Chain Combo of Replacement Technique and Explosive Tag's Bloody First Kill

BOOM—!

Three specially crafted Explosive Tags detonated simultaneously at point-blank range.

The deafening roar reverberated through the narrow canyon floor, and a violent flash of fire instantly swallowed the upper body of the tall, thin man. The high-temperature shockwave tore a savage hole through the surrounding gray miasma.

There was no scream.

Before his vocal cords could even vibrate, the tall man's chest cavity, along with the hands he had been using to weave signs, had already been blasted into minced meat.

Charred, mangled limbs mixed with a rain of dark red blood, slamming head-on into the murky swamp and sending out ripples of sludge. The thick scent of gunpowder, mingled with the nauseating stench of scorched viscera, frantically forced its way into the nostrils of everyone present.

"Fuma!"

The Iwagakure jonin's eyes were bloodshot, his rugged face twisted in extreme fury. He stared fixedly at the still-burning flames, unable to believe that the only Wind Release expert in his squad capable of countering Lightning Release had been blown to pieces in a single exchange.

"Bastard! Kill this rat!"

The remaining Iwagakure elites were thoroughly enraged. Two taijutsu-specialist chunin sprinted out, one to the left and one to the right, trampling through the mud. Their short blades were drawn, coated in a thin layer of Earth Release chakra, and they lunged toward the billowing smoke with heavy, oppressive force.

They intended to exploit the opening left by the enemy's trap and hack him to pieces.

However, deep within the thick smoke, there wasn't even the sound of a breath.

Baishi's true body was not at the center of the explosion at all.

A tenth of a second before the tall man had pierced the wooden stake, Baishi had already utilized the extreme speed granted by his Lightning Release cell activation to slide away along the surface of the swamp.

At this moment, like a gecko crawling against the ground, he was lying silently in the shadow of a protruding rock on the right.

His black ANBU uniform blended perfectly into the dim light. Beneath his cold mask, his calm eyes were fixed on the two taijutsu chunin who had charged into the smoke.

Chakra consumption: 7%.
Remaining Explosive Tags: 21.
Wind Release threat: Neutralized.

Baishi quickly calculated his odds in his heart. Dealing with enemies of this caliber by using max-level Lightning Release to blast them away would be satisfying, but in this perilous border forest, running out of chakra was equivalent to washing one's neck and handing it to the enemy.

Killing didn't require flashy ultimate moves.

The most basic ninjutsu combined with extreme calculation was enough.

Baishi reached into his ninja tool pouch, instantly clamping eight shuriken between his fingers. He flicked his wrist violently.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

The eight shuriken tore through the air, whistling sharply as they shot into the thick smoke.

"Watch out for hidden weapons!"

The two taijutsu chunin who had charged into the smoke reacted with lightning speed. They dropped their centers of gravity, planting their legs into the swamp like tree roots, and swung their short blades to weave an impenetrable net of steel in front of them.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Sparks flew in all directions within the smoke. The shuriken were all deflected.

"Is that all you've got? Konoha trash!" one of the Iwagakure chunin sneered, about to raise his blade and continue the advance.

But he didn't notice that the deflected shuriken hadn't scattered randomly. Two of them had precisely severed several extremely thin steel wires suspended in mid-air.

Those were the stress points of the death-trap web Baishi had laid earlier with his kunai!

Once the nodes were severed, the steel wires that had been pulled taut instantly lost their balance. A terrifying, powerful rebound force erupted.

Zheng—!

The sound of steel wires slicing through the air was like a death knell. A dozen wires trailing kunai whipped back from all directions like enraged vipers, instantly binding the ankles and wrists of the two taijutsu chunin.

"What is this?!"

The two were horrified, instinctively trying to struggle free. But the steel wires were incredibly tough; the more they struggled, the tighter they constricted. The sharp edges sliced directly through their Iwagakure uniforms and embedded deep into their flesh, causing blood to spray instantly.

At this very moment, while their movements were locked, Baishi moved.

He kicked off the rock with both legs, transforming into a streak of black lightning as he surged forward along the surface of the mud. Max-level Lightning Release chakra surged within his body, yet not a single glimmer of blue light leaked out; it was all contained within his muscle fibers.

Fast! So fast that the naked eye could only capture a blur!

The ten-meter distance was covered in an instant.

Baishi appeared like a ghost beneath the two men entangled by the wires. He didn't draw his sword, instead gripping his kunai in a reverse hold.

There were no flashy movements.

His left-hand kunai moved from bottom to top, piercing with surgical precision through the gap in the left chunin's mandible. The blade met no resistance as it tore through the tongue and palate, driving straight into the brain.

His right-hand kunai, carrying a faint trace of lightning, stabbed with vicious force beneath the right chunin's left ribcage as if cutting through tofu, the tip precisely shredding the heart.

Puchi! Puchi!

Two chilling sounds of blades entering flesh overlapped.

The eyes of the two taijutsu chunin bulged, their mouths hanging open as they tried to scream, but only large mouthfuls of blood mixed with visceral fragments could gurgle from their throats.

Baishi pulled out his kunai, his expression unchanging.

Fresh blood sprayed onto the ANBU mask, dripping down its cold, carved lines. Baishi didn't even spare a glance at the two fallen corpses; using the momentum of drawing his blade, he performed a fluid backward roll, instantly putting distance between himself and the enemy.

The entire killing process had taken less than two seconds.

There was no bombardment of ninjutsu, no loud roaring. Only the purest, most extreme aesthetic of violence.

"You bastard!"

It wasn't until the two bodies hit the muddy water that the Iwagakure jonin in the distance finally reacted.

He had watched with his own eyes as three of his subordinates were slaughtered in a single encounter. And the opponent had used nothing but a Body Replacement Technique, a few Explosive Tags, and the most basic kunai!

The humiliation of being toyed with like a monkey by his prey caused the battle-hardened Iwagakure jonin to completely lose his reason.

"Everyone, back off!"

The jonin let out a furious roar and his massive frame suddenly crouched down. He interlaced his thick fingers and slammed them violently into the mud before him.

Rumble!

An immense, heavy surge of earth-natured chakra poured into the ground through his palms like a volcanic eruption.

The surrounding mud instantly boiled and dried up. The once soft surface began to tremble violently, emitting a series of dull, subterranean groans.

"Earth Release: Rock Shelter Collapse!"

Following the jonin's roar, the towering, dark red cliffs on both sides of the canyon suddenly let out a deafening sound of fracturing.

Baishi snapped his head up.

Beneath his mask, his pupils constricted sharply.

The sky above his head vanished.

Hundreds of tons of massive boulders broke free from the cliffside, descending upon his position like an apocalyptic meteor shower, blotting out everything.

Each rock carried lethal gravitational acceleration, compressing the surrounding air until it emitted sharp, sonic booms.

Shadows instantly engulfed Baishi completely.

His retreat had been sealed off by Venom Fang earlier; to his left and right were steep cliffs, and above him, the falling boulders.

The Earth Release had altered the entire terrain of the battlefield, forcing Baishi into an absolute dead end.

"Die! Become a pulp of flesh along with these rocks!" The Iwagakure jonin stood up, panting heavily, a cruel, savage grin plastered across his face.

A fierce wind whipped at Baishi's black trench coat.

The largest boulder was less than three meters from his head. The intense wind pressure had already caused cracks to spiderweb across the ground beneath his feet.

There was nowhere to dodge.

There was nothing to block with.