A Hidden Talent

Might Duy's reaction was so intense that Yuzuru wondered if the taijutsu specialist had been waiting all this time for a chance to prove himself... It wasn't impossible.

In any case, for a ninja, constantly taking the most menial missions while enduring the other shinobi in the village sneering at him was hardly a pleasant experience.

But Yuzuru was probably overthinking it. When facing a powerful enemy, it was only natural for the weaker side to go all out from the start.

If the weaker side tried to hold back when the gap in strength was too great, they might not be able to hold back for long. Instead, they could end up dead in an instant.

Even opening the Five Gates was a relatively conservative choice for Might Duy right now. He could open the Sixth Gate too—it was just that doing so would cause his body to suffer some backlash.

The Eight Gates allowed him to use a special technique like Morning Peacock once he reached the Sixth Gate, but that was still within the realm of ordinary mortals... Unfortunately, Might Duy couldn't yet open the Seventh or Eighth Gate.

If he could really open the Eighth Gate, taking down the Kazekage would only take one kick. After all, it was a technique that let someone rise to greatness just once in their life.

Back on the battlefield, Yuzuru knew what the Eight Gates were. But his two teammates were dumbfounded by the surging chakra inside Might Duy and the scorching waves of heat swirling around him, powerful enough to distort the air.

"Duy, are you really just a Genin?" The battle was about to begin, yet Kiba Inuzuka couldn't help asking after seeing Might Duy like that.

"Yes, Captain. I'm the real deal... I'm using a special taijutsu technique," Might Duy said.

But who could believe him now? Just look at the chakra he could barely keep under control. Was this really a Genin?

Might Duy didn't explain further. He lightly stamped one foot, sending a surge of air swirling beneath him, and then his figure vanished from the spot.

The squad members couldn't follow his movements. They barely made out a flash of his figure before the group of "sand men" ahead of them was swept away like leaves in an autumn wind, crumbling back into sand.

The destroyed sand men began to reform, but by then Might Duy was already ignoring what was happening behind him. The time he could keep the "Gate of Opening" active was limited; he couldn't waste it on meaningless targets.

He intended to clear a path and charge straight at the Second Kazekage himself.

As for the sand puppets behind him, those were, of course, for his teammates to handle.

If even the squad's Genin was this invincible, then Kiba Inuzuka couldn't afford to fall behind as the captain. He gritted his teeth and said, "Cover Might Duy!"

After giving the order to attack, the captain charged forward on his dog.

The Inuzuka Clan's fighting style was just as Yuzuru expected: all sorts of mimicry techniques and spinning drills that shot them into the sky... neither surprising nor disappointing. Just ordinary.

Then there was Shinnosuke Kohinata. He hurried to keep pace with the captain, and when he met a sand clone, he tried to block its attack with one arm while counterattacking with the other.

But as he approached the sand man, it suddenly began to tremble. The next moment, its body swelled rapidly and spikes sprouted across its surface, turning it into something like a porcupine.

Shinnosuke Kohinata seemed to have anticipated this. He didn't pull back his attack; he simply stepped back to put some distance between himself and the enemy, then thrust his palm forward.

Bang!

He didn't even seem to touch the sand man, but its head and the body beside its shoulder were instantly blasted away. The attack it had been preparing was stopped in its tracks.

"Uh..."

"Senior Shingen, are you really a Genin? And you really don't have the Byakugan?" Having witnessed that attack from start to finish, Yuzuru asked a question that sounded awfully familiar.

"Of course. What's the problem? Did you expect me to burst out with the kind of strength Senior Duy has?" Shinnosuke Kohinata didn't seem to understand what Yuzuru found so surprising. Why was he asking these questions all over again?

Hey, wasn't that Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm just now? Yuzuru thought. That's a high-level technique of the Hyuga Clan—one that only Hyuga shinobi at the Jonin level can use. How can a "Kohinata" without the Byakugan use it too?

"Was that Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm just now?"

"No, you saw wrong."

How could he have seen wrong? Releasing a high-density mass of chakra from the palm for a long-range attack—what else could it be but Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm? Shinnosuke Kohinata clearly didn't want Yuzuru looking into it.

"This is bizarre. The two Genin in the squad are stronger than the two Chunin."

Yuzuru had figured it out. Every shinobi in this squad seemed to have a special skill... except the captain himself.

But now wasn't the time to talk about that. Yuzuru had to meet the enemy too. He decided to deal with the reanimated corpses of Konoha shinobi first, as a way of letting them rest in peace.

Against these corpse puppets, a technique like Rasengan wasn't very effective... Rasengan could efficiently turn living people into corpses, but it couldn't efficiently turn corpses into spare parts.

Wind Release, then. Just as long as I don't use Shimura's Wind Release.

Yuzuru worked out how to deal with the corpse puppets. Wind Release would be the best way to cut them down. Besides the Shimura Clan's Wind Release, he could use another high-level Wind Release technique whose distinctive features were less obvious.

Yuzuru quickly formed hand seals. A mass of Wind Release chakra gathered at his fingertips. Then he pointed at the corpse puppet ahead of him, and the corpse's neck was severed in an instant.

The technique Yuzuru was using was Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique. With a blade of wind that sharp, cutting a person really was like cutting vegetables.

Yuzuru pointed again and again, and soon the corpse puppets were so thoroughly broken apart that they couldn't be put back together.

To keep the enemy from using Konoha shinobi after their deaths, Yuzuru figured this counted as a merciful send-off.

The Second Kazekage had only meant to casually dispose of the few Konoha shinobi over here, but he hadn't expected them to fight back so fiercely... He had already granted them a peaceful death, and they not only refused to accept it but dared to resist?

The Second Kazekage glanced over. The churning sea of sand surged toward them like a tsunami. Its unstoppable intent to swallow them whole left everyone feeling insignificant.

Killing intent bore down on them.

Yuzuru had been about to deal with the remaining corpse puppets, but when he realized the squad was in danger, his pointing finger shifted in the blink of an eye from the corpse puppets to the oncoming sand wave.

A surge of Natural Energy poured into his body, finally pushing the total amount of Natural Energy within him past the critical threshold. Black markings appeared across his skin.

Along with his chakra, even more Natural Energy gathered at his fingertips.

Then, abruptly, the surging sand wave was cut in two...