The Battle (Part Two; Two Chapters Combined-Please Subscribe)

Boom, boom, boom...

The dull explosions echoed back and forth between heaven and earth, jolting Xiaonan out of her daze over the Wood Release.

She looked back at the flames gradually scattering twenty li behind her, her eyes narrowing. "That's..."

"What's going on?"

Shisui was also drawn to the explosions behind them, his expression grave. Could it be Pain?

He abruptly looked up at Xiaonan in the sky, but her expression remained as cool as ever. Shisui couldn't read a thing from her face.

By now, the paper rain had stopped. The Wood Release: Wood Golem Jutsu, bristling with paper scraps, suddenly split apart to either side. Beneath it, Tenzo stood motionless, while Itachi Uchiha and the other Anbu extras quickly scattered in all directions, moving like afterimages.

Xiaonan snapped out of it and was about to finish them off in one go. Tenzo decisively formed hand seals and launched a wall-splitting attack to cover his comrades. "Wood Release: Thorn Killing Jutsu!"

Tenzo's right hand abruptly transformed into a thick, long thorny vine covered in sharp barbs, which shot furiously toward Xiaonan in the sky.

Xiaonan's eyes narrowed. She didn't dare be the least bit careless against Wood Release. She immediately held her hands out as if cradling something, and countless paper scraps instantly whirled through the air and shot toward Tenzo's thorny right hand, like a hundred machine guns firing at once. The frenzied "bullets" slammed into the thorns, sparks flying, and then... exploded!

Boom, boom, boom...

Beneath the blinding bursts of fire, the thorny vine in the sky was blown apart on the spot!

Tenzo's expression changed drastically. Explosive Tags were mixed in with the paper scraps. Damn it!

He hurriedly retracted the severed vine, then returned his arm to flesh and blood. His right hand was still