"Three people five meters away at eight o'clock, and... they're already here... twenty meters up!!"
Hidden in the grass, Hyuga Ningxiang cried out in alarm. The three people at four o'clock had arrived far too quickly—she hadn't expected this at all.
Sato Hideaka held his hands before his chest, forming Hand Seals at lightning speed. His perfect control over his cellular structure made his hands seem to blur; he could form at least four seals per second!
Six sharp crystal spears, shaped like tridents, appeared beside him. Like an orderly formation of flying swords, they seemed to close in around their targets. Their six-sided, crimson crystal tips glinted coldly as they caught the faint light.
[Crystal Release: Two-Thorn Spear]
Three black figures appeared above them. At Hyuga Xiangning's warning, the six Two-Thorn Spears pointed their keen tips toward the direction the figures were leaping from. As soon as Sato Hideaka finished forming his seals, the crystal spears shot forward like arrows loosed from a bow, swift as fleeing hares!
The three leaping figures had no time to react before the spearheads were upon them. They were in midair and had nothing to push off against. One of them, half a step behind the others, suddenly did something astonishing: he kicked his teammate...
Using the recoil from that kick, he dodged the Two-Thorn Spears' attack. The other two had no such luck. The spears' sharp, conical tips plunged deep into their chests, and the tremendous force sent them flying backward and pinned them to two trees!
Yuhi Kurenai, standing beside Sato Hideaka, had been ready. Her slender hands formed Hand Seals before her chest, and her ruby-red eyes were filled with focus. She murmured:
"Hell Viewing Technique!"
The boy who had dodged the Two-Thorn Spears was about ten years old. His pupils suddenly widened as if he'd seen something terrifying, and he let out a piercing scream. Clutching his chest as though something had pierced through him, he staggered backward.
The Hell Viewing Technique was a genjutsu that made enemies see terrifying things they didn't want to face. The barrage of Two-Thorn Spears had just filled the boy with fear, and before he could calm down, Yuhi Kurenai's technique brought that terror back to life...
He was no longer capable of defending himself!
Sato Hideaka had formed six shuriken in his hands. Made from Crystal Release chakra, they possessed a remarkable ability: anything they struck would be covered in red crystal, trapping it firmly inside.
But before Sato Hideaka could throw them, four black figures appeared above them. This was the team from eight o'clock. A dog was beside one of the figures at the side as they leapt through the air, beginning to spin...
"Spiral: Fang Passing Fang!"
Two figures spun rapidly together, forming a pair of tornadoes. They sucked up all the withered leaves in the forest, then merged in midair into a frantically spinning drill that hurtled toward Sato Hideaka!
Sato Hideaka's expression changed. He snapped his wrist, sending the six shuriken in graceful arcs toward the whirlwind, but the vortex whipped up by the attack knocked them flying in every direction...
Damn, Fang Over Fang could do that?!
His hands formed Hand Seals as quickly as fluttering butterflies. When he finished, Sato Hideaka slammed his palm against the ground and said calmly, "[Crystal Release: Crystal Flow Wall]!"
A wall of crystal slowly rose from the earth. Its bright red, six-sided crystals were arranged in an orderly formation, creating a fortress-like barrier. In the dim forest, it flashed with dazzling, radiant light.
The drill-like Fang Over Fang slammed into the Crystal Flow Wall, forged from red crystal, with a deafening roar. The force shattered the whirlwind, sending the two figures who had struck the wall flying backward. They carved two deep furrows in the ground...
Yet the Crystal Flow Wall still stood, gleaming brightly and reflecting a brilliant, dreamlike red. It hadn't suffered the slightest damage!
By then, the black figure in the middle had landed atop the two-meter-high Crystal Flow Wall. His elevated form blocked what little light there was. All that could be seen was his dark silhouette and his pair of eyes, radiating an ominous, chilling aura. Two black tomoe slowly spun within them...
The shadow's arms moved. After forming several seals, he leaned back and drew in a deep breath, his chest swelling as he exhaled it all at once!
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
A stream of fire burst from the shadow's mouth and gathered before him, quickly forming a huge, blazing fireball. It expanded without pause, and its surging heat set the surrounding trees alight. The whole world seemed to drown in flames as waves of scorching heat threatened to swallow Sato Hideaka, Hyuga Ningxiang, and Yuhi Kurenai!
Lava Release chakra continuously poured into Sato Hideaka's right arm. Thick smoke billowed from it as dark red lava churned and bubbled. Just as the fireball was about to engulf the three of them...
[Lava Release: Dog Bite Crimson Lotus]
Sato Hideaka roared. Lava erupted from his right arm like a volcanic explosion, forming a crimson lava hound in midair. It charged at the enormous fireball with a howl. This was a rush attack with a range of over eight meters.
The heavy, scorching lava collided with the blazing, nimble fireball in midair!
Fire was light and delicate; an obstacle of earth could split it apart. Lava, however, had the weight of earth and the heat of fire. It could blast a hole through an earth-style defense, so the outcome of their collision was already clear.
The Magma-Magma Fruit was, after all, superior to the Mera Mera no Mi!
The flowing lava hound formed by Dog Bite Crimson Lotus broke through the flames with ease. Its charge held back one side of the fire, and the hound's head roared toward the shadow atop the Crystal Flow Wall, as if it meant to devour everything...
The two tomoe in the shadow's eyes spun wildly. Before the scorching lava could completely consume the flames, he sensed the danger and leapt upward. Just as his momentum began to fade in midair, he pulled a kusarigama from his ninja pouch and flung it toward a tree high above.
The kusarigama hooked deep into a thick branch overhead. The shadow swung himself upward with both hands and quickly escaped the area of lava!
But the other shadow following behind him wasn't so lucky. Caught off guard, he was swallowed by the hound's head. Scalding lava poured over his mortal body, and he melted away without even managing to scream.
The ground before Sato Hideaka was now a mess. The lava produced by [Lava Release: Dog Bite Crimson Lotus] had corroded the earth into a field of craters, each bubbling with heat. Their edges were scorched black, and the air above them rippled...
A foul stench hung in the air, like burnt meat. The gleaming Crystal Flow Wall was now covered in dark red, flowing lava, but it still stood firm, apparently having withstood the attack.
"Damn, what the hell is that thing made of? It's so tough that even my original [Spiral: Fang Passing Fang] couldn't break through."
The figure who had struck Sato Hideaka's [Crystal Release: Crystal Wall] and been sent flying by the recoil slowly rose from the mud. He had short brown hair and red stripes painted across his defiant face. He was clutching his head and grumbling. Several howls and barks answered him—the sounds came from the blue giant dog beside him!
The blue giant dog stood over half a person tall. Its red tongue lolled out, and pain showed in its eyes; the attack had clearly left it hurting, too. The breeze rippled through its blue fur like flowing waves. Its huge, sharp fangs were bared, lending its powerful, sturdy frame a fierce edge.
The black figure on the tree was more than twenty meters away. Sato Hideaka could now make him out clearly: the blue-gray Uchiha uniform, the standard blood-red Sharingan, and a cold face that seemed to carry boundless killing intent and pride.
"Uchiha Kenichi, Inuzuka Jin!"