### As the enormous dragon's head, formed from dark red steam, let out a roar, it hurtled down toward Uesugi Shinji, its unleashed air pressure nearly tearing apart the entire water vortex.
To the ninjas outside, red light flashed throughout the water vortex, and streams of red air spilled out from all around it, making it look as though it could collapse at any moment.
Looking up at Might Duy's final strike, delivered with the might of a giant dragon, Uesugi Shinji no longer had the time to feel fear or nerves. All his energy was focused on how to defend against the attack, and he was calmer than he had ever been.
Run? No! Block it head-on? Impossible!
Might Duy's Night Dragon did not seem like an especially fast attack, but it generated an overwhelming force that locked Uesugi Shinji firmly at its center.
Under the pressure of that force, the air around Uesugi Shinji grew impossibly dense. He was like an ordinary person trapped in a quagmire, barely able to move a single step.
Even more terrifying, the ground around him had already been pressed down by that force, as if a road roller had flattened it.
Maybe my last chance of survival lies beneath the ground!
Uesugi Shinji summoned every last bit of chakra in his body and held nothing back. No matter what kind of battle he faced, he always saved thirty percent of his chakra as an escape route. But now, he could no longer afford to leave himself a way out!
"Inner Ice Release: Fierce Ice Storm!"
The enormous water vortex suddenly contracted by more than half. It was much smaller than before, but far denser, and at last managed to hold together beneath Night Dragon's crushing pressure.
At the same time, the entire