"Guy, go test how hard that earthen sphere is," Ye Yuexin said. With no other choice, he had to resort to this.
"Okay, I'll give it a try." Guy charged forward.
He leaped up and shouted, "Konoha Hurricane!"
"Thud!" The sound really did seem like someone had kicked a rock.
The enormous, spherical earthen ball barely changed after Guy's kick.
Cracks appeared on its surface at first, but they were quickly repaired.
"Konoha Great Hurricane!" Guy didn't lose heart and continued attacking.
But the people inside were ready for him.
In an instant, the entire surface of the earthen ball bristled with countless spikes. Fortunately, Guy had excellent control of his body, so he twisted his waist in time and halted his attack.
"Let me try. The best way to counter Earth Release is with Earth Release."
Ebisu stepped forward, then began forming Hand Seals in front of the other two.
"Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet Technique." As soon as he spoke, an earthen dragon suddenly emerged from the ground.
Judging by its power, it had to be a B-rank jutsu. The dragon wasn't especially lifelike, but a dense aura of chakra surrounded it.
This was probably Ebisu's strongest attack.
The dragon looped through the air, then swiftly charged toward the earthen ball.
"Boom!" Smoke billowed everywhere, accompanied by a piteous scream.
It looked like the earthen ball had been breached.
Ye Yuexin had just been thinking that if Ebisu's Earth Release didn't do much, he would use his A-rank Wind Release: Gale Slash.
It was the jutsu the Third Hokage had awarded him. But if he really gathered enough chakra to give it A-rank power, it would consume half of Ye Yuexin's current chakra.
He wasn't sure whether he would have enough left for the battle that followed.
Ye Yuexin had considered taking a simpler approach, since the earthen ball's hardness and the chakra distributed through it proved that the Earth Release had at least C-rank power.
Defensive jutsu were inherently chakra-intensive.
In the original story, apart from a few special cases, defensive jutsu only lasted for a short time before being dispelled.
But the jutsu before them had been maintained continuously. With the chakra reserves of a Chunin, its user would probably run dry soon.
But Ye Yuexin couldn't afford to wait. Their operation was on a tight schedule. They were quite close to the main base.
To keep the enemy from reacting, they had to head straight to the next outpost and meet up with Kakashi and the others. They couldn't afford to waste time here.
But Ebisu's Earth Release seemed far more powerful than Ye Yuexin had expected.
Before the smoke had even cleared, dozens of earthen spikes shot out of it toward them.
The smoke was very close, making the attack difficult for an ordinary ninja to evade.
But Ye Yuexin and the others were all skilled at Taijutsu. Guy pushed off the ground and darted to the side.
Ye Yuexin activated his Wind Motion and pushed Ebisu out of the attack's range.
Three Rock Ninja burst out of the smoke.
One of them seemed to be supported by the others.
The Rock Ninja being helped was apparently their team leader.
He looked extremely weak, but glared coldly at Ye Yuexin and the others. "Are you Konoha ninja planning to attack the Land of Earth?"
Facing the three Rock Ninja, Ye Yuexin replied coldly, "Hmph. You should think about what your Rock Ninja have done before you say that. Besides, we're at war, and you were the ones who broke the treaty and attacked our border in the Land of Fire."
He then gave Guy and the others a meaningful look before continuing, "What's the point of saying all this now?"
When dealing with enemies, especially in wartime, it was always kill or be killed.
So Ye Yuexin didn't want to waste his breath.
The novels and anime from his past life had taught him one thing: enemies always talked themselves to death.
If you could fight, don't waste time talking.
So Ye Yuexin made his move.
As Ye Yuexin closed in, the team leader drew the short blade from his back.
He charged at Ye Yuexin too. The blade turned out to be capable of channeling chakra.
That kind of metal was rare, yet it was in the hands of a Chunin.
He must have connections.
When Ye Yuexin saw the chakra pulsing along the short blade in the Rock Ninja team leader's hand, his eyes lit up.
He had wanted a weapon like that for a long time. Paired with his footwork, it would give him a wider range of attacks.
With the team leader caught in his Flying Dagger Mode, Ye Yuexin felt as if the man's every move had been magnified many times over.
In his current state, Ye Yuexin felt he could draw a circle on the ground and the man still wouldn't be able to hit him, as long as he stayed inside it.
This must have been the power of a state of mind.
So when the chakra blade came slashing down at him, Ye Yuexin didn't dodge. He charged straight toward its edge.
From Ye Yuexin's perspective, the man's movements were simply too slow.
But the Rock Ninja team leader saw things differently. The speed was so overwhelming that he felt he would cut off Ye Yuexin's head the very next second.
A cruel, triumphant smile spread across his face.
But that dream didn't last long.
They crossed paths in a flash.
Blood gushed like a fountain as disbelief filled the Rock Ninja team leader's eyes.
Ye Yuexin held his right hand in a sword-finger position, a gleaming willow-leaf throwing knife pinched between his fingers. There wasn't a trace of blood on its edge, yet he had used it to slice through the Rock Ninja team leader's throat.
The fighting on the other side had also reached its climax—or rather, it had become a one-sided affair.
Once they were fighting at close range, neither side used jutsu. They were afraid of hitting their allies, and, more importantly, there was no time to cast them.
Ye Yuexin took the chakra-conducting short blade from the Rock Ninja team leader and sheathed it. Like Sasuke in the story, he tucked it behind his waist.
At this point, Ye Yuexin thought the fight was about to end. He just hadn't expected Ebisu to finish his battle first.
For the first time, Ebisu had used a family jutsu in battle. It seemed able to fool the enemy's mind and disrupt their control over chakra.
Ebisu stabbed his opponent through the heart.
Then Guy used a move Ye Yuexin knew well: he moved in a flash, swept the enemy's legs out from under him, and when the man was launched into the air, used Shadow Leaf Dance before grabbing him and crashing down to the ground with him.
Judging by the force, Ye Yuexin thought the man's skull had probably been shattered.
"You're all going to die!" A sudden roar rang out, growing unmistakably louder as its source drew near.
Ye Yuexin's heart clenched. He felt death approaching.
He used every ounce of strength to flee with his footwork, but he was still a step too slow. A tremendous force drove into him, piercing his left arm.
He tumbled violently across the ground. The attack had been so fast that not even Substitution Technique could have saved him; even his footwork hadn't let him escape it completely.
Guy was closest to Ye Yuexin. After striking Ye Yuexin, the attacker immediately kicked toward Guy.
It all happened in the blink of an eye. Guy went rolling away like a ball.
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