Three Gates Natsu vs. Kiri Ao!

"Something's shooting this way?"

At the sound, Ao's head snapped to the side.

He saw—

"Whoosh!"

A ninja sword with a black hilt was tearing through the air, thrown like a javelin, hurtling towards his face!

Ao's scalp tingled slightly. Not daring to delay, he immediately took a step back, ceasing his assault on Hyuga Natsu. He swung his own ninja sword to block!

"Clang!"

The swords clashed, exploding with the sound of a massive bell!

Ao's arm went numb. He had barely managed to block the strike. When he looked again, he found the well-made ninja sword in his hand had split and bent in the middle.

Just then, the sensory ninja Kensuke beside him yelled:

"Careful, that guy—he's here!"

"Whoosh!"

The sound of air being ripped apart at extreme speed exploded in his ears.

In a gasp for breath, Ao could only look up and see a blurred green figure, moving so fast it almost exceeded the limit of visual capture, hurtling towards him!

Ao decisively threw away the ninja sword in his hand and quickly formed hand seals with his other, un-numbed hand—

Ushi-Shin-U-Shi-Ne-Yu-Ushi-Uma-Yu-Shi-In-Inu-In-Mi-Ushi-Mi-Ne.

Eighteen seals formed in under 5 seconds!

"Water Style: Water Colliding Wave!"

The next instant, A wave of water, like a dam bursting, surged up from beneath Ao's feet. Carrying a pressure immense enough to bend steel, it impacted indiscriminately in all directions!

A typical water style ninja would use the Water Wall jutsu, which requires only five seals, at this point. But Ao knew very well that wouldn't be enough. The rapidly approaching figure was clearly a taijutsu-proficient ninja, and a one-sided Water Wall couldn't keep up with their speed!

Furthermore, the opponent choosing this moment to strike was undoubtedly for the woman in front of him. Doing so was also a way to force the opponent to abandon him as a target!

When fighting a taijutsu ninja, the most important things were to establish distance in the initial engagement, gather information on the opponent during that process, and quickly adapt to their attack rhythm.

At this moment, Seeing the water wave about to crash down on Hyuga Natsu, the incoming figure immediately twisted their body. They abandoned the idea of punching Ao, who was right in front of them and had already drawn a kunai and taken a defensive stance. Instead, they scooped up Hyuga Natsu and shot backward more than ten meters with a tap of their toes, evading the most violent initial impact of the Water Colliding Wave jutsu.

And then, The blurred figure gradually sharpened, stopping about ten meters away from Ao and revealing their form.

The person wore a black combat outfit and possessed a pair of cold, ferocious white eyes. Their long black hair moved as if in a wind, swirling around the green chakra that enveloped them, making them look like a demon.

It was Hyuga Yu, who had opened the third gate of the Eight Gates!

"Hmm? You... it's you!"

At this, Ao's eyes widened slightly. He looked at Hyuga Yu with some surprise, immediately recognizing the youth whose style was so different from before. It was the same Hyuga brat he had deliberately let go earlier to avoid jeopardizing the mission.

In an instant, Ao's mind raced. Whatever explanation he came up with, his face immediately sank, and he said in a deep voice:

"So that's how it is."

"You brat are the true guard assigned by the Hyuga Clan to the Main Family!"

"Pfft." Hearing this, Hyuga Natsu, held by Hyuga Yu, couldn't help but let out a giggle, barely suppressing her amusement.

Hyuga Yu glared at her, then slowly set her down.

Next, he calmly raised his head and looked coldly at Ao, who stood about ten meters away.

He said nothing, and wanted to say nothing.

At this moment, any extra word would be an unnecessary expenditure of energy.

And, Hyuga Yu knew very well that his current "Super Saiyan" state only had about 4 minutes left!

Hyuga Natsu consciously retreated. Although she was very curious about this form of Hyuga Yu she had never seen before, She understood that she had things she needed to do immediately.

Hyuga Natsu's gaze turned cold. She immediately pulled a kunai from her waist and leaped towards Hyuga Genko.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Ao took a deep breath and immediately ordered Kensuke beside him:

"Kensuke, use the Rain Cutting Jutsu immediately to provide support from the side."

At the same time, Ao looked coldly at Hyuga Yu, shaking his slightly numb right hand.

He clasped his hands together, forming the Un seal!

Without any reminder or further explanation, the two figures standing opposite each other, ten meters apart, began to charge at each other at maximum speed!

"Whoosh!"

"Swish!"

To keep up with Ao's supersonic maneuver at this moment, he once again used the Water Body Flicker Technique, while simultaneously, a whip made entirely of water shot out from his other hand.

Water Style: Water Whip.

This was a classic technique among Water Style Ninjutsu, balancing flexible and varied offensive methods with considerable destructive power. Most importantly, against Taijutsu users, skilled Water Style Ninjas could enhance its flexibility, allowing the technique to tighten its grip the more the opponent struggled once it ensnared them!

On the rapidly advancing and receding battlefield, Ao immediately swung the water whip, coiling it around Hyuga Yu.

However, "Crack!"

Hyuga Yu attempted to dodge to the side but found his vision unable to keep up with his current speed. He took one step too many in his close-quarters micro-maneuver, dodging the first whip, but this caused him to be unable to dodge the second whip's retraction.

In the end, he could only let the water whip strike him. Enduring the pain of the whip lashing his body, Hyuga Yu gritted his teeth fiercely and, with a reverse grip, firmly grasped the whip's tip.

Immediately after, He stomped his foot down, driving his sole into the shattered ground and anchoring himself. Then, he twisted his body!

It was like a game of tug-of-war!

But the lightweight Ao's expression changed slightly as he was yanked forward with a brute force like a wild bull.

Hyuga Yu stared at him coldly, raising his hand into a claw shape, waiting for Ao to deliver his face for him to crush!

Although his normal speed had already surpassed the speed of sound, the Byakugan did not possess dynamic vision. Therefore, in close-quarters combat, Hyuga Yu relied more on the strength boost granted by his current Three Gates state.

However, Seemingly at a disadvantage and about to fall into Hyuga Yu's iron claws, Ao, at this moment, subtly revealed a foxy sneer. While rapidly approaching Hyuga Yu, he quickly formed seven hand seals with one hand.

Snake-Unicorn-Horse-Rabbit-Unicorn-Horse-Rabbit!

Water Style: Water Prison Technique!

Ao intended to subdue Hyuga Yu with this single move!

At this moment, Ao, who was almost face-to-face with Hyuga Yu, raised his palm. The water sphere in his palm rapidly expanded, engulfing Hyuga Yu entirely!

With one hand restricted by the Water Whip, Hyuga Yu's position was already compromised, and he floated within the water bubble. Lacking a point of support, Hyuga Yu found it extremely difficult to break free from this Ninjutsu, Unless he could fly, or directly opened the Sixth Gate and powered up to become a master of the "Flowing Water Style."

However, Hyuga Yu might actually be able to fly!

The Reverse Lotus, a Taijutsu technique usable only after opening the Third Gate of the Eight Gates, was a high-speed attack that opponents couldn't even touch. It could even allow the user to step on air and fly around.

Hyuga Yu naturally hadn't learned the Reverse Lotus yet, but that didn't stop him from trying to stomp on the air with his current stats and take flight!

Soon, Under Ao's bewildered gaze, "Gulp..."

Hyuga Yu yanked off the Water Whip wrapped around his wrist and began stomping furiously in place within the water prison!

At first, he couldn't understand how to step on intangible and colorless things like air or water currents. But soon, after accidentally stomping on the green Chakra swirling around him and using that Chakra to disturb the water flow beneath his feet, he felt an illusion of stepping on solid cow dung.

Hyuga Yu suddenly understood.

True sustained flight by stepping on air required opening the Seventh or Eighth Gate, using techniques like the Evening Elephant to unleash air cannons that even Madara Uchiha would find impressive.

How did Rock Lee fly? He hadn't learned the Reverse Lotus or opened the Eight Gates, but how did Sasuke and Naruto, who performed the Lion Combo and Naruto Combo, fly?

It was simple: stepping on Chakra.

Chakra was something that possessed mass and weight.

The next moment, Under Hyuga Yu's disbelieving gaze, Hyuga Yu pushed off with both feet, erupting from the water bubble like a green arrow and taking flight!

(PS: The standard method for the Hyuga Clan to break a Water Prison is like Neji fighting Kisame, releasing Chakra from all their acupoints simultaneously, which easily breaks it. However, Hyuga Yu is in the Eight Gates state, making Chakra control extremely difficult. Furthermore, Chakra is hard-earned and cannot be wasted like this, so he chose to use Taijutsu here.)