"Still putting on an act!"
The Sunagakure jonin snarled through gritted teeth, his hands forming seals even faster. "Sand Release: Thousand-Sand Burial!"
The wide-area Sand Release jutsu spread in an instant. Countless tiny sand needles formed from the swirling yellow sand and swept toward Kawaki Aoba in a dense, all-encompassing barrage. Its reach was vast, leaving little room to dodge, and its destructive power was immense.
Faced with a jutsu covering such a wide area, Kawaki Aoba stopped relying on evasion alone. He condensed the chakra around him into a dense, invisible barrier that enveloped his body.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh-!
Countless sand needles slammed into the Chakra Barrier, but every one was stopped outside it, unable to penetrate even a fraction. The entire barrage came to nothing, failing to inflict the slightest injury.
"How is that possible?!"
The Sunagakure jonin's pupils contracted sharply, disbelief filling his face. "A mere ordinary Chakra Barrier blocked my Thousand-Sand Burial?! How could your chakra control possibly be that precise?!"
"Condensing chakra comes down to focus and precision. You pursue the power and range of your jutsu too obsessively and neglect the fundamentals. Naturally, you can't break through even a simple defense."
Kawaki Aoba spoke slowly, his tone even.
"I don't believe it!"
Thoroughly enraged, the Sunagakure jonin's chakra surged wildly, his presence turning terrifying. "Everyone, combine your full strength and deploy the joint Sand Release formation! I refuse to believe one man can withstand all thirteen of us!"
"Yes!"
Thirteen Sunagakure ninja formed hand seals at once, synchronizing their chakra. The yellow sand overhead rapidly gathered and merged into an enormous Sand Release formation. Vast waves of sand churned and rose, bearing down on Kawaki Aoba with enough force to crush everything in their path.
The instant the formation took shape, it drew in