Escape

Riyue appeared in midair, using the momentum of the Body Flicker Technique to force his body into a spin. At the same time, chakra at the points along one side of his body suddenly surged backward, while chakra on the other side surged forward. The recoil from the released chakra propelled Riyue's body, abruptly accelerating his spin! (BGM: Sarutobi, Mutsashi)

Riyue's hands weren't idle, either. They shot out like lightning, striking the death points of the three men!

"Renzhong! Yamen! Fengchi! Renying! Danzhong! Jiuwei! Juque! Shenque! Qihai! Guanyuan! Zhongji! Qugu! Yingchuang! Ruzhong! Rugen! Qimen! Zhangmen! Shangqu! Jianjing! Taiyuan! Zusanli! Sanyinjiao! Yongquan! Feishu! Jueyin! Xinshu! Shenshu! Mingmen! Zhishi! Qihaishu! Weilü! Baihui! Shenting! Taiyang! Ermen! Jingming!!"

Riyue's rapid spin formed a pale blue ball of chakra in midair. The chakra ball stirred the air around it, creating rings of swirling currents. Countless afterimages of fingers and limbs flickered along the ball's edge, a persistence-of-vision effect caused by the speed of his strikes.

Riyue's fingers rained down like a violent storm. In one second, he struck 36 times, each blow hitting a death point on one of the three Hidden Sand ninja beside him before they could defend themselves.

Then Riyue abruptly withdrew his hands. He spun another 720 degrees in midair before turning over and landing on the ground. He pivoted on his left foot, sweeping his right foot through a half circle before coming to a stop.

The three Hidden Sand ninja dropped stiffly from the air and slammed into the ground. Blood spilled from all seven of their orifices. They were well and truly dead.

By then, the ten remaining Hidden Sand ninja had deflected the sudden barrage of shuriken. Seeing the six- or seven-year-old boy kill three of their comrades in an instant, and fearing there might be other ambushers, they immediately hesitated to make a move.

"Riyue!" Mizuki looked at the little boy standing in front of her, her heart filled with both joy and worry. She was shocked that Riyue had suddenly appeared at the last possible moment and taken out three enemies. She was glad he had come to rescue her, but worried because it seemed he was the only reinforcement—and he was no match for the enemy.

"Mizuki, don't be afraid. I'll protect you! Reinforcements will be here soon!" Riyue said with an easygoing expression, but his heart was heavy. He had no idea when Tsunade's reinforcements would arrive. It would take at least another ten minutes!

When Riyue had arrived, only one Konoha ninja remained: Mizuki, who was badly wounded. The Hidden Sand had thirteen men, including three Jonin. Seeing that they were about to capture Mizuki, Riyue had acted at once and caught them off guard.

Riyue had first used the Stealth Technique to approach slowly. Then, together with two Shadow Clones, he had thrown 36 shuriken to pin down the ten remaining enemies, especially blocking the three Jonin from moving for a short time. Riyue had seized the opportunity to kill three of them in midair. Who would have thought he could release chakra from his entire body and use his ultimate technique in the air?

But Riyue had killed those three through a surprise attack. Now that he had revealed himself, taking down another one with three Hidden Sand Jonin in front of him would be incredibly difficult. Besides, Mizuki was already injured. Even escaping would be a problem.

"Not bad, for a little Hyuga brat! Surround them." The Hidden Sand Jonin had been startled, but quickly regained his composure. They still had ten people. No matter how strong this boy was, he couldn't be stronger than all ten of them. The Hidden Sand ninja immediately moved to circle around behind Riyue and Mizuki.

"You think it'll be that easy to surround me? Die!" Riyue had been gathering chakra in his palms for a long time. He brought them together, side by side, and thrust them straight toward the first Jonin charging at him. Chakra burst from both palms at once!

"Eight Trigrams Consecutive Vacuum Palm: Merge!"

The two powerful shock waves joined into one, forming a blast several times larger than before. As it cut through the air, the shock wave traced a huge cylindrical path made of ring upon ring of rippling waves, interspersed with countless chaotic, threadlike currents. The blast, formed from a mass of chakra mixed with air, thundered toward the unfortunate enemy!

"That move is dangerous! Get out of the way!" the Jonin shouted. The Hidden Sand ninja scattered in all directions.

But the Chunin Riyue had targeted, the one charging at the very front, wasn't so lucky. The enormous shock wave raced toward him from more than ten meters away. He had no time to defend himself; he hadn't even known the technique could reach so far or cover such a wide area. It hit him in an instant, and he vanished from where he stood!

"Rumble!" The shock wave drove the ninja forward with unstoppable force, smashing into a tree ten meters away. "Crack!" The tree snapped in half, but the blast did not slow. "Crack! Crack! Thwack!" It smashed through three more trees before crashing into the towering rock wall behind them.

"Boom!!" The blast punched a huge crater into the wall. Its surface cracked and caved in as a spherical wave of air burst outward in every direction. The gale could be felt tens of meters away, and rocks flew everywhere. The unlucky ninja was embedded deep in the rubble-filled crater, his body mangled beyond recognition.

Riyue was in bad shape, too. The recoil from the shock wave pushed him back several meters. He panted heavily, both arms numb. That one attack had cost him nearly a third of his chakra, and it had taken a serious toll on his body.

Eight Trigrams Consecutive Vacuum Palm was based on the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm, with both palms using the technique at once. If the palms struck one after the other, it was the standard Eight Trigrams Consecutive Vacuum Palm. If they fired in two different directions at the same time, it was Eight Trigrams Consecutive Vacuum Palm: Split. And when the palms were brought together, the result was similar to Hinata and Neji's combined technique, Eight Trigrams Vacuum Wall Palm. Riyue had named his version Eight Trigrams Consecutive Vacuum Palm: Merge.

Combining the two palms greatly increased the shock wave's range and power. The only difference between Vacuum Wall Palm and Consecutive Vacuum Palm was that one was used by two people together, while the other was performed by Riyue alone, with both hands.

The Hidden Sand ninja were stunned by Riyue's technique. A Chunin had been killed instantly by a fast, wide-ranging attack. It was even more terrifying than when Riyue had taken out three Chunin in one go. No one knew if he could use that move again. The three Hidden Sand Jonin were stunned, too. Neither of them thought they could be certain of dodging that attack if they had been the target.

That was exactly what Riyue had wanted: to buy a little time. The Konoha ninja coming to reinforce them ought to have seen the commotion in the forest.

"Mizuki, can you still run?" Riyue asked the woman behind him quietly, seizing the chance.

"Riyue, I can't gather my chakra, and I can't run. You should escape on your own..." Mizuki shook her head and spoke without a trace of fear.

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm taking you with me!" Riyue said firmly, his tone leaving no room for argument.

"Then let's begin!" Riyue pulled out several smoke bombs and threw them to the ground. A huge cloud of thick black smoke billowed up. As it spread, more than a dozen shuriken shot out, attacking the Hidden Sand ninja.

"Damn it, they're escaping!" The Hidden Sand Jonin led the others in batting away the shuriken, then immediately charged forward.

The Hidden Sand ninja had fallen right into Riyue's plan. A few kunai carrying smoke bombs flew out of the cloud next. This time, the explosions filled the area with enough smoke to engulf everyone charging toward them. The smoke bombs reeked of mustard mixed with chili peppers. The Hidden Sand ninja coughed nonstop inside the cloud, but didn't dare move recklessly.

Taking advantage of the moment, a dark figure burst out of the smoke and sprinted toward the direction where there were no enemies.

It took more than ten seconds for the smoke to thin. There wasn't a soul left in the clearing.

"After them! Don't let them get away!" the Hidden Sand Jonin shouted furiously. The others hurried after them, following their trail.

With Mizuki on his back, Riyue kept leaping through the forest. "Damn it! It looks like they're catching up." He deactivated his Byakugan as he spoke.

Before the enemy could spot them, he immediately carried Mizuki into a dense thicket and set her down. "Mizuki, stay here. I'll lead them away!" As soon as he finished speaking, Riyue dashed off, continuing to run forward and deliberately leaving behind a trail.

"There! Get after him!" The Hidden Sand ninja soon spotted the trail Riyue had left in the forest and immediately pursued him.

Riyue fled through the forest, and the Hidden Sand ninja gradually closed in.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!" Two kunai flew toward Riyue's back. He opened the tool pouch on his leg, hooked a finger through the ring on a kunai, and pulled one free.

"Clang! Clang!" He spun around in midair and knocked the kunai aside, fixing his gaze on the nearest Hidden Sand Chunin. The man had been running ahead of the others and was now more than ten meters away from them.

"Kid, you can't get away!" the Hidden Sand ninja laughed.

But he hadn't expected Riyue to smile faintly as well. (BGM: Rising Fighting Spirit, Mutsashi)

Now... since we've already put some distance between us, it's time for me to turn the tables!