rock Ninja's hardened body was already an Earth Style transformation, and under the Lightning Style, it naturally disintegrated.

His torso and arms were gone in an instant. Only his legs remained, which Kakashi also struck, one to the left and one to the right, sending them flying over five meters away to lie on the ground.

At this moment, the lightning in Kakashi's hand finally dispersed. He gripped the short sword on his back with his other hand and drew it upwards.

The White Fang was unsheathed.

"Beep!"

A whistle sound rang out, followed by answering whistles of "Beep," "Beep." Rock walls rose from the ground one after another.

Kakashi, Obito, and Nohara Rin also changed their formation into an inverted triangle, with Obito and Kakashi side-by-side and Nohara Rin behind them.

"Left!" "Right!" "Right!" Obito continuously called out directions, and Kakashi ran in the direction Obito indicated.

The Rock Ninja occasionally tried to intercept. This time, Kakashi no longer used Lightning Style, but fought with his short sword. After brief clashes, if they couldn't win through direct combat, Obito would assist with Fire Style. Against hardened Rock Ninja, Fire Style was also deadly.

"Do not use Hardening Jutsu!" Higure, the Demon Leech, surveyed the entire situation and immediately issued the order.

Using Hardening Jutsu against this squad was practically suicide. What was particularly daunting was that white-haired brat—Kakashi hiding his Lightning Style and not using it made them even more uneasy. Because they knew he had enough chakra to use Lightning Style.

Even if it was just once...

But one time was enough to shatter their complete encirclement. The more they didn't use it, the more they held back their chakra, the more hesitant they became.

They had to deplete their chakra as much as possible. The two commanders exchanged glances, reaching a tacit understanding!

They had to sacrifice lives to consume chakra. Thus, the whistle sounds of "Beep," "Beep" changed again. After casting Earth Flow Wall once, more Rock Ninja, holding kunai, entered the maze they had created themselves—because their chakra was limited, they had to enter.

Once this maze was formed, they were no longer capable of using ninjutsu to force the trio to keep moving, so they had to enter personally.

And what would deplete the trio's chakra was their own lives. They were no match for Kakashi, and even Nohara Rin could take down one with a kunai.

Inside the maze, Rock Ninja corpses were everywhere. Nohara Rin panted and said, "Kakashi, Obito, their goal is to exhaust our stamina. If this continues, we won't be able to break through."

Nohara Rin glanced at the sky again. Under the obstruction of the Earth Flow Walls, the sky was cut into long strips.

They could no longer distinguish east from west, only seeing the azure blue.

"We can't even tell which way is which now."

Kakashi also frowned, gazing at the sky in thought. Just as he was about to say something, a squad of Rock Ninja pressed in again.

The battle resumed. The trio had to move again, needing to distance themselves from the enemy to defeat them one by one, while also figuring out a way to break through. They didn't know that the Rock Ninja were already short-handed, and the two commanders, Higure and the Demon Leech, had already mingled with this group of Rock Ninja—like dormant vipers.

Obito swung his kunai, blocking over ten shuriken, and threw two back. He then felt his ninja pouch; his shuriken were all used up.

He had filled his ninja pouch completely, a stack of ten, totaling one hundred shuriken. The heavy bag was empty.

"Ah!" "Aow!"

However, these last two shuriken still brought screams from two Rock Ninja.

One shuriken pierced through the eye socket of one Rock Ninja, embedding directly into its brain, its eyeball bursting with thick blood. The other had its throat and right carotid artery cut in a circle by a shuriken. The high-speed spinning shuriken had almost cut through his bone but was ultimately stopped.