The Spiritual Domain

The battle between the two was primarily mental, which should have made for a dull spectacle.

Little did they know, the duel arena's defensive barrier had been modified before the match, allowing it to project the effects of their mental illusions directly onto the dome of the barrier.

This type of dome-projection barrier was not a new technology; it had been widely used during the Warring States period in conflicts between various ninja clans.

It is said that this dome-projection barrier was developed by the Tsuchigumo Clan during the early Warring States period, who used it to intimidate and absorb many smaller ninja clans.

However, when faced with the Uzumaki Clan, who possessed more comprehensive sealing techniques and vastly larger chakra reserves, the Tsuchigumo Clan's methods lost their deterrent power and they were gradually pushed out of the core resource circles of the Land of Fire.

Of course, remnants of the Tsuchigumo Clan still exist today; not to mention the scattered individuals spread across the country, there are quite a few villages that still bear the Tsuchigumo name.

In fact, if one were to look closely, the vast majority of staff in the Sealing and Barrier squads under the Konoha Security Department could trace their lineage back to the Tsuchigumo Clan.

In reality, sealing techniques themselves are a supernatural ability native to this planet. Before life on the surface awakened to chakra, we could only draw upon natural energy, and at that time, sealing techniques were known as Yin-Yang Arts.

It was only after the Ninja Sect and chakra were widely spread by the Sage of Six Paths that Yin-Yang Arts were absorbed into the so-called ninjutsu system, becoming merely a branch of it.

Those remnants of sealing-technique clans who possess the bloodline of Yin-Yang masters are naturally seedlings with considerable talent for natural energy.

This was not something Touma discovered, but rather the result of Orochimaru's excavation and logical deduction regarding the History of the Ninja World.

Ever since Touma left the "Blood Contract" in Orochimaru's laboratory, he had been able to read all of Orochimaru's research content without restriction.

His initial research was likely based on projects and conjectures left behind by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, but as he gradually discovered the joy of research, his interests expanded beyond just uncovering the potential of ninjutsu to studying deeper layers of knowledge.

The sheer scale and volume of his research led Touma to discover that neither the manga nor the TV series from his past life had depicted even one ten-thousandth of Orochimaru's true strength.

Because, without any obvious clues, Orochimaru had actually guessed that the formation of chakra within the human body was not simple, and that there must exist a special organ undetectable by ordinary means.

It is only by relying on this special organ that mental energy and physical energy can be fused into the energy known as chakra.

And Orochimaru believed that if this organ could not be found by ordinary means, it most likely existed within the soul, which is why he had started his research on the soul so early.

But I digress; returning to the dome projection of the duel arena, the mental clash between Mion and senior Mochi had reached a fever pitch.

Within the mental realm, the two had already exchanged hundreds of blows using taijutsu.

However, to Touma's surprise, Mion was not using Konoha-style taijutsu, but rather a set of taijutsu he had specifically developed while training Haruno Kizashi to complement his use of ninja tools.

This taijutsu borrowed from the concept of internal martial arts from his past life, blending the techniques he remembered with the taijutsu experience gained from entry-conversion, and could be seen as a style that combined the characteristics of both Hard Fist and Gentle Fist.

Unlike Konoha-style taijutsu, which leans toward lower-body movements, this taijutsu, named "Jidoryu: Fist Style Four," focuses on upper-body movements.

By fully developing all the joints of the upper limbs and strengthening their hardness and resistance to impact, the five parts of the upper body—fingers, palms, fists, elbows, and shoulders—all become lethal weapons for attacking the opponent.

Among them, Touma also drew upon Orochimaru's research into the deconstruction of "Senju Super Strength" and "Limb Softening" to develop four special chakra-exertion modes: "Collapse, Pierce, Entwine, and Circle."

These could perfectly complement the "Hammer, Spear, Chain, and Scythe" unconventional ninja tools that Haruno Kizashi was accustomed to using, forming four combat templates to deal with different opponents.

When he was training Kizashi, the sister trio of Mebuki, Mion, and Tsume were also watching from the sidelines. Touma did not hide anything from them; on the contrary, he provided detailed explanations whenever the sisters raised questions.

However, what Touma did not expect was that while Mebuki and Tsume already had decent taijutsu levels and only needed to absorb a little of the "Jidoryu" essence, Mion, who was usually unremarkable in taijutsu, had memorized nearly all of it.

Although there were still many awkward spots in her movements, this taijutsu was enough to handle senior Mochi's Konoha-style taijutsu.

Compared to the two Hard Fist styles, Kurama Mion was more adept at the two Gentle Fist styles. Of these, "Entwine" was responsible for binding the opponent's movements and unloading the force transmitted by the opponent, while "Circle" was used to defend against and deflect the opponent's attacks.

With the two working in tandem, senior Mochi, who had initiated the attack, suffered repeated setbacks; the flying needles he launched from various tricky angles were all blocked by "Fist Style: Circle."

The most fatal part was that in the mental space, his combat rhythm had been controlled by Mion, and his stamina was being consumed rapidly.

One must know that consumption in the mental space is directly reflected in the physical body in reality. If his stamina were to be completely drained, his body would begin to actively decompose internal chakra to convert into physical energy to maintain the minimum stamina threshold.

And once his chakra level was significantly lower than Mion's, even with high resistance to genjutsu, his five senses would uncontrollably fall under Mion's control!

Therefore, senior Mochi quickly detonated his mental clone within the mental space to return to the real world, and immediately threw several smoke bombs into the space between them, creating a dense fog thick enough to shroud half the duel arena.

Don't let the rarity of smoke bombs and flashbangs in the original work fool you; in reality, these inexpensive and simple-to-produce functional ninja tools see quite a high annual consumption in Konoha.

Take Manten-do, the largest ninja tool shop in the center of the village, for example: in the first six months of the year alone, sales of smoke bombs and flashbangs exceeded 1.2 million ryo.

These two items are quite cheap at Manten-do; a pack of six smoke bombs and six flashbangs sells for 60 ryo, only 10 ryo more than a bowl of tonkotsu ramen with extra chashu.

And if one were to buy them together with a throwing-type ninja tool set, the price would drop by 10 ryo, making it exactly the same price as a bowl of tonkotsu ramen.

Even without the discount, sales of 1.2 million ryo mean that Manten-do sells at least 20,000 smoke bombs and flashbangs every month.

It is fortunate that these two items can now be mass-produced industrially; if they were still made by hand as they were in the Warring States period, Manten-do would have to hire countless skilled workers just to meet such a high volume of shipments.

Touma thought that Mion might lack the experience to deal with smoke bomb tactics and would be easily defeated by senior Mochi's smoke bomb strategy, which relied on insight-type sensory techniques.

But when the smoke finally cleared, the scene in the duel arena left even Touma somewhat astonished.

The person still standing in the arena was not senior Mochi, but Kurama Mion, who was bent over with her hands on her knees, gasping for air, while senior Mochi had long since collapsed to the ground, his eyes rolled back, having completely lost consciousness!