Desperate Situation

Twenty-Four Solar Terms Startling God Finger: White Dew, Autumn Equinox.

This time, Jiang Feng didn't use just one finger, but two. Fortunately, Startling God Finger was a finger technique, and each finger jab counted as one move. As long as he extended two fingers at once, he could use two moves simultaneously.

During White Dew, the wind gathered strength, swirling and drilling fiercely, accompanied by a surge of chill. It shot toward Young Bro without losing momentum.

At Autumn Equinox, force gathered in the empty space before him, forming a shield of energy. Ripples rolled across its surface, giving rise to its defensive power.

Young Bro charged in, only to be caught off guard by Jiang Feng's "two moves at once," which combined offense and defense. The formidable kinetic force and unmatched power behind his attack were weakened by [White Dew] by at least half. His fist landed on the [Autumn Equinox] energy shield but failed to budge it in the slightest.

Jiang Feng withdrew again and brought two fingers together. This time, he used [Frost Descent] and [Winter Solstice].

He jabbed both fingers down, and Chakra and Internal Energy poured from his fingertips. Instead of shooting toward Lao Da, they spread through the world around them, transforming into countless ice crystals that danced in midair and drifted down like falling blossoms.

As the snowflakes and ice crystals fell, an invisible wave of cold surged outward. The temperature plunged across the entire battlefield and the nearby streets, growing lower the closer one got to the fighting.

It became so cold that even Young Bro, whose powerful body made him impervious to heat and cold, felt a bone-deep chill. The flow of Chakra in his body grew ever so slightly sluggish.

This wasn't a finger technique aimed at Young Bro, or at any one person. It was aimed at the entire battlefield.

The chill spreading across the battlefield wasn't ordinary cold. It was the [Extreme Cold True Qi] of the thirteenth level of the Bright Jade Technique. It could travel through an enemy's pressure points and penetrate their body, causing anything from stiff limbs to frozen organs.

Nearly a hundred Kumogakure elites besides Lao Da would be at least twenty percent weaker in this frozen hell. Jiang Feng, who had trained in the Bright Jade Technique, was unaffected.

Tsunade, on the other hand, was in for a rough time.

"Ice Release? You know Ice Release too!?"

Young Bro cried out in surprise. It was certainly strange for an Uchiha to know Ice Release, but it wasn't impossible. Anyone who mastered two Chakra natures could try to combine them into a Kekkei Genkai.

No!

After his initial surprise, Young Bro quickly realized this wasn't Ice Release. Though it resembled it, its techniques and characteristics were completely different from the Ice Release he knew. It was more like some kind of secret technique that could summon cold.

If it had to be named as a "Release," it should be "Cold Release."

A genius—a true genius, blessed with every favor the heavens could bestow.

At the thought, Young Bro's killing intent and respect for Jiang Feng grew even stronger. Enduring the bone-deep cold, he became a bolt of lightning and darted toward Jiang Feng. He smashed through the energy shield with a punch, then unleashed another flurry of blows.

Heavy Torrent Violent?

Lightning Plough Hot Blade?

Lightning Battle Ninja Encounter Blade?

None of them. The moves Lao Da used now weren't any Nintaijutsu from the original story. That was because Lao Da himself was powerful, not the Nintaijutsu.

Those powerful Nintaijutsu from the original story, comparable to Lightning Cutter and capable of shattering Susanoo's rib cage, were merely common Kumogakure techniques with training difficulties of only C or B rank.

When someone had Lao Da's strength, speed, explosive power, and physique, the moves he used hardly mattered. His ultimate attack was a basic attack, and his basic attack was an ultimate attack.

The same was true of Jiang Feng.

White Dew, Autumn Equinox!

Autumn Equinox, Autumn Equinox, Cold Dew, Light Snow, Heavy Snow, Autumn Equinox, Lesser Cold...

Some of the Twenty-Four Solar Terms Startling God Finger techniques clashed with one another. The summer techniques, for instance, conflicted with the winter techniques. The battlefield had already been transformed by [Frost Descent] and [Winter Solstice] into a frozen hell where Jiang Feng could fight at his best. Using the scorching summer techniques would only ruin that advantage.

So Jiang Feng used only the techniques of autumn and winter, favoring those of winter.

Extreme Cold True Qi mingled with Chakra and flowed from his fingertips. Sometimes it became a concentrated streak of icy light aimed at Young Bro's vital points; sometimes it became dozens or hundreds of icicles striking the joints all over his body; at other times, it became nothing but a chill that invaded every part of him.

Single-target attacks, crowd control, lethal strikes, disruption, restraint, defense...

That was what made the Twenty-Four Solar Terms Startling God Finger such a versatile technique. Even using only the winter techniques, Jiang Feng could hold his own against Young Bro.

Of course, Jiang Feng had over a thousand years of Internal Energy and a physique twenty or thirty times stronger than an average person from the Ninja World. If Bai Choufei himself had been here, Young Bro would probably have taken him down in one move.

They were evenly matched.

Inside the encirclement, Young Bro and Jiang Feng had exchanged over a hundred blows and remained evenly matched. Neither could get the better of the other.

Lao Da could find no opening to kill or seriously injure Jiang Feng, while Jiang Feng could find no opening to break through the encirclement.

Held in Jiang Feng's arms with a VVIP view of the fight, Tsunade was dumbfounded. Even though she was dizzy, her keen eyes could still easily tell just how powerful the Son of the Third Raikage was.

Even at the peak of her strength, she could still fight him. In a short battle, the two of them would most likely be evenly matched.

In other words, even if she were at her peak and fighting in person, she couldn't have done better than Jiang Feng. And he'd achieved this with just one hand.

Were young people really this strong these days?

After another hundred or so exchanges, Jiang Feng gradually fell behind.

It wasn't because he was weaker than Young Bro, or because he was running out of stamina, Internal Energy, or Chakra.

The [Bright Jade Technique] could gather Internal Energy and use it to replenish True Qi. In theory, it might even let him gain more Internal Energy the more he used. Even without that effect, more than twelve hundred years of Internal Energy was enough to last a long time.

Jiang Feng's [Chakra] reserves were also terrifying. With a physique twenty or thirty times stronger than an average person from the Ninja World, he had several times Minato Namikaze's Chakra. He certainly wasn't going to run out of energy.

In terms of stamina alone, Jiang Feng could rank among the top three in the present-day Ninja World.

What truly put Jiang Feng at a disadvantage was the other Kumogakure shinobi gradually joining the battle.

Young Bro had brought no shortage of capable fighters. Nearly ten of them were skilled in Lightning Release Nintaijutsu, and they had finally become strong enough to take part in the battle between Jiang Feng and Young Bro.

Even if they couldn't land the main attacks, they could still distract him a little. Since Lao Da had Jiang Feng's full attention, they weren't in much danger, at least not enough to get taken out in one move.

A desperate situation!

Tsunade, who had extensive combat experience, had already seen it clearly. This was a Ten Deaths, No Life predicament. Jiang Feng's only chance to escape had been the moment he unexpectedly shouted a gap into the encirclement.

Even if Jiang Feng threw her out now to lure the enemy, it wouldn't help. Lao Da knew she was useless. He only needed to spare a few Chunin who couldn't join the fight to pin her down. He wouldn't be distracted by her at all.