Can the Eighty Divine Air Strikes Be Reversed?

"So strong!"

"Shikotsumyaku, it really is Shikotsumyaku. How did he obtain the Shikotsumyaku Kekkei Genkai?"

"This strength has already surpassed that of a typical Jonin!"

On the mountaintop, In the crumbling earth fort, besides the Konoha shinobi originally stationed there, another person was perched on the wall, staring down at the bloody battle unfolding on the gentle slope below. This person was none other than Yamanaka Kaito.

He had come to provide support in his capacity as a Medical Ninja. Furthermore, there happened to be a member of the Yamanaka Clan within the earth fort. Although the two were not very familiar with each other, they recognized each other and could confirm their identities, so Yamanaka Kaito was smoothly admitted into the earth fort.

However, no one in the earth fort required his medical ninjutsu for treatment, so he joined the others in observing the battle between Hyuga Ritsu, Uchiha Shisui, and the Kirigakure Shinobi below.

Yamanaka Kaito's initial calm observation had turned into one of facing a formidable enemy. The thought of secretly attacking Hyuga Ritsu had completely vanished, replaced by sheer astonishment.

A thought surfaced in his mind:

How could he be this powerful?

He could see clearly that Uchiha Shisui and the Hozuki Clan's prodigy, Hozuki Mangetsu, were locked in their own duel, offering no assistance to Hyuga Ritsu.

Hyuga Ritsu was single-handedly facing an assault from over forty Kirigakure Shinobi, including nearly ten Jonin and the rest experienced, battle-hardened Chunin. Yet, he was pushing them back, killing twenty Kirigakure Shinobi and severely wounding three within a mere minute.

Fewer than twenty remained who could still fight.

And these remaining few were likely no match for Hyuga Ritsu. If Suikazan Fuguki didn't intervene soon, these shinobi would probably be wiped out in minutes.

At this moment, A voice came from beside him.

"Should we go down and help them?" said the straightforward, honest Jonin captain.

Hearing him speak, the others exchanged glances.

"No!"

Yamanaka Kaito spoke decisively.

His words immediately drew everyone's attention to him. Undeterred, he calmly said, "What help do you think you can provide if you go down there? Do you truly have the ability to help them? To put it bluntly, going down there now would only slow them down; you'd be more of a hindrance than a help."

"The real help is to stay here and don't move. You need to trust the decisions made by the front-line camp. Since they only sent those two to provide support, they naturally concluded that they have the capability to handle the situation!"

Heaven and earth bore witness, his words were spoken entirely from the perspective of benefiting the village, without a shred of personal motive.

After all, Aburame Ryoma's orders to him were simply to observe carefully and gather intelligence.

Beyond that, all his actions had to be guided by the village's interests. This was the original intention of them joining Root; they were the roots hidden in the darkness, forsaking glory and resorting to any means necessary, only to eliminate obstacles hindering the village's prosperity from the shadows!

The remnants stationed at the Shigushan Mountain defense line were not obstacles hindering the village's prosperity. Therefore, Yamanaka Kaito hoped they would survive rather than foolishly sacrifice their lives due to a wrong decision.

The group exchanged glances, persuaded by Yamanaka Kaito.

Or rather, They weren't foolish. They understood that their strength would be insignificant if they went down. However, they felt uneasy just watching. But with Yamanaka Kaito's explanation, everyone could now watch the battle below with peace of mind—they assumed Yamanaka Kaito was allied with Hyuga Ritsu and the others.

The next second, The situation below changed again.

Suikazan Fuguki finally couldn't hold back and made his move. And when he did, it was on a grand scale. With a single technique, "Water Style: Exploding Water Collision Wave," he unleashed a torrent of water vast enough to form a lake. The surging water rushed forward like a mountain flood, wreaking havoc on the trees on the mountain, causing a large section to be swept away.

The sight made everyone on the mountaintop secretly rejoice that they had heeded Yamanaka Kaito's advice. Otherwise, with just this one move, they would have been forced to flee in disarray, becoming a burden to Hyuga Ritsu and Uchiha Shisui.

After all, Even Hyuga Ritsu and Uchiha Shisui, facing such a powerful, large-scale attack ninjutsu, could only retreat quickly, unwilling to confront its might.

"A large-scale offensive ninjutsu..."

Hyuga Ritsu retreated, moving up the mountainside, dodging the surging waves that crashed towards him. He mused that his most obvious current weakness was indeed the lack of means to launch or counter large-scale attacks.

This wasn't just his weakness; it was a common ailment of the Hyuga Clan. The Byakugan Kekkei Genkai itself possessed no offensive capabilities, and the Gentle Fist techniques passed down through the Hyuga Clan also lacked methods for large-scale attacks.

"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm is probably a super-degraded version of Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack, right? I wonder if I can reverse-engineer Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack..."

A somewhat outlandish thought flashed through Hyuga Ritsu's mind.

In an instant, He pushed this temporarily unrealistic fantasy to the back of his mind. He stopped his retreat up the mountain, glanced at the water level, which had risen high and was now rapidly receding, twisted his body, and raised his hand, unleashing an Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm into the puddle behind him, shattering the water shark that had just emerged.

Not far away, Suikazan Fuguki, standing on the water's surface, raised an eyebrow. His secretly set trap, "Four Shark Dance," had been destroyed before it could even show its power. The Byakugan's insight was truly formidable.

"Then let's go head-on!"

Suikazan Fuguki, finding his subtle approach ineffective, decisively abandoned any trickery. The success rate of using cunning against the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan was too low. The best solution was still to overpower his opponent and crush this Hyuga brat head-on!

His hands began forming seals, moving so fast they became afterimages.

Then--

[Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique]

The shimmering water surface suddenly churned violently. A water dragon, with prominent horns and fully formed claws and teeth, burst forth from it, charging directly at Hyuga Ritsu with the force of a mountain-destroying, forest-crushing gale.

Can't dodge!

Hyuga Ritsu clearly realized this.

He saw the massive amount of Chakra gathering and being released within Suikazan Fuguki, but the attack speed of this technique was simply too fast, and its attack range was sufficiently large.

Unless one had mastered the Body Flicker Technique to the level of Uchiha Shisui, or had mastered a space-time ninjutsu like the Flying Thunder God Technique that ignored distance, there was no way to dodge Suikazan Fuguki's strike.

[Eight Trigrams Palm: Revolving Heaven]

Hyuga Ritsu once again employed the absolute defense of the Hyuga Clan.

The water dragon and the high-speed rotating Chakra barrier collided, instantly shattering the enormous water dragon into countless pieces. Streams of water splashed out in all directions, like a sudden downpour in this localized area.